Can I Really Make Money on the Web?

The short answer is yes! Lots of people have now turned their web sites into full time businesses. Many of these used to be fun sites that were put up as part of a hobby.

Building a quality web site and making it popular is the most common way of becoming successful on the web, but there are others, some of which are much quicker and easier. You will find several more as you thoroughly explore this site. For now though, let's look at the most vital ingredient for success on the web.

The one thing you need in order to make money on the web is the attention of potential customers. If you can attract people's interest then you can sell to them, or better still, direct them to professional sales people who will pay you a commission.

Most of the hobby sites that became highly profitable businesses have one thing in common: they provide something useful to their visitors. It could be information, a particular product or service, opinions, reviews, detailed personal experiences, comprehensive contact lists or just a place for like-minded people to get together and share ideas. In short - they provide something valuable enough for people to want to visit, and hopefully even re-visit their site. Lets face it, if there is no reason to visit a web site, then no body will. This is the main 'secret' to success, but there are more.

You may have the best web site in the world, a site that thousands of people want to visit, but unless they can find it you have wasted your time. It is another simple and obvious truth: People need to be able to find your web site if they are looking for the product/service that you provide. Simply getting on all the directories and search engines is a good start. Then the real fun begins.

The internet is huge and has millions of users. You can easily get a steady flow of visitors to your site by getting it listed in the directories and search engines, but if you want to get a lot of visitors, then you have to do more. Some top ten search engine rankings, links from other web sites, press releases… Web site promotion methods are limited only by your imagination! Most of my favourites are detailed on this site, but if you want a comprehensive guide, you had better read the course by Corel Rudl.

It is sad but true - of the thousands of popular web sites on the internet, only a small percentage of them are making a decent amount of money. The reason is obvious when you look at these sites - they don't know how! Putting up a banner and hoping to make money does not work, but I'll tell you what does…