How to Earn Money From a Low-Traffic Site
How to earn money with low traffic.
Small publishers face big obstacles when trying to monetize their traffic.
When you’re running your own site, especially if you’re just getting started and especially if you’re in a highly specialized niche, it’s easy to feel like a small fish in a big ocean.
However, even if you’re not drowning in traffic you can still bring in a healthy profit. You just have to know how to use the right tools and play to your strengths.
Find the right ad network
Ad networks might reject you for various reasons.
You may have too few visitors, or your niche is not relevant to the network, or your site simply doesn’t meet the network’s requirements.
The fact is that small publishers often find it harder to get accepted to ad networks.
To get accepted, you need to find an ad network with low entry requirements, many inventory options, and a reliable payout system.
AdSense might accept your site, but the most suitable network for you might be RevenueHits.
RevenueHits is a huge network with a 100% fill rate that displays over 2 billion ads per day. It has no traffic minimum requirement to join, and it’s known for always paying on time.
Your best chance, if you want to know how to earn money with a low-traffic site, is through high conversion. For this, a flexible display is critical. I like that RevenueHits offers plenty of different ad types: text ads, display/rich media, popups, XML feeds, custom formats, apps, and widget monetization.
All of that makes it ideal for small publishers.
I also recommend checking out Media.net (from the Yahoo! Bing Network).
Implement in-text advertising
In addition to display advertising, try in-text advertising, where the ad network creates and insert advertiser hyperlinks into your text. This form of advertising can increase your profits a lot, especially if you have loyal readers.
However, visitors sometimes find it too intrusive, so be cautious when starting with it.
When you applying in-text ads, check if the bounce rate and average time on site decrease significantly. If not, you’re good to go.
The following networks all offer good in-text options:
- VigLink
- Vibrant Media
- BeContext
Sell Your Own Products
Selling your own stuff is a great way if you’re looking how to earn money. The main benefits of selling your own product are that you get 100% profit and you can sell a product that’s 100% suitable for your site content and style.
Some marketing consultants recommend that selling your stuff should be the main monetizing strategy for low-traffic sites.
The easiest things to sell are information products such as e-books, podcasts, downloadable lectures or access to lessons or classes.
There are some great tools out there to help you with selling your things.
E-books are a great way to encourage subscription to your email list – many publishers offer one as a free incentive for signing up. Once you’ve grown your list, you have a mature audience to whom you can sell more expensive products.
If you are an expert in something you can put sell lessons online. You can use platforms like Udemy and DigitalChalk to host your courses and reach a wider audience.
Applications such as Jigoshop and Easy Digital Downloads can be a great solution. Integrated with WordPress, they provide a complete e-commerce plan, selling digital and other non-physical products in light and easy-to-use plugin.
Conclusion
Having a low traffic site doesn’t mean your dream of passive income is doomed.
If you have a loyal, high-quality audience and you’re clever in your sales strategy, you can turn even a low-traffic site into a goldmine.