A few weeks ago I talked to a woman who started a blog in 2004 and, last fall, sold a minority share of that blog for $1.3 million! A minority share. The site generates about $500 thousand/year in revenue.
While results this high may be on the right-hand side of that old bell-shaped curve, in talking with others who have been generated revenue through their web sites, I’ve learned that success is not out of reach of “just plain folks.”
The keys to success, as in all marketing: 1) Find a niche market, 2) Deliver quality content.
Once you build a following, your blog/website becomes values in two ways: 1) Advertisers who wish to reach the niche market audience that you can deliver will pay you to place ads on your site; 2) Your loyal following becomes an affinity-based audience highly qualified to purchase any number of information products from you – white papers, podcasts, videocasts, webinars, etc., etc.
Another potential revenue stream is syndication. Webmasters – and traditional journalists – are hungry for content. If you prove to be someone who can deliver unique, high quality, on target content, there may be dozens – even hundreds – of publishers willing to pay for that content.
There are various business models that can serve as the foundation for successful monetizing of web applications, says Dan Zambonini, Technical Director of Box UK, and he’s posted an overview of them on his blog.