If you’re an online business or website owner, it’s likely that you’ve heard the term monetising before. But what does it mean, and why should you care?
In this article, we explain what monetising means and how it affects your business – and some simple steps you can take to make sure that you’re monetising correctly, and the most popular ways to monetise.
What Is Monetising?
In short, Monetising is the process of converting website traffic (potential customers) into financial income (money) by turning the traffic into paying customers, or at least "clicking" customers.
This is usually achieved by adding clickable adverts to your website, such as Google Adsense (see below) and including affiliate links to third party products such as Amazon.
There are literally hundreds if not thousands of different ways you can monetise your website or blog, but the key is to have plenty of traffic before you do so.
We take a look at some key metrics, programs and monetisation strategies in the article below.
What is Google AdSense
If you want to make money with your website, the first port of call for most blog owners is Google AdSense. Google AdSense is a simple advertising service that allows you to earn money by publishing text and image ads on your site.
The add above is an example of an AdSense advert, and should a browser click the link they the website owner may earn a small commission, usually a few pennies or cents.
This doesn't sound much in isolation, but some websites can generate millions of page views per month, and therefore earn 5 figure incomes each and every month! Now that really is a passive income stream.
What are CPM and CPC ads?:
If you’re just getting started with making money from your website, there are a few types of ad formats that may be new to you. In an effort to help differentiate between these two different types of advertisements, we’ve created an easy guide that explains what they are and how they work.
What is a CPM Ad & How do They Work?
CPM is cost per mille or cost per thousand, this means you get paid a sum per thousand add impressions on your page.
What is a CPC Ad & How do They Work?
CPC is cost per click, and you only get paid if the add on your page gets clicked.
What are Clickthrough Rates
A clickthrough rate, also known as a CTR, is basically a measure of how many people who see an ad actually clicked on it. A high clickthrough rate shows that you're adds being targeted effectively, and that people are interested in what the add is about.
For example you may get a high CTR if the add on your "best footballs" page was about a new football. You would likely get a low CTR if that same football add was placed on a cooking blog page.
If someone clicks through an add but doesn't make an actual purchase, then you still earn a small fee. This is unlike an affiliate link whereby the customer needs to make a purchase for you to earn anything.
How Much Can You Make With AdSense
This question is simple to answer, but there are a few variables that factor into your earning potential. With AdSense, you earn money through two sources: click-throughs and impressions.
You'll earn a few cents or pence every time someone clicks on an ad on your site (also known as a click-through as above), and you'll can sometimes earn from every person who views that ad.
The more popular your site is, or is able to become, in terms of traffic, the more potential income you stand to make with AdSense.
While it's possible for you to have millions of unique visitors each month and only see £10 in earnings—it's also possible for you to have less than 100,000 unique visitors each month and still earn a decent income using AdSense as your primary income source.
That said, most new bloggers earn very little hard cash from AdSense as its all about large volumes of visitors to your website, but every little helps.
Why use AdSense
AdSense is a flexible advertising program that allows you to generate revenues from your content. Once implemented, you can rely on Google to serve relevant ads based on what’s most likely to attract your audience.
Your readers can then click on those ads and be taken straight through to an advertiser’s website, providing you with an opportunity to earn a commission every time they do so.
What makes AdSense so popular is that it is easy and free to sign up for AdSense and implement it into your website with just a few clicks. There are other options such as Ad thrive and Ezoic, but you need some traffic already before you can sign up.
How To Use AdSense Effectively
AdSense is Google’s advertisement network that gives users various tools to display ads on their website. The most well-known AdSense service is text advertising, which allows you to place text links or banners onto your page.
However, there are many other options for displaying ads and implementing them in a way that isn’t disruptive or annoying to visitors. The key to using AdSense effectively is experimenting with different options and finding what works best for your site.
For example, you could use a rotating banner of advertisements at the top of your page to keep things interesting.
Do not be tempted to put more than 3 adds per page on your blog as it can look spammy, and slows the page down considerably.
What Other Forms Of Monetisation Exist
As well as advert click and affiliate link monetisation plans, you could also consider any of these following strategies for monetistation;
If you run a YouTube channel you could put adds on your video, or you could make a private members area where viewers pay to watch your content, this is known as a subscription service and can earn monthly recurring income.
Create an e-product that you can sell online, such as an e-book, or e-guide or course.
Create a video training plan that can be bought and played online.
Some blog owners allow others to write content on their site for a fee. I recently saw a site asking $3,000 for a sponsored post. Wow! You can only do this when your site has a decent DA, Domain Authority, as no one will pay for a post on a new blog with 0 DA or rank.
Sponsored banner adds. If your site is very popular and gets noticed you may be offered money to put a corporate banner across the home page. For example a personal finance blog like this one may be offered such a deal by the likes of eToro, Fidelity or HL.
What Does Monetising Mean - The Bottom Line
To monetise your website simply means to start making money from it.
There are several ways you can do so:
Sell your own products, such as e-books or videos;
Charge users to access some or all of your content;
Take commissions from companies that want to promote their services and products on your site;
Join affiliate programs which pay you when a user clicks through and buys a product, signs up for a service, or takes some other action (e.g., if they download a coupon);
Develop an ad network in order to serve ads on your site that bring in revenue when clicked on by users.
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