Secret To Monetizing Your Site

So maybe you're thinking to yourself; Hey, I need to start making some money online. Maybe you're one of those that had that thought a while ago now... but aside from maybe the being online part… you're still pretty much at square one. Or, maybe you are actually making a little money online but wouldn't be averse to making a little (or a lot) more.

Like most of you, Jeremy Schoemaker has -at one time or another – fit squarely into each and every one of the above categories. Now, however, he's most widely known simply as 'Shoemoney' (for obvious reasons). We managed to catch up with Jeremy at the Blog World Expo last week and pick his brain about what he considers to be some of the most important factors to keep in mind if you're trying to make money online.

In his video interview with Abby Prince, Jeremy was talking specifically about blogs and how to monetize them. As it turns out, he thinks the real money in blogs is in affiliate networks. "If you're going to blog about something and link to it" Shoe says, "you might as well get credit for that link".

But here's the catch and why I think there's something to the interview for anybody doing business online – not just bloggers. In order to make money, you sometimes should basically put money making in the back seat. Jeremy said, again specifically addressing bloggers that the typical goal of bloggers is to get new readers and generate RSS subscribers.

If you are just writing posts or making blog entries about just whatever affiliate deal is paying the best rate that day, your readership is quickly going to be turned off and over time, your numbers will suffer. True for bloggers but also just as true for anybody with a website and any kind of ads – affiliate or otherwise.

Jeremy cited the goal of bloggers as being basically building a reader base (aka traffic) and cautioned against turning off your base with bs promotional posts (aka bad/excessive ads).

Most of us aren't just working online for the warm fuzzy feeling it gives us at the end of the day. At the same time, you have to remember that your subscribers, readers, end users and/or customers aren't just using the internet for the sheer joy of reading ad copy and clicking links that make you money.

So yes, advertise. Do create content that you are interested in. Create content your audience is interested in. And by all means use relevant affiliate links and/or sell your ad space to sponsors that make sense to be there with your content.

Your traffic is there for your content, not to make you money. If your user-centric content becomes too obscured or too diluted by your revenue-centric content… your users will go elsewhere.

If you wake up one morning and notice that your traffic is trending in the wrong direction… take a look at your site from the user's perspective. Does your site have more sponsored buttons and banners than a NASCAR? Might be a problem. Prioritize and eliminate. Do you have ads and links up for Secure Servers and Web Hosting on your outdoor furniture site? I don't care what their payout is… it's costing you credibility and in the long term… money. Go find a sponsor that makes more sense. Sure they may pay a little less, but they aren't going to turn off your userbase nearly as much – and they'll probably convert better over time.

So when Shoemoney says one of the biggest secrets to making money is putting money in the back seat... this is exactly what he's talking about. Your userbase is your greatest commodity. If you take care of your userbase, your userbase will take care of you. Building that userbase is a tough thing. Are you really willing to roll the dice on losing a chunk of them just to make a few extra buck this month?

What would you consider to be the most important factor for magnetizing a site (or blog)?

About the Author
Mike is a manager at iEntry. He has been with iEntry since 2000.