How to Make Money From Creating Your Own Website

1. Decide a topic for your website. To make money with your website, focus on a particular topic, or niche. Your website has to provide information for people that they can't find anywhere else. At the very least, it must provide information that few other websites offer so you won't have too much competition.
2. Find a domain name. This is what people type into the address bar of their browser to visit your site. For instance, you may have typed eHow.com into Internet Explorer to get to this page, because eHow is the domain name. Your domain name should have some type of connection to your website's topic so people have an idea of what to expect when they hear or see it. Next, register it. You can do this for a small annual or monthly fee, depending on the company you use.

3. Find a host. A simple online search will yield numerous hosting services. Most of them charge a monthly fee based on your bandwidth and the amount of space you use. Other hosting companies, like Google, offer free hosting for basic websites.
4. Design your website to attract people to the products or services you offer. If your website is mainly a blog, make it easy to read and pleasing to the eye. Flashing ads and neon colors are hard on the eyes and will cause people to click away in a matter of seconds. But a well-organized, viewer-friendly website will keep people looking and clicking around your website to see what it's all about.
5. Post products or services relating to your topic. Your website can be anything you want it to be, but you won't make money from it unless you offer products, services or advertising related to your topic. If you have a website about wrestling, find affiliate programs and advertisers related to wrestling. If you have a website that reviews your favorite movies, find ways to sell DVDs and movie-related merchandise that will generate income.
6. Generate traffic. Traffic is the lifeblood of a money-making website. If nobody visits your site, it won't generate any income because advertisers won't see the need to place ads on your website and nobody will be buying the products or services you offer. Market your website by visiting relevant online forums and chat rooms. Visit websites that are like yours and leave comments with links to your website. Ask other website owners if they would like to enter into an agreement in which you help promote each other's websites through trackbacks and other methods.
7. Add advertising to your website. Google AdSense is one of the most common and utilized methods for creating income through your own website. When you have an AdSense account, Google places ads on your website and you can configure the appearance and placement of the ads. Once your website becomes popular, search for other advertisers that are willing to place their relevant ads on your website to create an entirely different stream of income.