Your website = $$$ ?

I'm not sure what you mean by normal? You mean making an income/profit through not selling services or goods? Like making a profit on advertising and giving away content?

The reason I ask is that a company website often gives away content as an advertising expense that comes back as business, so I'm not sure what the reasoning is behind your distinction between company and "normal", and not sure what you mean by "normal".

Well, I mean a non-company site. So if it's a hobby site and you sell t-shirts and cups with your logo on it then it would count, but i.e. a webdesign company site or a web hosting company site would not.

A webdesign or webhosting company isn't selling goods, though, they are selling services.

Are you looking for people who sell goods? That's a commercial site, but not necessarily a company site.

Sorry to be so nit-picky here, I'm really just not sure who could qualify...

A personal site that has schwag (things with logos on them for sale) is a non-commericial entity -- is that the normal site?

What about people who run hobby sites selling specific goods, like their paintings, or their necklaces, instead of their skills (which you've eliminated from the equation?)? What about someone who sells services through their website, not goods, but isn't webdesign/development/hosting related, like, um, someone who sells their advice or consulting skills like a personal coach?

I'm guessing he means "content sites"? It isn't a regular product or service that generates income, but ads/affiliates?

Oh, and I have no sites so I can't answer the original question.

Let me rephrase my question... Do you have any "content-sites" that are generating income?

Our business directory site makes us quite a lot of money each month purely from affiliates links.

Quote: Originally posted by zollet
Do you have any "content-sites" that are generating income?

No, unfortunately not.

I have one that is interested in generating income through product sales most likely. What sorts of techniques do people use for earning money? I'm not sure that affiliates would be all that successful in our case (it's very much a niche site) but I really don't know much about that sort of thing.

I've read that the online advertising market is growing which is really great news.

Pro-fit?
What in the world is that?
I've never seen one of them before!

Quote: Originally posted by zollet
I've read that the online advertising market is growing which is really great news.

not if it's all spam

Quote: Originally posted by zollet
Let me rephrase my question... Do you have any "content-sites" that are generating income?

I've just sold $200 in advertising and potentially more if the client wants to extend the deal. And I have another client who is about to finalize a deal. So it's been a very good month. I guess the low operating costs ($20 a month) makes it easy to make a profit, however.

But do you have a content so you can sell advertising?

Doesn't that make it an advertising, not content, site?

That's the thing that I'm getting hung up on -- selling content is selling goods. Whether it's funded by advertising (or underwritten by advertising, like newspapers and magazines) or a subscription based scheme (like adult sites), the content is what brings in the money.

But if you sell potato peelers, and you profit from the sales as well as sell advertising to potato growers, seed catalogues, et cetera, how is that any different from selling "content"? That the content is only available online and isn't a physical product?

In that case, what's the difference between selling "content" and selling a service -- in this case the service is education or information.

Semantics, I know, but I think we need a tighter definition if we're going to push this discussion into looking at different ways to sell "content" online.

i'm working on a "content site" as you can probably tell from my signature...anyways...it wont "sell" any products for at least a year...i'm hoping to generate some cash to pay for the server and other costs through affiliates, although the affiliates will be content smart...not just random "junk"...we'll see though

Mine is slightly different. It's a content site that generates income!

Anyone who adds a site has the option to upgradeit for free or a fixed fee to bump it to the top of the listing for each category. That's the primary source of income.

Secondly, the site sells advertising space. Bog standard, nowt special, cept for the cost!

Finally, I am currently working on building an online store. This hopefully will be the real winner as I'm dragging data real time from Amazon to populate the store. So instead of looking like an affiliate for Amazon, it's deeply integrated into my site...

Overall I make around $200 per month from the site...

Quote: Originally posted by Jaiem
But do you have a content so you can sell advertising?

Doesn't that make it an advertising, not content, site?

Not sure what your question is in reference to, but if it's to my post, of course my site is a content site. There's well over 1,000 original published articles on it.

Let me put it another way:

Do you plan to make money off the content itself? (perhaps charge for access)

Or do you plan to sell ad space based on people coming to the site for the content?

Quote: Originally posted by Jaiem
Let me put it another way:

Do you plan to make money off the content itself? (perhaps charge for access)

Or do you plan to sell ad space based on people coming to the site for the content?

The second question is what describes my site, although I'm not sure what you're getting at. I am a content site that is supported by ads, like many. Who knows, in the future, earning revenue off content is a possibility. But just because I am supported by ads doesn't mean I'm not a content site!

I guess message forum count as a content site as well , right ?

webhostingtalk.com charges 1000 per month for the banner and they have at least 8 company paying for that.

Quote: Originally posted by FunkyJ
I guess message forum count as a content site as well , right ?

webhostingtalk.com charges 1000 per month for the banner and they have at least 8 company paying for that.

Not really. Message boards are community sites, which are different from content sites. WHT does well because they have a targeted audience and are insanely popular.