Make Your Website Pay its Way

One of the things I most frequently hear from small business owners is that their websites don't earn their keep.

Sometimes, frankly, that's because their websites aren't doing a good job, and need fixing. That's where I come in.

But sometimes the websites simply haven't been set up to do a job. They're lazy, layabout websites with no true purpose in life.

Or occasionally they're luxurious websites that lie around in marabou negligees eating bonbons. Same problem.

As one client put it, back before becoming a client of mine, "Business websites are just really expensive business cards.

If you have a site like that, then maybe one of your goals for 2009 is to make the lazy thing pay its way. Here are some ways to do that:

• Directly monetize your website. When you sell ads, premium content (by subscription or by download), or the very stuff your website is made from via whitelabel or affiliate marketing, you make money directly from your website. Or you don't. Most people don't. I think this is because there's a widespread belief that doing these things is a no-brainer, get rich quick kind of thing. Actually, these things require skill. Your website, in these cases, is your product, and people aren't going to buy it any more readily than they do any other product. Is your website your product? And if so, is it a good one? Then go for it. Actually, I have a website which I plan to monetize this year, and I'll let you share in my adventures as I go along. That way, you can see how it goes for me before you make any investments yourself.
• Do marketing at your website. When you sell services or have a brick and mortar place of business, that's what your website is probably for. I spoke over the holidays with an author who sells her books through ordinary outlets (bookstores, you know, and Amazon.com and places like that), and she has been able to replace her former schedule of touring and public speaking with blogging. Her website keeps her royalties coming in, even though it has no direct income-producing features. That's what this website does for me, too. People who are thinking about hiring me can come here, see that I know what I'm doing, and contact me with confidence. The problem for many small business owners is that they can't tell whether their website is doing this job or not -- until they slack off at the website and their sales go down.
• Sell things at your website. Ecommerce is the most obvious way to earn money from your website, and many of my clients do just that, either as a supplement to their physical shops or with their websites as their sole sales outlets. But you don't have to be a retailer or a manufacturer to use this means of increasing your income. If you have a cool website, you can merchandise it with T-shirts and mugs at CafePress with very little effort (and, let's face it, much less profit than if you do it yourself, but that can be a good tradeoff). I also have a couple of clients who could definitely put some of their current materials into ebook format successfully, and sell them from their websites. Both these options allow you to have direct sales without inventory or shipping, so they are nearly passive income.

Are you feeling inspired now?

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