Earning money online can give a lot of freedom to work when and where you want to.

But how to make money with a website?

That is what I will explain in this article. I am myself making a full-time income online from websites, so I know from personal experience it is possible to do – even for complete beginners.

I will show you some of the ways you can make money from a website, but not only list them but also tell you how well each of the methods works, in my experience.

I will also show you what, in my opinion, is the best way to get started with making money on a website and how long it takes.

Is it even possible to make money with a website?

When I first started looking into making money online, I looked in many different directions until I came to the conclusion having a website would give a lot of opportunities to make money.

At first, I was however not sure if it could really work or if it was just a way for the big famous bloggers.

Well, I can tell you now from personal experience that you do not have to be famous to be able to make money by having a website.

It is 100% possible to learn to make money with a website even if you are a complete beginner.

The main issue is that most people do not know where to start and just jump around until they give up.

In the beginning, focus and consistency are very important to be able to start seeing results.

Then it is definitely possible to learn – you just need to be aware that it requires work and effort. It is not a get-rich-quick thing to have a website.

In fact, there are no get-rich-quick tricks online that really work – they are usually just scams.

But if you are willing to work for the freedom it can give, then having a website is an amazing way to make money.

You will find many articles online about ways to make money on websites. The problem is, in my opinion, that many of them are superficial and just list ways without giving in-depth info to help you find the best approach for you.

Mostly the reason for this is that many articles are written by hired writers that are not actually making money on websites themselves.

I have a full-time income through my websites myself, so I know what I am talking about.

So on the list with possible earning methods below, I will not only list possible ways but also share the good and bad about each of these approaches to help you find the right approach for you.

Popular ways to make money on websites (and if they really work)

There are actually quite a few ways to make money once you have a website.

All of them are ways to be able to make good money, but not all of them are a good long-term strategy, in my opinion.

The list will help you get an idea of the potential of having a website if you build it correctly and use the right ways to monetize it.

Something to be aware of is that it really does not have any limits. Once your business starts rolling, you will start seeing new opportunities all the time.

So this is a list to help you find the best approach for you to start building an income. Then after the list, I will show you what, in my opinion, is the best way to get started and how you can easily get started with it yourself.

Method 1 – Sponsored articles

The first method is something that will not be possible until your website starts getting some traction.

Once you start getting more traffic and more attention online, you might be surprised how interested companies will be in getting a cooperation with you.

Many companies have it as a part of their strategy to buy articles on websites to get the word about their brand out there.

They know how much research we all do online, so by getting positive articles placed on websites is a great strategy for them to create positive buzz – this is also what is known as influencer marketing.

As a website owner, this means you will have the opportunity to sell articles to some of these companies. Sometimes they will write the articles and just send to you, and other times you will have to write it.

Either way, they will pay you for posting the article on your website and get in front of your audience.

How to get started with this method?:

This is something you cannot do at the beginning. You need some traction and some traffic to your website before companies will be willing to pay to post articles.

Once you start getting traction, you can reach out to relevant companies yourself.

But in many cases, you will see that companies will reach out to you as well. For some of my websites, I regularly get emails from companies that want to post articles on my website and are willing to pay for it.

Pros and cons:

The pro of this method is that it can be quite easy money. If the company provides the article themselves, you just have to post it.

The con is that it might hurt your credibility with your audience if you are not careful. There are also laws about making it clear if an article is paid for, so make sure to look into this if you want to use this method.

I know for many people it can be tempting to just say yes to whatever offer when a company asks them to post sponsored articles to make a quick buck.

Personally, I think this is something to be very careful about.

Your credibility and the trust you build with your audience should always come first. Personally, that is why I have so far always said no to offers like this.

I do not want the content in my articles to be controlled by companies but focus on what helps my readers. In the long run this will not only give you more satisfaction but also build trust and thereby also income opportunities.

I am not saying it is wrong to accept sponsored articles as it definitely can make sense.

But I am saying that you, in my opinion, should consider carefully how well it fits into your overall website and if the content really helps your readers or not.

If it is valuable to your readers then why not say yes and earn a bit extra. But if it is not valuable to your readers, I would be very careful about accepting the offer.

It can really hurt your overall long-term opportunities to just go for the quick buck over quality.

Method 2 – Selling links

A way many website owners are making some extra money is by posting links to certain websites.

To understand why this can make you money you need to understand a bit about search engine optimization.

One of the things that can affect a website’s rankings in Google and other search engines is the number of quality links pointing to the site.

