Last week we discussed your radio station’s website and how it needs to be a true reflection of your station and its listeners. I also covered the visual elements of the site and trying your best to give the viewer content that they can’t find elsewhere. Now, here’s Part Two ...

How to monetize your website is becoming more and more of a topic of interest when talking about your website. Let's face it, as we continue to go more digital, spend money to go digital, we want to figure out how to make money from going digital. The number one issue with station websites are those that are still utilizing Google AdSense because the site owner believes that you are making money from it. If you are not familiar with AdSense, good. Don't concern yourself with it. But for the stations that are still using it, ask yourself when was the last time your received a check for more then thirty dollars in a month's period from Google? You haven't. Remove it off your site because all it does is created clutter and makes your site less visually appealing.

Make sure your site has some sort of ad management system in place to use for ad sales and self promos. Also be sure that the ad management system can provide you with reports for your clients that include click-through rates and impressions. Even if your site's traffic is limited, I guarantee that you can sell a banner on your website for at least $50/month. Imagine being able to do that with 10 rotating banners. Now your website is making you $500 every month with little work.

Lastly, watch the ad placement of your banners and make sure the ads are visually appealing to the site and match the overall look of the site. The last thing you want is for your ads to take focus away from the things that are most important. Can you have a huge banner going across the top of your site? Absolutely, as long as it matches the overall look of the site. It can't draw too much attention away from the rest of the content on the site. If you can incorporate all of the above, your website will be a portal now to your airwaves, not the other way around. So utilize it, invest in it, and most of all take care of it. It's your future!