Your WordPress blog or website can be used in a variety of ways: from providing strategic content for your visitors, serving as a means of optimising your site through WordPress SEO to providing an additional means of revenue.
We take a look at the top 5 effective strategies for monetising your WordPress Blog and website.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing can be thought of as an online supplier chain where a product or service is supplied by a merchant and this is advertised or promoted online by a publisher who attracts potential buyers, providing reasons which convert the visitor into buying the product. Special tracking links follow the purchaser from your site to the final purchase. Once the product is bought, the affiliate marketer receives a referral commission for the sale.
Google search provides lists of companies which provide an affiliate marketing in order to monetise your website. To make it specific to your location, include your area or country in your search such as digitalgrog.com if you are based in Australia. A word of caution: go for well-known brands which provide transparency so that you know your visitor will receive top quality service.
A good starting point when deciding on which products to market would be doing affiliate marketing for products you are already using, and which would more than likely prove useful to your visitors.
A blog provides an ideal avenue to covert the lead into a sale by focusing on content which reviews the product. This provides in-depth information on the product/service, giving the lead insight into the product and establishing credibility about the product and how it can benefit the person.
Adding a WordPress Plugin such as Thirsty Affiliates or Pretty Link allows you to draw further attention by making a branded link while also providing you with the added advantage of monitoring how the link is performing on your site.
Google AdSense
Google AdSense is often used as a means to monetise a site. AdSense is a program run by Google which allows publishers on the Google Network to serve automatic video, text and advertisements on a site with relevant content and target market.
The site earns revenue in two ways from AdSense:
- When a visitor clicks on the content (this is based on the number of clicks on third-party content)
- Page Impressions – the number of views that a page containing adverts or content receives
AdSense can be added to your WordPress website by a WordPress plugin such as Google AdSense Manager by Cruchify.
Although AdSense can be a good source of revenue generation in the long term, it can take a fair amount of time before it starts to success as a monetising option for your site.
Sponsored blog posts
Sponsored WordPress blog posts provide a means of monetising your site while still controlling the content which appears on your site. When using a third-party advertising such as Google AdSense, you may not like the content advertised. Additionally, adverts have a nuisance value for your visitors which can sometimes detract from their experience on your site.
Sponsorship works like an advertorial that you may see in a magazine or newspaper, where company’s services or products are featured, often in a storytelling format. This can provide your reader with relevant, valuable information while simultaneously promoting the sponsor and helping to monetise your site.
A key point to keep in mind is to always have complete transparency on your site. Different countries will require this by law which means you need to assess the requirements based on the region in which you are based.
It is a good idea to approach potential sponsors which resonate with your brand, allowing you to leverage your audience in order to create a sponsorship deal. Create a prospectus of your website detailing certain statistics such as website traffic, audience demographics, social media platforms can serve as strong motivation to encourage sponsorship of your site. Additionally, you will need to include information on your business, personas of your viewers to show that the sponsor is a good fit with your brand.
Sponsorships come in a variety of formats from monthly retainers to sponsorship for a specific event to a once-off partnership. It is best to know what you are looking for while being open to negotiate so that you can create a win-win situation for both the sponsor and your site.
Membership offerings
While your website may be a treasure trove of content, you can provide a section offering unique content for paying members. This is a premium members-only area where you can provide in-depth information though webinars, videos, audio and written content which can be downloaded.
Visitors who are interested in your offering can enjoy the benefits of exclusivity and being part of the inner circle. Additionally, having subscribers facilitates a monthly recurring revenue which can be built up into a lucrative business.
Online Courses
Selling online courses brings in revenue while positioning your company or you as an expert in your field. As an expert or specialist in your field you can share your knowledge, reaching beyond your local audience and generating revenue in the process.
In order to ensure that you provide value for your customer, you will need to put in research and time into developing learning materials. Your course can be automated so that your course applicants receive an email detailing their weekly material and assignments. Online courses can also be created through the relevant infrastructure such as a the free community source educational software programme, Sakai which facilitates the development of courses which are informative and fun.
Wrapping it up
Having a WordPress blog and or website opens a vista of opportunities. While providing an instrumental presence online, your blog also has the potential to generate further revenue, allowing you to build a site which can provides income 24/7.
The key to success in developing strategies which bring in money for your website is committing your time and energy to implementing the various options which facilitate income generation. Always keep your brand, values and target market in mind so that whatever service you decide on will enable you to provide further benefits for your customers.
