# Product Monetization Model Design

> Passion alone isn't sustainable; make your product valuable

Hello everyone, I'm Yupi. Today, I want to share with you the topic of **monetization models**, hoping to provide some inspiration for website owners, software developers, content creators, and team leaders on how to monetize.

First, I'll introduce the concept of monetization models, and then I'll share some common models and thoughts based on my own experiences.

Whether you're using Vibe Coding for personal projects or aiming to create a real product, understanding monetization models can help you maximize the value of your product.

## What is a Monetization Model?

We can break down the term "monetization model" into "monetization" + "model."

Monetization refers to making 💰, while a model refers to a series of methods or strategies.

Combining the two, a monetization model is easy to understand. It refers to the series of methods and strategies adopted to achieve the goal of monetization. Simply put, it's "how to monetize."

Here's a straightforward example: When I went out for food over the weekend, I saw a bustling fast-food restaurant. For this restaurant, its monetization model could be its menu and sales strategy.

It could create an attractive menu, like calling scrambled eggs with tomatoes "Golden Splendor," and enhance customer satisfaction with unique recipes. It could run a series of promotions, such as buy-one-get-one-free, group discounts, limited-time red packets, or hiring people to queue up, all to stimulate consumer desire and increase revenue.

## The Necessity of Monetization Models

After understanding what a monetization model is, I'll share some small examples to illustrate its necessity.

I started a programming knowledge-sharing自媒体 in 2020, offering free content for a year without any income. Back then, I had no experience and little popularity, so I didn't consider monetization at all—I was purely driven by passion. Looking back, it was my strong self-motivation and perseverance that got me through that cold-start phase.

Initially, when fellow creators suggested I take on ads, I refused, stubbornly believing that accepting ads would betray my followers.

But later, I noticed slow follower growth and realized my enthusiasm was waning. How to break through? I had no choice but to try accepting an ad.

The result? After accepting my first ad, driven by guilt, I felt compelled to produce even higher-quality content to "compensate" my followers. Moreover, with ad revenue, I was more willing to invest more effort into content creation, treating my自媒体 as a career and feeling endless motivation to grow it.

Looking back, I believe I made the right choice. I've also seen many同期 UP主s who initially claimed to be driven by passion but eventually either gave up or turned to paid content.

What followers need is your content; they need you to provide **continuous value** for positive development. Just like TV shows with ads—if there were no ads, viewers wouldn't even get to see the shows. Would they be happy?

To grow a自媒体, you must have the motivation to keep updating; to grow a business, you must continuously accumulate resources.

For example, since 2022, I've been offering paid programming knowledge. On one hand, it's to motivate myself to help more aspiring programmers and keep myself busy; on the other hand, it's to accumulate resources for future entrepreneurship.

Without initial resources, how can you hire employees? Without employees, how can you create products? Without products, how can you achieve stable profits? Without stable profits, how can a business survive and grow?

It's as simple as that.

So, monetization models are essential for businesses. If we compare a business to a car, the monetization model is its engine, providing the power and support for its operation. Just as an engine converts fuel into motion to drive the car, a monetization model converts the products or services a business offers into profits, enabling the business to operate and grow sustainably.

## How to Choose a Monetization Model?

A monetization model can be as simple as a glass of water or as complex as a custom cocktail.

Given my limited experience, I'll share some basic, mainstream monetization models suitable for most people.

### 1. Direct Charging

Charging users a fixed fee for products or services.

A common example is software licenses (or the game discs we bought as kids)—you need to purchase the right to use the software.

This model is suitable for products with **relatively fixed value**. Pricing must be done cautiously, referencing the market and considering the product's value.

### 2. Advertising Revenue

Earning income by directly offering ad space to traffic owners or advertisers is a low-cost, low-risk monetization model.

For example, adding a recommendation spot for AI-related products on our Yucongming AI navigation page:

> This is just an example; we haven't actually monetized this way yet.

