The way I see it, you either work hard from dawn till dusk to make money for your boss, or you work to make money for yourself. These are the two main options in today’s job market, and it seems that in recent years many have realized this and are turning to an independent path, if not fully, then at least partially. The ability to manage your own time, to work where and when it’s convenient for you, appeals to both women and men alike, and the fact that our world is changing certainly contributes to this. So if you are among these people who are tired of their boss breathing down their neck and tedious office work, and are wondering how to generate a steady and stable income accompanied by high rewards and flexibility—the time has come to get to know proven ways in which you can earn money from digital assets that undergo professional organic SEO.
Just before I review 6 ways you can earn money from a digital asset, let’s first understand what a digital asset is and what needs to be done for it to become an income source that prints money.
It's good to own a digital asset
When discussing digital assets, we actually mean a website, an e-commerce site, a blog, a landing page, a dedicated YouTube channel for YouTube advertising, a social media page such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. Some of these assets are under our full control, such as a blog, a website, or an e-commerce site, while some assets are under our partial control, such as Facebook, a YouTube channel, or Instagram. Either way, you can display the content you want on them, whenever you want to display it, advertise, manage relationships with users or customers, and make money from the digital asset. This asset is ours, and just like investing in real estate in the physical world, a digital asset can also yield handsome profits for us.
Looking to start earning from a digital asset? Not without professional organic SEO
It is important to understand that not every digital asset can become a source of income. For a digital asset to generate profits for you, you must first invest in professional promotion of the asset, or in other words – invest in search engine optimization (SEO). For a website to be profitable, regardless of the business model it operates on, it first and foremost needs to be accessible, prominent, and popular. The site needs to attract visitors and customers, and if the site is not at the top of search results when users search for your niche, then you cannot profit from it. Therefore, after establishing the asset, the next step is to promote it. This means you need to invest in optimizing the website, blog, or YouTube channel. It also means you need to invest in website content and fill it with interesting content that attracts readers, and it also means you need to take care of links. SEO is not a one-and-done deal; it is ongoing, consistent work whose sole purpose is to position the digital asset at the top of search results in the world’s largest search engine – Google.
So how does your digital asset become a source of income through professional organic SEO?
If the digital asset is promoted on Google by a professional SEO specialist and attracts a lot of traffic, there are plenty of ways to leverage it and generate money from it:
1. Selling products through the website
There is the traditional and most well-known way to make money from a digital asset – selling products through it. You can turn your website into an online store or an e-commerce site, promote the store on Google, and sell products to visitors on the site.
Here, there are 2 main options. One is to build an e-commerce site that will be fully owned by you, for example on the WordPress platform, which offers a variety of plugins for convenient operation and management of e-commerce stores. The second option is to set up an e-commerce site using platforms like Shopify, which offers a comprehensive suite of services for online stores such as: e-commerce website development, payment and processing services, database, online store management tools, and more, while paying a subscription fee for hosting and services.
In image number 1, you can see the homepage of the e-commerce website Bliss, which offers spa skincare products based on natural ingredients and suitable for vegans and vegetarians. The Bliss website is owned by the company and is self-hosted, and through it, the brand sells its products and enjoys profits.
Image number 1: Homepage of the e-commerce website by the skincare brand Bliss. Through this site, you can review the brand’s products and also purchase them online, directly through the website. Image credit: https://www.blissworld.com/
2. Joining affiliate marketing programs
If you own a website or a blog, you can generate money from it using a business model based on affiliate marketing. The rationale behind an affiliate marketing program is quite simple: website owners whose sites are well-ranked on Google and enjoy high traffic can display ads, banners, and links of other businesses on their site, and receive a commission for every purchase made through the site.
And here too, there are 2 main options. One is to connect to an affiliate marketing program that advertises a wide variety of companies. In this case, ads for a variety of brands, businesses, and companies will be displayed on your digital asset. The second option is to join an affiliate marketing program of a specific brand, such as Amazon. In this case, only links and advertisements for the Amazon website will be displayed on your digital asset. Other large companies also have affiliate marketing programs from which you can benefit through the commissions they offer, such as Booking, AliExpress, and more.
If you decide to make money from a digital asset using an affiliate program, it is highly recommended to connect with affiliate programs that display ads and promotions of companies and brands you connect with, as the very display of a company’s advertising on your digital asset means you place your trust in the brand.
In image number 2, you can see an example of integrating advertising from an Amazon affiliate program. On the right side, you can see the ad on the hosting website. Every click on the ad will generate a commission for the owners of The New York Times website.
Image number 2: A page from The New York Times displaying advertisements from the Amazon affiliate marketing program. Every click by a visitor on the Amazon ad will earn the site owners a nice commission. Image credit: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/
To watch a video explaining how to make money from the Amazon affiliate program, click here.
3. Integrating Google AdSense advertisements
Everyone knows that businesses and companies can advertise through Google’s advertising platform, Google Ads, but not many know that you can also get paid by Google in exchange for integrating advertisements, banners, and links from those businesses and companies advertising through it. After a fairly simple registration with Google AdSense, you receive a code that needs to be embedded on your website, and once the code is installed, ads will start appearing on your digital asset. For every click on a Google AdSense ad, you will receive a commission from Google.
