The best ways to monetize your website and link in bio

Website monetization is a segment of the creator economy that allows creators to profit from their original, or not-so-original, work. This could be content posted on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, a website homepage, or within their Linktree bio. Essentially, it’s monetizing your fanbase where they are consuming your content, all while trying to funnel them into other places they might find you.

Four ideas for monetizing your website/content

1. Add an affiliate link

Affiliate marketing is a promotional strategy where companies award you a commission based on customers you send their way, or those who buy their products after consuming your content. After joining an affiliate program you’ll receive your own link, a unique URL that tracks anything from traffic to sales that resulted from your efforts. Commonly we see these links in things like product reviews, unboxing videos, or try-on hauls where your audience is exploring the subject of your content and actively looking for places to find it. 

2. Use Google AdSense

Google AdSense operates using a simple “pay per click” (PPC) technique, where businesses purchase digital ad space to promote a product or service. As a creator, Google AdSense allows you to display ads on a webpage or within an app, earning income when someone clicks or when you display the ad to enough visitors. With AdSense, website creators earn 68% of the revenue generated from content and 51% from search ads. Many consider it to be a reliable monetization method because Google pays creators consistently monthly. 

To monetize with Google AdSense as a creator, you must first ensure your website meets Google’s terms and conditions and sign up for an AdSense account. 

3. Open an eCommerce store

eCommerce Ecommerce stores are virtual storefronts where people buy and sell goods. Most commonly hosted on platforms like Shopify, these stores allow creators to sell products by others at a profit, or their own merch to adoring fans.

According to experts, 95% of all purchases will occur in eCommerce settings by 2040. That means online stores not only bring lucrative possibilities for digital professionals and businesses to monetize their websites, but they’re also a wise investment for the future. 

Examples of the kinds of products available on eCommerce stores include:

• Digital products (webinars, online courses, podcasts)
• High-quality digital downloads (photography and video presets, illustrations, audio elements like sound effects) 
• Physical branded merchandise (clothing, accessories, etc.)
  

4. Create sponsored content

Sponsored content is a post (blogs, videos, social media posts) published by a creator who’s partnered with a paying business or brand. Engaging with companies covering some or all of the costs of running a website can be a profitable monetization strategy for creators. 

Companies finance a blogger‘s publication within a website’s content vertical to take advantage of potential advertising opportunities for their goods and services that align with the content the audience consumes. 

Websites feature sponsored content such as product reviews, business updates, or direct promotion of a brand, often written by the individual or team behind the rest of a website’s publications. Creators can monetize twice from sponsored content because they can charge sponsors a fee for creating the content and a publication fee.   

As a creator, factors to consider when producing sponsored content include:

• How much your audience trusts you to influence their behavior
• The number of sponsored posts you’re willing to make and the time it will take
• Whether producing sponsored content will dilute your audience’s affinity toward your website  

Two types of opportunities for sponsored content exist: inbound and outbound. In inbound sponsorship opportunities, brands reach out to creators directly. In outbound sponsorship opportunities, creators pitch themselves to brands. Either way, sponsored content can potentially pay very well. For example, the highly influential Buzzfeed charges $100,000 for a sponsored content post. 

Seven popular ways to monetize your Linktree link in bio

Linktree rolled out a product feature called Commerce Links that enables users to scale their businesses and earn income for their creations. There are two main commerce links: Support Me Links and Request Links. Support Me Links allow users to collect payments and donations from visitors right on their Linktree using PayPal or the Square app. Request Links allow visitors to directly request goods and services from your Linktree.

With these two types of Commerce Links, there are infinite possibilities for you to get creative and monetize your link in bio. To discover the best ways to use Commerce Links on your Linktree, be sure to check out some of the ways others are taking advantage of these features to monetize their passions, like these:

1. Receive payment for your services

As a creator, you can use your website as a portfolio to promote your services to potential clients. The numbers don’t lie: Freelance content producers who have websites charge 65% more per hour than those who don’t. Just think of the exciting monetization possibilities that can come from creating a landing page with an attention-grabbing Hire me! button. 

You can also consider advertising expertise in areas such as

• Content marketing and improving search engine optimization (SEO) 
• Content writing for businesses like ghostwriting blogs
• Designing websites

Professionals can also use websites to monetize in-person services and expertise. Fitness professionals like personal trainer Adiva McKensie are using Linktree to receive payment for their services. A quick look at her link in bio shows McKensie set up commerce links so her clients can purchase individual training packages via her Linktree, @GetFitWithDiva. 

