Discuss: Where the MONEY's at!

[Bi4Be]

Just a grab bag of conversation here among web site developers (for me it is more of a hobby though) about where the money is at, we all need some cash for food, a roof over our heads, and McDonald's, right? :)

Is it in advertising? I used to think so, but you need an extremely popular website to be profitable.

Forget advertising! Is it in designing? I know there are a few of you who design web pages for a living. Is there a market for it or is there gonna be an overflow of designers in the coming years? (sort of like a few years back when there was too many people in medical careers that they had a hard time finding work)

Is it in selling out?!? Right now I am also running http://www.BeanieAdNetwork.com/ which displays around 15500 banners per day and 465000 per month. It has displayed almost one million banners soon (about 962000 as I am typing, to be exact). I am sure there is some big beanie seller or company that would want to buy it as a big source of advertising for themselves targetted directly at tons of beanie sites. By displaying 15000 banners a day, and considering just $3 per cpm or $45 a day I think I could sell out and make some money. What do you huys think? What would it go for on eBay?!? :D

Tell me your oppinions everyone, they matter! ;)
-Bi4Be

[Armand]

Hi![nbsp][nbsp]Agree that so many people have decided they can get rich on the web, that it appears the market on everything is now flooded.[nbsp][nbsp]Personally I think this will cause a shake out in most subjects and businesses.[nbsp][nbsp]Darwin's evolution theory applied to the web... only the strongest survive.

Hmmm... with the current news about Beanies being taken off market (sorry, but I enjoyed hearing that), how does that affect your site and projects?[nbsp][nbsp] If things are going to start dying on that front, may be a good time to sell out.

Joe
** I must be having a rant
** sort of a day!!! You think?

[Bi4Be]

<rambling>
Call me naive, but, well, there is no reason for beanie-maker Ty to quit making them once and for all. Ty, Inc. is currently the #1 toy maker in the world (even tops Hasbro and Mattel! isn't that hard to beleive?) and Ty himself has about 8 billion $$$ off of beanies alone which enabled him to buy the 4 Seasons Hotel in New York for a quarter billion. The announcement just said that all of the current ones will stop being made (also called 'retired'), which will cause the market prices to rise as Ty starts a new line. I think the frantic worries of many addicted collectors are a waste of time, Ty's marketing ploys are way too good for them. BUT the announcements haven't affected me at all, I already decided before-hand to close down my beanie sites because I know FOR SURE that is where the money isn't. :D

I have been thinking of launching a network of banner exchanges (for all kinds of interests) which would transfer BeanieAdNetwork (BAN) over and start the new one successfully. Then on the other hand, I could fund all of my planned launchings by selling BAN.
</rambling>

I didn't start this thread to get me some advice, I just wanted to start discussion and see what everyone thinks about web commerce/industry. The reason is because recently I came to the conclusion that selling out is where the money is at. Building a targetted site like BAN to a status of success and then selling it for a few thou... and what if I had a few sites like it to also sell for a few thou? Just starting networks of sites (not just beanie ones) that I am positive will work and after they have reached a stage of success sell them.[nbsp][nbsp]This might sound stupid to most of you guys just reading, but if you saw my plans it probably wouldn't.

Would like to hear everyone's oppinions/rants/raves on this, the internet, and where its headed.

--
-Bi4Be
~One thing is for sure, Flop Bid4Beanies will not be selling out. Who would want it?!?! :) I am going to change it totally &amp; morph it into Project Trade.~

[Armand]

Sorry didn't mean to step on any toes as far as the beanies thing is concern, B, just thinking out loud.

But I still believe the huge proliferation of sites on every possible subject matter will eventually cause a backlash as far as traffic goes.[nbsp][nbsp]Only those sites with the best features and that offers the visitor more than any other site with the same subject matter or goal will be able to in the end survive.[nbsp][nbsp]Of course I run a non-commercial site nor ever intend on really making any profit so my opinion my count for bubkiss.

