In Japan, the trend of completing the transaction process from research and comparison to sign-up completely online has been growing, not only for business-to-consumer (B2C), but also for business-to-business (B2B). In this context, websites have evolved beyond being merely a way to introduce a company and instead now serve as a major revenue channel supporting day-to-day operations.

On the other hand, many businesses with an online presence often feel their sites are just for delivering information or they would be difficult to monetise. In reality, monetising a site doesn't require special expertise or large-scale systems. Still, it is important to choose an option that aligns with the goal and to follow the correct procedures.

In this article, we will provide a clear, straightforward explanation of the methods and steps for monetising a website in Japan, along with the key points to success.

What's in this article?

• The market size of e-commerce
  
• How to monetise a website
  
• Steps to monetising a website
  
• Useful tools for monetising a website
  
• Key points to successful monetisation of a website
  
• How Stripe Checkout can help
  

The market size of e-commerce

According to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Market Survey on Electronic Commerce for Fiscal Year 2024, the size of the domestic e-commerce market in the country in 2024 is as follows:

Market size

• B2C e-commerce: Approximately ¥26.1 trillion (5.1% increase from the previous year)
  
• B2B e-commerce: Approximately ¥514.4 trillion (10.6% increase from the previous year)
  

E-commerce penetration rate (the proportion of the e-commerce market size relative to the total value of all commercial transactions)

• B2C: 9.8%
  
• B2B: 43.1%
  

This data reveals that e-commerce has become widely established in consumer purchases and dealings between businesses. For B2B in particular, the figures show that online exchanges account for a high proportion of overall commercial transactions. This indicates that digitalisation is steadily advancing within corporate activities.

With this background in mind, websites need to move beyond supplying details and strategically drive revenue.

How to monetise a website

There are numerous ways to monetise a webpage, and the most suitable approach varies depending on the industry, commercial model, and site purpose. What are the ways to actually make money with a digital channel? Let's take a look at some representative commercialisation methods that are relatively straightforward to put in place and common across many businesses:

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing enables websites to earn performance-based commissions by promoting products or services, making it particularly well-suited to data-focused sites.

Sites focused on specific themes or specialised fields can easily and naturally introduce offerings in line with audience challenges, interests and concerns. This allows a web media page to create sustainable monetisation.

Ad revenue

Ad revenue on websites primarily consists of pay-per-click and outcome-based models. In exchange for displaying ads on a page, your business can receive advertising fees tied to the number of impressions or clicks.

While Google AdSense is probably the best-known example, there are also other options, including joining an ad network or directly contracting with companies to display advertisements. Pages at or above a certain level of traffic can expect stable income by consistently publishing material. However, depending on how ads are displayed, there is a risk of compromising the user experience, so it is worth implementing ads with the site's goal and audience in mind.

Sell products and services

Providing your company's products and services through a digital channel is one of the primary ways to monetise. There are various forms, such as accepting applications or registrations for solutions and offering subscription-based services designed for ongoing use.

Options that integrate with Instagram and other social media are also gaining traction as alternatives to regular e-commerce.

Steps to monetising a website

Once a monetisation method is selected, the next major step is designing and running the page appropriately. Next, we'll introduce the fundamental steps common to many operations, regardless of their industry or business model:

Clarify the site's purpose

First, consider the website's ultimate purpose. Clarify the direction, and decide whether the focus centres on supplying info, handling inquiries and sign-ups, or driving product sales. Doing so determines the page's overall layout and ensures content consistency.

Register with the necessary service platforms

Depending on the site's earning structure, registration with affiliate service providers, ad-serving support, and similar platforms are needed.

When participating in partner networks, decide which program to join. If a page is registered in categories unrelated to your company's website, achieving high-performance-based rewards gets harder. It's worth participating in networks aligned with the site's resources.

Create content

Your online presence must not be self-indulgent or self-serving. Instead, focus on creating content built around the information your users are actually looking for. When participating in affiliate programs, don't forget the tracking links. After launch, keep improving the page by updating its material in response to feedback, conversion rates, CPA and other data.

Useful tools for monetising a website

When building a revenue-generating web platform, remember everything doesn't have to be built in-house. By skilfully combining tools suited to your objectives, such as usage insights, production, registrations and checkout, it's possible to minimise the amount of operational work while maximising results. Here's an introduction to some resources commonly used when running a site:

Site analysis and traffic analytics

Using site analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console helps reveal how users interact with it. These insights highlight visitor behaviour – e.g. which pages attract views and where drop-offs occur – alongside search performance. Reviewing material and user flow from this data allows monetisation strategies to be refined and strengthened.

Content creation and management

These resources help efficiently create and manage articles and pages. For websites continuously publishing information, it is key to establish an environment that facilitates simple updates.

Payment, contracts and sign-ups

When selling products or services, it is worth ensuring the sequence from sign-up and conclusion of a contract to final payment is as smooth as possible. If the procedures are unclear, it can lead to cart abandonment. It also frequently increases the daily operational burden on the business side, including verifying registration details, handling billing, and providing customer support.

In recent years, an increasing number of companies have been addressing issues in these areas by using external offerings and simplifying day-to-day work to complete them entirely online. For instance, if you want to create a checkout page, using a payment processing solution such as Stripe Checkout lets you build a simple flow from sign-up to payment directly on your website.

Key points to successful monetisation of a website

Monetising a website involves combining methods tailored to an organisation's size and day-to-day setup. However, to ensure success, pay close attention to the following:

Be mindful of traffic from search engines

If you keep themes and keywords that are simple to look up in mind while creating content, expect a stable stream of traffic from search engines.

Another approach is to review Google's published ranking guidelines, then examine the site's overall structure and info organisation. Consistently implemented basic measures will form the foundation for long-term monetisation and profitability.

Expand inbound traffic by using social media

Sharing data through discoverability and across social media creates new points of contact with potential customers. In Japan, there is a tendency to place importance on the accuracy and clarity of details, as well as on the visual impression, so keep those tips in mind when communicating.

Regularly update and improve your site

Keeping information fresh and up-to-date, and making yours a site that users can trust, will help monetisation. The process doesn't have to be particularly difficult; conduct periodic reviews of the content and apply minor, continuous improvements.

How Stripe Checkout can help

Stripe Checkout is a fully customisable prebuilt payment form that makes it easy for you to accept payments on your website or application.

Checkout can help you:

• Increase conversion: Checkout's mobile-optimised design and one-click checkout flow make it simple for customers to input and reuse their payment information.
  
• Reduce development time: Embed Checkout directly into your site, or direct customers to a Stripe-hosted page, with just a few lines of code.
  
• Improve security: Checkout handles sensitive card data, simplifying PCI compliance.
  
• Expand globally: Localise pricing in 100+ currencies with Adaptive Pricing, which supports 30+ languages and dynamically displays the payment methods most likely to improve conversion.
  
• Use advanced features: Integrate Checkout with other Stripe products, such as Billing for subscriptions, Radar for fraud prevention and more.
  
• Maintain control: Fully customise the checkout experience, including saving payment methods and setting up post-purchase actions.
  

Learn more about how Checkout can optimise your payment flow, or get started today.