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Why On Earth Do YOU Want To Have A Website?
Are you another dreamer out there who thinks all they need to do is have a web site and the fortune is right there without putting much thought into what exactly it takes to do it?
There are so many websites out there, but what do you have to offer? What makes your website so special? Do you have the knack? Is this path right for YOU?
Making money on "the web" is a relatively new concept. Just think to about the late 1980s when all of what we take for granted was a way for "computer nerds" to trade information amongst themselves...for free. The idea of making money in this way was sacrilegious. Even today there are still purist who scoff at the idea of people putting up banners here and there or charging admission for something that should be shared for the sake of knowledge.
The first wave of excited surfers were given glimpses by people who thought of a way to cash in on this new medium and they wanted in on it at the ground floor. Bad ideas fed into a mass frenzy of thinking as long as you have a site up and running, some venture capital source will fund your way to millions, even if you don't have a proper business model behind your site. Then the inevitable dot com crash happened and those who thought their "unique" sites which were more hype than value went under. Still, many hopefuls thought they could still salvage a way to eke out a living by throwing up a site.
Awhile ago, the hot thing was making money with Google Adsense. It got many novices excited on the notion of throwing up a web site or blog and pasting Adsense codes in hopes that they would make thousands of dollars a month. It was more hype than anything as many soon discovered, especially after Google began to crackdown on the get rich quick crowd. Web sites with information that the designer obviously knew nothing about was popping up everywhere only because of the rumor of the high paying keywords associated with the topic. A flood in the market for the popular keywords meant a drop in bid prices, so it was no longer profitable in a sea of worthless sites with useless information.
Don't be one of those! If you want to have a site, great! If you want anyone to care about it, ask yourself, what can you do that you can actually make a positive contribution?
Before you get too excited and build up false expectations on the idea of making your fortune online, please take some time to study what it is you plan on getting into. Your professional reputation can be on the line. Create a portfolio of web sites that look good and have value and maybe you can make money by doing sites for others. Or create a unique site of value that people cannot resist and find an angle to profit from it. Whatever you do, don't follow the herd. Don't just create a banner farm or think that pasting some code on a page with little or no value will make you rich. People may see it once, but why will they come back? That is your job to figure out.
It might be through creating a niche website to entertain or inform the needs of a particular audience. Create a website to cater to the needs of that particular niche, preferably one you are quite familiar and enthusiastic about. Make sure your website design is correct and accommodating to those who are likely to visit your site. Finding your niche is as simple as figuring out what you know better than most people. What is your favorite hobby, movie, television show, trend...? What could you talk about for hours? That is your niche. Once you figure it out, then targeting your audience and find out what they need from that niche and cater to it. Do it right and you have created a living online.
And you don't necessarily need to think in terms of having your own web site to make money online because having a web site is not the only way to make a living online. As long as you can create a product or service that people want and find a way to connect with them and set up transactions (eBay, PayPal, eGold,...) then you can make a living from the Internet. If all this web design code is a bit much for you to take in or you don't want to be bothered with the expense of having a site or to be bogged down in the time to keep up with a site, then consider other options that will work for you.
If you still want to stake your path on building a web site for a living, there are many resources around to help with offer of free information. This site is one among the many. Just keep browsing through the links on this site and you can learn more.