Again sorry if I offended or irriated.

[Deb]

There really is a lot of money be made for those that are building with the sole intention of selling out.[nbsp][nbsp]We are painfully aware of this issue in the hosting industry :(

I've worked a few different areas on the net and as such seem to have conflicting opinions where this thread is concerned (&quot;oh bother!&quot; said in my best Pooh voice)

The &quot;Get Rich On The Net&quot; idea is slowly fading away ... those with the sole, uneducated, intentions of building a web site and then moving to some far off island and sticking an umbrella in their drinks seem to learn quickly it's not that simple! (outside of the few who do actually strike it big -- but that's true for non-net entrepreneurs as well).[nbsp][nbsp]The Internet is an excellent medium for transferring information faster and cheaper than traditional means allowed for.

The majority of businesses are not starting their web sites to necessarily make money from them but rather to save money because of them and generate better customer support, information, and advertising.[nbsp][nbsp]This in turn will obviously increase sales while decreasing costs which of course increases profit which then allows them to buy the cute lil umbrellas for their drinks ;) But the difference is where their primary goals for the web site were at.[nbsp][nbsp]Only &quot;Internet Based&quot; companies are going to make money from the Internet.[nbsp][nbsp]Other types of businesses are more likely to generate more profit because of what the Internet allowed them to accomplish.[nbsp][nbsp]When I was doing web design for a living, this was something I always tried to clarify with my clients first.[nbsp][nbsp]&quot;Are you planning on making a million from this web site or save a million because of this web site?&quot;

The exposure the Internet is giving companies is increasing their worth even when it's not increasing their sales. (wow!)... The common example in this area is Amazon.[nbsp][nbsp]A company whose worth is astronomical yet they are making no money.[nbsp][nbsp](Go figure!) Because of their exposure, everyone wants their stock and they're making a bundle by the sale of stock not of books! (I'm not a financial advisor though -- this is just my own observations)

Sell Outs --- eiy yei yei! For many types -- I would recommend it.[nbsp][nbsp]I've seen an awful lot of web sites (on FQ alone) build themselves up and then simply sell them for ten times the amount they put into them.[nbsp][nbsp]I'm always impressed by this... Tis no different off the Internet though.[nbsp][nbsp]Quite a few people build companies with the sole intention of selling them for a profit.

Being on the side of the fence I'm on though, I get a nasty taste in my mouth and sour feeling in my gut when I see the sell outs :([nbsp][nbsp]FQ being one of the &quot;Starving Hosts with long term goals&quot; is struggling in many ways, due to the fact that we are forced to compete with the hosts that have a sole intention of selling out.[nbsp][nbsp]With the Beanie site your intention would be to generate as many click throughs on those ads as possible.[nbsp][nbsp]The higher click throughs the more money you can get per ad and the more ads you can sell the more your site will be worth to the buyer.[nbsp][nbsp]With hosting a big piece of the equation is amount of clients.[nbsp][nbsp]The more clients the host has on the server the more money the host is going to receive when they sell.[nbsp][nbsp]The result is an enormous amount of hosts screaming &quot;Unlimited Everything for $9.95!&quot; they then pack in the clients and make the sale... with no concern for how they will meet the clients needs a year from now because they will be on that lil island playing with their lil umbrellas by then :/

The hosts that do actually plan on being here a year from now are stuck within a new realm of marketing.[nbsp][nbsp]How do they compete with the &quot;Sell Outs&quot; yet assure their company will survive the following year? yikes! Tis a rough spot to be in.