![](https://pic.yupi.icu/1/image-20230717125736202.png)

If our platform has significant traffic and its own clients, we can bypass ad platforms and negotiate directly with clients for higher profits. For instance, charging based on daily visits * days * ad space value.

But if platform traffic is unstable and lacks an ad tracking system, it's advisable to integrate third-party ad platforms like Google AdSense. This eliminates the need to negotiate with clients and allows flexible ad placement and performance tracking, making it ideal for individual website owners.

Note: For a growing product, balance ad quantity with user experience, weighing ad revenue against user loss.

### 3. Subscription Model

Allowing users to purchase product or service usage rights over specific time periods.

For example, monthly or annual memberships are the most common subscription models.

This model suits frequently updated products or services that provide continuous value, like knowledge-sharing platforms or information subscriptions. It requires cultivating user habits and loyalty; otherwise, it may not outperform direct charging.

### 4. Freemium Model

Freemium (free + premium) involves offering basic features or free services to attract users, then monetizing through paid premium features.

This model's downstream could be direct charging or subscriptions. The core idea is to retain users with free services, build trust, cultivate usage habits, and then charge, which often yields better conversion rates than direct "selling." Thus, it's one of the most common models.

Our Yucongming AI follows this model, initially investing heavily in free services to attract users, then converting them for monetization.

However, when using this model, carefully balance the ratio of free to paid users, conversion rates, and benefits—don't get exploited like we did early on.

### 5. Commission Fees

Acting as an intermediary in transactions or services, earning a percentage of each deal.

A classic example is WeChat Pay, which takes a cut from each transaction; knowledge-sharing platforms also use this model.

The advantage is low risk and substantial long-term收益, essentially passive income. The downside is the cost of building the intermediary system, ensuring service quality, and the difficulty of gaining initial client trust.

### 6. Licensing Model

Licensing your brand, technology, or intellectual property to other businesses or individuals for授权 fees.

SaaS (Software as a Service) can be seen as a licensing model, providing software products deployed on cloud servers to licensed users.

Licensing can also lead to direct charging or subscriptions. It's suitable for businesses with unique technology or intellectual property and high customer单价.

### 7. Outcome Sales

Collecting and analyzing your product's outcomes and selling them to other businesses for income.

Outcomes can include website content, data, or operational analysis conclusions.

For example, a travel website likely has extensive user travel preference data, which a travel product company might buy to improve its offerings. Similarly, AI art websites can sell their creations to AI art model researchers or image展示 platforms.

This model suits products with大量 valuable data; smaller products may not benefit. However, when developing systems, always retain data—it might prove valuable later.

### 8. Value-Added Services

Offering additional services on top of the core product to increase revenue streams.

A typical example is Alipay, which started as a payment service but now offers various生活 services like recharges and food delivery.

Our Yucongming AI website could also offer AI consulting as a value-added service, though limited manpower prevents us from doing so.

Note: Value-added services should complement the core product, not clutter it with unrelated offerings that harm user experience.

### 9. Partnership Model

A more advanced model involving collaboration with others for mutual benefit.

There are many可行合作方式. For example, Product A offers job-seeking services, and Product B offers college student consulting—they can cross-promote to expand their user bases. Alternatively, Company A provides底层技术, and Company B offers上层服务, sharing profits.

Note: Choose partners considering both the benefits they offer and what you offer them, establishing a fair profit-sharing机制. Unequal利益 will inevitably lead to conflicts.

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Monetization models are the core of product变现. Choosing the right model can sustain product value; choosing wrong can make it unsustainable.

Remember these key points:

1. There are many monetization models; choose based on product characteristics.
2. Combine multiple models to offer more options.
3. Balance short-term收益 with long-term development.
4. Continuously optimize models based on data.
5. Models should meet user needs, not just focus on赚钱.

In the Vibe Coding era, the barrier to creating products is low. However, making your product valuable and sustainable still requires careful thought about monetization models.

Keep pushing, find the right monetization model, and make your product truly valuable! 💪

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