Haiden Hibbert
Whether your’e a blogger, business owner, or simply someone with a passion project, generating income from your website can be a game-changer. In this post, we’ll talk about one super effective strategy on how to monetize a website: creating and selling your own digital products.
This approach provides you with the opportunity to share your expertise, showcase your creativity, and connect with your audience on a deeper level.
The best part? With MemberSpace, selling your digital products on your website is a relatively simple process that will pay dividends in the coming months. Let’s get started!
Monetize your website with MemberSpace
The easiest way to accept membership payments or one-time charges for digital products like online courses, communities, content libraries, and more — all from your own website!
Get started for free! 5 minutes to set up.
Table of Contents
Check out these 23 proven approaches to monetize your website by selling your own products, as well as examples from real creators and entrepreneurs using MemberSpace to monetize their websites.
1. Sell access to a directory
Depending on your niche, a directory could be one of the most valuable resources you could provide your audience! These digital downloads provide your customers with a collection of curated information, like a list of contacts or vendors for your industry.
One MemberSpace customer, Biz Birthday Bash, offers customers a directory of event suppliers and vendors, along with a community to ask questions about the information in the directory.
2. Launch an exclusive paid podcast
Launch the first part of your podcast episodes on popular platforms like Spotify, Apple, and Stitcher. Then, encourage listeners to head over to your website and subscribe to hear the full thing. Once a listener becomes a paid subscriber, offer them tons of valuable, exclusive content to keep them around, like bonus episodes, interviews with industry experts, or behind-the-scenes content.
3. Publish thorough how-to guides
4. Create self-guided workbooks
5. Create and share your best recipes
6. Release a book you wrote, chapter by chapter
7. Conduct research and publish the results each month
8. Publish a subscription-based newsletter
Send your paid newsletter content via email. With the Member Messages email feature, you can send your newsletter directly from your MemberSpace dashboard.
- Sell access to your newsletter via your blog. When you publish your newsletters on your blog, you can use MemberSpace to restrict access to those blog posts and require a paid subscription for website visitors to read them.
9. Launch editable social media templates
10. Turn your best content into PDF articles
11. Create and offer website templates & themes
If you’re familiar with web development, you know how much time it can take to create a website from scratch. That’s where website templates come in – pre-designed formats that your customers can customize as needed. By creating and selling your own website templates and themes for popular platforms like WordPress and Squarespace, you’ll not only save potential customers time and money, but also showcase your design skills.
12. Sell access to a fitness routine
If you have a in the health and wellness business, one of the best ways to monetize your website is to sell a fitness program. By offering things like exclusive workouts, nutrition information, and a sense of community, you can attract customers who are willing to pay for premium access.
To simplify this process, consider using MemberSpace, an awesome tool that makes building a membership site super easy. With features like content restriction, unlimited members, and a built-in payment integration, MemberSpace takes the hassle out of monetizing your fitness business.
Anne Craig Fitness is one customer using MemberSpace to sell access to her fitness program. Paying members get access her daily workouts, but she also sells individual products on her website, like digital cookbooks and 1:1 nutrition coaching.
13. Use your photography skills to take and sell stock photos
14. Add a content library to your website
Compile your best content into a comprehensive library that visitors can access for a recurring monthly fee. This can include videos, articles, guides, templates, or other resources that provide valuable insights or solutions to common problems.
Take The Ladies of Real Estate, for example. This MemberSpace customer has monetized their website by offering a content library dedicated to women in real estate. They offer social media templates, online courses, guides, coaching, and more for a recurring monthly fee.
15. Sell music lessons on your website
If you have a passion for music and are a skilled musician, why not share your knowledge and expertise with others? One way to do so is by selling video music lessons on your website. Not only can this be a great way to increase your income, but it also allows you to share your love for music and inspire others to pursue their musical interests.
My Music Workshop is one brand that does this, offering piano, drums, and ukelele, lessons for kids online. The membership unlocks access to the entire platform’s library of on-demand video lessons.
16. Share your expertise in an online course
Creating an online course is an incredible way to turn your website into a money-making machine. It’s all about sharing your expertise and knowledge in a way that truly helps your audience, while breaking the course up into consumable sections to allow your customers to go at their own pace.
