The previous post on the checklist shows you what to “tick off”, once you’ve completed all the steps of this month’s project. This blog post has your Action Plan to monetize your website traffic.

The Action Plan will help you go through the checklist, without missing any of these steps.

This is the sixth blog post in our series on How to Monetize Your Website Traffic. To read the previous posts, click here.

1. Analyze and Strategize to Monetize Your Website Traffic

Before getting down to monetizing your site, it’s important to make sure you know every fact you can glean about the typical visitor who contributes to your website traffic. Even if you think you know perfectly well, follow this little exercise – the results may surprise you.

• Log into your cPanel and study your web statistics.
• Look for your “bounce rate” – how long the average visitor stays on your page.
• Make note of the particular pages that hold visitor attention for more than 3 minutes. (Those are the ones containing your most popular – and successful- topics and keywords.)
• If your site is in blog format, read back through every comment. Make notes about reader preferences that may have been expressed
• Look your site up in the Google Website Rank Checker. Chances are it won’t show up yet if you’re new to the web, but if there are any stats at all, access every link on that main page and study them in detail.
• Use a tool like the SEOQuake add-on for Firefox to study your site’s incoming links, page rank and other stats.
• Poll your list with just a few key questions (no more than five) about what they look for on your site.
• Ask relevant questions on Facebook or Twitter.
• Check your subscriber list in your autoresponder or chopping cart.
• Ask yourself: “Who engages with me the most?” as well as: “Who buys from me? Who’s willing to part with real cash for my services or product?”

2. Choosing your Monetization Mix

Now that you’ve thought about the person behind the “traffic” label, it’s time to consider what sorts of monetization are best suited to his tastes. Put some thought into what type of monetization is likely to:

• interest
• annoy
• draw him further in
• repel him
• suit his habits
• suit his tastes

Remember to monetize your website traffic – the best sort of monetization has your visitors thanking you for letting them know about it. You’re still solving their problem and giving them exactly what they were about to look for!

Now think about your own tastes and preferences:

• What is comfortable for you?
• What flows naturally for you?
• Where are your talents? (Writing? Graphics? Picking the right keywords? Etc.)
• What types of strategies would be easier for you to implement and maintain?

That being said, if you’re not comfortable with the idea of a particular strategy but your visitor most likely is – try it anyway. To monetize your website traffic, sometimes “pushing the envelope” leads to greater fulfillment than we could ever imagine, if all we ever do is stick to what we know.

3. Researching Your Options

You’ve chosen one or more methods of extra site monetization, but don’t just rush into signing up, willy-nilly.

Take a systematic approach. Integrate your monetization efforts into your long-term business plan.

For example, if you’d like to sign up with Casale Media, but your site doesn’t yet bring in their traffic minimum, focus for now on adding Text Link Ads or some easier network – and slot them in for when you reach your “traffic goal” (their minimum number).

Allow yourself an appropriate amount of time to reach that goal – but knowing what the figure is and having it in mind will help drive your focused efforts towards promoting your site and reaching the Magic Number so you can implement that particular phase of your long-term monetization mix plan.

Getting Started with Monetizing Your Site

You have to start somewhere, so once you’ve got your plan down on paper – “just do it!”

Sign up for that first monetization method or install that plug-in, widget or ad code.

4. Track your Monetization Method Performance

To monetize your website traffic don’t just install a few methods, however, and leave it at that.

Even if your ultimate goal is totally passive income, better know now that while much of your business may end up on autopilot (with planned-for virtual assistants or web design staff providing the rest of your day-to-day labor), the more you track and stay on top of your Monetization Method Performance, the better your results will be… and the happier your visitors!

1. Invest in the time to learn tracking systems provided by the network (affiliate or otherwise) that you’ve joined.
2. Use your own cPanel and web stats to keep track of such things as bounce rates and pages/keywords that are more successful than others.
3. Use the free Google tracking options already available through your Google account (which you certainly have, if you’ve got a gmail address).
4. Consider alternate strategies for sites and pages that don’t perform well. Tweak page components and keywords (one at a time; then measuring, before going on to the next “tweak”). Sell sites that aren’t getting the results you want or that bore you too much to run; or that you find too difficult (someone else may thank you for the chance to salvage them).

When you’ve identified your top performers in your site monetization, pour even more effort into them. Monetize them with Facebook ads, or drive more traffic to them using an Article Marketing strategy.

5. Be Aware of Current and New Trends – and Use Them

Don’t just rest on your laurels if something’s working, however. Always be on the lookout for new ways to monetize your sites (while prudently keeping in reserve, at the back of your mind, the famous maxim “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.)

Analyze new networks and check for feedback complaints or raves about performance before hurrying to sign up.

See what your competitors are investing in, with regards to site monetization. Is there anything they’re doing that:

1. Adds extra oomph for their visitors?
2. Would add it for your visitors too?

For example, if your niche focuses on golf swings and your competitor has discovered a new Superclub, which he’s now advertising – consider advertising it too.

The last thing you want is your visitor to start visiting his site over yours because he’s got the link to that great new catalogue!

Besides, discovering a new trend (read “Monetization method performance”) ahead of the pack always brings you the biggest returns and the best authority status! It’s well worth the investment of your time.

Remember…

1. Analyze and strategize. See what fits into your overall plan
2. Choose your Monetization mix. Factor in your skills, tastes and preferences – as well as, naturally, your visitors’ needs and desires!
3. Research the options you’re most interested in implementing, to double-check they’ll do the best job for you (and bring in the most income!)
4. Track your Monetization method performance
5. Be aware of current and new trends – and get into the habit of being one of the first to implement and use them

Get into the swing of repeating these good habits and planning properly for your site monetization every time you create a new site.

Monetize Your Website Traffic

That’s it for the Monetization Website Traffic Checklist.

This post concludes our “How to Monetize Your Website Traffic”.

Here are the six posts on the topic of How to Monetize Your Website Traffic.

1.
Monetize Your Website Traffic

2.
Monetize Your Site with Affiliate and Article Marketing

3.
Traffic Monetization Strategy

4.
Monetize Your Site and Advertising

5.
Monetization Website Traffic Checklist

6.

Action Plan! How to Monetize your Website Traffic