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