Welcome back to another episode of the Designerless Show.

This episode is all about how to use your website to make money. It’s critically important you align your website with your revenue stream in order to actually see the results you hope to see.

Without knowing what exactly you hope to accomplish and how you plan to sell, it’s very difficult to create a website that can sell. It’s like trying to run a marathon without knowing where the starting line is. (Not that I’ve ever run a marathon, but that seemed like the best analogy I could give.)

A big problem I see in the web design industry is web designers aren’t strategists. A lot of web designers are just technicians who are taking the easy way out. They will tell you that you just need to have A, B, C, and D on your site, and if you have those elements, you’ll start making sales. They do the technical side of things, assemble some moving parts, make it look pretty, and hope for the best.

I hate to break it to you, but that right there is called hope marketing…you’re building it and hoping they come and hoping they convert.

I wish it were that easy!

The fact of the matter is what your site does — how it looks, how it works, the functions you build into it — need to depends entirely on how you make money.

There are a lot of different ways to make money online, but website revenue streams generally fall into one of these categories:

• Ecommerce
• Digital downloads like ebooks, planners, and printables
• Courses
• Membership site
• Advertising
• Services

Ecommerce sites are those that typically sell physical products, whether through fulfillment themselves or through dropshipping. This includes subscription boxes, and selling artwork or jewelry.

Digital downloads includes ebooks, and planners. Something someone downloads to their computer upon purchase. The structure is similar to that of ecommerce sites, but you have no fulfillment on your end. The fulfillment is taken care of by your website.

Courses as a revenue stream is when someone purchases a course, and they login and watch videos, and access material. This may or may not include supplemental downloads, but the structure is based on someone logging in somewhere to access material.

A membership site is similar in structure as a course model. Instead of a one off purchase for a course, a membership site comes with a recurring subscription fee. Typically a membership site will be more robust than a site that just simply sells one course, so there is more ongoing work involved.

Advertising as a primary revenue stream is generally for those sites who have built a large traffic base through writing articles. Think of something like the Huffington Post.

And services as a revenue stream is for those who provide graphic design services, virtual assistance, and coaching. If your income is based on you doing work for someone else, or coaching them, your website should be structured for this to be obvious.

I want you to spend some time today thinking about your primary revenue stream. If you’re in the middle of shifting your business or focus, then think about the revenue stream you will be adopting in the near future. Additionally, consider how payroll calculations might impact your financial planning and overall revenue.

So, let me know: what do you want to sell, how do you want to sell it, and to whom do you want to sell it?

All of these website revenue streams requires a slightly different setup than the next. If your primary revenue stream comes from ecommerce, your website elements and structure will be a little bit different than if you’re selling digital courses.