I’ve had several people ask me how to make money from their website lately. They have sites that get a lot of traffic but aren’t sure where to start converting that traffic to cold hard cash. Here are 4 quick tips on how to start…

1) The first is selling ads directly like you mentioned below. The “rule of thumb” is to sell ad space on a CPM basis. (Cost per thousand impressions). A site like Mashable.com charges $15 CPM. Some charge $5-$7 but it’s rare. The best thing to do would be to find 5 comparable sites that have a comparable target market (similar advertisers) and request their “media kits.” The media kit will include their site stats, demographic info (sometimes) and the CPM rates they charge. Your client will be able to use this to determine what the market may be willing to pay to advertise on her site and what is fair for her to charge based on how she compares to the competition.

2) Join a content network like influads.com. There are many startups right now that will help you sell ad space through their network if you have high quality content and traffic.

3) Join affiliate networks like Commission Junction (CJ.com), Pepperjam.com or ShareASale.com. These are less favorable but eliminate the need to “sell” the ad space. You can identify products that you think your readers will like and post links, ads or editorial content about the product. You don’t get paid for impressions but you can get paid for clicks or get a % of every transaction.

4) Lastly, sign up for Google Adsense and let them serve ads on the site. This requires a LOT of traffic to make much money but you get paid per click instead of a % of sales and it requires no effort on your part.

All of the above or any combination thereof is a good place to start.

The other way to interpret this headline might be – Three Google changes that will punish those who fail to embrace change. Sounds a bit harsh, but the reality is that search and being “found” online is all about relevance.  If you can’t be found online quickly, your relevance is going to be severely diminished.

But the rules of how sites get found are changing, and Google is applying new tools to help everyday users find what’s relevant to them. Obviously nobody wants to be on the wrong side of this coin, so let’s take a closer look at what these Google changes mean for your website – and your business.

Blocking undesirable websites

Everyone comes across bad websites while searching. Inappropriate, ineffective, unprofessional, or just not to your liking, there are many ways to define the “undesirable” website. It’s a universal truth that Google wants to improve by allowing people to block websites they don’t find appealing, much like you would “hide” the excessively chatty friend on Facebook or colleague on LinkedIn.
Blocking search results is currently available to individuals with Google accounts, but it’s not likely to end there. Google’s mission is to “organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful” – not just useful to people with Google accounts.

Ultimately, this has real potential to negatively impact individuals and companies that are too aggressive with keywords for SEO purposes. Up until now, casting a wide net was an acceptable yet frowned-upon practice to driving traffic to your site. Now it’s about using only the right keywords to attract only the right people who are actually seeking out your company goods and services. Failure to do so could get you blocked from a lot of potential traffic. As Google gathers data on what sites get blocked a lot, it will certainly become a relevance factor at some point that will impact your search engine ranking.

What’s the takeaway?

- Ensure your website is an accurate, value-added destination for your desired customer base.

- Use keywords appropriately and accurately.

- Ranking for keywords that aren’t super relevant to your company is a “red flag” that, in time, could backfire and actually hurt your search engine rankings

- Candidly ask yourself – could my site be an undesirable website?

“A pretty big algorithmic improvement to our ranking”

Words like these from Google should catch your attention. While Google openly admits tinkering with its algorithms to adjust for new content coming online, an algorithm tweak that impacts nearly 12 of all English language web queries is significant.

So what exactly is Google saying?

Translation:  when it comes to ranking websites, good content is rewarded, bad content is not.

And that begs another question: “what is good content?” Thankfully it is relatively simple answer.

Good content doesn’t imply the content on one site is superior to that from another. Instead it means the content is original – created and frequently updated by site owners. It has the end user in mind. It is less about you and more about your customer and the value (by way of content) that you provide.

Gone are the days when you could convert your static company brochure into a neatly minted website or conveniently recycle the ideas or opinions of others and pass it off as original content.

Through its algorithms, Google is making a conscious effort to reward websites that contain original content – such as research, in-depth reports and thoughtful analysis – with higher rankings. As a result, web users should see more robust content on the web and amenable web managers will be duly rewarded with quality traffic. Whether or not a site’s content is truly good and valuable will remain a visitor’s subjective and personal call.

What’s the takeaway?

Don’t get outranked by your competition. Reassess your web content and determine if it is:

- original and frequently updated; avoid being static

- relying too much on reposting of someone else’s content without original commentary

- thoughtful and relevant regarding your visitors’ needs and questions

- more robust than a promotional piece about who and how great you are

With +1, search gets social and applies

Just like applying a “like” to a friend’s status update on Facebook, now you can get the equivalent of a “like” with +1 approval from people you trust right in your Google search results. It’s this level of simplicity – a simple click of the +1 button if you like the search result – coupled with the recommendations of people both within and outside your social network that makes this relevant with a high potential for success.

