How to make extra money from your website

Wonderful World of Websites | Website Wonder Woman

A website isn't going to make you famous overnight, it isn't going to suddenly explode your business, and it isn't going to suddenly make you millions. I could go on! I thought I'd get the negatives out of the way first, but this is a positive post, so there is hope. I am going to help you make extra money from your website.

First, let's get real and honest, as so many people believe that having a website will instantly gain them hundreds of new clients. Unfortunately, it's not true, but you can make extra money from your website if you follow the advice in this blog.

Make extra money from your website - 3 stacks of coins with plants growing out of them

Start with the basics

The success of your website begins even before you buy your domain name. But so many people can't wait to jump in and get something up there so they can look like a credible business. They don't take the time to think about what their website can actually do for them. If you want to make extra money from your website, this is a crucial step.

'I just want an online presence, an informational site so people who want to look can find out more about me, but I don't really need it to do anything, ' I'm often told. But why would you spend all that money and time creating something that, fingers crossed, someone may look for? And then, if they do find it, what will they do? Just read about you and leave? That's no good! It's time to learn how to make extra money from your website.

So, let's talk about it: How to make extra money from your website...

As I was saying, the first thing that you need to do is decide on a job for your website. What do you actually want it to do? I mean, really want it to do?

Yes, I get that you want to make extra money from your website business, but how? If you already run a business at the moment, draw out your current sales process. Which bits of it can you hand over to your website to make your life easier?

Do you currently have a funnel in your business? How can you get your website to automate that?

Do you sell products and services? You could put them on your website for people to buy.

As an example, the first step to working with me is to usually book a call, so I want my website to be able to automate all that side of things. I want people who don't know me to read my blogs or sign up for my mailing list. Likewise, I want people who are ready to buy to just jump on in and purchase!

I like to call this your website mission!

 

Make extra money from your website showing a pink and white target with an arrow in the centre and the word Mission written underneath it

Once you have your website mission, you need to decide on how you are going to get your visitors to complete that mission. And to do that, you are going to need to know all about them! Who are they, why do they want to work with you, why should they choose you, how do they buy, what do they need from you and your website to make that decision?

It's so important to know exactly who your ideal client is and the customer journey that they go through to buy into your business and products. So, you can not only recreate that, but they will enjoy the process and be ready to sign up!

Here are some more top tips on how to make extra money from your website:

Be easy to use

Make things really easy to find for people, don't hide important info or ways to work with you hidden on your site (don't make your clients have to search!), make sure all text is readable (especially if it's over an image) and let your content breathe by using plenty of space. Also, try to stay away from slideshows, as most people are on their mobiles these days, so scroll down, rather than wait for something to scroll. Finally, make sure it's mobile-friendly!

A 3d purple 'BUY' button with a hand pressing it, a clear way to make extra money from your website

Have clear calls to action

Once you decide on your website's mission or missions, you need to actually make it really obvious what you want people to do. Have nice, clear call-to-action buttons that stand out! But give them one thing to do at a time, don't overwhelm them unless it's absolutely necessary. If you make it obvious, that's a straightforward way to make extra money from your website.

Be easy to buy from

'Contact me to buy' often puts people off. They want to hand over their money, so make it as easy as possible for them to do so. It's really simple to even add a PayPal or Stripe link. This is how you make extra money from your website: you ensure you capture your customer in the moment.

Social proof

This is also great. Social media posts and reels build confidence. Give them lots of testimonials as well, showing you are the expert with your great content, blogs and case studies. Trust is essential if you want to make extra money from your website.

Also, don't forget to get people to sign up to your email list, so even when they leave your website, being added to your mailing list will enable you to keep in touch with potential clients.

Need some help?

To make it even easier, why not sign up for our free website audit? We can give you more specific tips based on your business. You will get a five-minute video with some small tweaks that will help you make improvements so you can start to make extra money from your website.

Check out our Google Reviews here.

Help ChatGPT find your website a laptop with a megaphone coming out of the screen

I know that sounds ridiculous, but spend a few minutes browsing small-business websites, and you will see why it matters.

For example: A homepage might say: "Helping you achieve your goals." That's great, but what goals? Who are you helping?

A web visitor might work it out from the logo, photographs and navigation. Machines have less tolerance for ambiguity.

Compare that with: " We provide commercial cleaning services to offices, schools and healthcare businesses across South Wales."

Suddenly, there's much less to decipher. Who are you? A commercial cleaning company. What do you do? Clean commercial premises. Who for? Offices, schools, and healthcare businesses. Where? South Wales.

Clear website copy isn't unsophisticated copy. If you want to help ChatGPT find your website, clarity can be a big advantage.

3. Create Proper Pages for Your Main Services

One mistake I regularly see is businesses trying to squeeze everything they offer onto one service page. Imagine a building company offering extensions, loft conversions, kitchen renovations, and garage conversions. Giving each important service its own useful page creates far more context than mentioning all four in a short bullet list.

A strong page can explain:

  • what the service involves;
  • who it is suitable for;
  • common questions customers ask;
  • the process;
  • relevant experience;
  • examples of completed work;
  • geographical areas covered.

This is not only useful information for potential customers, but also useful for conventional SEO and will help ChatGPT find your website and understand exactly what your business provides.

However, a word of caution. The important word here is useful. Creating 30 near-identical pages simply to target 30 slightly different phrases isn't the answer. Websites are ultimately for people, so create pages because you have something worthwhile to tell them.

4. Answer the Questions Your Customers Really Ask

3d speech bubbles with Q & A in them for Help ChatGPT find your website blog

This is where good blog content becomes particularly valuable and can help ChatGPT find your website.