As high rankings in Google are worth a lot, many people try to manipulate the search engines by buying high-quality links to their site to boost their rankings.

Therefore, once you have a website that is starting to be popular, you will very likely have people reaching out to you to buy links from your website.

I know many bloggers and website owners see this as easy money and it can be very tempting to say yes to. However, it is something I personally do not participate in for the reasons I will explain below.

At least you need to know the risks if you decide to make money with your website like this.

How to get started with this method?:

You can actively post offers on freelance platforms like Fiverr where you offer people to buy links from your website.

In many cases, you will, however, start receiving emails from people wanting to buy links from your website as soon as it starts being more popular.

I regularly receive emails with requests like this for some of my websites.

A link from a popular website is seen as a high-quality link, and people are therefore very interested in getting these and in some cases willing to pay quite a lot for them.

Before going into this, just please make sure to read the next section as it comes with some risks to get involved in this.

Pros and cons:

The pro of this is, of course, the easy money you can get out of this. Once you have a popular website, you can actually get paid up to several hundred dollars just for including a link to certain websites.

However, even though this might sound tempting, I encourage you to be careful about this.

By Google, this is seen as a link scheme meant to manipulate the search results and it goes against Google’s guidelines for links.

If Google finds out (and they get better and better at finding out when people try to manipulate), you can end up getting kicked completely out of the search results.

If this happens, you will have no more organic traffic to your website.

In addition to this, I have personally always declined offers like this because I think it is unethical.

All of us wish to have the best results shown when we search online and we would hate if the results we are looking for are manipulated. So why then try to manipulate the results for others?

In my opinion, it is a risky practice to participate in. I am not saying it cannot be effective and it can make you some extra money.

But again, you have to think long-term and think about creating a sustainable income online – that does not come by selling a link once in a while.

And it can even risk getting you into trouble and jeopardizing your long-term income if you are working with getting organic traffic to your website.

Method 3 – Guest posts

Guest posts are sometimes related to the link method above.

Often people might be willing to pay you to post a guest post from them on your website if they get a link to their website included.

It can make sense, and guest posts can bring a lot of value to your website and visitors if you get the right guest posts and do not just accept everyone that pays.

Personally, I would only accept guest posts from a really good author that could bring a lot of value to my readers.

In a case like this, that value would be enough for me and it would be a part of a cooperation. I would not actually charge for a guest post.

But I know people that regularly sell guest posts so it is possible to make some extra money like this.

How to get started with this method?:

If you want to earn on your website by selling guest posts, you can either use a freelance portal to announce you are selling, or you can work hard on your website and then people will eventually start contacting you about it themselves.

Pros and cons:

The pro of guest posts can be that it can really bring value to your audience if you work with the right people.

The con is that if you are too eager (and greedy) you might end up allowing guest posts just for a quick buck and if the quality is not good enough, it can end up hurting your brand.

Also, be aware that if guest posts are sold with the purpose of manipulating Google rankings by getting links, then it violates Google’s guidelines and it then has the same risks as the method mentioned above.

If you are going to post guest posts, I would definitely encourage you to focus on quality and make sure it is not a post that is posted many other places as well.

Then it can bring value to your website. But again I have to say that the focus should be on building a long-term sustainable income and you should not build an online business based on income like this, in my opinion.

Method 4 – Ads

A very popular way to make money on a website is with ads – this is properly also the most well-known way to earn.

How it works is that you build your website, and then you apply for an ad network.

Once you have been approved, you can embed ads on your website, and if visitors click the ads, you will get a small amount.

What it takes to be approved for networks depends on the network. One of the most popular ad networks is Google Adsense. It is not too hard to be approved for this.

It only requires a few good pages and some good content, and then you will be approved and can start using the ads on your website and getting paid for the clicks.

Other networks, like for example, Mediavine has bigger requirements. Mediavine, for example, requires that you have at least 30,000 sessions on your website per month to apply.

Some networks have higher limits and some have lower.

How to get started with this method?:

This is one of the easiest ways to start making money on a website if you choose the networks that do not require you to have a certain amount of traffic.

You have to apply to the network you wish to be a part of yourself.

There will then be an approval process where they look at your website to make sure it is legit and appropriate, and if it is, you will be approved.

Usually, the approval process does not take long. If you should end up getting rejected, just look at the feedback why you got rejected and fix whatever the issue might be.

