Can My Business Website Help Me Make Money Consistently?
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VIDEO: 5 Ways Your Website Can Be Profitable
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Just having a business website doesn't mean that it will be a profitable asset.
- Websites that help you make money consistently bring in leads, convert visitors to customers, and boost your brand authority.
- If you're website isn't attracting the right traffic, building trust, guiding people to take action, converting visitors to customers or supporting consistent growth in your business, it should be doing more for you.
A Profitable Website is a Smart Business Asset
Most small business owners want to know that when they invest in a website, it’s going to be able to pay for itself.
Your website shouldn’t be sitting on the web doing nothing to help your business, it should be acting like a sales person that works for you 24/7.
If you want to know if your website can:
- Bring in steady leads
- Increase sales
- Support long-term growth
- Create more predictable income
Then keep reading, because I’m going to share how that’s possible.
1. Your Website Should Generate Leads, Not Just Visits
The goal for many service-based businesses is to use their website as a lead generator. There are a few important factors that must happen for your website to accomplish this goal:
- Get steady traffic
- Have clear messaging
- Include a prominent CTA (call to action)
- Traffic sources could be:
- Organic search
- Paid search
- Social Media
- Direct Traffic
- Referrals
In my experience, I’ve noticed that often times the most engaged website visitors come through organic search. This makes sense, because people are actively searching for an answer or solution to a problem. They have a need and they want to get an answer right then.
For this reason, having a strong SEO strategy is a valuable piece of the puzzle when it comes to having a profitable website.
Clear messaging is vital, because people typically decide in seconds whether they will stay on your website or not. That’s a quick window of time to make a great first impression. So, state at the top of your website what you do, who you help, and how people can work with you.
A prominent CTA makes converting visitors to qualified leads possible. If people are on your site, but don’t know how to take the next step in working with you, you risk losing them. Make submitting a contact form super easy for people interested in your services.
If your site isn’t converting traffic into leads, that’s one of the signals I talk about in When to Know It’s Time for a Website Redesign.
2. Selling Products on Your Website
If you sell:
- Physical products
- Digital products
- Courses
- Memberships
- Consulting services
Your website can be your storefront, a storefront that’s open 24/7.
If you’re a brick and mortar store, then adding online sales as a channel of revenue not only makes buying from you more convenient for existing customers, but it can broaden your reach.
With a physical store, you’re limited by who can physically come to you. However, online you’re only limited by how far you’re willing to ship.
I’ve seen small businesses benefit from selling their products through their website. Doing this, they are also able to link their products to the Google Merchant Center, which increases their organic search visibility.
3. Brand Authority Increases Trust, and Sales
Brand authority may not be the first thing that crosses your mind when it comes to increasing business sales through your website, but this is a very important way that a website can help you.
Having a professional website allows you to build trust with people searching for the products or services you offer. Trust is huge when it comes to people pulling out their credit card and making a purchase.
Capital One Shopping Research says that “86% of shoppers start their product research online, even if they ultimately buy in-store.” So, even if you’re not selling anything directly on your website, having a professional presence online can help customers:
- Find you early on in the buying process
- Build trust with you throughout the consideration stage
- Determine which product or service is right for them (if you have helpful content on your site)
- Purchase from you easily
A few years ago, there was a business I was considering making a purchase from. I learned about them on social media, but because it was going to be a large purchase, I went to check the company out via their website to make sure they were legit.
Their business website looked outdated and unmaintained. Seeing that, I initially didn’t make the purchase from them that I was considering.
After months of getting to know the business more on social media, I did build trust with them to to move forward in making that purchase. However, if their website had been as awesome as their social media presence, I would have made my purchase a lot sooner.
Building trust through your website with brand authority can help you seal the deal with potential clients and make more sales.
4. Secondary Revenue Streams: Affiliate Sales
When you have a good amount of website traffic, monetizing your site through affiliate sales can help you increase your income.
Affiliate Listing Pages
Setting up an affiliate listing page is a great option when you have several products you recommend and want one central place to organize them. This would be a dedicated page that lists the products. Then, when people click on the products, they are directed to the website where they can buy that product through your affiliate link.
Blog Posts
Blogging can also give you many opportunities to add affiliate links on your website.
Types of blog posts you can write include:
- How-to post: Demonstrate how to complete a project and add affiliate links to the products you used to complete the project.
- Listing post: This might be a post for the “Top 10 Gifts for Mother’s Day”, or something similar. Create your list and link to each product with an affiliate link.
- Comparison post: Compare two products, one you recommend and the leading alternative. Explain the pros and cons of both, then link to the product you recommend.
There are two critical things to remember when using affiliate links:
- Only recommend products you have used and would recommend to your closest family and friends.
- Add an affiliate disclosure letting people know that when they click on the link, you earn a commission.
5. Monetizing Your Site through Paid Ads
Two great ways you can monetize your website with paid ads are through:
- Google AdSense
- Sponsorship packages
Using Google AdSense on your website is a convenient way to tap into an advertising network that’s already secured paying advertisers. There’s a little bit of technical set-up, but once it’s set up, you can earn money based on impressions and clicks on the ads displayed on your website.
Just be sure to set your parameters on the types of ads allowed to display on your site so you minimize spammy ads or ads from businesses that you and your audience wouldn’t align with.
If you want more control over the ads on your site, you may want to considering selling sponsorship ads to other businesses in your local area or in your business network. In order to do this, you will need consistent traffic that comes from a well maintained and promoted website.
Years ago, I managed online ads for the website of the radio station where I worked. With this experience in mind, here are some ways you can be prepared to sell ads on your website:
- Know the number of monthly website visitors you get
- Be able to share how you market your website to maintain regular traffic
- Have tiered pricing opportunities so businesses have a lower and higher sponsorship option to consider
- Decide on defined dimensions for the ads so they are consistent in size on your website
If ads make sense for your site, this can be a great additional revenue source that makes your website profitable.
How to Improve the Profitability of Your Website
If you’re realizing your business website isn’t helping you make money like it should, it’s time to evaluate your website to understand why. Sometimes businesses need a website redesign, however that’s not always the case.
Sometimes what you really need is:
- Clearer messaging
- Better keyword targeting
- Improved calls to action
- A stronger content strategy
Those are strategic content adjustments, not structural site changes.
However, here are examples of when a redesign may be the right decision.
If your current site:
- Doesn’t represent your brand
- Is very outdated
- Can’t incorporate SEO tweaks into the design and content
- Is confusing to visitors
In these scenarios, a redesign could be a strategic investment to help you be more profitable.
A website redesign isn’t about making things prettier.
It’s about making your website a clear, trustworthy business asset that works for you around the clock.
Quick Self-Audit: Is Your Website Built for Profitability?
If you’re unsure where you stand, start with these questions:
- Am I ranking for non-branded keywords related to my services?
- Does my homepage clearly explain who I serve and what I do?
- Is there one obvious next step on every page?
- Am I tracking conversions, not just website visits?
If those answers feel unclear, your website may still be functioning more like a online brochure instead of a hard-working sales person.
Once you recognize where you’re website isn’t pulling its weight, you can fix it.
Let's Get Your Website Working for You
Your website should work for you 24/7.
It should:
- Attract the right traffic
- Build trust early in the buying process
- Guide people toward the next step
- Convert visitors into customers
- Support consistent, long-term growth
If it isn’t doing these things, it should.
If you realize you need help to turn your website into a profitable business asset, then schedule a discovery call with me today!
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