2. Take product orders

Linktree also is a useful platform for food and beverage companies to receive orders. For example, independent restaurant Forage San Diego receives payment for multiple options of its customized charcuterie boards via its Linktree, @Foragesandiego. And Midwestern coffee company JavAroma Roasters sells cold brew kits and specialized coffee beans from its Linktree, @javaromaroasters.

Besides food, several Linktree users have Commerce Links to allow shoppers to purchase other products or pre-order goods, as Genasys Enterprise Solutions and Chase Zion Publishing did for their books.

3. Collect tips for services

Who doesn’t love a good tip? As a creator, you can use your link in bio to ask for gratuity as a “thanks” for the value you provide your audience through your online services. With enough traffic, tips can provide creators with a significant monetization opportunity, even if they don’t receive tips from each client. 

Perhaps we’re a bit biased, but Linktree is the perfect platform for tip collection for creator services. Unlike other direct payment services like Venmo, tipping through Linktree allows your audience to explore all the other amazing things you have to offer as a creator by visiting your additional links. For example, Musician Ryan LaPerle has a website and several social media profiles but chooses Linktree to collect tips for his performances.

4. Allow clients to book appointments

If you work in the service industry, you can use your link in bio to allow customers to book time slots for appointments. Hair, skin, nails, tattoos, dog walks, babysitting, housekeeping: the possibilities are endless. 

Like to teach? Your clients can pay for your expertise by booking workshops or “how to” tutorials. According to Forbes, two of the most popular niches for coaching are:

• Improving individuals’ relationships with their sexuality 
• Helping people to improve their sales skills 

UK-based Surgical Doctor Maya Shahsavari moonlights as a spiritual healer and lets clients book private spiritual readings via her Linktree, @Dr.Maya.Surgeon. Her detailed profile also gives visitors a glimpse at her credentials, social media pages, press coverage, and ways to get in touch—something a tool only like Linktree can provide at once. 

Another example is licensed massage therapist and healer Jem, or @LoveHazelHealing, who offers pricing for massage, energy work, tarot readings, and more appointments on their Linktree.

And speaking of booking appointments …

5. Collect deposits for appointments

You can also use your link in bio to collect deposits for appointments. 

Wine On Wheels, a mobile beverage experience company, requests deposits to secure event dates on their Linktree. Beauty service providers like Bloom Aesthetics also require their clients to place deposits when booking appointments.

6. Receive fan donations

There are more opportunities for businesses and creators to monetize their links in bio through fan donations than you might think. By offering digital products like art, blogs, or music, you can monetize your work by accepting fan donations to support your creative output. In exchange, as a creator, you can ask your audience to click the donation button to reward you for all your hard work.

For example, a content writer might ask for reader support instead of soliciting sponsors to create branded content. Gaming creators on Twitch and YouTube develop engaged audiences who support them through fan donations. Linktree users like author Paul Waggener, American Standard Time record label (aka @ASTRecords), and band BIPOC Deaf Film & Talent Management company TeddyBoy Films & Entertainment accept donations to help fund their work.

7. Give followers access to exclusive content with an NFT Lock

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) may be new to the world, but they’re already helping creators monetize their work and move away from centralized platforms. And Linktree is thrilled to be front and center of it all. Take it from Linktree cofounder and CEO Alex Zaccaria, who said, “As the creator ecosystem migrates towards this new iteration of the internet, we’re excited for Linktree to provide a home for creators to aggregate their digital assets and showcase what’s important to them.”

Creators and businesses that market themselves through websites can benefit from Web3 tools designed for the blockchain-based version of the internet. One such tool is NFT Lock. An NFT Lock on Linktree empowers website operators to safeguard links and provide member-only access to their NFT holders. 

Think of NFT locks as a Web3 version of a membership site to access premium content behind a paywall, giving website operators potential monetization through NFT sales in exchange for exclusive perks and features. Even if website owners don’t have their own NFTs, they can set up their Linktree links to unlock if users have specific NFT collections based on the contact address of the creator’s choosing. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide on using an NFT lock with Linktree: 

1. Chose the link in your Linktree Admin that will be locked 
2. Select the lock icon below the link URL 
3. In lock options, check the option NFT Contract Address
4. Enter the contract address that will unlock the link 
5. Write a brief description that explains what is behind the locked link