In Virtual Real Estate – Buy or Build?, you learned why it’s such a good idea to purchase a website already up and running. You have made a wise decision. Now all you have to do is raise enough money to buy your first piece of Virtual Real Estate. But wait, doesn’t it take money to make money? Not if you already own your own website. No website? No problem. Yes, you can even convert Facebook, MySpace, or any of the other free sites into a small affiliate site. In this article, we will explore many ways to uncover hidden cash in your virtual attic. You’ll discover how to do this through marketing, monetizing, and other forms of strategic leverage.
Since history repeats itself, we must first learn from those strategies that may have worked in the past. Keyword stuffing, duplicate content, and article spinning may have been good in the past but could now get you banned.
Here are some good ideas for ways to generate hidden site revenue:
Creating and Submitting Articles
Since there is already so much information on the Web, you need to be creative. You could also hire a Ghostwriter to write unique and useful articles for your target audience. Make sure your articles are true, eye-catching, and engaging. Why? You’ll need to captivate your visitors within the first 3 seconds before they click to the next site.
Blogging
Blog daily and make your content unique. The same goes if you are posting to a newsgroup. You can do this yourself, but may need to spend your time on other activities. Hiring a Blogger will free your time and allow you to do what you do well.
Affiliate Marketing
This is a marketing practice in which you reward someone whenever they bring a customer to your website. For example, you may reward an affiliate marketer with either points or cash when their lead buys from your site. This is pricey but can earn you a high return for your investment.
Link Baiting
This requires creativity to make the content on your website interesting enough for your visitor to click a link. Here, the “link bait” is any content or resource of value to your visitor. It’s strategically placed on your website and meant to elicit their click through. It also acts as their endorsement of your website’s credibility.
Link Building
This is very time-consuming since you must find quality sites similar to yours and ask for links. However, since this is the basis of “Organic SEO”, it’s an excellent opportunity to hire someone. Once found, you can offer them something in trade, like a guest blog spot, for their link.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
A few years ago this was very popular but has lost much of its appeal in recent years. Since this too is a relatively pricey option, make sure you do your homework before you choose a pay-per-click program. Also, remain open to other methods, such as pay-per-sale programs, that lower your risk even further.
A more modern method of attracting customers is to give something away for FREE–also known as VM (Viral Marketing). One of the greatest sayings in business is “Under Promise and Over Deliver”. Offer your visitors valuable content or services for free to build your credibility and win their trust. They will pass your information along to everyone else until you end up with your own automated sales force.
Why is this so helpful? You may need to expose your prospect to your offer an average of seven times before you make a sale. Each time you give a visitor unique and useful free content you build rapport. But remember, more important than the fast buck is the repeat customer. A loyal customer’s needs, if served properly, are endless.
These are only a few of the many ways to uncover hidden site revenue. However, they should be enough to get you started. Now that you have a little money, you need to learn how to buy your first website…
*Originally published on WorldStart March 18, 2010
