Most businesses nowadays have a website, but many business owners fail to utilize their website to generate *additional* revenue. Regardless of your industry, there are many ways to build multiple revenue streams for your business.
This brief article will explain a few of the best ways to build multiple revenue streams by using your website to generate more income.
5 Ways to Create New Revenue Streams for Your Business
Keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive, and there are many other streams of revenue businesses can build. Rather, this is an overview of the most common and simple to implement revenue streams that businesses can set up to start generating more revenue quickly.
Subscription Services
Selling a product or a one-time service is all well and good. But the problem, of course, is you are only being paid once. Wouldn’t prefer recurring customers? One way to do so is by offering some sort of subscription service. By creating a monthly, bi-monthly or even quarterly subscription, businesses can turn one sale into getting paid over and over again.
The types of subscription services you can offer will depend on your business and industry, but there will be at least one if not many. Some examples of successful businesses using the subscription model include:
Needless to say, these companies have done very well, but you don’t need to be a billion-dollar company to use this model. All of the above companies began as start-ups. One advantage of using a subscription model over other revenue stream models is it very easy to scale up quickly.
An Online Store
Businesses that sell physical products should also build an online store. By having items for sale on your website you can create new revenue and reach new customers. Remember, you do not need to sell the same items in-person as you do in your online store. The goal of the online store is to reach new customers outside of your local area.
(Even if you don’t sell physical products, almost every business can design merchandise online to build additional revenue.)
Some examples of successful online stores include:
So, using Amazon as a case study, the site began as an online bookstore and then scaled up to become one of the biggest in the world. Now, you aren’t likely to become the next Amazon, but there are millions of successful companies taking advantage of the same business model, and you can too.
Some of the best tools for building an online store include WordPress (for building your website) with WooCommerce, Shopify, Wix, and Magento, all of which offer free versions and are easy to use.
Keep in mind, almost all retail brands these days have an online store to complement their physical stores. The two go hand-in-hand.
Companies like Nike, HomeSense, and Walmart, which began as very successful physical retail stores, now offer customers the ability to shop online. Now online sales now account for the majority of their revenue which just goes to show the power of this business model.
Licensing Digital Products
Instead of selling physical goods, businesses can also sell digital goods on their website. This means you can sell the same product to an infinite number of people, meaning that your stock is unlimited.
For this revenue stream, you aren’t really “selling” these products. Rather you are licensing your product or service to customers to use, while you still retain the ownership. Some examples of digital products which can be licensed include:
- Photos
- Videos
- Music
- Graphics
- Design Assets
These sorts of products can often be sourced for free or are otherwise inexpensive to create. Since they can have endless licenses this solution has potential to earn good income as a passive revenue stream.
Some platforms to consider when licensing out your digital products include:
Advertisements
Whatever industry you are in, your business will have an audience and a target demographic that other businesses will want to advertise to. By allowing Google or other ad platforms to place ads on your website, you can start creating incremental income every time someone visits your site.
Advertisements are a great passive revenue stream that businesses can implement almost instantly by signing up for a free Google Adsense account.
Affiliate Marketing
Another way to benefit from other businesses inside your industry or in a complimentary industry is through affiliate marketing. By partnering with other brands, your business can start generating affiliate revenue. The way it works is you post online content, such as the article you are now reading and include affiliate links that refer your visitors to another website.
The process is simple, when somebody comes to another website through your link and then makes a purchase, you will receive a commission. Affiliate revenue is one of the most lucrative revenue streams that businesses can integrate quickly and for free.
Some of the best affiliate programs online are as follows:
There are literally thousands of profitable affiliate programs that you can partner with, but these are some of the biggest and best. Some affiliate programs act more like networks, like Clickbank and Rakuten, offer thousands of products and services that you can promote on your website as well.
Summary
There are many ways that businesses can build multiple revenue streams and start generating additional income each month. By offering subscription services, setting up an online store, licensing digital products, advertising, and partnering with some affiliate programs, any business can diversify its income and generate more revenue from additional sources.
A Bonus Tip
For those who haven’t heard about Back to Biz, it’s a program that was set up to help businesses recover from the impact of the pandemic. Right now, Creativelive is offering free subscriptions to the Back to Biz program, so be sure to take advantage of the offer while it’s still available.
