How do I make money on my website or blog?

Users who are running their own website may be interested in monetizing it to help with the costs associated with creating and maintaining content. There are several resources that individuals can utilize to generate money on their website, including referral programs, associate programs, and Internet advertising.

Advertising and associate programs

The amount of money generated from the website and which programs will accept you is dependent on the amount of content on your page. It also depends on the amount of traffic your website receives. Below are a couple of the more popular advertising and associate programs on the Internet that can help generate money on your website.

Amazon associates - The Amazon's associate program enables any user to set up links to any Amazon goods. All purchases of those linked goods or other goods made by a user while on Amazon after clicking an associate link from your website will generate a small percentage of income for you.

Google AdSense - One of the largest advertising networks, Google allows users to set up advertisement banners on their website and have the ads generated off the content of each page. Any ad banners that are clicked on (CPC) will generate revenue. Google AdSense is the advertising network that Computer Hope uses.

There are many more services that allow users to make additional revenue from their website that are not listed on this page. If you have a favorite site or a site you often purchase products from, check for any "associate" program. Big sites often have associate programs and allow you to make money for referring people to those sites.

Sell goods or services

If you plan on creating a website that is going to sell goods or services, you will either need to set up a web store or a way to accept payments.

• Accepting credit cards on web page.

Micropayments

Micropayments are another way to make money on the Internet. The idea behind micropayments is that if someone has enjoyed or found the content on your site or blog useful, they will send you a small amount of money. With the potential of thousands of people sending you small amounts of money, you can generate a large revenue from your site's content.

Flattr - A great service that allows anyone to send a small amount of money to any website with a Flattr button. The service works by you depositing how much you want into a Flattr account and then, at the end of the month, your deposit is split among every web page you clicked the Flattr button on.

Donations

If you have a unique web page or service that is difficult to monetize, you may also want to consider creating a place where your visitors can donate money to you. Below are a couple of the more popular options for setting up a donation system on your website.

Amazon honor system - A popular and widely used service because of the amount of people who already use the Amazon site for purchasing goods. The Amazon honor system allows for anyone to set up a method of accepting donations on their web page.

PayPal - Another very popular method of accepting donations, PayPal is a widely used service and an easy way to accept donations from your visitors.