Website that are making billions

How One Website Can Turn Around Millions to Billions

How One Website Can Turn Around Millions to Billions

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Martin Lewis is one of the most trusted financial experts in the UK, says a December 2019 report in The Guardian. People trust his advice on how to save their hard-earned cash and actively crave his counsel through phone-ins and other means.

The Money Saving Expert Goes Online

The Money Saving Expert’s Money Tips, a weekly newsletter that Lewis still actively supervises, goes out to 13 million subscribers every Tuesday night. It is full of words with no frills in the form of photos or any other visual relief.

It had started as an email Lewis, better known today as the Money Saving Expert, used to write to his friends. The newsletter retains that simplicity. However, that does not compromise its popularity one little bit like the tips available are incredibly varied and concrete.

From tips on how to get a cheaper meal at McDonald’s or Nando’s to codes for discounted access to airport lounges, saver deals on broadbands and free radiator heat-reflector pad offers – the newsletter has it all, says The Guardian report.

TheMoneySavingExpert.com is a website that Lewis had founded in 2003 for a mere £80, says a 2015 report in The Telegraph. He sold it for an impressive £87 million in 2012 to MoneySupermarket, a price-comparison firm. This gave him a return of £35 million in cash, £27 million promised in the form of future payments, and an ‘earn-out’ share option. Not bad for an affordable investment of £80!

However, he invested a lot of time – he has since cut down his 90 hours a week to about 50-60 hours weekly now. He has relinquished the charge of editor-in-chief to Marcus Herbert, but Lewis still supervises every newsletter meticulously.

This website is one of the 100 most popular websites in Britain, with 16 million visitors every month, informs The Guardian. The Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV attracts an average of about four million viewers on a regular basis.

How Lewis Built an Empire Through his Website

martin-lewis-money-saving-expert

He truly practices what he preaches on his website. That is what comes through from every single media report about this man. He still does not spend £2.50 for a can of Diet Coke if he can buy it for £1.50 somewhere else.

The Money Saving Expert actually cares about saving money and he doles out his expert advice with sincerity and honesty. He stepped in as a practical advisor at a time of real crisis, offering concrete suggestions that people can actually implement. Meaning, his website offers good, well-researched and useful advice that people appreciate, especially at times that are financially challenging.

This is the backdrop against which Lewis rose to fame.

He gave people hope that they can still control their finances and life. Not by cutting down on spending, but by using the modern financial system’s functioning to one’s advantage. Understand the system and use it to get the best deals: that’s what Lewis helps people achieve with his expertise.

Lewis has further deepened people’s trust by supporting finance charities and founding a school framework to address issues of financial insecurity and mental health.

Lewis is Not the Only One

He really isn’t, when it comes to making money online. The MoneySavingExpert.com site has made Lewis a very rich man because of his advice on saving money works. However, there are other real-life examples of becoming rich through websites that individuals launched for themselves, using their own investment and initiative.

IncomeDiary.com

IncomeDiary - how to make money online

Michael Dunlop, the founder of IncomeDiary.com, a Brighton-based website that advises people on how to make money online, acknowledges in one of his posts that he has monetized his blog by selling online courses, software, and others’ products as an affiliate.

Dunlop’s advice is that the best way to start monetising a website is to sell other people’s products, but not in an obviously promotional manner. He cites the example of a photography website, which can recommend good cameras and other photographic equipment to earn a commission.

However, the reviews need to be honest and the commission acknowledged, insists Dunlop. Affiliate marketing is different from selling advertisements, he stresses.

SaveTheStudent.org

savethestudent - earning money onlinePublishing sponsored posts on your website is another way of earning money, says savethestudent.org, one of UK’s most popular student finance websites with more than two million visitors a month.

Both IncomeDiary and SaveTheStudent emphasise email marketing options. Creating an exhaustive email list and promoting/selling products through emails is another way of earning money online, say both these sites.

DoughRoller.net

rob berger dough roller

DoughRoller founder Rob Berger, whose declared aim is to help people achieve financial independence, talks about five live examples of making money through one’s website in a December 2019 post. He starts with the art of Non-Conformity founded and headed by Chris Guillebeau.

Guillebeau has built a business selling products that he creates himself, says Berger. Mostly e-books with concrete information and how-to guides that impart practical tips. Berger goes on to name two other websites that earn money purely by acting as affiliates of other people’s products:

  • Prepaid Review, and
  • Coolest Gadgets.

Berger also mentions Digital Photograph School, which both functions as an Amazon Affiliate, and sells its own products. The founder, Darren Rowse, has managed to turn his hobby of photography into his livelihood with a plomb.

The Key Points

It is possible to keep on citing many more examples. However, it is more important to cull out the main points that emerge from these examples:

  • It is entirely possible to monetise your website to an extent that it takes care of your livelihood needs and more.
  • You can do that by both selling your own products and services, and/or becoming an affiliate selling other people’s products and services.
  • The bottom line is being honest in your advice, reviews, promotions and whatever else it is that you focus on in your website. From Lewis to Dunlop and Berger – everyone has started building a website based on their passion and expertise.

The Precondition

Yes, there is one – You need a website!

You surely have the most creative ideas about how to present what you want to wow your visitors with. For the website set-up, design and marketing that will facilitate your presentation and success, do the following to get started:

Linking up with the SeekaHoster community and other digital entrepreneurs will be a bonus that you will be more than happy with so set up a profile on https://www.digitaltribe.net.

Build that online empire now and rake in the rewards in a few years’ time ready to retire.

Author Profile

Manuela Willbold
Manuela Willbold
Blogger and Educator by Passion | Senior Online Media & PR Strategist at ClickDo Ltd. & SeekaHost Ltd. | Fascinated to Write, Blog and Teach, I have completed a journalism summer course at the London School of Journalism and manage various WordPress blogs.