12 Ways To Generate Income From Your Website
Did you know you can do more than just sell products and book clients on your website? Even if you’re a product based business!
There are almost endless ways to generate income from your website and chances are you are already familiar with 2-3 different ways that a website can make money, but I’m willing to bet that at least one thing on this list will surprise you (and maybe send you down a bit of a rabbit hole if you’re anything like me!)
1. Products
Okay so selling products on a website hasn’t been revolutionary in about 3 decades or so but it is still one of the easiest ways to be making money online.
A staggering 2.14 BILLION people are shopping online as of 2022 (source) and over 63% of purchases begin online which means that even if a customer ends up buying in person they have still researched and compared products online first.
How to work this into your business:
I don’t need to explain this much further to you if you already have a product-based business but if you’re reading this from the perspective of anyone else listen up!
If you are a content creator, vlogger, educator, coach, blogger, or basically anyone with an online following you know about “merch”.
Now I want you to shake away the ick that might cause as well as any images of t-shirts that feature your face or name plastered on them. Merch doesn’t have to be YOU it just has to be aligned with your brand and something that your audience will actually care about.
Dive deep into what your audience is about and start exploring how you can come up with a simple product that will actually benefit or excite them.
Look into print-on-demand or dropshipping options to automate the process of selling products and keep sales as passive as possible. If dropshipping or POD makes your feel icky look into whitelabeling!
2. Services
Again, try to avert your eye-roll (it’s okay I’m not judging you.) Services are the second most common way to sell something online. If you’re already a service provider this is nothing new to you but if you’re not I would encourage you to get creative about what you offer!
How to work this into your business:
There is no end to the kind of services you can provide to the right kinds of clients. And the best news is that there are tons of skills that you can learn and sell in less than 6 months.
However, don’t think you have to learn something new to be selling a service as a pro. Chances are if you’re reading this you already conduct some type of business online(or maybe you just know you want to someday) so ask yourself “Is there a way I can do what I do for someone else?”
This could be coaching, writing, social media, consulting, management, etc. Niche down and think deeply about what you enjoy helping others with. What could you talk about for a straight hour without getting bored?
Again I would emphasize, be creative. There are people on the internet who make a living by picking out baby names, predicting your future boyfriend, and giving digital home makeovers yes for real.
3. Consultations & Coaching
Technically this falls under the umbrella of services but it’s worth mentioning on its own because there are so many business types that think consultations are not options for them when they really are the perfect fit.
I would encourage you to think about how you can help your clients, customers, or even fellow business owners through 1:1 or small group meetings where you share your expertise and experience.
How to work this into your business:
These consultations are often just you talking about what you already know and answering questions therefore, they require very little prep work or planning you just need to set some time aside in your schedule and give yourself the mind space to be constructive with your client/customer.
Let me give you some examples of how this can work for online businesses.
John owns a plant shop where he sells a wide range of indoor plants and plant care products. John could offer a consultation service where he gets on a Zoom call or Google Meet video chat for 15 minutes. During this consultation call the customer shows John their plants and the problems they are experiencing. John then talks them through what is wrong with the plant and how the customer can fix it. John charges $25 for this 15-minute call and spends 2 hours, 3 days a week doing them earning an extra $600 a week. Also during these calls, customers may purchase supplies from John’s shop. Because he is helping customers save their plants he is also building brand loyalty and nurturing his customer base.
Jessica owns a successful boutique and often has other boutique owners asking for her advice on their own businesses so she sets aside 3 hours a week for group coaching calls of 5 people where she answers their questions and gives advice on how to grow their own businesses. She charges $300 a month for each student making an extra $1500 a month just by talking shop with a group of like-minded business owners!
4. Affiliate Sales
Ever heard of affiliate marketing before? Affiliate marketing is when a company gives a commission to someone who sends or refers a customer to their site to make a purchase. This is usually done through a unique tracking link or a custom coupon code.
If you are using any kind of long-form content marketing in your business (blog, YouTube, podcast etc) this is probably something you’re already familiar with. While you might think affiliate income is reserved for Instagram and TikTok influencers or blogs with large amounts of traffic the truth is almost anyone can try their hand at affiliate income.
How to work this into your business:
If you are a product based business I would encourage you not to write off the idea of promoting other businesses’ products. Think about related industries or businesses that would be useful to your customers that are not in direct competition with your products.
For example, if you sell organic beauty products you could recommend a makeup organizer bag made from organic linen to recommend to your customers in social posts, blog posts, or newsletters. Bonus tip: if you find a particular affiliate product starts doing well with your customers then you can look into carrying the product yourself!
If you are a service provider, you can recommend programs or software that your customer might use. For instance, as a photographer you may get an affiliate link to your favorite canvas printing facility to recommend customers to, therefore earning a small kickback when someone uses your recommended printer for their wall art. This can easily be included in a “thank you” PDF or follow-up email.
