How to Make Money Hosting a Website

1. Choose a strong domain name that will help people not only find you, but understand what your website is all about. Whether you are an author writing about your books, or a business woman handing out marketing tips, your domain name should be as catchy and marketable as your website.

2. Buy a hosting package with a Web hosting company that has an affiliate program. Affiliate programs require you to place a simple HTML ad with a specialized link on your website. When interested users click on that link and buy a hosting package, you get a referral bonus from the Web hosting company. Be sure you place your referral ad in a place your visitors can see it, but that does not obstruct or interfere with your content.

3. Sign up with affiliate sponsor programs, such as Google Adsense, AdBrite, Commission Junction and Anastasia's Affiliate Programs. (See links in Resources.) Browse through relevant sponsor ads when setting up your affiliate account so the most relevant advertisements to your website type appear in rotation on your site. The more relevant the ads are to your content, the more likely you will be to draw in clicks and sales.

4. Draw people in to your website. Use social marketing sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, and put up free ads on sites like CMF Ads and Entrecard. (See Resources for links.) CMF Ads and Entrecard allow you to upload a small button other users add to their high-traffic websites in exchange for the placement of a button on your page. Regular use helps draw in traffic to your site and expose your ads to more viewers.

5. Update your site regularly with content to keep readers and subscribers from losing interest and moving on. Regular content updates will also draw in new viewers, increasing your earning potential from pay-per-click sponsors.

What Is the Google Business Model?

AdWords and AdSense

Google is where it is today thanks largely to the revenue produced by its AdWords and AdSense programs. When a user performs a search on Google, the results are shown in two columns. The main column contains search results based on algorithms designed to provide the most relevant search results based on the keywords typed into the search box. To the right of this column are a list of paid text advertisements that are limited to four lines of text.

How it Works

When a user clicks on an AdWords text ad, the company or individual who composed the ad is charged a fee every time someone clicks on the ad. This type of advertising is known as pay per click (PPC) advertising. Additionally, Google pays a commission to websites, blogs, and other online destinations to display the Google ads on their sites. This is the AdSense program.

Advantages

The Adwords and Adsense programs work well because the ads are targeted to what the user is looking for.

YouTube and Facebook

Google owns both YouTube and Facebook. Both of these social media sites are free to users. Google has yet to figure out a way to monetise these two sites. As a result, both sites continue to spend more money than they take in through advertising.

Other Google Interests

Google is also investing heavily in the following areas: cloud computing, Internet browsers, Google maps, Google earth, online software applications, Android operating system for mobile devices, mobile phones, and a number of other media-related initiatives.

How to Find Free Wordpress Themes

1. Smashing Magazine offers up a steady stream of stunning, free Wordpress themes. (see Resources below for some links). The site has an RSS feed, so you can keep an eye on the site for new Wordpress themes.

2. Free Wordpress Themes is another site offering free themes. They don't have as many as Smashing Magazine, but they may have just the one for you.

3. The Theme Lab offers free Wordpress themes and reviews them too. This site also offers general information about Wordpress and Wordpress plugins.

4. If one of your hopes for your blog is to make money using Google AdSense ads, wpSkins provides AdSense-ready templates for free.

How to Do Google AdSense to Make Money

1. Go to the Google AdSense website (see Resources) and sign in with your Google account information. If you have not yet created an AdSense account, click the “Sign up” button, then click “Yes, proceed to Google Account sign in.” If you do not have a Google account, click “No, create a new Google Account” and then follow the instructions on the next screen.

2. Go back to the AdSense website. Click “My ads” from the main menu bar and then click “Content Ads”

3. Click the “+New” button to start a new ad. Give the ad a name, choose the size and type that you require and then type in a name for the “Custom Channel” you will use for the ad. This custom channel name is how you identify the ad in the reports tab, so pick a descriptive name like “Home page image skyscraper” or “Blue sidebar ad.”

4. Click “Save and get code,” then copy the code in the “ad code” box.

5. Open the HTML file for the Web page onto which you want to place the ad. Paste the code into the page at the desired location. Save the file. Ads will appear on the page within 24 hours.

6. Repeat this process for all other Web pages on which you want to serve ads. You can use the same ad unit on as many different pages as you like and you can even use the same unit more than once on one page. However, you cannot place more than three ad units on a single page.

How to Monetize a Website Without Using Google AdSense

1. Review your website with the eyes of a visitor. Place links strategically throughout your website pages that are easy to navigate and deliver a message that says 'Buy Now!'

2. Implement required changes in the navigational structure to increase accessibility for your visitors. Ask others to look through your website. Barring any huge changes, you're ready to begin to monetize your website with affiliate programs.

3. Research online options for affiliate programs Linkshare, Commission Junction and ShareASale are the big three in affiliate management programs. Also, if you have a favorite store, visit its site to see if it offers an affiliate program. Locate a standalone company that focuses on merchant and affiliate programs exclusively.

4. Collaborate with merchants that mesh with your current or planned content. For example, if you write a website about taking photos, then you'll want to join an affiliate program selling digital cameras and supplies.

5. Input your unique code that the merchants supply to you. This link allows you earn money from your affiliate program. The unique code is assigned only to you in either a banner or a text link format. You can often choose your design to enhance your website. Whether you joined a pay per sale or pay-per-lead program, the code is the same.

6. Test your links in both Firefox and Internet Explorer after you've inputted the code and uploaded it to your live website. Testing your links ensures the links work and that none of your visitors will have an issue clicking them.

How to Put Excerpts in Blogger

1. Open Microsoft Notepad or another text editor. Type the following HTML code:

Save the file.

2. Open a Web browser. Go to the Blogger Web site at www.blogger.com. Type your e-mail and password. Click the gray 'Sign in' button to go to the 'Dashboard' page.

3. Click 'Design' on the 'Dashboard' page. Click 'Edit HTML' under the 'Design' tab to go to the 'Edit Template' page.

4. Select the 'Expand Widget Templates' check box. Scroll down within the template code until you see the following coding:

5. Highlight the coding in the Notepad file. Click 'Edit' and click 'Copy.'

6. Position your mouse cursor in the line directly underneath the '

' coding. Right-click and click 'Paste' from the drop-down menu. The coding appears in the template.

7. Click the orange 'Save Template' button. Click the 'Posting' tab.

8. Type a blog post. Insert the following HTML code into the post where you want the excerpt to end:

9. Click the orange 'Publish Post' button. Click the 'View Blog' link to see the post excerpt.

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.