How to Make Website Income

Advertising

Advertising is the simplest way to begin earning income from your website. To begin displaying advertisements, you simply need to join a network such as AdSense or Chitika, create an ad unit and paste the source code into your website. The advertising network uses various parameters, such as the content of the page being viewed, to select an advertisement likely to interest the reader. If the reader clicks the advertisement, you earn money.

Affiliate Links

Income from online advertising is interest-based meaning you earn money when a reader shows interest in a company by clicking its advertisement. Affiliate marketing is performance-based, and a reader must click a link or advertisement and complete a purchase before you earn money. However, the commission for an affiliate sale can be quite high depending on the product being sold. The key to success in affiliate marketing is finding a product that strongly appeals to your readers. Commission Junction, LinkShare and ShareASale are three networks through which you can promote products as an affiliate.

Subscription Fees

Some website owners may feel the integrity of their content would be tainted if they displayed advertisements or endorsed products. If this is the case, you may be able to earn income from your website by charging a subscription fee for full access to your content. Study the market extensively before you begin charging for access to your website as many people are unwilling to pay for Web content. You must be able to offer something not available elsewhere for free.

Product Sales

When you promote another company's products, you generally receive only a small percentage of the profit. While the amount of money you can earn from advertising or affiliate marketing may be substantial, it may be difficult for you to earn a full-time income without a product of your own. Creating and selling your own product may not be as difficult as you think. For example, if your website is informational, collect your best posts and sell them as an e-book. If your website focuses on entertainment content, create clothing and other merchandise with your logo. For example, CafePress is a service that allows you to design and sell your own merchandise. When you use a service of this type, you do not have to handle order fulfillment yourself.