5. Ad Revenue
This one is not applicable to all websites since most advertising agencies require a certain amount of monthly traffic(typically 5K-10K views) before you are able to apply and work with them however, it’s worth mentioning if you have been putting a strong effort into your blog or SEO marketing.
You can also be earning ad revenue from outside of your website such as YouTube Ad Sense, Podcast Advertisements etc)
How to work this into your business:
Consider building out a blog or YouTube channel around your business and reap the added benefits of ad revenue!
Not only will a blog or YouTube channel serve as a marketing tool for your main product or service but if you can garner enough monthly visitors/views you can passively make income from allowing advertising companies some marketing space on your site.
6. Sponsered Content
Sponsered Content is an Advertisements cool big brother. Chances are you have heard a YouTube video or podcast episode that opened with “today’s show is sponsored by SkillShare” personally I think SkillShare might be stalking me or something.
This means that SkillShare is paying the creator for x amount of time in the episode where the creator usually follows a script and shares a little bit about the company/product/service etc. Basically a quick casual ad given by the creator.
Did you know that Sponsered Content can extend to blogs as well? Many businesses will gladly pay you for a spot on a successful blog where they can get in front of their ideal client.
How to work this into your business:
Just like with Ad Revenue you can work on your blog marketing and utilize it to not only sell your own products and services but to passively promote other companies as well.
Sponsored Content can also work hand in hand with affiliate sales! Double cha-ching!
7. Digital Products
Okay, now we are getting somewhere. Digital products are severely under-utilized with most businesses that are not in the “coach” or “tech” industries.
Digital products is a broad term that describes products that are intangible and are delivered electronically. The appeal here for business owners is that you create it once and sell it over and over again, with minimum upkeep and some marketing of course.
How to work this into your business:
If you don’t already deal in digital products, you might wonder what I would sell?
Digital products include a wide variety of goods including journals, worksheets, checklists, e-books, guides, wall art, desktop icons, and so much more! It can easily become overwhelming especially if you’re not tech savvy and feel unsure about how to make a digital product with your skills.
Let’s use John again as an example. Being a person knowledgeable about plants John has the perfect skills to write a plant care e-book guide that educates customers about different plants and how to care for them.
Another example would be Joanne who has an interior design business. She specializes in working in small apartments that are functional for families with small children. I’m having more fun that I should making these fictional businesses. Joanne can make a guide for every room of the house that would guide families through how to re-organize and intentionally decorate their spaces.
Let’s do one more (because I can’t help myself at this point). Jessica has a blog and TikTok page about cooking organic meals that don’t break the bank. She could write an entire cookbook or create a budgeted shopping list for a week’s worth of meals.
8. Courses
Technically speaking courses would fall into the digital products category but I separated them for a specific reason. Most digital products are intended to be slightly passive in that you only need to market them (which is simpler to do if you already have a functional business) but courses require a lot more upfront AND post-purchase work.
Now you might be asking yourself ” Shelby my most trusted business bestie to whom I come to for sage advice, *I can’t help myself sometimes, I’m sorry* why in the world would I opt to do more work all around?” “Because..” I say as I descend from the clouds “that’s what makes a bank account fat.”
Courses (and I should say quality courses) have high ticket prices for a reason. I’m sure you have come across one or two “gurus” who try to sell you their course on how to make millions from your pajamas for the low low price of $999.
All jokes aside there is a reason everyone you see online is trying to sell a course. They are high value products that you can sell in your sleep. However, the higher the price tag the harder you will be working on it.
How to work this into your business:
For service providers, this is an easy answer. Teach potential clients how to DIY your service. This might seem super backward. Why make yourself redundant to a potential client?
There will always be clients that cannot afford your services and are forced to DIY simply because they don’t have the funds. You could turn these clients away but what if you had an offering for them that didn’t take up any more of your time and still grew your network?
Imagine you’re a social media manager. You have been at this business for two years and you’re really good at what you do. You’re not really interested in working for beginner-level clients anymore but you notice your beginner friendly content performs really well. You spend 2 months making a beginners course for social media in your spare time, and launch it to a warm audience. Priced at $299 you make an extra $1495 a month just selling 5 passes to your course a month and this takes up no days on your calendar!
Maybe you’re a wedding planner, you could teach brides your tips and tricks for getting the wedding of their dreams. This takes your locally based and builds an offer that you sell to anyone across the world!
Courses are not as easy to figure out for product-based brands but it is worth looking into especially if you have a loyal brand following. Consider how you can take your customer experience to the next level, add a course as an upsell to go along with your products or collaborate with a service provider in a way that makes sense for your products.
9. Monthly Subscriptions
When you think of monthly subscriptions you might think of things like amazon Prime or Netflix but subscription-based models work well in most product and services based businesses.
Automatically renewing subscriptions are a great way to bring stability to your business and every entrepreneur knows how important stability is.
How to work this into your business:
For product based businesses the subscription model can be an easy one to integrate if you have the right offer.
