Is it possible to make a living from a website?

A friend of mine is going to be unemployed soon, and due to stupid permit problems (always a pain in the arse here) he will not be able to work untill next year. He asked me if it was possible to make a living out of a webiste, aso I asked him "what kind?", but he just said "any". He is a canny ASP/HTML programmer (he is an ex collegue of mine) I thought he meant freelance work, but no he wants to run a website and make a living (like just paying the bills, nothing extravagant). I don't think it's actually possible - sure there may be things like selling crap on ebay or porn(maybe), but nothing else comes to mind. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Yes

There's all sorts of things you can do, if you can get enough traffic, and sell enough ads it's possible... not necessairly easy, but possible.

Depends on his site idea and how he'll keep people coming back.

-MBirchmeier

I think it would be possible but he'd either have to have a very good idea or put a lot of time and effort in. I've got a couple of sites running through an affiliate scheme. By and large I get to keep 25% of all sales on the sites but it's not regular income. I guess if I had more time to promote the sites, and more time to find other affiliate schemes it could be quite profitable but I won't be giving up the day job just yet.

I hate to sound mean, but DUUUUUHHHH.

Of course one can make a living off a website. MBirchmeier couldn't have said it better. You could make a site selling left-handed widgets and as long as there is a market for left-handed widgets, you're good to go!

You could make a site where all you do is post social commentary and sell ad space. In theory, you can absolutely generate revenue.

Chris

PS. But it's definitely not easy unless he's one of those one in a million people with a one in a million idea.

It is possible, but it would need to be a good idea as most idea's, someone has already beat you to it.

How about a site where people can take a picture of an item that they want to sell and its like an online auction.... .... or make a serach engine that people can use to search for a site using keywords...

Good Luck man, Im all outa ideas!

Okay okay, I am not stupid - neither is he - of course it's possible if you have millions to invest etc etc (google,ebay for example) but I'm talking about one guy with a PC. I guess it's a question of "is there any new ideas out there?"

I don't think either of those started with millions investment, just a guy and a computer and an idea. Once the idea got started then they got investments.

What about penny arcade, they're just a guy and a computer (and a server farm with bandwidth) Slashdot? Even JHarnois and devshed. Myspace? Napster? etc?

There wouldn't be webpages if they weren't worth peoples time and money to make, each one has its purpose and it's monetary value. you just have to figure out how to leverage it.

As for your question to if there's any new ideas out there... the experts say No


-MBirchmeier

I work as Tech Support, and there is a massive LCD screen that keeps track of all the calls that the call centre gets. I "invented" a gambling idea where people guess the total amount of calls and the person who is the closest wins. To enter the game you have to pay R2, which is a VERY small amount, I think you can buy like 1 or 2 cigarettes with it, and then the winner takes the pot. So there is a small loss, with the possibilty of winning like 6 - 10 times your initial amount. Lose out on 1 smoke, have a possibility of winning a box... basically. Ideas that seem insignificant might actually have the potential to become huge.

AKA: lotto, but a local one.

I think that taking small amounts of money that people wouldnt even notice from a LARGE number of people is a brilliant way to make cash, and if you advertise for other people/ companies while you do it, then there is even more money.

Advice: (for what its worth) Start with small things, see how they work for you, then expand from there. Its like the basics for almost every RealTime Stratergy. And it works.

I agree, I my self make $1,000.00 a month.. although that is just extra cash for me

Don't know mate, but I suspect that if anyone has one, they might be doing it themselves.

Hello friend,
The question that you have framed seems to be a little more like somebody running for the golden eggs. Yeah if you stay focussed on website design and fundamental needs of your customer and if the website provides enough trafiic and sales/information; then the basic purpose is served.
What you need is not only a professional website but also a good User interface design with colors and fonts that sooths the eye.
An average user must be able to navigate easily and whatever information that you provide must be authentic and should serve the purpose.
Remember one thing that websites alone isn't the point of sale for your client. but certain businesses stands on the information and advertisement and a website is the best solution to it.
Don't try to force your client to have a website as the ultimate solution of business expansion; as the scenirio is rather different when it comes down to the basic market and sales.
I would provide you an example: suppose one of your client owns a small restaurant and his outlet is based on the local dwellers in the vicinity around his outlet, don't push that guy to have a website of his restaurant; as this would not serve the purpose, as more than a website advertisement hoardings and pamplets and local street advertising would gain him more customers than the people visiting on the internet, the amount of business profits that he will have would rather go in to you website later on and remember to make his website listed in the top 50 websites ; if you are searching locally would cost you few hundred bucks on google or yahoo search engine submission.
Your consultancy for the pamplets would make his business prosperous and he would then praise your for your act, remmeber that if he gains he will be your vocal among his cutomers who may have a requirement for a website to mange their online shopping, information about their business, that would make you more profitable and you will make new customers.
Analyze what basic requirment do you customer have.
More than the techinical part always think about the pros and cons of a requirement - basic business logial needs, don't be a mere provider of services to your clients rather be a soultion provider and remember the world is full of problems on various aspect, so share your thoughts as a friend rather pounce on the money offered.
In my next posting I will focuss on the technical aspects of a good website, design aspects, coding and over all Search engine and Pay per click.

thanks,
JAYJIT

All you need is something to attract visitors and some good ad's or a service people are willing to subscribe too. I remember reading an artical a while ago about someone who ran a blog and had google ads on it. Aparently his posts were interesting enough to bring enough traffic that the ad revenu was enough that he could rely on only that to live.

So, yes, it's possible. I'd have to say it's difficult though, and will certainly take time for it to become a reality.

Throw some AJAX in there, I hear that's all the rage.

An AJAX auction site where you can see bids in real time. This way when someone tops your maximum bid and you feel like going a little higher, you sweep it from under them in real time.

Or maybe something a little more clever. The one stated above is probably done already.

There you go, specialize in household cleaning products :-P

Yeah I think you were talking about something like http://esnipe.com/