So you are deciding to start a business online. You have your domain and you are just choosing your hosting. But what is the next step? How can you go on to make money from your website, rather than just have an information page that sits on the internet but doesn’t generate any revenue. Have a look at these simple suggestions to help get you started.
Selling Your Products
The most obvious way to make money from your website is to have an online store selling products. If you have a WordPress website, then it is essential to get the WooCommerce or similar eCommerce plugin. WooCommerce is by far the most popular and one of the easiest to use. What it does is allow you to do is to add your products using its user-friendly interface. You can select whether your products are physical products, or downloadable products. The plugin will allow you to take payment for the product, present a download link if this is a downloadable product, or allow you to take the customer’s address if the product is to be shipped.
Shipping settings can also be adjusted through the control panel. You can state where your products are available to be shipped to, and you can add the cost of shipping – whether this is a tiered price based on the cost of the basket, or a fixed price.
Furthermore, you can add your tax settings to WooCommerce to allow you to correctly charge for tax on your products where necessary.
Finally, you could set up coupons which are a great way to offer money off your products and entice people to buy.
Affiliate Website
You could also set up a website that promotes other people’s products and services. Many merchants have affiliate programs which allow you to earn commission for sending them leads and / or sales. They either have their own affiliate programs, or you can join an affiliate network such as Awin, Webgains, CJ, Rakuten and Shareasale – all of which have many merchant affiliate programs. You will normally need to demonstrate your commitment to the promotion of the stores in order to be accepted on to their affiliate programs.
Freelance Business
You may also decide to offer a service that you do not have the skills to provide yourself, and use freelancers to fulfill the orders. Types of sites that may follow this format are SEO service websites, article writing service websites, photography websites, design websites and pretty much any other creative service. Websites that you may use for hiring your freelancers include oDesk, People Per Hour, SEODesk and Fiverr. The trick with this is to charge more for your service than your freelancer charges, and you can take the difference as your profit.
Membership Website
There are many things that you may choose to set up a membership site for. One idea may be to set up online courses and charge membership fees for releasing the e-learning content. You could also use this for VIP offers, niche content, or special offers.
Many people are turning to the internet, either as a secondary source of income, or even to make a full time living. WordPress has all of the functions and abilities to allow you to set up any kind of money-making website. There are thousands of plugins and tools that will help you along your way as you set up your online entrepreneurship and start your online journey.
