Alex Le’s Blog

Websites As Businesses

Running a website should be considered as running a business, albeit a unique kind of business that everything is virtual. The designs and implementation is no longer the most important part. Managing contents, marketing, SEO-ing, and monetizing become a lot more critical, especially if the site is within a niche and crowded markets. Google is now rising to be the big G of the web: getting “Google-slapped” means dropping number of ads clicks and losing revenues from advertisements.

How profitable is a website?

Very and varied. When a site reaches a certain “critical mass” in terms of visitors, page views, Google page rank, it can pull in at least a couple hundred dollars a month. Smaller content-based sites (such as my website) can pull in a couple bucks to $10, $20 a month. On the other hand, there is a few blogs that pull in $1,500 to $2,000 dollars on average a month from advertisements. Other more successful blogs pull in $20,000 to $30,000 a month. John Chow’s personal blog is a notable one as the mastermind behind it publicly posts the monthly income on his website (that is also one of his marketing/PR techniques too).  Mega site MySpace’s revenue is up in the hundred of millions and a writer from Forbes estimated the 1B number.

True story:  a friend of mine is running a non-for-profit search page (www.searchkindly.org) that collects advertisement money and donate to charities.  He was able to raise $817.25 for March alone.  It is quite amazing to look at his “proof of giving” page.

With that kind of revenue, running a website as a business is much more profitable than any other kinds of investing, including real estates. The downside is that it takes a certain kind of people to run such a virtual business since there is no schools, no classes, no books to teach you about making a living off the internet. There are e-books being sold all the time with the promise of teaching you how to “make $5,000 a month from home in your pajamas using your laptop “, but I highly doubt the contents and techniques from such sources. There are certain things you can pick up and learn as you go. Making a money off the web is certainly one of them.

If you talk to people around you about making money online, most people will look at you with puzzled eyes. They probably won’t be able to grasp the concept of how a banner and some text links can generate such money. Alchemy they think. But as the internet become more and more crowded, the site that can generate leads and capture visitors attention will certainly win the breads.

Where should one start?

The easiest way is to start a blog and start writing about your favorite hobbies and ideas.  I love web technologies, I love coding, I love making money so this is the theme of my blog.  Your interests is different than mine, but it is something unique and better yet, you can start making money off it right away.  John Chow’s advice is to write not about money but what you love. He is making money doing exactly just that.

If you can program a web application then it is even better way to make money through both advertising and subscriptions.  However, the efforts will be significant higher.  Trust me.  It still hurts me every time I think about all the failed ideas, postponed projects that I worked on over the years.  Motivation and PERSEVERANCE is the biggest key to success.

The risks associated with such an endeavor is also mountain-high if you financially invest in it.  The risks get even worse if you don’t have the technical background and hire developers to implement your ideas.  The cost of developing an application is not cheap, at all.  You will get conned, get ripped, get sold on compromises, and delayed deadlines.  Your dream idea can become a nightmare, both emotionally and financially.  If you are not tech-savvy, then don’t start a web project until you find the right team and the right technical person to relate to.  Otherwise your loss is guaranteed. Speaking from my own personal experience, the best way to start a small web application is to have a team of 3 people:  1 designer, 1 lead developer/ thinker, and 1 co-programmer.  At an average rate of $50/hour per person, the numbers adds up quickly.

Can anyone make money off the web?

Yes.  You have to pick a point where you want to start.  Visiting lots of other sites with proven revenues to get ideas.  Experimenting with your site to generate more ideas and use that as the launch pad for other stream of revenues.

In the coming months, I will share more of my experience of making money online so definitely it will be more interesting.

Tags: make money online