Any basic advice to a beginner about ways make money from a website?

**Beverley** · 13 January, 2009, 09:55 AM

Hi,

I have a reasonably successful website selling personalised products which are ordered online then mailed out to customers. I'm doing pretty well and making a moderate income. However, I'd really like to know if I can make my website bring in some extra money. Trouble is I don't know how. My PR is only 5 (not I know what that means because I don't - but 5 out of 10 doesn't sound like much to me).

As you can probably guess, I'm not really very IT savvy - but I've done well by knowing what my customers want then providing it. I'd love to get into the whole area of making extra money through websites - but I've no idea where to start.

I may not be very technically adept yet - but I'm intelligent and hardworking and if anyone has any advice for me, I'd be really grateful. Thanks for reading this post.

**elbandelero** · 13 January, 2009, 10:10 AM

A pagerank of 5 is considered pretty good by most people, so don't worry too much about it.

As for increasing revenue from your site, I'd be wary of adding advertising or affiliate programs that would take away the incentive for site visitors to actually buy your product. You'd be better off working on increasing your visitors count or increasing the range of products you sell.

**Stylosa** · 13 January, 2009, 11:41 AM

What elbandelero says^

I'd be looking at increasing the traffic to my site if I were selling specific products. It makes little sense to advertise for the competition! Theres tons of stuff around this forum on SEO (search engine optimization), take a look at these threads

Link Building Tips

Article Distribution Services

A PR5 is pretty good to, this site should give you an insight as to what PR is.

What is PR?

**Will.Spencer** · 13 January, 2009, 13:25 PM

Originally Posted by Beverley

I'd really like to know if I can make my website bring in some extra money.

What tools do you currently use to analyze your web site traffic?

Use those tools to determine what keywords are bringing traffic to you.

Next, find out where you rank in Google for each of those keywords.

Every keyword that brings you traffic and which you do not already rank #1 for is a keyword for which you might improve. Examine the search results above you and drop the keywords which are too competitive.

Now you have a list of keywords with which to proceed to link building.

In parallel, you also do keyword research using a tool like WordTracker to find new keywords which could bring you traffic. Build pages targeted towards those keywords and monitor your sites progress in the SERPS.

Also in parallel, you may wish to evaluate the on-site SEO of your site.

Originally Posted by Beverley

I've done well by knowing what my customers want then providing it.

There is nothing more critical to success than that.

**mixke** · 13 January, 2009, 13:36 PM

Originally Posted by Beverley

My PR is only 5 (not I know what that means because I don't - but 5 out of 10 doesn't sound like much to me).

PR5 is okay to make some extra money by selling links but excessive outgoing links can result in drop in rankings. If you happen to take the path of link selling to raise money, then link only to the related sites.

Where are your visitors coming from - search engines or direct traffic? If you're mainly getting direct traffic, then try to work hard to improve rankings in Google search results. Search engine traffic converts really well. You may also consider buying advertising spots on high-traffic sites that are related to yours. This can result in an increase in the sales.

Also search about Google Adwords - it can also be used effectively to increase sales. It's up to you to decide the path, but there are definitely many ways to make money from websites.

**budhi1976** · 15 January, 2009, 00:15 AM

From your information below, I believe traffic is all you need. As elbandelero and Stylosa said, there's no point of putting affiliate links or other advertisements as they are only driving your visitors away. Why bother with commission if you can make 100% full profit, right?
Regarding the spesific on how to increase your traffic I believe Will has it covered (thanks Will, I learned something my self)

Originally Posted by Beverley

Hi,

I have a reasonably successful website selling personalised products which are ordered online then mailed out to customers. I'm doing pretty well and making a moderate income. However, I'd really like to know if I can make my website bring in some extra money. My PR is only 5 (not I know what that means because I don't - but 5 out of 10 doesn't sound like much to me).

As you can probably guess, I'm not really very IT savvy - but I've done well by knowing what my customers want then providing it.