Understanding How to Monetize Website Traffic

Webmasters often wait to monetize website traffic because they presume that they require a substantial amount of traffic to make money. The problem is, just because a website has a decent amount of visitors, this does not mean that the Webmaster can monetize that traffic.

You might attract 6000 visitors a day but it only takes one visitor to make a sale. Which would you rather, 6000 visitors a day or one visitor that actually buys something?

Yes we can all monetize a website and we can all get traffic to our website, but can we monetize website traffic in order to earn a decent income?

I am not going to go into a whole blogging course in one article because there are so many factors to add to simple monetization. For example you need great content, targeted visitors, along with a quality easy selling item.The list goes on.. In this article I am concentrating on understanding how to monetize website traffic and hopefully I can explain a few factors that might help you.

Monetization myths

1. Anyone can build a blog and slap ads on it to monetize website traffic.
2. Adsense is a “no brainer” way to make money online.
3. The more traffic you get the more sales you make.
4. People do not want to buy from me because I am a newbie.

We have all heard them and probably have even believed them at one stage.

Please feel free to add your favorite myths in the comment section.

Have a clear vision

When monetizing your website traffic you need to know a few minor details about your business. You will need to look deeply at the most obvious but often overlooked aspects of your business.

Analyzing your visitors

Analyzing your website visitors can be as simple as asking yourself a few questions:

1. What are your visitors looking for?
2. Are your visitors’ buyers or information seekers?
3. What type of visitors would you like?

After answering these questions will help you decide on a monetization method. For example if your website traffic is primarily information seekers then your website might be suited for Google AdSense. However if your website targets products that people want to buy, then Amazon could be a great way to monetize website traffic.

Of course there are many different methods to choose when monetizing your website.

If you have an established website it is far easier to analyze your visitors and get the right products in front of them.

Analyzing your traffic

You will notice that you will attract website traffic that converts and also traffic that simple does not. The trick is to get the traffic that will make you money. You need to try different traffic sources to see which one converts the best for you.

This can be done through tracking and also through good old common sense.

For example if you are selling web hosting you do not want to go to a webmasters forum where people already have websites. You want to find the people that do not have a website. If you do get visitors from the webmasters forum then this would give you a rare sale here and there. However if you find the people that are looking to buy web hosting and learn how to build websites then you will sell more.

Another example is if you are selling Mac software, you want to find Mac users to bring to your website, not Windows users.

Having a tight niche

No I am not saying right niche, I am saying tight. This means that you stick to the topic and do not stray into personal posts, off topic articles, and unrelated content. Everything should revolve around your topic and when you send a website visitor there they will get exactly what they expect. Basically a tight niche can equal more conversions and less work to monetize website traffic.

Of course having the tight niche is very important in most cases but not all. I will not get into that now.

In a recent WordPress website case study I shared, I created a website that started to make money solely from the traffic I sent there. It was not a nice looking website, it did not rank in Google, and it was not SEOed or researched. It was a tight niche sticking to the subject and that was about  all it had going for it.

Defining and tracking goals

You can study and track the effectiveness of your traffic by setting up goals. For example I often guest post on someones blog and set goals to see the outcomes. Some high traffic blogs do not always bring the traffic I need to make conversions  for me while small blog do. I am not aiming for loads of traffic, I am mining for the traffic that suits me.

This is why we are asking “who is your website visitor” and “what do they want” in order to accommodate them. When we know the answer to these questions we can decide on a goal for your entire website, each page and each post.

Take a good look into setting up goals in Google Analytics to help monetize website traffic. It looks a lot harder than it is.

Choosing the right product

You can add banners and links galore from every single affiliate that is related to your niche, however this will not help you make sales. You need to put the right product in front of the right people. Now that you know who your traffic is, this will make it easier to choose the right product for these people.

My criteria for choosing a product:

• the product must be related to the content
• the product must be high quality and in demand
• the product must have a higher converting sales page

If you have the wrong monetization method or product on a page it’s like serving a fruitcake to a customer in a cafe, when they really came in the scones jam and cream. The customer is not going to be happy. What we want to do is make the customer happy and only have relevant content and relevant goals on the page.

Diversifying your income streams

You cannot just set in stone a particular monetization method for your entire website. You need to deal with your pages and posts as separate entities. You must be willing to experiment with different monetization methods to get to your end goal.

A website can have many forms of income and is not confined to one monetization method. For example you might have a website with AdSense ads and also affiliate links. Sometimes people replace the AdSense ads with affiliate banners. This is all part of the process when monetizing your website traffic. I have definitely taken on many different methods that help me make money online.

Each website has its own personality and requires a tailored monetization method for each. What exactly works for me might not work for your website.

Positioning your offer

Ok so you have targeted buyers coming to your website and you have great content but where do you put your offer? Should you go for the kill early, slam a banner in the middle for the impatient buyers, or wait patiently until the end? There is no right or wrong answer here and therefore you need to test and tweek to drag the best conversations and monetize website traffic.

Another question is should you use a banner or a text link. I actually use both depending on the situation.

Testing and tweaking

Split testing. Hmm…We all know about split testing and the benefits it can bring to your business, however many people neglect to use this option. It only takes a few minutes to set up a split test and you can either do this through Google website optimizer or through a simple WordPress plug-in. Either way if you are not split testing your goals and sales pages, then you are missing out on more than you think.

Split testing can involve simple things like changing the title of your page, the layout of your article, or even the product you are selling on the page. There are no rules for what you can split test for, however it usually highlights better conversions for you.

A great example of tweaking is when you notice you are getting a certain advertiser targeting you website with Adsense advertising continually. That must mean they are making sales. Sometimes it worth the risk to find a similar product, become an affiliate, and cut out Google from being the middle man.

Another example is when you continually sell a certain Amazon product from one page on your blog. This is the time to search for a better paying product because you know you have a sale to make on that page. I do this all the time. Last week I had a page selling 12 items at $1.20 and swapped it for a product that is almost identical where I make $14 for the same sale. The item is more expensive to buy for the visitor but it is not about the price, it is about solving the problem at hand.

Monetize website traffic

Understanding how to monetize website traffic is not as easy as slapping ads all over your website. New webmasters often presume that you can make money by doing this.

Monetizing your website should not only involve sales for the here and now. When you monetize website traffic you need to think about the future and implement a strategy that will bring in secure passive income. For example you should think about making money from a website even after it is sold.

What tips do you have on how to monetize website traffic?

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Tagged as: Google Analytics, Income streams, Monetize web traffic, Web analytics, website traffic