There are
four basic ways to make money from your web site. You can sell products and
services. You can sell subscriptions or memberships. You can make money from
advertising. And you can use your site to generate referrals and commissions.
Most
businesses only use one or maybe two of the four. You can increase your direct
revenue and your opportunities for cross-promotion if you consider them all.
Here's a
review of what you need for each. In every case you want to deliver what your
customers expect and automate as much of the process as possible.
No matter
what you're selling you'll need a good shopping cart. Online shoppers expect to
be able to pay with credit cards and with PayPal and complete transactions
online. Your shopping cart should calculate shipping charges and sales tax
automatically.
If you're
selling physical products, make sure you've worked out all the fulfillment
details. Make sure that you have a shipping and inventory system that will
deliver great service to your customers.
You can
also sell digital products such as e-books and Special Reports. Buyers will
expect to be able to download their digital product as soon as they've
completed paying.
You can
sell services. Many companies are conducting classes on the web, called
"webinars." You'll need to be able to take orders and send
acknowledgments to those who sign up. You'll also need a reliable way to
deliver your webinar.
You can
make money on your site by having subscribers or members who pay you a fee. A
membership or subscription fee is simply payment for privileged access.
You can
make money on your site from advertising. This used to be quite complicated.
But today, with Google's AdSense program just about any site can generate
advertising revenue.
The bottom
line in increasing revenue is using as many of the above income generation
methods as you can, as effectively as possible. It's another case of how the
marketing magic is in the mix.
Matt Dinca
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