A website is the most basic and primary requirement for any business today – let alone a digital one and in Dubai. Your web presence works as your sales representation that never sleeps – it markets you and entertains your visitors 24*7. And if you already have a website – you definitely want to make money off it. And fortunately, there are tons of models to monetize websites.
Hi, I am Hady Shaikh.
I am the Senior President Business Unit and Strategy at CMOLDS UAE — and principal product strategist at heart who spends his typical day building product strategies, custom technology stacks, monetization frameworks and startup funding opportunities for tech entrepreneurs in the Middle East.
Today, I am writing this article as my contribution to the digital economy. This article is packed with quick insightful information and has the essence of my 10 years of experience working web development companies in Dubai and building revenue strategies for websites, web applications, mobile apps and SaaS.
In this article, I am covering:
- Top 5 monetization strategies for websites
- How to optimize user experience of website for monetization
- How to create a monetization mix for your website
- Top Monetization Strategies for Websites
Let’s begin!
Top 5 Monetization Strategies
Advertising
Advertising is the most popular monetization strategy websites – and especially web businesses that are online magazines, blogs, travelogs and forums. You can display promotional content on a website to generate revenue in thousands of Dirhams through programs like Google Ads.
These advertisements can go in different formats: display ads, native ads and video ads (that play before or during video content.)
You can choose to partner with search engine’s ad programs or their alternatives, or show premium content on banners by doing B2B partnerships.
Subscription Models
Subscription models offer access to premium content or services in exchange for recurring payments from users. This can include freemium models where basic content is free but premium features require payment, paywalls that restrict access to certain content until a subscription is purchased, and membership programs offering exclusive benefits to subscribers.
Take example of The Economist, Medium and Harvard Business Review – these platforms give limited access to content – and then website visitors have to pay a subscription to access more or unlimited premium content.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based strategy where websites earn commissions by promoting products or services from other companies.
Website owners place affiliate links or banners on their site, and they earn a commission when users make a purchase or take a specific action through those links.
A lot of websites have a mixed monetization strategy where they earn from affiliates, commissions and sponsored content – and as a web entrepreneur, you can choose to affiliate with 1 website – or 20 websites depending on your niche, readership and audience, content skills and organic traffic.
There are countless options when it comes to choosing affiliate programs and you can choose to promote physical products like baby bouncers to digital services like hosting plans.
However, according to UAE and international data and privacy laws, you’ll have to disclose to your readers that the links or content you are showing has affiliations and that you may get commission when users purchase from your link.
Sponsored Content
Your website can also earn a decent passive income if you collaborate with advertisers directly and promote content that aligns with the website’s audience’s interests. This content is usually labeled as sponsored or promoted and can take the form of articles, videos, or social media posts, and most popularly – how-to tutorials and reviews!
For sponsored content, it is ideal to build the topical authority of your website in a niche – for example digital marketing, SEO, or home décor or dental care – then approach B2B partnerships for corporate revenues as well as influencer blogging packages.
E-commerce Integration
E-commerce integration means to sell products or services directly from your website. This can include setting up an online store, integrating shopping cart functionality, and facilitating secure online payment processing so website visitors can make direct purchases and downloads (in case of digital products like courses).
You can start a consultancy program – with recorded or 1:1 sessions, meditation guides and even product delivery business from a website.
How to start a monetizable website business?
At this point, if you are searching a monetization mix for your website, I am assuming you already have a website – and some decent numbers of content pieces that build your authority and reputation in a specific niche.
🡪If yes, start with optimizing the user experience of your website and auditing the search engine figures. Begin with:
- The loading speed of your website – it should be under 3 seconds if you wish to attract, engage, retain and convert visitors. You can check the loading speed from the official PageSpeedInsights website from Google.
- The organic keywords of your content and organic traffic – you can find this with free extensions of premium tools like Ahrefs and SemRush. But in the long-term, I recommend buying these tools to optimize your website for search engines.
Once you have these set up, check the entire look and feel of your website. You can ask a web developer in Dubai to even comment and give you feedback about the user experience of your website.
🡪If no, meaning that you don’t have a website, the first step is to build one. You can choose to go custom with a web development company doing the professional design and development process after discovery of your goals and business requirements; or, launch a website with ready-made templates from WordPress and Wix.
Once you have a website and it has high-end user experience – the loading speeds are decent and there is a balance in genuine informational content versus ads, it’s time to apply for affiliates, B2B partnerships, influencer campaigns and ad programs.
Conclusion
When your website is up and running, you have to pick a mix of monetization strategies. For example, I recommend my clients to optimize their websites for Google Adsense as well as affiliate partnerships. Similarly, websites that offer 1:1 consulting should also sell digital downloads and online courses. Lastly, with both of these options, you can integrate ecommerce and choose to sell your own products – or dropship after sourcing from platforms like Amazon.
Matthew is a seasoned researcher and writer with over five years of experience creating engaging SEO content. He is passionate about exploring new ideas and sharing his knowledge through writing. Matthew has a keen eye for detail and takes pride in producing content that is not only informative but also visually appealing. He constantly expands his skill set and stays up-to-date with the latest SEO trends to ensure that his content always performs well in search rankings. Matthew can be found reading, surfing, or experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen when he’s not writing.