In the case of Google Adsense, the most common reason from my experience is just that people apply before setting up their website properly.

If that is the case, just keep working on the website and apply again a few weeks later.

Pros and cons:

The big advantage of making money from ads on your website is that it requires almost no maintenance. Once it is set-up, it will run more or less on autopilot and generate income for you every time a visitor clicks an ad.

The con is the very low revenue you mostly get from ads. It takes A LOT of traffic to make any real money like this.

It can be great in combination with other methods, but if you want solely to make money from ads, you really need a lot of traffic.

Also, ads can come across as spammy and disturb the user-experience on your website. That, of course, depends on how it is set up.

But overall, ads are definitely a real way to make money on your website.

Method 5 – Affiliate marketing

When I first started looking into making money online, I had not heard about affiliate marketing. If you have not heard about it yet, you can check out my affiliate marketing guide for beginners.

But let me also just here shortly explain what it is and how it is a way to make money on your website.

It is a way where you sign up for an affiliate program for a product or service you would like to recommend to the readers on your website and that is appropriate for your niche.

You will then get a link (an affiliate link), you can share on your website together with your content. If people end up clicking the link and taking a certain action (for example buying or signing up for a free trial), you will get paid a commission.

In my case, I, for example, often recommend the learning platform Wealthy Affiliate, as it is what has helped me create a full-time online income.

In the article where I recommend this, I post my affiliate link. If someone clicks the link and decide it is the right option for them and joins, I get paid a commission for referring them.

It will always cost the same for the person joining so it has no extra cost for them. The commission is paid by the company to you – so it is a way for them to spend their advertising budget on commissions instead of on regular ads.

There are millions of affiliate programs and you can find great services and products in more or less any niche.

How to get started with this method?:

If you want to start earning through affiliate marketing on your website, you first need to find services and products relevant to your website and your niche/topic.

This is not hard to do as there are millions of programs available. A quick Google search will quickly show you several programs you can join.

If you have certain products or services you really like and would like to recommend on your website, you can also go directly to that company’s website and check if they have an affiliate program – in many cases, they will have.

If you do not find info about it on the website, you can also reach out to the company. Most companies are happy to hear from potential affiliates.

Some companies are definitely more friendly than others and some are a bit rude if you are just starting out.

But there will always be many you qualify for and that are friendly and helpful so do not give up if you are rejected for any programs – just move on to the next. There are plenty of opportunities.

Also, as your website grows, you will properly start receiving emails from companies themselves asking you to join their affiliate program.

I regularly get emails like this. If it is a good product or service, I happily check it out and recommend it if it is worth recommending. If not, I will just politely say that it does not fit with my overall strategy and my approach.

Pros and cons:

I will be honest with you – in my opinion, affiliate marketing is a really great way to make money on a website. I make a full-time income like this myself.

It has many advantages. First of all, the income potential is huge. You can keep growing and the sky really is the limit.

Also, you can earn while at the same time helping your visitors. You can provide valuable and in-depth info and recommend products and services that can truly help people. At the same time, you can then earn a commission.

You do a lot of work to provide info to make it easier for people. They find your info and it saves them a lot of time. They get information and you get a commission – it is a win-win situation and that is one of the things I love about affiliate marketing.

The only disadvantage of affiliate marketing I can think of is that not all people do it ethically. Some people are willing to recommend whatever pay them a commission even if it means people will end up potential wasting a lot of time and money.

This is not a sustainable and satisfactory way of doing business, in my opinion, so if you go into affiliate marketing, I recommend doing what I call honest affiliate marketing, where you focus on truly helping people.

Then it is a great way to earn on your website as you can earn while helping others at the same time. Great combination, right?:-)

Method 6 – Sell your own product/service

Depending on your interests, a great way to earn on your website can also be to sell your own products or services.

If you, for example, have a brick or mortar business, using your website can be a great way to get traffic and attention.

Your website can be used no matter what kind of product or service you want to sell – whether it is a digital product, a physical product, coaching, counseling, memberships to a gym, or anything else.

When you understand how to get traffic to your website, you can convert this traffic into leads and potential clients/customers.

I sometimes do freelance work for clients that have websites, and I am amazed at seeing how few people are actually using their website correctly.

Mostly, people think it will be enough to just have a website and then the clients will come. Unfortunately, that is not quite how it works.

Having the website is the first step, but you need to know how to then use it correctly. If you learn this, it can really put you ahead of your competitors and generate a lot of leads to yourself or other businesses.

