The 3 Ways Websites and Blogs Make Money

If you recently started a blog or have a website you may be looking for creative ways to generate revenue. As I considered all the various ways to make money online I was able to boil it down to just three generic methods. As you review the concepts and some of the specific examples, consider how you can execute all these opportunities to maximize your own websites and blogs.

1. Sold Content. Every website provides some level of content to its visitors. This may include video, text, images, etc. Anyone who sells a product and believes that your website visitors are among their target market, may consider paying you to introduce that product. Here are some of the more common types of content that you can sell from your website.
1. Reviews. In some cases this may involve your client submitting exact copy for you to publish or they may rely on you to write a high quality review based on your true experience with their product. Generally this means you will receive a complimentary product above and beyond the investment you secure to produce the review.
2. Email Blasts. If you have an email list of your website visitors you can sell email blasts to that list. Generally these are priced by the number of sends and clients will be interested in your average delivery rate, open ratios, and ctr.
3. Social Media Mentions. More and more often advertisers are willing to pay for your social media endorsement or mention. Awhile back I reviewed SponsoredTweets, but there are many different ad networks and direct advertisers who are interested in this type of publicity.
2. Sold Advertising. These are the traditional advertising options you notice on other websites.
1. Banners. Banners offer advertisers a great way to brand their business while driving web traffic. Generally advertising buy a number of impressions, clicks, or actions.
2. Rich Media. This could include various video integration options, or other media above and beyond traditional banners. The benefits tend to be similar to banner advertising but offer more opportunities for engaging with customers and getting out a message.
3. In Text Links. In text links are gaining in popularity. Advertisers can select existing text on a page or post of your site and pay you to hyperlink that text string to their site. They may also pay you to add a new text link in a page, post, or in your footer. Advertisers like in text links because they don't tend to annoy web visitors as much, they drive direct traffic, and they help in search engine optimization efforts. Generally these are sold at a fixed price per time period or by the click.
3. Sold Products
1. E-Commerce. This is relatively straight forward. If you have a product you can sell it online. The quickest product to turn a profit on is an information product. It requires no production since buyers download it and thus your profit margin is higher. You can also become a retailer for a wholesale product. Many wholesalers will even drop ship the product directly to your buyer. This makes you the perfect middle man, just taking your margin and processing the sale.

I'm sure that I've missed an angle or idea that you may be able to implement. Hopefully this gives you a generic outline that will spark some new ideas to make money from your websites!