If you need extra cash, you may want to make a website for money. The nice thing about creating a website that generates income is that it is something you can do even if you already have another job.
Just keep in mind that it takes time and dedication before a new website starts to get traffic and generate income. However, if you stick with it and follow a proven business model, you’ll end up reaching your goals. Here’s an overview of the process.
Choose Your Topic
Your very first step is to choose a topic you are passionate about, or at least interested in enough to be able to write about it. In order for a blog or website to get successful, you need to work on it constantly. This is hard to do if you aren’t interested in the topic enough to hold your attention.
Market Research
Once you have a general idea of what you want to accomplish, you should do some online research to help you determine if your idea has the potential to help you make money. This is important because you’ll want to tweak your idea in a way that will help maximize your profits.
Buy the Domain and Hosting
Your next step is to buy the domain and hosting. I personally use Godaddy and Hostgator but you can use whichever services you are most comfortable with.
Set Up Your Site and Create Content
Once you have the domain purchased and the hosting secured, you’ll want to set up your site. I personally use wordpress for all my sites, unless I am working on one of my sbi websites (see video, below). Both methods have worked great for me. Then, you’ll want to develop content on a fairly regular basis.
Get Your Site to Make Money
After you get some content up on your site, you can implement your money making strategies. This can include Google Adsense, other ad networks, getting advertisers directly, selling your products or services, and affiliate marketing. Your monetization mix will depend on the topic of your site.
Time to Get Traffic!
Once your blog has some content and is set up to make money, your next step is to get traffic. Great strategies for traffic include social networking, search engine optimization, and article marketing. Choose whichever methods you are the most comfortable with.
This is just an overview of the process of making money from a website. Do you find the process overwhelming? Here’s a video about a system that solves that problem.