Monetizing Your Traffic: Making Money Via SEO
SEO – or search engine optimization – means creating a website and curating content so it can be positioned favorably in the search engine results page. This will allow you to reach valuable organic traffic, a stream of traffic that is interested in your product and are sensitive to your call to action. All search engines, have SERPS – that is where content like web pages and local listings are placed based on criteria set by the search engine. Typically sites with pertinent information related to the keywords used in the search engine will be placed highly.
To further understand SEO and why it should be part of your online marketing plan, it’s necessary to define its tenets.
Quality of Traffic. With search engine optimization, webmasters, bloggers, small businesses, and corporations can attract visitors from around the world. However, if visitors are landing on your website because the search engine thinks you’re an authority on Apple picking when in reality you’re an expert in Apple computer repairs, then that’s not quality traffic. SEO ensures that the visitors that do visit your site are genuinely interested in your product and brand.
The Quantity of traffic. You can tap into various streams of traffic by ranking for particular keywords.
Organic results. Advertisements make a significant part of the search engine results page. Organic traffic is the sort of traffic that you don’t have to pay for. It’s natural and organic – people visit your site because of raw curiosity of a want to be educated on a particular subject, and your site is in the right place due to you organically ranking for specific keywords.
The benefit is that there are many ways that it can be monetized. It’s is about connecting web users to your online platform. While there, you can use widgets, memberships, physical products, and affiliate offer to monetize this traffic. This sort of traffic will also provide opportunities for lead generation and branding.
Lead generation and branding are not as immediately rewarding as having readers sign up to your membership site or purchase from affiliate links, but they are just as important. With lead generation, you’ll be able to convert strangers into people who have indicated interest in your product or surface. Branding is about humanizing your content and fostering trust with your readership, aspects that can be completed with content management, an aspect of search engine optimization.
What Search Engine Optimization Is NOT
SEO is not a quick fix. It’s not like other marketing techniques, like running a promotion that lasts for an arbitrary amount of time. It is ongoing and changes with what the search engines are looking for.
It begins by optimizing your website, building a network of inbound and outbound links, and fostering your brand. You cannot expect massive traffic with just a few links and several pieces of content. It is a marketing strategy that may be a bit difficult to monetize at first, but it’s an approach that works as long as it’s done correctly and strategically.
How To Make Money With SEO
1. Using Advertisements. This is one of the more easier ways to make money with organic traffic brought in due to your search engine optimization efforts. Google Adsense uses contextual ads, allowing you to make money when a person clicks on the ad and responds to the landing page. The efficacy of advertisements will depend on your niche.
The best Adsense integration formulas will take into consideration the ad click-through rate, and the revenue per click (cost per click.) To increase your revenue with ads, you will need to increase traffic, the CTR, or the CPC. With a bit of A/B testing, you will be able to fine-tune all through for massive gains.
You can increase traffic via content management. Create content with your long tail keywords so you will gain organic visitors. Link building is also important. Linking your website to your social media platform, relevant forums, and other trustworthy websites will cause a spike in traffic.
The spike of traffic will then lead to a higher click-through rate or the number that actually click through the ad because it is relevant to their needs. It is also essential that you strategically place your ads in the header, above or below the titles, within the content, or aligned on the left or right of the page. Where the ad is placed will depend on your website’s design and your topic.
CPC is how much money you will get with each ad click. There are specific niches that are almost guaranteed to have high CPC, and these niches include topics about real estate, credit cards, insurance, and information technology – these are also niches that are highly competitive. While the amount you get per click is mainly dependent on the topic being covered, quality traffic and keyword selection will ensure that the ads that are being shown are relevant. Ads are becoming “smart,” automatically displaying ads that are relevant. It does this by analyzing the metadata in your written content, photos and infographics, domain, and links.
2. Put Eager Readers In front of Your Call To Action.
A call to action – simply noted as CTA – is a statement designed to get an immediate response from your online readers. It’s akin to a sales pitch, lifted from brick-and-mortar marketing that has been adopted for the web. With SEO marketing you are targeting to your demographic, and the call to action is designed to get your target market to respond favorably. This action can be something like subscribing to your email list, investing in a product, clicking a particular link, or to call in.
Call to actions are straightforward, but many moving parts can confuse those who are just now investing in an online presence. Typically a call to action will include some sort of action verb like:
- Sign-up
- Register
- Donate
- Share
- Follow
- Call
A compelling call to action will also include a statement of urgency, like noting that the offer will expire soon, or that supplies are running low. It’s important to note that in the age of the internet, millennials are keen to point out disingenuous offers and liars. Do not break the trust that you have with your readers by lying. Use math and numbers whenever possible – math is stripped of agenda, can help represent information without any hidden motives to muddy the message.
3. There Is A Need, and Your Services Are The Answer.
When search engine optimization brings relevant traffic to your online platforms, then you can connect them with services. This is a more involved way of monetizing your search engine optimization efforts, but it is the most rewarding. There are numerous ways that you can provide a service to your online readership.
Consulting and reporting. Are you an expert in accounting? Know your way around Excel and other popular programs? Then you can offer your expertise to the masses.
Monthly and subscription-based packages. With this type of model, you will be guaranteed a monthly income. However, unless you are outsourcing it, it can be very involved. Another entry barrier is that subscription-based services do not work if you are not a trusted authority in your particular niche, with a proven track record of success. A sort of monthly or subscription-based services may be viable for those with dedicated readers.
Selling Physical Products. Affiliate offers will reward you with a percentage whenever a person decides to buy an item. The Amazon Associates network is one of the more popular merchant options. The amount you will receive is on a sliding scale – the more you focus on your efforts, the more traffic you will bring to your website, and the more you will be able to gain as an Amazon Associate.
4. Becoming An Authority With SEO
Search engines mostly prefer authority sites – these are multi-level sites driven by content, representing a respected and trusted source of information on the internet. It’s a more significant site compared to niche sites, delivering value through its editorial standards. Creating an authority site takes time and effort.
Authority sites are able to sell products and services using different platforms. It can strategically utilize offers, advertisements, sponsored content, and affiliate links without overwhelming their readers. The main commodity is information, as most authority sites are blog-style platforms, where written content is spotlighted over services.
Google and other search engines are also giving preferential treatment to these sort of sites. Several algorithm changes note a deviation from smaller niche sites, honing in one larger platform.