People often interact with ChatGPT and other AI bots in a conversational way. Rather than searching for something like: "loft conversion Cardiff", they might ask "Do I need planning permission for a loft conversion in Cardiff?" or "Is my house suitable for a loft conversion?". You get my drift.

Think about the questions customers ask you on the phone, in emails, during quotations, or at meetings. Those questions can become extremely useful website content. And don't limit yourself to just obvious FAQs. Some of the best content comes from the questions that require actual expertise to answer: comparisons, costs, pitfalls, misconceptions, alternatives, and situations where one option is better than another. That is where your knowledge becomes valuable. Put that into blogs, and it will help ChatGPT find your website.

5. Don't Just Say You're an Expert - Demonstrate It

Almost every business website claims some variation of: "We pride ourselves on providing a professional, high-quality service." The problem is that anybody can write it. Evidence is much more persuasive.

If you want to help ChatGPT find your website and understand why your business might be a credible source, then you need to give your website substance.

That could include detailed case studies, named authors with relevant experience, customer reviews, original photographs, accreditations, qualifications, awards, research or data you've produced, and genuinely knowledgeable articles/blogs.

A case study saying: We recently completed this project for a client in Newport", isn't particularly informative. Explain the problem. What did the customer need? What did you recommend? Why? What difficulties arose? How did you solve them? What was the outcome?

That is useful information for humans, and it gives search and AI systems considerably more context about your real-world expertise.

6. Make Your Location Clear

Naturally, this is particularly important for local businesses.

If you are an electrician serving customers across South Wales, make that clear on your website. Your address, service areas, and contact details shouldn't require detective work to find.

Your About and Contact pages can reinforce where you are based, while individual service pages can naturally explain areas you cover. However, avoid creating dozens of thin location pages where the only difference is swapping one town name for another, like "Electrician Newport", "Electrician Cardiff", and "Electrician Cwmbran."

That's not useful content. If a location genuinely warrants its own page, give the reader something specific and worthwhile.

7. Build Your Reputation Beyond Your Own Website

Your website doesn't exist in isolation.

If you claim to be a leading expert in your field but nobody else on the internet appears to know you exist, that's not a particularly convincing signal. Therefore, I want you to think about your wider digital footprint.

Are you listed accurately on relevant professional or industry websites? Have local publications mentioned your business? Do reputable websites link to you? Are there genuine customer reviews? Have you contributed expert comments or guest articles elsewhere?

You see, digital PR, quality guest blogging, and traditional link building still have a place. However, the aim shouldn't be to scatter links across hundreds of low-quality websites to help ChatGPT find your website. On the contrary, it's to build a recognisable business with a credible online presence.

8. Write Content Worth Citing

Graphic woman sat at a computer with pages of content coming out of it

This may be one of the biggest opportunities created by AI search.

If everybody writes a generic article called "10 benefits of X", then there is very little reason for any search or AI system to favour yours above the others. To help ChatGPT find your website, you need to give it something better:

Share your experience.

    • Explain what customers commonly get wrong.
    • Compare two approaches and say when you'd choose each one.
    • Publish original examples.
    • Answer awkward questions.
    • Discuss pricing honestly where possible.
    • Challenge a commonly repeated piece of industry advice if you disagree with it – and explain why.

The internet doesn't desperately need another 800-word blog saying the same thing as the previous 100 ones. What it does need are people who actually know their subject sharing information that isn't available everywhere else. Tricky, yes. Impossible, no.

9. Don't Forget Traditional SEO

As I mentioned right at the beginning of this article, trying to help ChatGPT find your website doesn't mean forgetting Google and other search engines. In fact, as I'm sure you've realised by now, many of the fundamentals overlap.

You still need a technically sound, crawlable website with logical navigation, descriptive page titles, useful headings, strong internal links and well-written pages focused on genuine customer needs. Ultimately, your content should make sense to a person first; I always stress this to my clients. There is little to be gained by contorting every single paragraph into something you imagine AI or search engines want to read.

Cater for your customer. Ensure your website clearly explains who you are, what you do, where you operate, and why you know what you're talking about. That's what they need to know, and by doing that you are already building a much stronger foundation for both traditional and AI-driven searches.

Help ChatGPT Find Your Website - But Write For People

Help ChatGPT find your website a 3d graphic of a person in front of a laptop with books and text

AI is changing how people discover information online, but that doesn't mean websites suddenly need to be written for robots. Quite the opposite. After all, humans, your potential customers, are asking ChatGPT the questions. So, if you want to help ChatGPT find your website, you must make it clear, informative, and more authoritative for the people you're trying to reach.

Follow the guidance listed above. None of it is particularly technical (save point 1); it is simply about making sure you have good website content. The difference is that today, a well-written website isn't only helping a potential customer decide whether to contact you; it may also help ChatGPT find your website and decide whether or not to list it in response to a query, ultimately driving fresh traffic your way.

If you would like help reviewing your website content, or creating quality blogs that appeal to both humans and bots, please do not hesitate to get in touch. My name is Heather, and I'm The Content Creator.

Heather the Content Creator A lady with blonde hair in a bob, smiling, wearing a black top

A bit about the author

Heather founded The Content Creator nearly three years ago, combining her love of writing with a genuine passion for helping small businesses and solopreneurs get seen online. She supports her clients with everything from website copy and SEO to AI search visibility, newsletters and social media, taking the stress out of creating content that not only sounds like them, but helps their business grow.

If you need a helping hand with any of these areas, Heather is your go-to girl! We can speak from experience, too, because she works on our own website, helping us keep up with the ever-changing world of SEO and AI search and making sure our content continues to work hard for our business.

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