Making Money From Site

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A well-conceived web site can generate multiple streams of income. Starting out, income may be very limited or even nonexistent. It all depends on your effort, peserverance and maximizing your site for Google ranking. This is not a short term money making opportunity, but a long term program to generate a small monthly income if you only have one site. Your site may also be focused on only generating awareness for your small business so success will not be measured with on-site sales.

Below are some of the things we and our friends have done.

Product Sales

As mentioned earlier we sell eco-friendly products through our inn's eco store which directs customers to a specific product's web site for more detail and ordering information. None of our products are inventoried on our property, but drop-shipped from the manufacturer.

Search for a product you have used and really think everyone would benefit from. Find out who the manufacturer is, and contact them about drop-shipping and dealership opportunities. Find out the wholesale/dealer cost to you versus the retail price to see if the spread makes it worth your time and effort.

First thing to do is to have a way to accept customer money online or via email. I have used Paypal for many years. To set up a Paypal account click the following banner. It's free to sign up.

Once you pick a product, decide if you are going to sell it online or over the phone. A key factor in this decision is shipping cost which relates to product size and weight. I have found that if you include shipping with an online Paypal "buy it now" button you will sell more product since customers will purchase on impulse more frequently than when they take time to think about it. This consumer behavior, of course, relates to the product price in that higher dollar items require thought, comparison shopping for price, etc.

If you showcase the product on the web site with the price, but require the customer to call or email for shipping, you will need to call the manufacturer for a shipping quote. I do this on larger items like composting toilets. Once I get the shipping quote, I send the customer a PayPal invoice for the product cost and shipping. When the customer pays using PayPal, I receive an email confirmation from PayPal and call in the order.

On smaller or less expensive items that I feel comfortable selling for a set price with shipping included, I limit free shipping to the Continental USA and use a PayPal "buy it now" button. When the order is placed I get an email stating that the money is in my account and I call the manufacturer with the order specifics.

Books & Other Products

With Amazon.com you may feature books on your web site that relate to your topic (example below). When someone buys a book from the link placed on your site you receive a commission in the form of a gift certificate to purchase Amazon store books or products. I have used this to buy books, software and other products. You can also place products sold through Amazon on your site, however the commission is very minimal compared to selling a product as mentioned in the previous section.

Google Adsense

This is one of my favorite easy ways to generate some income for doing very little. It works well on informational and product sites. The only issue on product sites is that some ads may be from competing parties for the product you are selling. It is very easy to set up. All you do is get a free Google account and then join Adsense. You pick the ad formats you want and place the code on your site in the margins or areas you want ads. The Google robot will choose the ads to be placed on your site based on the keywords shown on your web site. With Adsense, the higher you rank on Google, the more clicks your ads will get and the more money you will make. Starting out you will probably make nothing; so work on ranking. When you reach at least a $100.00 a month you will have a check sent to you or money wired to your bank account.

Selling Content

When I was consulting, I sold content - for example, How to Do a Management Audit - through my consulting web site. On the site I gave a description of the content with a PayPal "Buy it Now " button. When the client clicked the button and paid, they were sent to another protected web page with all the information they purchased. It was easy to set up, and I basically collected the money.

Some also provide information for sale with ebooks. For ebook software visit Ebooks.

Paid Listings

We have developed a couple of sites for yurt rentals and vegetarian bed and breakfast inns in a State by State directory format. These simple one page sites list places to stay in yurts, for example, with contact and web site links. We built these sites for Google Adsense ads, but plan to charge for listings in the future once the various establishments listed on our site start seeing more hits/referrals from the site. When that occurs, we can set up annual subscription billing on PayPal to bill for the directory listing and also bill at renewal times.

Referral Fees- Affiliates

A popular way of generating income is to sign up on another web site as an affiliate. When someone visits your site and clicks a link you will get a referral fee as an affiliate. If you have a product ,you can also sign up others as affiliates and pay them a commission when they refer someone to your site and a sale is made.

