If you aren’t selling a product from your website then you’re missing a huge monetization method – full stop. In fact it’s even possible to argue perhaps that you are missing the best monetization method there is. The economy of the internet might seem like a magical thing there nothing is ever tangible, but at the end of the day what drives it is still product. When someone pays you for a click on a Google ad, they are doing so because that visitor is worth more than the amount they are paying you to them. It’s simple logic: other wise they wouldn’t be paying you.
So the question is, how are they making more money from their customers? Well the answer is still that they are selling something directly. And even if they aren’t then they are probably selling something on behalf of someone else – perhaps through an affiliate scheme. The money goes round and round on the internet but at it’s route someone is selling a physical product or at least a service.
So if you aren’t then that means you’re currently at the bottom of that pyramid – and that’s not where you want to be. Things need to change, and thankfully due to the architecture of the web that’s actually highly possible.
Why Aren’t You Selling?
If you don’t already sell a product then there are probably many reasons for that. You’re probably unsure of what you have to offer for instance that would sell. You might feel you don’t know enough about business. You might not have the resources you need to produce something in bulk, and you might not have the capital to make an investment.
But do you have to? Of course the answer is no – and there are actually lots of things you can start selling right now that don’t require any investment and that don’t require any real knowledge. Thanks to digital products, thank to ‘print on demand’, it’s actually very easy. Here are some suggestions.
Things You Can Sell That Need No Investment Up Front:
E-Books: There are countless ways you can sell e-books – whether it’s by selling them through Kindle, or whether it’s by selling them as .PDFs using PayPal. The smartest move is to do both. It’s completely free and if you have a site then you already have some content you can collect into a book format.
E-Zines: Or release it in smaller segments over a few months as an e-zine and get a subscription instead….
Real Books: Gone are the days when you needed to spend thousands to self publish. Today it’s completely risk free thanks to ‘Print on Demand’ publishers like Lulu and Amazon. You provide the digital copy, and they then print off copies only when someone orders them. They even push your books into other online book stores.
Objects: Similarly 3D printing sites allow you to turn AutoCAD designs into real solid objects that people are again able to purchase through your online store. Jewelery, money boxes, tools and more have all be made on these sites and made some people quite rich.
Software: There are countless ways you can release software whether it’s an App on a phone, a piece of productivity software for the PC or a game through Xbox. Your site is the perfect portal to promote such a project.
T-Shirts: These services have been around for ages allowing you to sell t-shirts with your designs and brands printed on them. If you’re an artist then this is an ideal way to start making money form your hobby.
Vadim Kirichenko is SEM expert and blogger who usually writes and shares various monetization techniques via ppc and google advertising.