Monetizing your site

So far I have mostly been talking about how to drive traffic to your website. There is still more to talk about in that regard, but for the time being I want to shift gears and spend a little time discussing some specific things you need to be putting in place to create an income once visitors begin arriving in large numbers. That won’t happen for a while, so in the meantime keep advertising and keep adding interesting and useful content that is relevant to the subject of your website.

While you are waiting for your advertising, linking projects, and search engine optimization to start paying off, it is time to begin putting your monetization programs into place.

By monetization programs, I mean the things you want people to click on when they DO start arriving. If you are going to be a store and sell merchandise and ship that merchandise to your customers, then get your virtual store set up and ready for your customers. If you are going to make your money by selling the products and services of others (an affiliate publishing site--what I call a “magazine site”) then get your affiliate ads and intermediate links set up.

Simple. Clear. Not cluttered. Interesting. Entertaining. Informative. A joy to shop there!