As Google suggests in its rollout of +1, this is about relevance. Much like the blocking feature, people need a Google account to take advantage of +1… at least for now. In time, it’s conceivable that +1 data will factor its way into search rankings. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised to see +1 supplement the current value of “links” in determining your search ranking.

All of this is to say that “social relevance” has jumped the tracks to “business relevance” in a new way, and the practices honed in the social forum will have greater impact regarding the visibility of your business website going forward. It also echoes with the consistent message heard in the blocking tool and ranking algorithm:  provide meaningful, relevant content to visitors, or else…

What’s the takeaway?

Revisit your website and scrutinize it like a customer would and ask:

- How relevant are you in comparison to your competition?

- Are you talking to yourself and about yourself, or are you providing meaningful, relevant information to your visitors?

- What would make anyone want to +1 your site?

Final Thoughts

To state the obvious, the web continues to evolve. But recent changes initiated by Google also signal that the website model we’ve all known and embraced is changing.

Staying informed is critical to remaining ahead of the curve. If you want to avoid being blocked, poorly ranked and without the +1s that soon everyone will be seeking to score in the months ahead, heed our advice in the takeaway sections. And if you need our help, remember that we live and breathe this stuff.

This post is inspired by Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire change.

Every business has two options for marketing their products and services.

Option 1: The “What/How” Approach

“My product has great features, an amazing warranty and a fair price. Want to buy my product?”

Option 2: The “Why/Belief” Approach

“I believe in solving this problem. It should be easier/better and that’s why I do what I do.”

In his lecture, Simon explains that the brain uses different parts to process the What/How and the Why/Belief messages. Interestingly, the part of the brain that processes the Why/Belief doesn’t have the ability to control language. It’s the part of the brain that gives you your “gut feeling” or your “something doesn’t feel right” sensor. It’s the part of the brain that controls what you believe and helps control decision-making. Ironically, it’s the last part of the brain to which businesses typically appeal.

Simon used some well-known brands as examples of companies who use the Why/Belief approach but I want to use a local Columbus company called Zen Windows founded by Dan Wolt. After decades in the window business, Dan developed the belief that, “It shouldn’t be this way. The customer deserves better.” So he created Zen Windows upon the foundation that he believed buying windows should be simple, relaxing and comfortable.

Dan could have done what everyone else does and start a window business with the belief that “I have great windows and can make a lot of money if people buy my windows.” Instead, Dan started his business with the WHY – based on a core BELIEF that drives everything he does.  Dan’s business model appeals to customers who share the same belief that buying windows should be easy. As Simon says in his lecture, people buy your products as a way of saying “I believe that too.”

Here are the two marketing options again using the Zen Windows example:

Option 1: The “What/How” Approach

“My windows come with triple pane glass and are energy efficient. You can get them in tan or white. I’ll give you a discount if you buy today.”

Option 2: The “Why” Approach

“I believe buying windows shouldn’t put any pressure on the homeowner. I want you to make the best decision so I don’t confuse you with pricing games. Here are my products. Let me know how I can help you make a good decision.”

Who would you buy your window from? Dan sells his belief before he sells his windows. Not because he thinks it’s a good strategy but because he truly believes it should be a better experience. That is why Zen Windows has become one of the top window companies in Ohio with minimal marketing and a small team. It turns out, there are a lot of homeowners who share Dan’s belief.

COLUMBUS, OH– (September 22, 2010) –  Adept Marketing, one of Ohio’s fastest-growing internet marketing companies, is proud to announce that it is one of nine companies in Ohio to receive the new Google AdWords Certification.

“Adept Marketing is firmly cementing a reputation of excellence in the paid search industry,” said Adept Marketing co-founder Danielle Walton. “Our team looks forward to helping companies generate revenue through a variety of search engine marketing strategies as we continue to strive to become one of the top internet marketing companies.”  

This new certification distinguishes Adept Marketing as a skilled expert in Google AdWords programs. The rigorous certification training included industry recognized instruction on improving performance across search and display programs.

Google AdWords replaces the former Google Advertising Professional program with the new program requiring agencies to meet higher standards for certification. AdWords offers pay-per-click advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both text, banner and rich-media ads. The AdWords program includes local, national, and international distribution.

With an expertise in all areas of marketing, Walton said they were pleased to utilize the newest tools in the search engine marketing tool box. “We have always stayed on top of industry trends and look forward to sharing the benefits of being a Google AdWords Certified partner with our clients.”

What is your perception? If you don’t think PPC has the potential to produce a positive ROI, you should talk to us. 100% of our PPC clients are making profits.