Website Profits - multiple income streams

You've got a great idea or product. Your website looks great. You're creative, an artist or visionary...and your website is losing money. No, you don't have to have one of those tacky "commercial" looking websites to turn a profit. What is really needed is basic marketing and money making principals, along with some thoughful planning. Lets take a look.

Do you...

Have your own domain name?
You certainly realize that free sites with commercial banners across the top (which take your visitors away if they click on them, or drive them away because they're obnoxious) don't look professional. It's become a fact of internet life that you need your own domain name in order to be taken seriously as a business online. Unless you're a hobbiest, you need your own domain. Find your domain name here.

Have a design that expresses your purpose?
First you have to decide what the purpose of your site is. Make the fonts, colors, and text be unique and expressive. (You might want to read my article, Great Design Ideas, too.)

Don't go for templates that everyone else on the web is using; in my opinion, poorly designed sites are part of the problem on the web. Your site should be content rich, and well laid out for the visitor. Be original, you're a creative person...your website and business should be an expression of your own personality. If you're a musician, put samples of your music on your site, along with photos, a blog, or forum, calendar, and be sure to include a mailing list sign up option! If you're an artist or writer...create web friendly versions of your work to post online, and create a great blog that reflects your artistic vision.

Please don't splash ad banners all over your pages. You can use them with discretion, but consider: how many times have you actually clicked on a banner? Show your good taste, and use text links instead, a few Google Adwords, or small graphics - and when applicable) write a personal little paragraph about why you like the program. Recommend it to visitors only if you would recommend it to your closest friends - no junk or hype please!


Many artists only want to promote their art, and that's great, but don't be so much of a purist that you don't explore the possibilities of multiple income streams. Remember, no successful person has just one income stream. Let your art or product sell, and in addition, consider sharing several carefully selected products/services too.

Other people just want to promote a large amount of affiliate programs. This is fine, but careful planning must be used to avoid your page looking like one huge flashing banner fest! You've seen those pages...remember how quickly you clicked away? Your site needs to be interesting and informative, or visitors will move on. Affiliate pages can be effective using the methods outlined below.

Choosing an Affiliate Program
You don't want to scam anyone. You want a legitimate service that actually helps others. You want something that doesn't make your site look tacky. And, the best affiliate programs pay you residual income - that is - month after month, instead of just one time. What kind of service would that be?

Let's take Cognigen as an example:

What if you could save money on your long distance telephone bills, dial-up ISP, or DSL, cell phones, pagers, and a ton of other cool stuff...and help your friends save money too? Would you place a link from your site to such a service?

What if you actually made money, month after month on these very services?
What if it were free to become an affiliate? Would you be interested? I thought so! Click here :-)

Below are some of the links I promote on various pages of my site. Each program "fits" with the page on which it's placed -- and I've written a little blerb about each one instead of just placing garish graphics all over the pages. This lends credibility to my affiliate programs -- you know I'm using them successfully, and you can feel good about checking them out. Take a look at what I mean:

Zzounds offers the widest selection of name-brand instruments at guaranteed lowest prices. I buy musical gear there and I've always been happy with products and service. Since this link is on our pages relating to musicians, it's a logical part of the page design. (If I placed this link on my business page, it would look weird!) If your site is for/about music, you will probably benefit from becoming an affiliate, too.

This little graphic below is something I have on a promotional page. Its one of a few exceptions to my basic 'anti-banner' stance, because it's unusual and truly helpful!

MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO PAY YOU with a Paypal Credit Card Gateway Verisign secure processing works on any server and offers credit card processing at reasonable prices . Use it with an existing merchant account (instead of buying their $500 - $600 gateway) or use one of my recommended internet merchant accounts. This is a gateway I recommend to my clients due to its ease of use and shopping cart compatability. Paypal is a leader in internet security! (This link is also part of my write up on doing business on the web.)