Digitising A Website
Implementing an Ecommerce structure to your website
Business Development
Marketing
websites
Digitising your business and translating effective word-of-mouth strategies into a successful online presence involves several key steps to successfully monetise your website.
Creating a digital Presence
- Website Development: Build a professional and user-friendly website. Consider hiring a web designer or using platforms like WordPress, Wix, or Shopify for ease of use.
- Social Media Profiles: Set up profiles on major social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn). Customize them to reflect your brand identity within your owned channels.
This element of your business digitisation is the cornerstone of the evolution of your business and it is the architecture and type of business model you wish to develop online that will demonstrate whether you are trying to statically recreate something that was first designed to thrive in era before digital or whether you are committed as a business to develop something and a revenue stream that is best delivered online.
If you think of it as much as a diversification project as a web build you can discover significant additional revenue streams that if nothing else through monetisation may help toward the expenses of the site build and maintenance.
For example, many office-based businesses have diversified to offer hot-desk or meeting room hire, to allow for the shift in working patterns and offset the lease costs associated with the building.
Additionally, you may find that the process of new business pitches has changed your new business operations and that to opt for freemium ecommerce structures may assist in your new business activities. If you have built a wealth of expertise in a specific area, why publish this free? Why not make some money out of the downloadable content?
best ways to monetise a website
How to Monetise a website
Contrary to popular opinion the ‘monetisation of your website’ is not limited to selling or hosting of advertising space. The term monetisation refers to any method whereby your site makes money. You would need to be able to offer something of value – product, service, content or platform and charge a fee online.
Below there is a list of methods to charge money and earn online within a recognised digital business model.
typical eCommerce types
Some typical eCommerce types could be identified as:
- E-Commerce:
- Summary: Involves buying and selling goods or services over the internet. Examples include online retail stores, marketplaces, and platforms.
- Subscription Model:
- Summary: Customers pay a recurring fee for access to a product or service. Common in streaming services, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and content platforms.
- Freemium Model:
- Summary: Offers basic services for free, with the option to purchase premium features or an upgraded version. Common in mobile apps, software, and online platforms.
- Advertising-Based Model:
- Summary: Provides free content or services to users and generates revenue through advertising. Common in social media, search engines, and content-sharing platforms.
- Affiliate Marketing:
- Summary: Earns revenue by promoting other people’s products or services and earning a commission on sales or leads generated through the affiliate’s marketing efforts.
- Digital Products and Downloads:
- Summary: Involves selling digital goods such as ebooks, music, software, and online courses.
- Marketplace Model:
- Summary: Connects buyers and sellers on a platform, facilitating transactions. Examples include online marketplaces for freelancers, products, or services.
- On-Demand Model:
- Summary: Provides immediate access to goods or services as needed. Common in industries like transportation (Uber, Lyft) and food delivery.
- Crowdfunding:
- Summary: Raises capital by collecting small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically through online platforms.
- Data Monetization:
- Summary: Generates revenue by collecting, analyzing, and selling data. Common in businesses that leverage user data for insights and targeted advertising.
- Online Auction Model:
- Summary: Conducted entirely over the internet, participants place bids electronically, and the highest bidder at the end of the auction wins the item. Common platforms include eBay, where users bid on a wide range of products.
- Online Workshops, memberships and Package pricing:
- Summary: Generates revenue suitable for online consultations, meetings and professional advice or in some instances forums, VIP areas and other such personal exchanges or discussions. Calendar bookings, video meetings and other group interactions can be delivered remotely.
Implementing a new digital model
Once you have decided what, if any, digital business model to implement, introduce or transition to, you are in the position of being able to work through the necessary elements of the proposed web build project with a view to briefing this into a specialist website developer or agency.
Essential to the success of this is having a clear summary of product structure and brand and your objective for the build alongside a budget.
Providing the analytics tools in the first instance is a wise idea, allowing content, structure and engagement reports. Understanding where your business is at in terms of repeat customers, sales lifecycle, and whether your current sales activity is being driven by demand for the product or by the products that drive the higher percentage of return. And relaying the key points to the development team, is equally important. Additionally, providing your actual competitors is an absolute requirement, whilst the analysis and tools available to any experienced digital marketer or SEO will be able to generate gap analysis and other vital statistics on competitor performance, it may be more valid for the longer 6-12 month period of your business digitisation.
From here, a technical specification is required and I would strongly recommend you obtain input from content marketing specialists, SEO experts and UI/UX alongside skilled brand or design teams.
Aside from your owned media, you will also need to plan the delivery and objectives of your other digital marketing and resources and allocate budget. The process of budget allocation is usually determined by the forecasted value each channel can bring to your business, however, in a project whereby you are taking the first steps to transform your business into a competitive digital operation, you may want to focus on competitor analysis and spend some time attributing budgets to allow feasibility testing.
