How Do Websites Make Money?

If you run a website, then you have a great source of passive income at your disposal.

Generating revenue from your website might seem like a confusing process at first, but it will allow you to earn money simply by keeping your website running.

How Do Websites Make Money?

But how exactly do websites make money? Let’s find out!

In this handy guide, we’ll take you through some of the best ways you can generate passive revenue from your website! So read on, and find out how you can turn your website into a way to make money!

So How Do Websites Make Money Exactly?

Okay, first things first – how do websites actually make money?

Well, there are actually several ways to generate revenue from a website.

Let’s take a look at each of these methods and how they can be implemented.

Advertising 

Adverts are by far the most common and effective way to make money through your websites.

Advertisers use websites as real estate for their ads, and pay website owners based on the engagement their advertisements get.

Typically, this is calculated either by clicks or by impressions.

Clicks are exactly what they sound like – advertisers will pay the website owner a small sum every time someone clicks on their ad.

Impressions are similar, and refer to how often an advertisement is seen by a different person.

Ad revenue only pays a small amount (typically only around 10-20 cents per click), but this quickly adds up over time.

As a result, higher engagement on your website will lead to more ad revenue.

Affiliate Links

This is similar to advertising in a sense, but with some key differences. ‘Affiliate Links’ are links on your website that lead directly to a retailer or advertiser.

For instance, a sports blog may contain links to a sporting goods store or a specific product.

These links earn a small commission when someone clicks on them, similar to other advertising.

You can also earn a small percentage of sales made through your affiliate links.

One of the biggest advantages of affiliate links over general advertising is that it makes it easier to keep up your website’s theme and image.

As we mentioned before, a sports site can have affiliate links to sporting retailers, or an art blog can link to specific art supplies.

These links are also easier to blend into your website and aren’t as visually disruptive as a pop-up or banner ad.

eCommerce

eCommerce

If you’re selling your own products from your website, then you need a good way to sell them.

eCommerce stores (such as sites built with Shopify) integrate payment systems into the website itself and make it easy to manage inventory, shipping, and customer relations.

This makes eCommerce a great way to make money through your website, as it means you can sell products directly from your site to make sure your revenue goes directly to you instead of through several middlemen.

Improve Your Website’s Reach

As we’ve already mentioned, a lot of a website’s revenue comes from user engagement.

More visitors to your site means more people clicking on your ads and affiliate links, leading to more money as a result.

However, it can be hard to boost your website’s visitors if you don’t know what you’re doing.

If you want to increase the number of people going to your website, then you need to know how to get them there.

SEO (or Search Engine Optimization) is one of the most important factors when it comes to your website’s growth.

Good SEO boosts your website to the first few results on a search engine like Google or Bing.

This means that people are more likely to see your website and (by extension) your advertisements.

Keyword optimization and your website’s layout also play a big part in how much reach your website will get.

How Much Can You Make From A Website?

So now that we’ve covered some ways you can make money through a website, let’s go over how much you can actually earn.

Unfortunately, running a website isn’t some get-rich-quick scheme, and you aren’t going to become a millionaire overnight.

It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to start seeing results from your website, and you’ll have to put the effort in before you can earn any decent money.

With that said, however, the effort definitely pays itself off when you’#ve started earning through your website.

On average, a profitable website can earn around $2000 a month from ad revenue and affiliate links; you don’t need to get millions of page views to start earning, either, and you only need around 50-75 page views a day for your website to start being profitable.

That only applies to lower-earning websites, however, and larger websites can earn much more.

A popular, well–managed website can earn up to $5000 a month if it gets a large amount of traffic on its ads and links.

This isn’t super-common, though, and most profitable websites will earn around $2000 per month.

What Factors Affect A Website’s Revenue?

These are only loose estimates, however, and a couple of things can affect how much exactly your website earns.

Traffic is one of the biggest factors at play here. Like we said before, more engagement leads to more money.

Large amounts of traffic on your website won’t just let advertisers reach a wider audience, it also increases how many people click on ads and sponsored links.

SEO also ties into this. A better SEO rating gives your website more engagement and makes it more likely for advertisers to pay you for ad space.

Well-optimized SEO makes it much easier for you to earn money from a website.

Final Thoughts

Trying to make money from your website may seem like a daunting task at first, but it’s really easy once you know what you’re doing.

So now that you know some of the best ways to earn money through a website, all you have to do is give it a try for yourself! 

Just use the information in this guide, and soon you’ll be able to sit back and earn some passive income. Good luck!

Justin Shaw