How to open and earn with a site (immediately)?

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This project and others that I have carried out over the years have allowed me to understand How to Create and Earn with a Site. And even if the promotion and launch of an online project are a business more and more for professionals, some basic rules work, and that allows everyone to start from scratch and create a site that works and makes money. 

In this article

  • What is a website?
  • How to open a site?
  • Buy a domain
  • Buy a hosting plan
  • How to create content and publish it?
  • How to get Visibility and Traffic?
  • How to make money with a site?
  • Isn’t it too late to open a site?

What is a website?

website is a set of interrelated pages, united by a common topic or purpose.

For many, it is a real digital property that can be used simply to communicate and express their creativity.

In many cases, it is instead complementary to an offline business.

More and more it can become the basis of a Digital Business, which starts online and eventually expands offline.

How to open a site?

Before exploring the monetization possibilities, I want to explain to you how to turn an idea into a concrete project.

Obviously, at the base of each site, there must be a Business Plan or in any case a plan to transform an idea into a business.

What distinguishes projects that work from those that fail is the Vision, which is the ability to outline clear lines of development for your online business.

I have created and seen 1000 projects fail simply from the rush to create with no direction and no idea of ​​the future.

Often those who are successful are instead able to shape the development of their projects.

I do not mean that it is not normal for a start-up to change plans, but that planning is an essential phase for the success of a project.

If you want to create a simple site, a blog like this, this Phase can also be solved quickly, but I always recommend that you have an idea of ​​where you want to go and determine what you need to do it.

Buy a domain

The first practical action to create a website is to buy a domain.

The domain is the name of your site.

Giving your idea a name and address is a very difficult choice.

You don’t have full freedom of choice because there are already billions of sites and therefore busy names.

So often in choosing the address of your site, you will have to adapt to the available domains.

There are a thousand services to register a domain.

For Italian sites with the.it extension, one of the most used services is Register. it.

For international domains, the most used services are Bluehost, Namecheap, and Godaddy.

Consider that the cost of registering a domain can start from around 10 Euros per year.

Buy a hosting plan

Once you have registered your name you will need to buy a space on a server that people can access.

The easiest way is to buy a hosting plan from major providers like Aruba, Top Host, Siteground, Godaddy, Bluehost who will host your site on their servers.

In this case, the cost depends a lot on the requested service.

For a blog with few visits, it can be quite content in a few tens of Euros per year.

As visitors grow and the complexity of your site grows, you will need space and costs will increase.

In any case, it is a cost proportional to the growth of the site which can therefore go hand in hand with the earnings.

How to create content and publish it?

When I started building my first sites online, it was necessary to write the code.

It wasn’t difficult, but I must say that making a good site was not immediate.

Today making a site, from a simple blog with WordPress to not too sophisticated e-commerce with Woocommerce or Shopify, is a breeze.

Publishing your ideas is therefore quite immediate and even if you have some problems you will easily find online solutions to solve your doubts or ask for help from professionals as the business grows.

How to get Visibility and Traffic?

If publishing and going online is fast and simple, the possibility of getting visitors is not so immediate.

So if you don’t want your site to remain visible to your mother, sister, and aunt, you need to apply to drive traffic to your site.

The four main sources of traffic are:

  • Direct: that is, visitors who write your address. In this case, at least initially, it will be the people you will be able to contact directly. But slowly the word will spread and if you manage to create hype about your project you will find that word of mouth is still one of the best sources of growth;
  • Referrals: in this case, these are links on other sites that lead to yours. At least in the beginning it will be quite difficult to get referrals but start by trying to put your address in the forum, in the comments of the blogs. If you want to grow faster you can also buy visibility and links on other sites;
  • Organic Search: These are the visitors you will acquire from Google searches. To improve your results in this area you will have to study the so-called SEO and try to optimize your content to be visible to search engines for the search keywords that you consider important;
  • Social: social platforms can be an excellent source of traffic and intercept different audiences by age and tastes. They should therefore be frequented (almost) all, initially focusing on the one that you think is easier to manage and grow.

How to make money with a site?

Some sites are already born with the idea of ​​Earning.

An e-commerce site, for example, cannot ignore income and monetization.

For other sites, however, the production of income comes only at a later time with the growth of the audience and views.

So let’s see what are the possible sources of monetization.

The most classic way to make money with a site is Advertising.

An advertising banner placed within your site will allow you to earn every time your users click on it or (more rarely) view it.

Although it is a form of income, Advertising needs very high numbers to work and be profitable.

However, it is certainly an important possible source of income.

It is not even demanding because you will not need to sell your spaces directly, but you can rely on the services of Google Ads or dedicated agencies, such as The Monetizer who sell advertising spaces on your site for you.

A slightly more advanced form of earning is that of Affiliations.

By placing links on your site to services you believe in or products you use yourself, you can earn.

In this case, you will have direct control of what you promote and you will be able to understand which products your users appreciate.

With affiliations and advertising and partnerships with Brands you can grow and earn, however, if you want to earn more you have to take action and create a Product or Service.

This can be a Product Info, a course, a book, or a physical product.

In this case, your effort will have to multiply and your skills will have to grow to include the ability to manage customers, their expectations, and their problems.

It is not trivial but it can certainly make a difference to make money with a site.

Isn’t it too late to open a site?

When I compare myself with those who are starting to experiment online, I am sometimes asked if it is worth opening their  insurance site.

Today there are a thousand spaces and platforms to be manned that allow you to communicate and sell.

It is not necessary to have a site to make money on the internet.

However, a site is an asset of your property with which to grow an audience of users and potential buyers without having to comply with the rules of a platform that hosts you.

If you are dependent on someone else for your success, you risk being swept away by the new rules of the platform every day.

Today it is not difficult to earn thousands of euros with Youtube, but tomorrow you could lose everything because you are banned for an unfortunate phrase that leads you to be banned or demonetized.

Then there are new platforms with many users looking for content.

One day you may no longer have anyone watching you, perhaps because the algorithm no longer appreciates your content and prefers to shift the focus to sponsored content.

I am not telling you not to use these platforms, but to try to get visibility from social networks to bring the dialogue even outside the platform and in a space that belongs to you and where you are the one who dictates the rules of the game.

If you are also ready to open and make money with a site, let me know in the comments what your idea is and if I can help you in any way.

I’d love to be an inspiration for your next adventure.


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Alfred Williams, a distinguished business writer, navigates the corporate landscape with finesse. His articles offer invaluable insights into the dynamic world of business. Alfred's expertise shines, providing readers with a trustworthy guide through the complexities of modern commerce.