Running a website is a tough, time-consuming process. In the early stages of your website development, enthusiasm and ideas are plentiful, but before long, creating new content on a regular basis, driving traffic, and remaining motivated can become a challenge. Ask anyone who has ever created a website or a blog, how easy the long-term process is and they will probably look at you and say “Don’t Bother.”
If you have managed to get over those frustrations and are starting to see your daily traffic growing on a regular basis, the time may have come to monetise your site, and finally reap the rewards of all your hard work, sweat and tears. Once again, as seems to be the case in the digital world, monetizing a website is always more challenging that many people have been lead to believe.
You could always add something like AdSense, which does generate some income, and actually, enables you to sell ads for Google. This is a relatively hands-off option, although it can be fraught with danger. A few quick searches on the internet reveals many stories of accounts being closed permanently, with no real explanation. This can be both frustrating and devastating if you have worked hard to grow your site. Another option that many people are turning to are ad networks or supply-side platforms such as SmartyAds SSP.
These types of sell-side platforms have a vested interest in ensuring that their adverts work for you, the site owner, as well as the company advertising, who after all is the person paying for the adverts in the first place. The first benefit when using a SSP is that advertisers get to choose where they want those adverts to appear. For your website, this means that in theory at least, your readers will see adverts that should appeal to their passions and interests. This means that rather than a computer generated advert, that might have no relevance to your audience whatsoever, they get to see relevant, interesting adverts.
The business model for these type of advertising platforms relies on the company retaining your website within their portfolio so that they can sell more laser focused adverts. For you as a site owner, this means that they, have a vested interest in your success because if you don’t start to generate income, there is no point in your continuing to let that company run adverts on your website.
In essence, this then becomes a mutually beneficial relationship, where you can continue to focus on growing your site and brand, and the ad tech company focusing on generating sufficient income to keep your business.
Perhaps your original idea of starting a website was just for hobby purposes, maybe you never even considered monetizing it before reading this article, but either way, it certainly won’t hurt to ask a few questions, or make a few inquiries. Even if your site only earns you enough money for a weekend break once a year, at least you can demonstrate to your partner, that there are some benefits that come with owning your own website.
