It is Day 2, and I am working on refining the WordPress site that I just purchased. I need to think through the content structure, replace the templated content with my own and figure out how to integrate a separate discussion forum platform with WordPress.

The idea around the forum, is a space for Q&A, to offer free advice on any topic related to Ecommerce and/or starting a business; and to allow that content to be public so other future members can read and learn as well.

Related to this, is the plan to have some form of membership signup. This will be critical to build up an engaged audience for future newsletters. Indeed, my plan is to help people along in their ecommerce journeys, but in that process we hope to generate some revenue (this is a for-profit venture!).

MONETIZATION CONSIDERATIONS:
– Free Basic Access Membership + Paid VIP Membership for access to exclusive content
– Upsell paid content such as How-To Guides, Playbooks, Strategy PDFs, Reports, etc.
– Affiliate links to paying partners and recommend when helpful and appropriate (earn a commission)
– Online Courses for more robust topics around Ecommerce
– Free newsletter that points to helpful content (some free, some not so free)

To that end, I will need to come up with a strategy to eventually enable these areas of monetization.

But first, I would have to build a sizeable, engaged audience…and FREE is the way to go about that for now. We can have a separate post around how to build an audience and cast a wide net.

What are your thoughts and ideas around monetization?