Advertising on websites makes Nosense
Over the last few months I have noticed thanks to a few influential forums that I frequent on a daily basis that the most commonly asked question is, “How do I make money from a website?” or “What type of website will bring in the most money?” ….. Oh dear…
When I see webmasters focusing on advertising rather than on content and trying to monetize their website it gives me a cold shiver down my spine. Website owners are getting lured into a false sense of security that if they insert adverts into their website they will automatically make money or better yet, are able to live off this money. Unfortunately in most cases it doesn’t even pay for their groceries. Unless a website is a business directory and advertising businesses is its niche market there should be no need to insert adverts into a website (but don’t bother about this industry, it’s already saturated).
The three types of websites that I am focusing on are the following:
- Retail website: a site that sells a tangible product either selling directly online or from a brick and mortar building with a physical address. The latter type of business will have a brochure website with contact details to inquire about a product before committing to a purchase.
- Consultancy website: a website/company that offers a service in return for a fee charged out to the client i.e. engineer, doctor, seo, marketing, accountants etc
- Resource website: a website which offers interesting articles and/or tools on a certain topic – usually all for free.
All three of the above type of websites should be focused on a particular subject or industry otherwise they are wasting their time. People love specialists not generalists… If the site is focused it will result in targeted traffic (provided SEO has been successfully implemented) and a fair amount of traffic, depending on the industry, could be anything from 10 new visitors a day to 500 visitors a day.
Take a look at the below figures for a moment and understand the returns one could get if a website was designed and marketed correctly (these are my averaged figures which I have used through several website studies):
Website A:
Receives 500 visitors a day
- It has free content and/or tools but also focuses on advertising and only earns an income through advertising.
- On average only 2-5% of visitors click on ads
- Therefore only 10 – 25 visitors click on the ads per day
- Each click on average brings in 0.40c
- Therefore only $4 – $10 is earned per day, multiplied by 30 days
- Equals $120 – $300 per month (R960 – R2400)
Website B:
Receives 50 visitors a day (10% of website A)
- It focuses on content and driving visitors to the inquiry page
- On average only 10% will inquire and 10% of all inquiries are converted into paying customers/clients
- So only 0.5 visitors per day convert into paying customers/clients (let’s work on 1 visitor per 2 days – 15 visitors per month)
- Depending on your target market, R1000 ($125) is the average value per visitor (excluding referrals and possibility for recurring income)
- This equals R15000 per month ($1875 per month)
- The value (R1000) per customer/client excludes repetition sales and referrals a website will receive.
The above figures speak for themselves and do not need much explaining… What it does prove is that if a website concentrates on content and prevents people from leaving the site (quality content) for as long as possible the sales will become more sustainable and exponential. With good service a website can also leverage the traditional word of mouth marketing.
Author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki once said, “Dream big but focus small”. So if I had to take this into internet marketing terms I would concentrate on a niche market, become a specialist in this market and provide my small group of customers/clients an excellent service. Collect as much data as legally possible i.e. email addresses, and keep them updated. They will soon become paying customers and if not them they will refer you to their friends.
So what does advertising on a website actually do?
It provides a very small conversion rate and directs your potential customers/clients to your competitors with a very high possibility that they’ll never visit your site again…
Forget about advertising, it’s not worth the effort for such a small piece of the big pie, rather focus your efforts and enjoy a big piece of the small pie.
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neil@webgrowth.co.za • 27216856083
Neil Pursey 
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