by Gordon Hamilton

Created on: January 09, 2010   Last Updated: March 20, 2011

Generating income from a website is a structured, ordered process, much like the sales and marketing process in any business. Where revenue is to be successfully generated, it is essential in the first instance to build an effective sales platform and to promote it in an appropriate and professional fashion. It is imperative to realise that generating income from a website is likely to take some time and while short term dividends are possible, they should never be expected or considered likely.

Populating a website with content

Whenever a website is started and before revenue generation is even contemplated, it is imperative to populate the website with quality, relevant, original content. Textual content which is likely to prove valuable to visitors interested in the subject of the website is by far the most important form. Only by pleasing and satisfying the requirements of those who land on the site is later revenue generation likely to be possible. Quality content of this type is also required to obtain favourable ranking in the search engines and generate the all important organic traffic. Pictures, videos and even tables should be considered where they are likely to enhance the appearance of the site or back up and add further impact to the text.

Adding revenue generating tools to a website

The biggest mistake made when adding revenue generating tools to a website is in adding too many components in relation to the quantity of content. Unless the site is specifically designed to be purely a sales outlet and visitors are likely to expect this, putting too many products for sale on a website or devoting too much space to advertising is likely to only irritate and perhaps confuse potential customers. Especially in the early days, until a website’s performance can be successfully evaluated, revenue generating tools should be strictly limited. Google Adsense or a similar advertising tool should be added and, where appropriate, a few extremely relevant products should be offered for sale. These products could be ones produced by the business which the website is designed to promote, or they could be from an affiliate scheme such as Amazon. The products should be described and the benefits of them clearly outlined to site visitors.

Obtaining website traffic

In order to generate revenue from a website, by whatever means, it is necessary to obtain targeted site traffic. This is represented by visitors who are interested in the subject of the website and consequently

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