When you invest in a website, it is fair to assume you want to earn money from it. But how do websites give you money? Selling ad space is an obvious option, but there are many ways to make money from websites without ads.
There are several reasons why you may not want to have ads on your website. You may have trouble finding an ad company you trust or you may be worried about the disruption that ads can have on the experience of your users.
Regardless, do not worry. You can get creative and monetise your website nonetheless. Let’s go over how!
Sell products on your website
There are three categories of products that you can sell on your website:
- physical products you stock
- physical products that are dropshipped for you
- digital products
To stock products, you will either need to create or buy the products before you sell them on your website. Then you will need to take care of the packaging and shipping process to get the products to your customers.
Dropshipping is a different method. While customers still buy the products on your website, you do not stock them. Instead, you buy the product from a supplier after the order comes in and have the supplier ship it directly to your customer.
Selling digital products on your website is the most accessible option. You just need to create a digital product (e.g. an ebook) and sell it for a fee on your website. After they pay, your customers can download it instantly either on the website or through an email you send them.
Sell services or events on your website
If you have a skill, chances are you can monetise it by turning it into services (e.g. training, consultancy) or events (e.g. workshops, conferences). You can then sell those on your website either directly (e.g. paid booking) or indirectly (e.g. invite people to contact you for a quote).
Sell premium content within your website
This is one of the ways many large publications are going about monetising their websites. You can sell premium content individually, but the most common way to do it is as part of a membership. Once visitors pay the membership fee, they will be able to log in as a member and access all the premium content (and other membership perks you want to include).
Monetise your blog posts
There are three major ways for you to make money from your blog posts:
- including affiliate links
- writing sponsored content
- reviewing products and/or services
Amazon affiliate links are probably the most popular and accessible, but you can get them from smaller ecommerce shops as well. These are links that signal that the person who used them got a recommendation from you and, therefore, the shop will pay you a small amount of money proportionate to what the person who used your link bought from them. A great way to generate passive income!
You can also get paid to write your blog posts either directly through sponsorships or indirectly with the products and/or services you post reviews of.
(Affiliate links and sponsored content are technically ads, but they do not disrupt the experience of your visitor as much as display ads do. When used sparingly and intentionally, they can even enhance it!)
Accept donations through your website
If your website is related to free content or actions that bring value to others, you should definitely ask for donations and let visitors support you that way. They will want you to have the financial means to keep doing what you are doing as much as you do!
So, there are definitely more ways for you to monetise your website than just ads! In addition to these five, you can also earn money indirectly through your website by pointing visitors towards other platforms where you sell products, services, or events (e.g. Etsy, Fiverr, Eventbrite, even YouTube if you earn money from your views).
Building or updating your website? We can help! Get in touch for a web developing team you can trust.