MemberSpace customer, Birth-ed, is a website that sells access to online courses, a community, a podcast, and events for expecting parents looking to learn more about having a positive childbirth experience.
17. Share exclusive audio files
18. Design and sell a spreadsheet
19. Offer a masterclass with a certification at the end
20. Charge for exclusive community access
Another way to monetize your website is by adding a place for an online community where members can connect with like-minded individuals, share insights, and receive support. This might be an exclusive running club or parenting community.
With MemberSpace you can easily monetize your community on your website, as well as integrate with community tool, Circle to provide a place for threaded community discussions (like a Facebook Group or forum) , as well as private messaging.
Caveday, for example, uses MemberSpace on their website to sell access to their online community that focuses on helping professionals focus better at work. Community members pay a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee to get access to “caves” (virtual working spaces), a forum, and exclusive events and workshops.
21. Sell printable art, worksheets, templates, etc.
Maybe your digital product would be better suited as a physical printout, but you don’t want to deal with printing, shipping, etc. In this case, offer your customers the option to download a copy and print it on their own. This works well for a variety of purposes, such as:
- Wall art
- Meal plan or grocery list templates
- Recipe cards
- Educational flashcards
- Labels
- Calendars
- Worksheets and study guides
- Coloring pages for kids
22. Host paid Zoom calls for your website visitors
Monetizing your website by selling paid Zoom calls can be a lucrative way for creators to increase their income. By offering personalized consultations, workshops, or coaching sessions, you can provide valuable one-on-one or group interactions with your audience. Here are some types of Zoom calls creators can sell:
- Personalized consultations
- Workshops or masterclasses
- Group coaching sessions
- Q&A sessions
- Live events, like fitness classes, webinars, etc.
23. Sell your expertise in an ebook
By packaging your knowledge and insights into an ebook format you can offer valuable content to your website visitors while earning passive income. You might also consider having free downloadable ebooks on your website to build your email list, and then use that list to promote your other digital products!
Photographer’s Trail Guides is a website that uses MemberSpace to sell their ebooks on the best places to take photos in certain areas of the world. Each guidebook includes how to get to the location, the best time of day to take photos there, what lenses to use, and other photography tips.
Step 1: Identify your website’s audience and niche
- Conduct surveys on your website. Ask visitors about their preferences, the type of digital products they’d be interested in, and any specific challenges they’re facing. This feedback will give you a solid foundation for tailoring your products to meet their needs.
- Utilize website analytics tools like Google Analytics, which provide valuable data about your visitors. Analyze metrics such as demographics and source of traffic to understand who is visiting your website.
- Participate in online communities and forums relevant to your niche. Engage in discussions, observe the topics people are interested in, and identify pain points. Platforms like Reddit, Quora, or industry-specific forums can be valuable sources of audience insights.
- If you have social media profiles linked to your website, platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn Analytics can provide audience demographics, engagement metrics, and interests. This information helps you understand the characteristics of your social media followers and potential website visitors.
Step 2: Set up a platform like MemberSpace
- Sign up for a free MemberSpace account.
- Decide how you will accept payments for your digital products, like recurring membership payments, one-time, or monthly payments.
- Add your digital products to a page on your website.
- Restrict access to those pages, so only paying customers can access them. MemberSpace takes care of all the payments through the built-in Stripe integration.
- Get instant payouts as soon as you start selling your products!
Step 3: Choose the right digital products to sell on your website
Step 4: Promote your website!
- Share about your digital product on your social media platforms.
- Launch a blog post on your website highlighting your new product.
- Send an eblast to your email list with a limited-time offer.
- Run targeted ads on platforms like Google Ads or Facebook/Instagram Ads to drive traffic to your website.
- Run a contest or giveaway related to your digital product. Ask participants to share your content, tag friends, or subscribe to your newsletter for a chance to win a freebie.
- Create an affiliate program where others can earn a commission for promoting and referring customers to your digital products.
Final Thoughts
Your website is a powerful platform, and by leveraging digital products, you can create a sustainable income stream while sharing your expertise with the world! With the help of MemberSpace, selling access to your products is a straight-forward, seamless process, allowing you to focus on what you do best – creating and connecting with your audience.
To start monetizing your website, sign up for a free MemberSpace account today.
Need help with your website?
Connect with our friendly team, weekdays 10am - 6pm ET.
Let's chat!
