Monetizing a website to ensure it generates maximum revenue for all the traffic you generate is one of the biggest challenges.

There are so many paths you can take to generate this revenue, so it can get confusing about what strategy to focus on.

This is why I have listed some of the best strategies for monetizing your gaming website. You can either use all of them or just a few. Here they are…

Place Ads

The most straightforward and easiest way to monetize your gaming website is to place ads on it.

You can sign up for an Adwords account and install ads on your website with a few clicks, and Google will start paying you every time someone clicks on your ads.

Some good places to display the ads are the header, sidebar, and below the games.

But make sure you don’t overcrowd your website with ads, as a bad user experience can discourage people from revisiting your website.

Also, user experience is an SEO ranking factor, and it can lead to Google lowering your ranking positions. 

Once your website traffic increases and you meet the requirements, you can switch to platforms like Adthrive and Mediavine.

These sites pay more for clicks and impressions, but they require you to generate more traffic to qualify. 

Offer A Premium Subscription

Ads are a quick way to make money, but if you are willing to spend extra time, you can create a premium version of your games.

This will help you make a lot more money because ads are a digital product, and profit margins can be incredibly high.

You just need to figure out what you need to offer to get people to pay for your game instead of just using the free version.

Some gaming sites get users to install a free version of the gaming app and then convince them to purchase more games in the app. 

For an idea of how to do this, check out Solitaired

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It monetizes its site with ads, but also offers people the option to sign up for an account. 

Grow An Email List

Social media might be one of the best ways to drive website traffic, but the conversion rates from that traffic will be minimal.

A better alternative would be to get someone to sign up for your email list. Several studies show that email converts people into customers much higher than social media like Facebook and Twitter.

So, make a solid effort to get people to sign up for your email list.

There are so many techniques you can use to do this and kickstart your email marketing strategy.

One is to get them to sign up for a free but premium version of the game that they can’t access directly. Another is to use a lead magnet.

This is a freebie you giveaway in exchange for someone signing up for your list. 

Once you have an email list, you can explore different methods to monetize it. One is to just promote products you already have. Another is to rent the list to businesses.

This is where people buy ad spaces in your newsletter. Affiliate marketing is another popular option. 

For some ideas, check out how the New York Times encourages people to sign up for a free account to get the most out of Wordle

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It’s using the game to grow its email list. 

Promote Affiliate Products

Affiliate marketing is a marketing strategy that many brands use. This is where they ask you to promote their product and give you a customized URL or discount code for that product.

When someone visits the website with that URL or uses that code to buy your product, you will get a percentage of the sale. 

If you don’t want to invest in creating your game as it is too time-consuming and expensive, you can use affiliate marketing to promote games offered by third-party sellers and make some revenue.

Some sites will pay you a recurring monthly fee as long as people subscribe, while some will just pay you a one-time fee.

You will generate more revenue from affiliate marketing than ads, but less than what you’d make if you sell your own products.

Some gaming sites like to use affiliate marketing while they are developing their own game to make some money in the meantime. 

Sell A Course

An easy strategy many people are using these days to quickly make money is selling courses.

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They are digital products with high-profit margins, and you can develop them within a few weeks, so they can help you generate a significant amount of money quite quickly. Your course topic could range from a wide variety of things.

It could show people how to play a specific video game better, how to be good at all games in general, or you could just create an ebook that gives away all the cheat codes to a game. 

Once your course is ready, you will need to accompany it with a funnel to convert all that website traffic you receive into sales.

You could also use your email list and paid ads to generate extra revenue. Retargeting ads, especially, work well in converting all that organic traffic you are already getting. 

Conclusion

There are so many ways to monetize your gaming website. These are some of the top methods you should check out. You can use all of them or just a few.

The best place to start is by placing ads on your website and adding opt-in forms to convert traffic to email subscribers.

You could also promote affiliate products as you can quickly implement this strategy, like ads.

While you use these techniques, you can work on creating a premium subscription or a course.

Once you hit a decent amount of revenue or traffic, you can place your site for sale and get your big payday.