Making Money Online: Don't expect to get rich quick!

Probably one of the biggest misconceptions about running a website is the belief that people who run websites get rich overnight. Believe me when I tell you it doesn't work like that.

I spent a good two + years working 10 hour days, seven days a week before making anything resembling a half decent income... and it's still no-where near what I would be earning had I stuck with my previous teaching occupation. However, because I was (an still am) constantly adding fresh content to my site and it was growing by the day it meant there were more pages for more people to visit. The bigger it gets, hopefully the more visitors it attracts!

Another point to bear in mind is that the money you will make from your site is directly relative to the number of visitors your site attracts and the amount of money advertisers are willing to spend on each advert one of your visitors clicks.

Because I use Google ads on my sites I can't go into details about what I earn as it goes against their policy. However, look at it this way. Whenever you do an online search how often do you click on an ad that appears on a site you've visited? Probably not very often because like most people you probably don't really notice the ads anymore and perhaps you're just wanting the info you need quickly. If you find what you need you may just move away from that particular site or if you've more time you may glance at some links on the page or perhaps click just the one ad. Now that ad may pay the site owner 20p; it may pay them 2p; very rarely it may pay them more. The site owner doesn't know how much he or she will get from each click because Google doesn't reveal that information.

Now say you soon have a hundred or so visitors a day visiting your site. Perhaps if you're lucky 5 of them ie 5% will click on an ad. That's a fairly average clickthrough rate according to many top webmasters. Say you get a huge 10p per ad. You've earned 50p that day.... yay!!!

Now say you have 1000 visitors a day. Again 5% click on ads which average 10p per click. Now you've made �5.00 for that day...

After another year or so of earning around �5.00 per day your numbers maybe increase to 2000 visitors a day. Your 5% clickthrough rate now equates to �10 per day. Whilst it may not seem like a lot at the end of the month it's an extra �300 per month in your bank account. If your website isn't your full-time job or if it allows you the freedom to be a work at home mother and you don't have to pay out for childcare and so on then it's a nice little earner! But it will take time, patience and lots of very hard work to get there.

Making Money Online: Don't expect to get rich quick!

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