Question; How do websites make money?

[Schadenfreude]

I mean, independent websites that aren't purlky commercial - like webcomics, news site, hell, Anandtech!

I know a lot of them make money by having advertisers on their website, but is it enough to cover all the costs of living, even?

Just curious.

 

[Lager]

Most of them require some type of upgrade status for more advanced usage. IE IGN, Gamespot, etc.

 

[FrustratedUser]

They have ads on the LEFT side.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Originally posted by: Lager
Most of them require some type of upgrade status for more advanced usage. IE IGN, Gamespot, etc.

Well yeah - but let's give a more concrete example: Penny Arcade or Nuklear Power; as far as I know, they are not published in any print format, do not have advanced subsciption services (like Anandtech does,), and while they do sell merchandise, I don't think it's their "main thing" . . .?

Or am I missing something here?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

First, you get paid for reviews. Some sites deny it, but they get paid. If not directly, then indirectly through very high priced advertisements they used to pay less for. Then, if you have a big site that makes an impact on the market, companies like to give nice presents. Many big site owners get their "commission" this way.

Another way is bby selling products like newegg or selling items for say amazon.com from a person's site, I think they offered 5% a few years ago when my site was running different than now. The other way is ads, but you have to be careful who you pick. Google ads are a good choice and reliable. Some other companies are horrible when it comes to ads, pricing, etc. Basically, you can't live off of ads on a website for the MOST part. Large sites sell their own ads in the thousands of page views, this is the most efficient compared to all the small to medium sized websites that go through a company in the middle who takes most of the profit.

Do you have any specific questions? If so, I'd be glad to help you out, I spent a couple years running a fairly large website and learned lots of these things, feel free to PM me too.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Jehovah

Originally posted by: Lager
Most of them require some type of upgrade status for more advanced usage. IE IGN, Gamespot, etc.

Well yeah - but let's give a more concrete example: Penny Arcade or Nuklear Power; as far as I know, they are not published in any print format, do not have advanced subsciption services (like Anandtech does,), and while they do sell merchandise, I don't think it's their "main thing" . . .?

Or am I missing something here?

Penny arcade I'm almost sure gets some type of payment for their comics because if you notice almost all their comics depict a game/company whether it's good or bad, kind of an indirect message to customers that companies can send by giving PA a little extra money

I don't know about nuklearpower, never visit that site till just now. Also remember some people do it for a hobby, so I may be wrong and PA may actually spend the $100 or $200 a month out of their own pockets but get it back with their PA club and break even.

 

[Schadenfreude]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
First, you get paid for reviews. Some sites deny it, but they get paid. If not directly, then indirectly through very high priced advertisements they used to pay less for. Then, if you have a big site that makes an impact on the market, companies like to give nice presents. Many big site owners get their "commission" this way.

Another way is bby selling products like newegg or selling items for say amazon.com from a person's site, I think they offered 5% a few years ago when my site was running different than now. The other way is ads, but you have to be careful who you pick. Google ads are a good choice and reliable. Some other companies are horrible when it comes to ads, pricing, etc. Basically, you can't live off of ads on a website for the MOST part. Large sites sell their own ads in the thousands of page views, this is the most efficient compared to all the small to medium sized websites that go through a company in the middle who takes most of the profit.

Do you have any specific questions? If so, I'd be glad to help you out, I spent a couple years running a fairly large website and learned lots of these things, feel free to PM me too.

Thanks, but I'm not seriously considering making a living off of maintaining a website; it was just a passing question.

 

[RossMAN]

Or you could do it part time (in addition to a full time) job and the web site pays your car payment for you and then some