Making money on the internet.
Is it really possible to make money on the internet?
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A friend of mine showed me a Washington Post article recently that said moot(creator of 4chan) is now in debt about $20,000 and has yet to find any way of turning a profit from 4chan. He's just going further into debt by charging sever costs to credit cards to keep 4chan running. The first thing I thought was, why would this guy keep running himself into the ground to keep afloat a site that is generally considered the anus of the internet?
But the article also mentions that other sites are having trouble returning on their investments; even sites considered more "friendly" like Facebook.
So the second thing I thought was, is it even possible to make money on the internet without a tangible product to sell?
What do you folks think about that sort of thing?
You can read the article here
But the article also mentions that other sites are having trouble returning on their investments; even sites considered more "friendly" like Facebook.
The Washington Post wrote...
Poole[moot]'s problem is the problem of the entire Internet, which is built on wireless connections and a lot of "theoretically." It's where people spend time, make friends, play games, get news -- and yet despite all of that philosophical worth, the smartest minds in the country still struggle with how to make even the most successful sites profitable. In 2007, Microsoft invested $240 million in Facebook, but the site still hasn't found profits to match its implied worth. Twitter has an estimated 6 million users, but is still grappling with a firm business plan. So the second thing I thought was, is it even possible to make money on the internet without a tangible product to sell?
What do you folks think about that sort of thing?
You can read the article here
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Possible to make money on the internet without selling things, yeah, I think it is. I'm, actually, pretty sure that it's possible. Lots of websites, though it may not be noticeable to the average person, make money not so much on what they sell but on traffic and ads alone.
That's the reason most websites tend to put quite a strong emphasis on clicking the ads. I believe you're a 4chan user, so you've probably heard people speak about moot wanting users to click the ads or other users wanting ads to be clicked. (That way the site stays up and moot makes some money)
It has a whole lot to do with affiliation. If you're connected with other sites, successful sites such as amazon, you can make money simply for having an ad that links to their page. It's pretty cool. But you can't just throw an ad on your page and expect money to appear out of nowhere. Obviously, one would have to make it known to the site and have the site agree with it. This goes for not only amazon, but other sites.
Myspace is a great example. With all the ads and millions, if not billions of users, to click em... Tom and staff surely have lots of revenue coming in.
So yeah, with the right affiliations, you can make money. It would help to be affiliated with companies that sell products though. They're likely to be able to give more than a company that doesn't sell anything.
There you have it, one way that making money on the internet is possible. Ads.
That's the reason most websites tend to put quite a strong emphasis on clicking the ads. I believe you're a 4chan user, so you've probably heard people speak about moot wanting users to click the ads or other users wanting ads to be clicked. (That way the site stays up and moot makes some money)
It has a whole lot to do with affiliation. If you're connected with other sites, successful sites such as amazon, you can make money simply for having an ad that links to their page. It's pretty cool. But you can't just throw an ad on your page and expect money to appear out of nowhere. Obviously, one would have to make it known to the site and have the site agree with it. This goes for not only amazon, but other sites.
Myspace is a great example. With all the ads and millions, if not billions of users, to click em... Tom and staff surely have lots of revenue coming in.
So yeah, with the right affiliations, you can make money. It would help to be affiliated with companies that sell products though. They're likely to be able to give more than a company that doesn't sell anything.
There you have it, one way that making money on the internet is possible. Ads.
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As HentaiElder said, ads are important. Hell, they're basically the only way to make money online without selling stuff. (Though MySpace has another way, and that's promoting bands and such through the site.) The problem is, not everyone clicks on ads, and a lot of people block the ads so they don't even show up. Furthermore, just because a site you like has an ad, it doesn't mean you'll ever have an interests in the ads. Using 4chan as an example, there's currently an ad for some stupid fucking online game called Forum Warz. I checked it out, and it's horrible. It's stupid and not the least bit fun, just trying to get a few hits by mentioning 4chan and memes. I messed with it for five minutes, and that was it. I'll never click the ad again. And I imagine when the ads for Forum Warz started on 4chan, somebody on /b/ made a thread talking about how shitty the game was, which made a lot of users decide to never click the ad at all.
It's kind of a mindfuck, thinking about how popular 4chan is, how almost everyone online knows what it is, and how moot is actually in debt because of the site. Same with Facebook and similar sites.
I think one way for such sites to make money without offering a tangible product would be to sell merchandise. People visit the sites because they like them, so the merchandise would just be extra stuff offered to the fans. That's what Jacob did, after all, with the shirts, and we all know how quickly they sold out. If moot made some shirts with 4chan memes, I'm sure they'd sell very fucking well, especially considering how many idiots buy Guy Fawkes masks. If moot had bought a bunch of those masks and sold them on 4chan, he probably wouldn't be in debt right now.
In short, I don't think you can make money off of just a website, but it is possible to sell merchandise and shit and come out even or maybe a little better. Some "hardcore" fans may get pissy, but fuck them. They're the same assholes who wouldn't buy a $15 single from a local band that's trying to make it big.
It's kind of a mindfuck, thinking about how popular 4chan is, how almost everyone online knows what it is, and how moot is actually in debt because of the site. Same with Facebook and similar sites.
I think one way for such sites to make money without offering a tangible product would be to sell merchandise. People visit the sites because they like them, so the merchandise would just be extra stuff offered to the fans. That's what Jacob did, after all, with the shirts, and we all know how quickly they sold out. If moot made some shirts with 4chan memes, I'm sure they'd sell very fucking well, especially considering how many idiots buy Guy Fawkes masks. If moot had bought a bunch of those masks and sold them on 4chan, he probably wouldn't be in debt right now.
In short, I don't think you can make money off of just a website, but it is possible to sell merchandise and shit and come out even or maybe a little better. Some "hardcore" fans may get pissy, but fuck them. They're the same assholes who wouldn't buy a $15 single from a local band that's trying to make it big.