Haven't heard the word "monetize" before? My spell checker hasn't either. It's a new word, I guess. It means to find ways to make money from something -- in this case -- finding more ways to make money from your Web site than simply selling advertising. Many of my friends in the on-line world have high traffic web sites. They slaved to build these monstrous content-laden sites with millions of visitors per month. Then the rug got yanked from under them and left them with extremely popular and expensive to maintain communities with no other method of covering costs than advertising revenues. And ad revenues are 1/10 or less of what they were in the Internet hay day.

The future of ad revenues appears to be bittersweet. According to a Newsbytes article, spending on digital marketing in the US will grow to US $21 billion by 2006. This is according to Forrester Research. The research firm says that Web display advertising will account for 5.4 percent of the total US ad spending by then. This would mean that spending on Web advertising would be roughly equal to the amount spent on magazine advertising. Forrester says that 60 percent of current spending for online advertising goes to AOL Time Warner, Yahoo, and Amazon, and that this percentage will only get bigger, meaning that many small online publishers will go out of business or need to find other methods for monetizing their sites.

I once heard marketing guru, Jay Abraham, refer to your marketing strategy as pillars on the Parthenon. If you want to strengthen your Parthenon (your business), you've got to have more than one pillar holding up the structure. In his analogy, each pillar is a method of marketing your business. I like to use this same analogy not only for marketing, but also for revenue generation. In tough times (or even in good ones) you need multiple revenue streams supporting your business. I've been preaching to close Web friends for several years that they needed more than banner revenues to support their businesses, but not until the recent collapse did they see the need for themselves. They lost their one pillar and are now scrambling to clean up the mess.

So what are some revenue streams you can add to your Web business? Here's the mix that I use.

Lay Your Foundation with Residual Income

When I used to do computer training, my business was very seasonal. No one wants to take computer training from the week before Thanksgiving through mid-January. And few people are in the mood for school in the summer months. For years, we suffered this feast and famine roller-coaster ride. Even when I switched to consulting, then online work, I noticed definite trends. I've kept a thorough record of quantity and sources of sales for years. At any point, I can see what I sold last December and compare it to this December or even 4 years ago. The cyclical trend was remarkably predictable, until I started developing subscription services. Get enough people giving you $15-$30 a month, and you level out your cash flow. A good solid base of people paying you on a monthly basis gives you the security you seek. Of course, even catastrophe could strike at your base so you need other revenue generators in place. So let's continue by adding some pillars.

Create Your Own Products

Developing your own products and services, gives you the highest percentage of profit. Information products generate an excellent profit margin -- nearly 100%. Examples of these are online courses, ebooks, teleclasses, etc. You can even develop your own physical products like books, manuals, kits, etc. For example, my friend Debbie Williams of OrganizedTimes not only sells her Home Management 101 book, but she also bundles products into kits that help people organizing everything from kid clutter to the entire home.

Sell Other People's Products

Retail other people's products that compliment your content. For example, a site about pregnancy could sell all those fun gadgets they have for babies -- like cribs that attach to the mother's bed so that the baby can safely sleep nearby. A parenting site could sell the innovative new product from Box4Blox.com that encourages kids to pick up and organize their Legos™. Think of being able to offer your visitors a solution to Lego™-pain! (You know what I mean... that excruciating pain of stepping barefoot on a Lego™ in the middle of the night.) It'll take some research, but find enough wholesalers willing to give you a cut for reselling products that your audience needs, and you've got a winner. Bear in mind that I'm not talking about fly-by-night or low margin affiliate programs here. Most of them don't pay or go out of business before they cut you the first check. You want to find reliable suppliers. It may mean you have to do some shipping yourself. Or you might find companies that will drop ship.

Marnie Pehrson, a mother of 6, has been highlighting truth and talent for 15 years. Whether it's writing a novel that spotlights individuals who've made a difference in the world or helping a talented entrepreneur create a platform for his life's work, Marnie underscores truth and talent in innovative and compelling ways. She is the creator of www.IdeaMarketers.com and helps experts promote their products and services online. For more information on her various projects and books, visit http://www.pwgroup.com. Contact the author, Marnie Pehrson , at marnie@pwgroup.com
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