Let’s take a look at image number 3 below for a moment. You can see that the British BBC website integrates Google AdSense ads. One ad is at the top, even before the website’s content, and another ad is next to the news stories. Every time a reader clicks on the advertisement, the BBC receives a commission. Since the BBC website is highly optimized, high-traffic, and receives many visitors, its rightful owners certainly rake in a lot of commissions for displaying AdSense ads.
And here too, there are 2 main options. One is to connect to an affiliate marketing network that advertises a wide variety of companies. In this case, ads for a variety of brands, businesses, and companies will be displayed on your digital asset. The second option is to join an affiliate marketing program of a specific brand, such as Amazon. In this case, only links and advertisements for the Amazon website will be displayed on your digital asset. Other large companies also have affiliate marketing programs from which you can benefit through the commissions they offer, such as Booking, AliExpress, and more.
If you decide to make money from a digital asset using an affiliate program, it is highly recommended to connect with affiliate programs that display ads and promotions of companies and brands you connect with, as the very display of a company’s advertising on your digital asset means you place your trust in the brand.
In image number 2, you can see an example of integrating advertising from an Amazon affiliate program. On the right side, you can see the ad on the hosting website. Every click on the ad will generate a commission for the owners of The New York Times website.
Image number 3: The homepage of the British BBC. On this main page, you can see the integration of advertisements coming from Google AdSense. Image credit: https://www.bbc.com/
4. Selling advertising space on the digital asset independently
If you have a website or blog ranking in top positions on Google under certain keywords, and they successfully attract many visitors, you don’t have to connect with any third-party company. If your site is popular enough, you can offer advertising space to companies and businesses directly and independently, without intermediaries and without external help. What is this comparable to? It’s like owning a large house with plenty of free space where you rent out a room or a floor and enjoy regular rental income. In such a scenario, you determine the business model – pay-per-click or pay-per-purchase, you determine the type of advertising: text ad, promotional video, link, banner, etc., and you also determine the commission rate for each action. However, you need to develop from scratch or connect to an existing system capable of tracking clicks and customer journeys, calculating commissions, and automatically displaying and integrating ads on your digital asset.
5. Integrating a business and company directory into the digital asset
Another way to generate money from a well-ranked digital asset is to integrate a directory or database of companies and businesses. For example, if you have a website in the power tools niche, you have an abundance of content on the topic, and the site ranks at the top of Google search results when users search for “power tools”, why not also integrate a business directory or database of companies offering tools for sale, in exchange for charging a monthly or annual fee for advertising the company.
In image number 4, you can see a page from the “Binyan VeDiur” website, where interior design and architecture firms are featured. Since the “Binyan VeDiur” website enjoys a high reputation in the field, is well-ranked on Google, and receives very active traffic, it is worth it for architects and interior designers to pay the owners of “Binyan VeDiur” in order to be featured on the site.
Image number 4: A page displaying a directory of architects and interior designers on the “Binyan VeDiur” content site. The site owners get paid for displaying the advertisement. Image credit: https://www.bvd.co.il/architects-and-designers/
6. Hosting advertisers on your digital asset
You can make money from a digital asset not only by integrating ads or links but also by publishing content from other businesses hosted on your digital asset. For example, if you have a well-ranked, informative content website bustling with traffic, you can offer companies and businesses the opportunity to be featured on your site in exchange for payment. How does it actually work?
The company publishes an article, news piece, review, or any other interesting content relevant to your target audience on your digital asset (website, blog, social media page, etc.), and in return for publishing the content and exposing it to the active traffic on your digital asset, you receive payment.
This model is very popular globally and also here in Israel. Almost all online newspapers offer sponsored guest articles for businesses and companies that can afford to pay for content publication: Ynet, Maariv, Rotter, Makor Rishon, and more.
7. Reviewing products on your digital asset
Whether you have a well-ranked website that attracts a lot of traffic or a popular Facebook page, YouTube channel, or Instagram page, you can review products or services in your niche on your digital asset and get paid for the review and exposure. The rationale behind reviewing products on high-traffic digital assets is that you can reach out to companies and businesses, proposing that they send you free products, and in return for payment, you will publish your impressions.ions. of the product. Alternatively, companies will actively reach out to you—even chase after you—if they recognize that your digital asset will provide them with exposure to a broad and relevant target audience.
One well-known example in Israel of reviewing products on a digital asset is the YouTube channel of beauty creator Ashley Waxman Bakshi (image number 5). On Waxman’s successful YouTube channel, you can find many reviews of skincare and beauty products sent to her by companies and businesses in the cosmetics industry. The companies send Ashley Waxman Bakshi the product they want her to review, Waxman produces a video reviewing the user experience with the product on her YouTube channel, and in return, she receives payment from the cosmetics companies.
Image number 5: A screenshot from the YouTube channel of successful beauty creator Ashley Waxman Bakshi, where she reviews skincare and beauty products and gets paid in exchange for the review and exposing it to the millions of subscribers she has accumulated over the years as a beauty guru and influencer. Image credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ3YKwMoUuA
Summary
These are just some of the options for generating profit from digital assets, and there are several other ways. So if you strive for independence, if you have knowledge of professional organic SEO or have a budget and can hire the services of a professional SEO agency, now is the exact time to build your own digital asset, promote it, and start making money—a lot of money—from it. Of course, you can use the services of a website builder, which will save you a lot of learning time
About the author
Eli Sasi, SEO specialist since 2010, expert in website building and Google promotion using SEO & PPC methods.