Consider doing quarterly or monthly subscriptions where subscribers can get styles, curated, or exclusive products. Subscription based businesses tend to lean into one of three categories:
- Value – where subscribers get an intensive discount and save a significant amount of money
- Convenience – subscribers get their essentials delivered without thinking about it/subscribers do not have to make a choice about their purchase
- Experience – these subscribers are willing to make a recurring payment in order to have the experience of a surprise delivered to them every month/quarter. It’s like a gift they give themselves.
If you had a candle business for example, you could do “scents of the season” where seasonally scented candles were sent at the beginning of each quarter.
Service-based businesses can jump on the subscription model too! If you’re a service provider you are probably already familiar with “retainer” packages.
Retainers are a great way to generate some consistency in your business or maintain relationships with clients that you enjoy working with.
This retainer might look like monthly maintenance or ongoing work that occurs each month.
10. Paywall Content
I’m looking at you influencers and educators! Paywall content is an excellent way to monetize your core audience. Paywall content is content(blog, videos, tutorials, message boards etc) that is restricted to user that pay.
It’s a pay-to-see type of income stream that often works on a subscription. This might look like a “members only” section on your website. Typically the member access is low cost ($5-$25 per month) but I have seen educators charging as much as $300 for access to their exclusive content.
How to work this into your business
I’ll admit this is one income stream that is not as accessible to product based businesses but that’s not to say that it isn’t an option.
If you have built a strong following of die hard fans (i.e you are selling out of every drop almost immediately) you could offer a members only area where customers get first dibs on product launches. Customers can have access to experimental or VIP products.
Service providers may struggle with paywall content as well depending on the business type. For those will large dedicated followers paywall content is a great place to connect deeper and share things on a more intimate level.
The idea of this strategy is to create exclusivity and often includes direct access to the creator or brand.
11. Crowdfunding
Hello founders! If you have a start-up or innovative project that you are looking to get off the ground you may have heard of crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding is when large groups of individuals donate money in an effort to raise funds for a particular goal or project.
What most startups don’t seem to know is that you don’t actually have to go through Kickstarter to raise funds, you can actually do it from your own website.
How to work this into your business:
Crowdfunding typically works for products or business models that are unique or innovative. It’s a great way to raise capital without going through traditional investors or taking on debt.
While being on a platform like Kickstarter can help your business get exposed to new people, you will likely still have to market your crowdfunding campaign to get any real cashflow going. So why not send them to your website instead of someone else’s?
Product based businesses can opt for a newsletter once they’ve donated where they can have first access to the product their supporting. By doing this you’re not only raising funding but also building a warm audience that you can sell to later.
Also, a site that is optimized for crowdfunding also makes a great site for traditional investors to look at as well. Crowdfunding is a great way to get your feet wet in the investment space and prepares you and your business for a more serious investment whether that’s through a bank, angel investor, or venture capitalists.
12. Selling The Website
This one always seems to surprise people! Your website is an asset to your business and has tangible value! If you find yourself wanting to close up shop or do an overhaul in your business, you can sell your website as a part of your business (and sometimes for a lot! Like over 6 figures!)
How to work this into your business:
This really only works if you’re ready to step away from the business entirely and are comfortable handing off all the income associated with the website in the process of the sale. Terms are always negotiable but really when you’re selling a website your selling the business. That tells you how critical websites are in a business.
If you have a local based business this may not work entirely well for you unless you have built a strong blog or other digital assets that can be sold off with the business.
Its a common misconception that your website has to be bringing in thousands of dollars in order to be considered valuable.
There are many factors that make a website desirable which include:
- Age – the older the site the better. It will earn search rank easier and most likely has more backlinking (also good for SEO)
- SEO – A site that is already ranking on the first page of Google is a site that people will pay for. SEO takes time to be earned and often has some trial and error (or just dumb luck) involved in getting a good ranking.
- Content – If you have ever tried starting a blog yourself you know how time consuming it is to create. There is a great appeal in getting a site that already has 100 posts floating around the web.
- Income- Obviously a site that is generating some kind of income is desirable and is proof that what you are doing works and guarantees some kind of payout for the new owner. This could be through product sales, digital products, ads, affiliate links, etc.
You might think that you need high revenue in your business to sell your site but in reality, sites that generate less than $500 a month can sell for up to $10,000. Websites that bring in over $5,000 can reach a value of $100,000 or more. *faints*
Don’t believe me? You can check out sites like flippa.com and see what sites are currently going for right now and how much profit they’re making each month.
Your website is a worthy investment especially when you diversify the ways it’s making you money!
Feeling Inspired?
I hope this list has given you some ideas on how you can mix up your income streams and given you a new perspective on how your website can be working hard for you.
Want to try these out but feel like your website just isn’t up to par? Shoot me an email at tamedjackalope@gmail.com or fill out the inquiry form on my site to get some professional help with your site.
As always, wishing you the best in your business endeavors!
