Does it make sense to monetize a website right from the beginning?

[Dor87]

I feel like the answer to this question is a simple "No", yet, I'm new into this and I was wondering if you think otherwise.
I'm talking about monetizing a website right when starting to host it for the very first time, no traffic, no idea if there'll be any traffic at all.

 

[Setox]

There are no rules about that, but I suggest you go soft about ads on the beginning, especially DP, as it will ruin your users experience.

It will take time anyways to figure out which Monetization method works the best for you : display ads, affiliate, sponsorships or making your own digital products, so better take it easy.

 

[Overrule0688]

Ads: I normally start right away with what I want or plan to have. My users know right away what they expect every time. But this is because these websites have specific niches, where users are used to having ads pretty much everywhere.

For my subscriptions apps (no-ads) I normally show monetization right away (how much it costs) with a very small free trial. The reason for this is personal, I hate, and will leave right away, websites that aren't clear about their pricing and don't tell me right away how much their services cost.

 

[titodez]

It wont change anything

 

[blanye]

You can do it from the beginning unless you use AdSense, there you have to have traffic first to be accepted before you can place ads.

 

[GTC]

If you're talking about display ads, I only add one in-content ad in my new sites. I expect nothing from it but I add it anyways. However, you can wait till you get a certain number of real users visiting your website daily like 50-100. Sometimes it's easier to promote the site in different forum and communities like reddit if it is not full of ads. Just get the initial users, let them read and share your content then monetize.

On the other hand, some websites are naturally monetized from day 1 like amazon affiliate sites.

 

[Dor87]

There are no rules about that, but I suggest you go soft about ads on the beginning, especially DP, as it will ruin your users experience.

It will take time anyways to figure out which Monetization method works the best for you : display ads, affiliate, sponsorships or making your own digital products, so better take it easy.

Makes sense, I was indeed thinking about waiting till I get an idea of how I want to monetize it in the first place, my idea is to use subscriptions by using something like Stripe one day, I didn't study enough to know how to use it tho.

Ads: I normally start right away with what I want or plan to have. My users know right away what they expect every time. But this is because these websites have specific niches, where users are used to having ads pretty much everywhere.

For my subscriptions apps (no-ads) I normally show monetization right away (how much it costs) with a very small free trial. The reason for this is personal, I hate, and will leave right away, websites that aren't clear about their pricing and don't tell me right away how much their services cost.

I suppose your subscription app is a SaaS, I plan to use the same model for my website, still have to study on how tho.

Monetizing your website from the beginning can make sense in certain situations, but it's not always the best approach. Whether or not it's a good idea depends on several factors, including your goals, your audience, and the nature of your website

Got it, I still have to meet my audience yet.

It wont change anything

Do you mean that at the end of the day if you gotta earn money you'll do it anyway?

You can do it from the beginning unless you use AdSense, there you have to have traffic first to be accepted before you can place ads.

I'm a bit reluctant about using AdSense, I also believe some people don't like how invasive AdSense looks.

If you're talking about display ads, I only add one in-content ad in my new sites. I expect nothing from it but I add it anyways. However, you can wait till you get a certain number of real users visiting your website daily like 50-100. Sometimes it's easier to promote the site in different forum and communities like reddit if it is not full of ads. Just get the initial users, let them read and share your content then monetize.

On the other hand, some websites are naturally monetized from day 1 like amazon affiliate sites.

About the last sentence - sure, they can be monetized from day 1 but do they earn anything the first month?

 

[1SEOWarrior]

No, it doesn't make sense to make money from a website when you just start it. You need visitors first, and it's better to wait until you have some before trying to earn money.

 

[TechEinstien]

Grow your audience first. Then start monetizing it.

 

[GTC]

About the last sentence - sure, they can be monetized from day 1 but do they earn anything the first month?

Well, some websites are professionally launched like a real business, with announcements on social media/press release/email list blasts etc. They do make some from the first day. But most are just niche sites/blogs, they don't make anything until they start to rank on google even if the links were there from the beginning.

 

[Nikolaos]

Nobody can tell you what to do but in my opinion, yes you should monetize right from the beginning so you can have profits from day 1

 

[Project Limitless]

You should do it if your website qualifies for good networks. What you shouldn't do is over advertise. Some people destroy their websites with multiple banners and endless pop ups.

 

[Ratangus]

Yes, you can monetize from the beginning without problems.

 

[Msuin]

Create a blog from scratch, i’m talking about the code! You only tell the programmer to put the ads in "responsive" areas, so that they look good and do not affect the view of the site. You can use that same code to create many more blogs from other niches, that would be a really good start, and the ads will look good

 

[nick76]

You could, but in the beginning, it's best to focus all your efforts on producing quality content.

 

[Dor87]

Well, some websites are professionally launched like a real business, with announcements on social media/press release/email list blasts etc. They do make some from the first day. But most are just niche sites/blogs, they don't make anything until they start to rank on google even if the links were there from the beginning.

I suppose authors of those websites usually have money to invest.

You should do it if your website qualifies for good networks. What you shouldn't do is over advertise. Some people destroy their websites with multiple banners and endless pop ups.

I agree, most websites nowadays are filled with ads almost like they were filled with pop-ups in the early 2000s.

Create a blog from scratch, i’m talking about the code! You only tell the programmer to put the ads in "responsive" areas, so that they look good and do not affect the view of the site. You can use that same code to create many more blogs from other niches, that would be a really good start, and the ads will look good

I made it whole, no external programmer nor designer etc. In case I'll decide to add ads I would opt for a location on the side of the site, tho I'm not sure how AdSense displays ads (in case I'd use AdSense) if it lets me decide the location and size or if it decides it all by itself.

You could, but in the beginning, it's best to focus all your efforts on producing quality content.

As of now, this is the approach I'm using, although I don't think my content is that much high quality, it's like one or two paragraph of text each day and that's it. When designing it I made sure to make it look professional, but that's the only "money shot" on that website for now.

 

[Msuin]

Great! Before you have all done , tell us how is going

 

[hideath]

That won't make any difference,
Possibly better to get approved by some networks first then you'll be more free to post whatever you want (Adsense for example)

 

[type1seo]

let it brew like a fine whiskey

 

[yahhtrick]

Ads usually slow a site down so if you have 0 traffic and you place ads then you are only hurting your sites growth. Once you start getting 500 to 1k pageviews per day it makes sense to place ads but always be mindful of pagespeed