A Do It Yourself Guide to Making Money Off The Internet	DIY Web Income \| home Get An Idea \| Pick a Name \| Build a Web Site \| Making Money From Site \| Improve Site Ranking Making Money From Site A well-conceived web site can generate multiple streams of income. Starting out, income may be very limited or even nonexistent. It all depends on your effort, peserverance and maximizing your site for Google ranking. This is not a short term money making opportunity, but a long term program to generate a small monthly income if you only have one site. Your site may also be focused on only generating awareness for your small business so success will not be measured with on-site sales. Below are some of the things we and our friends have done. Product Sales As mentioned earlier we sell eco-friendly products through our inn's eco store which directs customers to a specific product's web site for more detail and ordering information. None of our products are inventoried on our property, but drop-shipped from the manufacturer. Search for a product you have used and really think everyone would benefit from. Find out who the manufacturer is, and contact them about drop-shipping and dealership opportunities. Find out the wholesale/dealer cost to you versus the retail price to see if the spread makes it worth your time and effort. First thing to do is to have a way to accept customer money online or via email. I have used Paypal for many years. To set up a Paypal account click the following banner. It's free to sign up. Once you pick a product, decide if you are going to sell it online or over the phone. A key factor in this decision is shipping cost which relates to product size and weight. I have found that if you include shipping with an online Paypal "buy it now" button you will sell more product since customers will purchase on impulse more frequently than when they take time to think about it. This consumer behavior, of course, relates to the product price in that higher dollar items require thought, comparison shopping for price, etc. If you showcase the product on the web site with the price, but require the customer to call or email for shipping, you will need to call the manufacturer for a shipping quote. I do this on larger items like composting toilets. Once I get the shipping quote, I send the customer a PayPal invoice for the product cost and shipping. When the customer pays using PayPal, I receive an email confirmation from PayPal and call in the order. On smaller or less expensive items that I feel comfortable selling for a set price with shipping included, I limit free shipping to the Continental USA and use a PayPal "buy it now" button. When the order is placed I get an email stating that the money is in my account and I call the manufacturer with the order specifics. Books & Other Products With Amazon.com you may feature books on your web site that relate to your topic (example below). When someone buys a book from the link placed on your site you receive a commission in the form of a gift certificate to purchase Amazon store books or products. I have used this to buy books, software and other products. You can also place products sold through Amazon on your site, however the commission is very minimal compared to selling a product as mentioned in the previous section. Google Adsense This is one of my favorite easy ways to generate some income for doing very little. It works well on informational and product sites. The only issue on product sites is that some ads may be from competing parties for the product you are selling. It is very easy to set up. All you do is get a free Google account and then join Adsense. You pick the ad formats you want and place the code on your site in the margins or areas you want ads. The Google robot will choose the ads to be placed on your site based on the keywords shown on your web site. With Adsense, the higher you rank on Google, the more clicks your ads will get and the more money you will make. Starting out you will probably make nothing; so work on ranking. When you reach at least a $100.00 a month you will have a check sent to you or money wired to your bank account. Selling Content When I was consulting, I sold content - for example, How to Do a Management Audit - through my consulting web site. On the site I gave a description of the content with a PayPal "Buy it Now " button. When the client clicked the button and paid, they were sent to another protected web page with all the information they purchased. It was easy to set up, and I basically collected the money. Some also provide information for sale with ebooks. For ebook software visit Ebooks. Paid Listings We have developed a couple of sites for yurt rentals and vegetarian bed and breakfast inns in a State by State directory format. These simple one page sites list places to stay in yurts, for example, with contact and web site links. We built these sites for Google Adsense ads, but plan to charge for listings in the future once the various establishments listed on our site start seeing more hits/referrals from the site. When that occurs, we can set up annual subscription billing on PayPal to bill for the directory listing and also bill at renewal times. Referral Fees- Affiliates A popular way of generating income is to sign up on another web site as an affiliate. When someone visits your site and clicks a link you will get a referral fee as an affiliate. If you have a product ,you can also sign up others as affiliates and pay them a commission when they refer someone to your site and a sale is made.