How does a website generate income?

by Christina
(Wisconsin)

I know very little about running websites, but I'm really interested in the potential of being my own boss!

Besides selling items, do websites generate income (i.e., from advertising)? If so, how is the dollar amount determined? What is typical income from a website?

Thank you for your help!

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How does a website generate income?

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Mar 08, 2011
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Website income
by: Gary

What I would like to know is how a website like Facebook earns the owner an income? How are the funds generated and paid to the owner?

Note from Julie (admin): Gary - Facebook sells ads on their site, so that is one way that they are making money. I don't know the specifics of what other methods they use, but they would make a decent income from their ads.

Aug 31, 2010
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Answer to "How does a website generate income?"
by: Julie

Christina,

Great question! There are actually several ways that a website can generate income. One way is to sell "hard goods" - either items you personally stock, sell and ship or items that are "drop shipped" from an outside supplier. Drop shipping basically means that you do not handle any inventory. You become a partner with a warehouse or business who offers the product that you want to sell, and once an order is placed from your website, the actual packing and shipping is taken care of by the owner of the inventory that you sell.

Another way to generate income is through "affiliate" sales. If you look around my website, you might notice that I have links and banners for items from Amazon, The History Company & others. These are companies that I have chosen to become affiliated with, & companies that I feel will offer value to my visitors. You earn a commission on any sales generated from a click from your website.

Another way to generate income is through contextual advertising - Google Adsense is the largest company who offers this type of advertising. Notice the text ads on my site? Go to my home page and you will see a block of text ads below the first paragraph - that is a Google Adsense block of advertising. I earn income when visitors click on one of those ads.

You can also offer your own advertising and/or sponsorship, once you have enough traffic to warrant it (and with SBI!, that doesn't take as long as you might think!).

Those are the basic ways that one can make money with a website. There are other options (selling subscriptions to a newsletter, becoming a paid membership site and more). It really depends on what your interest is and what revenue stream fits best for your site.

I can tell you that it is possible to "be your own boss" & make money with your own website! It took me several years of trying to do it myself before I finally joined the SBI! program and learned how to do it, though! Joining SBI was the best decision that I ever made.

There really is no "typical income" for a website. It all depends on your website traffic, and the type of advertising you choose to use.

The SBI program is not a "get rich quick" scheme. It's a way to build an online business, and like most businesses, success does not happen overnight. It takes time and hard work, but it is nothing that anybody with the desire to own their own business could not do.

I hope this helps! I'm limited by the amount that I can write in this space, or I could go on and on. I am so excited about SBI and building my website that I could talk about it forever!

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them here or use the "contact me" form to submit a private e-mail to me. Good luck! You CAN do it! If I can, you can! It doesn't happen overnight, but it can be done.

Julie from American History Fun Facts

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