There are only 3 real ways to earn money online with a website – each method has its limits; only by observing and understanding these limits can you take your website to the next level – especially if you are just getting started online!

They are Advertising, Affiliates and your own products! Let’s go through each of them in detail.

Advertising has been the most overused stream of income; yes, there are websites that make millions from the advertising BUT what everyone seems to keep forgetting is that these same websites have tons of web traffic. Unless you have a lot of web traffic at your website, advertising programs like Google Adsense and Yahoo Publisher will not earn you much money.

Affiliate Programs are the second most used stream of income – (An affiliate program is a form of advertising, except you select the product/service you want to recommend to your readers; if anyone goes through those links and purchases the products, you get a commission) -

Its the most easiest program to sign up to and creates a win-win situation; But many blogger’s over-do this – they recommend useless products and services, which then damages their reputation as a blogger or website. You do not want to be recommending products that do not provide value to your customers/readers.

The question always arises that “how many products should I recommend” – bottom line is, if they are all products/services that genuinely provide value to your readers, then recommend them all!

That said, it is not easy to find products that genuinely provide value – so it is recommended to have already used those products and services before signing up to their affiliate program.

It is important that the recommended products should be something that your readers are already interested in. For example, if your website is a health website, you do not want to be recommending a washing machine – it may be the best deal ever, but your readers are most likely not interested.

Having your own products to sell on your website is probably the least used from the 3 sources of website income – especially if you are a blogger; but this is the most important. If you are a blogger, you can create all kinds of digital products – audio books, ebooks, videos and more!  This is where your creativity can help with creating valuable products/services – you can even give away free trails or samples for readers to try out; gaining their respect at the same time.