A Guide for Online Entrepreneurs: How to Build a Website That Actually Makes Money

Do you often fantasize about building your own wealth via the Internet? If so, you need to develop a website that actually turns over a profit. Forget about brand building and reputation cultivation for the time being… focus on creating a website that makes you some cold, hard cash!​

To find out how what you must do to build a website that actually makes money, be sure to read on.

Target a specific audience

​During the earliest stages of your entrepreneurial endeavor, you need to build your reputation and cultivate a niche following, which is why you can’t build a site that is broad and generic. If you want your website to turn over a healthy profit, you need to have an audience in a place that is willing to part ways with their cash in return for the services that you offer and content that you produce.
 
You need to be as specific as possible with regard to the demographics that you focus on. For example, instead of only targeting ‘woman,’ home in on ‘career-driven women that are also parents’ or ‘women aged between 30-to-45 that are interested in blogging.’ This will help you to draw an initial audience, it allows you to cultivate a loyal fanbase, and it will improve your site’s relevance in its field. The end results? Your site will draw substantial amounts of attention and become monetized at a far quicker pace.

​Give your customers what they want

Once you’ve homed in on your niche audience, it’s time to start giving them what they want. They aren’t going to stick around on your site (and they certainly aren’t going to bring you their custom) if they aren’t intrigued by what they see, which is why you need to go out of your way to pique their interest.

To get a better idea about what your audience wants from your website, you should make use of expert product roadmap tools while you are creating the platform. By using a tool that incorporates ongoing customer feedback into the project roadmap, you’ll find it easier to build your site around the wants and needs of its users.

​Put effort into the content you create

If you’re serious about monetizing your website, you need to upload content that makes your audience actively want to pay for more. Once you stop posting content that isn’t relevant or thought-provoking, you’ll soon see your traffic numbers, and ultimately your profit turnover, start to dwindle.
 
Like all online entrepreneurs, you will experience a creative lull at some point in your career. If you don’t want this lull to impact your ability to draw your target audience, you should:
 

1. Take time to study your market and find out what type of content is currently resonating with your audience.
2. Research your industry, study the latest trends in it and ultimately produce content that is insightful and proves how much you know about your field.

 
If you want your first website to turn over a healthy amount of cash, you must put the above advice into practice right from the off.