I have been creating niche websites for about 6 years now, and for about 4 years I have been selling them directly to customers. Niche websites have one goal, to make money. These websites don’t have to look nice, in fact, they should look very simple and that’s where the problem starts.
About 90% of people who are new to owning websites, want the best looking websites. In their mind, the better a website looks, the more money it makes. Wrong! It’s the opposite.
Many go to Flippa and purchase the best looking website and hope that it can make money. The problem is, that the better a website looks, the more graphics it has, the less it makes money with AdSense and Amazon.
But why is that? With niche websites that monetize via AdSense or other PPC (pay per click) ads it’s all about how many clicks you get to an ad. It has been proven in many studies that the more graphics, the more color and the more widgets a website displays, the less visitors click on ads. According to studies, when a website looks very beautiful, visitors are easily being distracted by the graphics and therefor tend to click a lot less on ads, which for obvious reasons gives you less earnings in the end. The most simple website designs have proven themselves over and over the have the highest CTR (click through rate). On very simple website, customers are not distracted by much graphics. They only see the text and then the ad that is displayed, thus the click through rate for the ad is much higher.
With Amazon or affiliate website you get a bit more freedom, because your target audience often comes to the website because they want to buy a specific product and you don’t rely on them clicking some Google Ad, instead you want to provide them with good content about the product they want to buy, so that they click on your affiliate link/banner where they can make the purchase. Having an appealing website is important. Don’t make it too simple, but also don’t make it too complicated. Focus the website on your content. Comparison table of different products tend to have a high click rate.
Buy the right website
When you purchase a website, you have to ask yourself what you want to achieve with that website. If it’s a company website, a community website or a website for some local activities, then you don’t need ads on it. You can go for something more appealing and fancy. Go all out on the design.
If you want a website that makes money with ads, such as AdSense, then keep it as simple as possible. Even if the website looks like it’s 15 years old. Don’t create a super massive slider, don’t use a big header that is beautiful and distracting. Keep it to the minimum. Trust me on that, the simpler the website looks, the more people click on ads.
If you want an Amazon website, make sure the website is appealing to the product niche. A website about fishing should probably not contain pink barbie like color combinations. Make sure you find the right balance between design and content. Design is important, but more important is the content. After all, you want people to read what you have to say about the product, and then make them click on the affiliate link.
Examples
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Good Amazon Website
[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”387″ border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”medium” img_link=”http://www.apennyshaved.com/”][vc_column_text]This website was created back in October 2013 by the guys over at NichePursuits. It was part of a case study. From it’s 5th month on, the website earned $2000/month.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
Good Company Website
[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”391″ alignment=”center” border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”medium” img_link=”http://themes.truethemes.net/Karma-4.0/”][vc_column_text]This popular website theme is a perfect example of how beautiful a company website can look like. The graphics are stunning, but distracting from clicking on ads. Don’t use ads on it, it won’t work.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
Good AdSense Website
[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”406″ border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”medium” img_link=”http://kerill.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/adsensewebsite.png”][vc_column_text]A very simple theme, yet very powerful when it comes to converting visitors to clicks on ads. It’s neither a beautiful theme nor is it ugly. It just – simple. It does what it’s suppose to do.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]To all those who purchase websites on impulse, ask yourself, does the websites design fit the monetization. Don’t get sucked into paying $300 for a beautiful website just because it’s beautiful and in the end it doesn’t make any money.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
All the advice here is very helpful.