The ideal for many people is to have a website that creates its own revenue, building a substantial income for its owner while he or she lies on a beach somewhere on a tropical island. Though that has happened for a very limited few, the rest of us need to take certain important steps to make sure that we earn enough money from our websites to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.

Among these steps, there are five that have proven to be the most effective for generating additional revenue on a website. These steps are:

1. Creating superior content

2. Measuring the actual potential for income held by your website

3. Preparing your site in a way so that banner ads fit attractively and practically

4. Study the demographics of your visitors

5. Register with all of the major directories, and any of the smaller ones that deal specifically with the subject of your website

Superior content should be considered the most basic necessity of any website that is to become successful. Content is the main source of value for a website from the point of view of the visitors. Therefore, your content needs to be so great that it creates tremendous value for your site. This will make certain that people talk about it, spreading the word verbally, and you may even be written up by the media.

A content-rich website will include such items as (for example):

• Information – this can include articles, product reviews, website reviews, detailed and descriptive links to other sites

• Free downloads – this can include software, ebooks, reports, and other digital items.

• Entertainment – this may include such elements as music, pictures, videos, games, quizzes, and other fun items.

• Services – anything that can be provided online can be included here, such as site monitors, calculators, submitters, and other online services.

Good quality, unique content can be quite challenging to create. If you have the time and the skill, you can write it yourself, but you may need to hire an expert to write it for you. This is, however, much more effective than using free content from elsewhere, because it makes certain that your site content is unique.

Your site’s income potential should be determined very early in the process of its creation. Consider the amount of traffic you have already developed, how much you realistically believe that you can build, and how much you would need to make your advertising’s compensation worthwhile.

When you design your website, do it in a way that banner ads will fit well in the appearance and functionality. This way, when you include banner ads that will pay for their click-through and click-through rates, you’ll be able to fit them in without having to reconstruct your overall website design.

The more quickly you can introduce new banner ads that will provide you with income for your website, the better your revenue will flow. Once the site is easily displaying banners, you should join as many promising affiliate programs as possible, and display their banner ads in all of the suitable places. It is important that you create as many impressions as you can so that you will create a direct line of traffic through your affiliate links and build your income.

To be able to properly gear your site to send people through your links, you will need to know your demographic. Of course, we can’t all afford to do extensive demographic studies, however there are some things that you can do to become familiar with who your primary market includes. You can study what your successful competition is doing, and who they are gearing their marketing toward. You can also offer free newsletters or other free features through registration where certain general demographic information is shared with you.

Once your site is all set up, it’s time to register with as many of the large directories as you can. Then, find out about smaller directories that focus on the topic of your website, and register with them as well. This will not only help your inbound links so that you’ll achieve more effective search engine optimization, but you’ll also create more ways in which your site can be found.

Your last step is simply to pick the beach where you want to relax as your revenue flows in from your successful website.