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3 Ways to Monetize Your Weekend Website Nick Usborne - FreelanceWritingSuccess.com - Jun 30, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

I have chosen to write about making money from your site as the final article in this series for a reason.

Too many people start focusing on making money too early in the process. They choose a topic quickly, write a few pages quickly and then add some ads and affiliate links in the hope of making some quick money.

Contrary to what some people may tell you, the Internet is not a very good "get-rich-quick" medium. (Unless you happen to have a few buddies willing to share their million-name e-mail lists.)

For the rest of us, if we want to make a four or five figure income each month, the smart way forward is to take time in the choice of our niche and topic. Then we need to take time to create great content and build a steady flow of new and returning visitors. And then we need to be persistent and stubborn, adding more and more quality pages.

Method #1 - Include contextual ads on your content pages

The best known contextual ads are AdSense ads, delivered by Google. They are "contextual" because the product or service featured in the ad is automatically matched to the content on your page.

In other words, if you have a page about training horses, the ads delivered by Google will be about horses and horse training products and services.

Google AdSense ads are a fast and easy way for you to populate your site's pages with ads which are relevant to your topic and likely to generate revenues.  As the site owner, you don't have to spend time finding relevant advertisers. Google does that. Nor do you have to spend time maximizing the presentation of those ads which make you the most money. Google does that for you too.

Google AdSense is not the only contextual advertising service out there. But it's probably the best place to start.

Only then should you start monetizing.

Method #2 - Find some affiliate programs that match your content

Many merchants will pay you a commission for sending them visitors who go on to make a purchase. You have probably noticed that ads for books and other items from Amazon are featured on people's personal blogs or sites. If you click the link and complete the purchase, Amazon will pay the publisher between 4% and 15% of the purchase price.

When you are an affiliate of a company selling digital products, that commission can easily be 25%, 50% or even more.

How do you find prospective affiliate partners? Try some of the affiliate network companies like Commission Junction, LinkShare, and the Google Affiliate Network at ConnectCommerce.com. Or type the following query into your favorite search engine: "horse training + affiliate program". Just replace "horse training" with one or two words describing your own topic.

Method #3 - Republish the best content from your site

Once you have written a hundred pages or more, you could probably remix some of that content into an e-book or digital guide or workbook of some kind. While remixing and editing, just be sure to deliver a clear and focused value to your prospective buyers.

If you offer what they can already find free on your site they won't buy. If you add extra value, they will. Just sell it as a digital download.

To summarize.

When creating a money-making website, always pick a topic that interests you, always focus on delivering quality content, and never overwhelm your content with too many ads.

If your content is of high quality, visitors will come, and so will the money.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Nick Usborne is an author, copywriter and coach -- and the publisher of the NickUsborne.com website for writers and copywriters. You can learn more about how to write your own money-making website at www.nickusborne.com/writing-websites.htm