The money itself is all over the place.[nbsp][nbsp]Geezz I just look at the amount of money Networksolutions made for each domain name they sold.[nbsp][nbsp]LOADS AND LOADS OF MONEY!!![nbsp][nbsp]Now if each site only made $10 per year the amount of money going over the Internet would still be astronomical![nbsp][nbsp]Granted, many sites are not making money, but then again many many more are making a whole lot more than $10 per year.[nbsp][nbsp]Just grabbing a calculater and adding up guesses will break the calculater cuz it can't handle the numbers :þ

The people are spending.[nbsp][nbsp]With all of the credit floating around, the economy, and the normal day to day sales that are made across the globe there is 'money' everywhere.[nbsp][nbsp]The hard part is figuring out how to compete for a share of the market.[nbsp][nbsp]I personally don't think there is one good answer to goal for.[nbsp][nbsp]Best bet is to just sit down with paper and pencil and figure out what you personally want and in what ways you could achieve it.

Summary of the above:

[nbsp][nbsp]It's late and I'm rambling and if any of that made sense you're doing better than me *grin*

Deb

[Bi4Be]

Armand: No offense intended, none taken. :) Just stating the facts before I listen to any advice.

Deb: Made very much sense to me. In fact, I am going to sit down and thoroughly discuss all the options (with myself of course :).

Actually, I am so convinced by looking at all of the figures that selling out is where the money is at that I have plans for a few fool-proof sites made just for selling out. Right now Bid4Beanies'fate looks grim, but BAN's looks good with a more secular metamorphasis if I don't sell it... however my other projects would be well funded with the sell out of BAN so here I am. The internet is a beautiful thing, isn't it? :)

Amazon and Yahoo! are prime examples, worth tons and working extremely hard just to make a 'worthy' income.

-Bi4Be

[hearts]

Hey B,

I think the idea is fascinating. If you are confident, then go for it! :)

what does cpm mean? I am banner illiterate.

I am curious how you came to this thought and how would one go about doing this?

Simply curious.


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hearts
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Heartistic Wishes[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]www.heartisticwishes.com (http://www.heartisticwishes.com)[nbsp][nbsp]

[MDB]

Hi all,

Bi4Be, What software are you using to run BAN?

[Tatu]

<font color=#FF0000>(THIS IS BI4BE, I GOT A NAME CHANGE!)</font>

MDB: I use a couple combined...

Hearts: Hey now, I was confident with Bid4Beanies right? Well right now it's bloodily flopping around until I smack it with a wooden club (and release Project Trade)!!! The difference now is I am making educated decisions, have learned my trade, and know what I'm doing. Six or seven months ago I was just jumping in to see what would happen. It is good to keep your feet grounded and keep yourself from dreaming too big or then Bid4Beanies, the dead fish, haunts you. :)

CPM means Cost Per Thousand banner impressions (veiwings), and I do beleive I wasn't using it correctly in my above posts. Places like Yahoo! charge about $20 for 1000 right now, and then there is little, craptacular places like BAN that charge about $3 per cpm. ;)

I don't actually want to give away my plans before I implement them (thanks to lurkers) because I think I have already spoken too much. But the aspect is quite simple.

EVERYONE! I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT:
I have decided to sell BAN once I'v cleaned it up a tad. But I need some advice!!! Where do you guys think it would be best to sell it? eBay? Take private offers? What do you guys think?!? /me smiles!

-Tatu
[This message has been edited by Tatu (edited 09-19-99)]

[Tatu]

Nobody has any ideas on how to go about selling BAN?!? Come on! It's already been what 2 hours already?!? :)

[sheila]

I think you have me confused with someone else!
I don't know anything about e-commerce or web pages for profit. I'm doing it for love of my students and hobbies.

[Tatu]

Ack!!! Sorry, I meant to reply to HEARTS! Please forgive me both of you! :)

No one can tell me how they would sell out? By eBay, Private Offers, etc.? It's been four hours already lol! I am checking this thread constantly too!
[This message has been edited by Tatu (edited 09-19-99)]

[sheila]

No one can tell me how they would sell out? By eBay, Private Offers, etc.? It's been four hours already lol! I am checking this thread constantly too!
Have you considered a 12-step program? ;)

[Tatu]

:) ha... ha... if this is the advice I get here I guess I'll just have to neurotically check some other forums!