Running a Successful Content Website

One of the simplest online business ideas out there is to start your own content based website. While there are a lot of online stores and commercial sites on the web, content sites make up the bulk of internet websites. A content site is quite simply a website with information and other features on a certain topic. These topics include entertainment, music, games, business, travel, toys, cars, computers, news and sports. No direct selling is required.

As a provider of free content to your site visitors, you don't necessarily actually sell any actual products. However, you can make a lot of money selling various forms of advertising on your site. If your site happens to cover a popular topic, your high traffic can bring in thousands of dollars every month. There have been popular sites owned by 14 year olds making over $10,000 a month in ad revenue alone! Of course, to make that kind of money you need to have significant traffic, and not visitors are valued the same way by advertisers. For example, visitors to a site about financing are more likely to spend money than visitors to wrestling site, and advertisers value those kinds of sites accordingly. Still, with a decent amount of traffic you can make good money with just about any topic.

Starting your Content Based Website

Before making any money, there are a few things you need to do first. For starters, you need to come up with an idea for a website. It helps to pick a theme or topic you're already interested in. Once you have an idea, you need to come up with some content for the site. Simply throwing up a website with some links on video games will not work. Once you have your content, you'll need to put it together into a decent looking website. Once you finally have your website up and running, you can't just sit and wait for traffic to come in. You need to go out and promote it.

The subject of how to design and promote your website is not a simple matter. There are many ways to get your site up and running, and many more ways to drive traffic to it. Two valuable resources about getting started as a website owner can be found at the Webmaster Yellow Pages and Site Point. From there, you have access to all the resources needed to get started.

Ways to Make Money with a Content Website

Once you have your site up and running with a good flow of traffic, there are several ways to make money off it. Note that will all methods, there more traffic you have, the more money you'll make. Also keep in mind that all advertising should be targeted to the audience of your site. These ways of making money are covered below.

CPM Banner Advertising

This type of advertising pays you on a CPM basis, or cost per thousand impressions. In other words, you get paid a certain amount of money for each thousands times the ad is displayed. This is the typical format for banner ads you see on most websites, but can also include larger ads such as skyscrapers, box ads, and full page interstitials. In the past, this was the most common type of online advertising and was quite profitable for most website owners.

In 1999, the average CPM rate for most websites was around $3.00. For sites with a million ad impressions a month or more, this was a source of easy money. Unfortunately, this did not last past 2000 and is no longer so profitable. The average CPM has dropped way below a dollar, and many advertisers have sought after better and more productive forms of advertising. Don't expect to make a lot of money from this alone.

Pay Per Click Advertising

Another type of advertising pays you per click. That means you place an ad on your site, and each time a visitor clicks on it, you receive a specified amount. This type of pricing applies to countless ad formats of all sizes, much like CPM advertising. Generally speaking, sites with very niche audiences tend to do very with these programs, provided the ads are targeted. The CPC rate can vary depending the type of audience you have, from five cents on the way to $6.00 or more click. Untargeted ads tend to have a clickthrough rate (percentage of impressions that results in a click) of .50%, while targeted ads can have a rate of over 4%.

Affiliate Programs and CPA

CPA advertising is cost per acquisition or action, and the basis of most affiliate programs. This means you receive a specified amount of money when a visitors does a certain action. This is most often a direct sale, in which you receive a commission. Other times, it can be filling out a survey, entering in a search keyword or signing up for a newsletter. The payout varies. As usual, the sites with ads targeted to a niche audience tend to get the best results. Today, this is where a lot of websites are making a lot of money. Click the link for more information about affiliate programs.

Online Stores

A content site with an online store attached can do well. Since the visitors of your site are already interested in the topic it features, there is a good chance some will also be interested in buying associated products. Starting an online store isn't that easy and may require a lot of work, but has been successful with niche sites.

Driving Traffic to Your Website

There are many ways to drive traffic to your website, from paid advertising to link exchanges. The easiest and most cost effective is getting your site listed with the countless search engines avilable on the web. Search engines are typically free to list your site, and the overall traffic they generate is well worth the effort of optimizing your site. But that brings up another question. How exactly do you optimize your site for the search engines? The answer isn't simple but it's not too complicated either.

There are a lot of factors that go into website optimization, and these factors determine the difference between a site that ranks in the top 10 search results and a site that gets lost in the hundreds of other similar listings. Many companies that specialize in search engine placement will charge thousands of dollars for there service, and for many website owners this is not a viable option. However, taking a course in search engine marketing is a good option because it will allow you to know first hand the techniques and information those companies mentioned above use to make a fortune optimizing for other sites.

Fortunately, you can take a course online at your pace. The Virtual Learning Center offers a complete course in search engine marketing and optimization. This Search Engine Marketing Course provides all of the tools and information you need to give you the advantage over your competition. Pages that draw traffic today, may not draw tomorrow so it's key that e-business people like you keep on top of Search Engine Marketing information. And, distance education makes it convenient to learn in the comfort of your own home on schedule that best for you. Click here for more information on the Search Engine Marketing Course. This course is recommended.

Additional Webmaster Links

Geek Village Webmaster Directory
Jim World: Resources and Tools for Webmasters

See Also:

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