How to get started with this method?:

If you want to use your website to get clients for yourself, sell your own product, or generate leads for others and make money this way, you, first of all, need to understand how to generate traffic for your website.

A great way to do this is to use blogging to promote your business.

If done correctly, it is an amazing way to give value to website visitors, boost your rankings in the search engines, and eventually make money.

So I would definitely recommend you to consider using blogging as a part of your website strategy.

Pros and cons:

The clear advantage of selling your own product or service is that you are in charge. You decide what kind of product to sell and what you want to offer.

You are not dependent on when others want to pay you or run campaigns.

The disadvantage is that it, of course, also comes with more responsibility and you, first of all, need a product or service to sell.

If you are just starting out, you might not have this yet, and then it can take a long time to develop. But you can also start with some of the other methods, and then eventually it can develop into creating your own products or services.

I know many people that have started this way, and then as you work online and start making money on your website, you will start seeing more and more opportunities and get inspired to create a product or service yourself.

How long does it take to make money with a website?

Now we have gone over some of the ways you can earn money on a website and what you need to consider for each of the methods.

One question I often hear is then how long it will take to start making money on a website and how it is possible to do it fast.

Honestly, I completely understand this question because many of us who want to make money online want it for the freedom and we want it asap.

There is, however, a big danger in focusing too much on how fast you can start earning. Of course, it is fine to focus on the money and having goals to pursue.

But if you go into it and see it as a marathon and not a sprint, you have a lot better chances of succeeding.

I way too often see people starting a website to make money and get the freedom they are longing to get – but they expect to get it overnight and without any effort.

After just a few weeks they often then give up.

It is possible to make really good money with a website, but it will not happen overnight. If you treat it as a way to create a long-term sustainable income and are willing to work hard and do not give up, then you will definitely succeed.

But if you are looking for a quick fix, then you will most likely fail. And you will very likely end up losing a lot of money by joining online money making scams that promise you can become rich on autopilot without any effort.

How quickly you succeed will depend on many things – mostly it will depend on the time and effort you put into it. It takes some work, but in my opinion, it is definitely worth the effort.

The best way to get started

There are many ways you can earn money on a website, but what is the best way to get started then?

Well, it depends on your preferences.

If you already have a product/service, then I would suggest you to learn blogging and use this to build your business and generate leads.

But if you want to start from scratch and create a sustainable income online, then my clear recommendation is to use affiliate marketing.

It is something you can do no matter what topic you are interested in, and you can thereby start earning by working with what you are passionate about.

In addition to this, it has a huge potential and you can keep growing it.

You can combine it with some of the other methods on the list above. Especially combining it with ads is something that can boost your income, but you just need to make sure it does not destroy the user-experience.

If you want to use the methods of selling links or sponsored articles, you need to first build a website with a decent audience.

Personally, these methods are NOT something I recommend or use, and if you want to use them, just be aware of the risks I mentioned above.

In my opinion, to succeed long-term you need to focus on quality and long-term income over a quick buck. That will lead to the greatest chance of success.

I clearly recommend learning proper affiliate marketing – the skills you learn by doing this is something that can take your online income and website in any direction you want and it has huge potential.

I have learned affiliate marketing myself from scratch and know just how big beneftíts it has – it takes work but it is definitely worth it.

If you want to read more about the platform I have used to learn step-by-step how to create a full-time income online, you can just click the button below.

Final thoughts

Having a website gives you huge opportunities to earn online.

There are many ways you can use to generate an income on your website. Which one is the best depends on your preferences and approach.

I hope this article has given you a good idea about some of the potential ways to earn online and also has given you some insights you will usually not find about what to consider before deciding which option to go for.

Personally, I prefer, first of all, using affiliate marketing as a way to earn on my websites as it has huge potential, I can help people and make money myself at the same time, and I do not need to develop or own products myself so I can work wherever I want to.

If you want to learn proper affiliate marketing, my #1 recommendation is clearly the learning platform Wealthy Affiliate.

I have tested many online platforms, and this is by far the best option and the one with the best support and step-by-step training to succeed online.

No matter what, it is, in my opinion definitely worth putting some effort into building an income through a website – the freedom that comes with this is priceless. And I hope this article has helped you see some of the many opportunities there are online.

And once you get started, more and more opportunities will keep showing up, so my best advice is to just get started and put the work it takes.

 

If you have any comments, questions, or have any experiences with making money on a website yourself, I would love to hear from you in a comment below.