E-commerce is an extremely varied field. The key to running a successful e-business is to get people to come to your site , to stay there long enough to discover what you have an offer and then to do whatever it is that you need them to do in order to make some cash.That can vary widely from just staying long enough for their their to register on your page to checking through your online catalogue and making a credit card purchase.
just as there are a number of different ways of making money from a website, so there are a range of different types of site, each turned to make the most of a particular form of generating cash.As a first priority,you should read through them and decide which type of site you are going to run.
TRIBUTE SITES
A tribute site is the simplest web site of all and was one of the first types of site to appear. Even now , there are more of this type of site than any other,because they are simple and easy to put up .A tribute site is simply a collection of information and links about a specific subject. This category includes home pages,fan sites and any other site where the owner really just wants to share his or her knowledge and or passion with the world . Subjects on offer can be as specific as a certain character from a book of film as personal as " My Family" ,or as general as jokes and tricks.
Design and illustration is usually pretty basic because the creator is concerned mainly with getting their information across rather than producing a clever site of making allowance for web analysis and promotion tools.Anything that gets in the way of the care subject is usually left out altogether;a true tribute site has no advertising banners of subscription areas.Link pages to other sites containing information on the same subject are almost a standard requirement and although these are mostly text links too.they may includes some banner - style links too.Updates are often infrequent or non existent , so many of these sites are months or ten years old.
The good news is that producing a tribute site is easy.just assemble as much information as you can about the subject you want to discuss,collect it into themed pages put in an introduction and on index page and then publish it .The bad news is that it has almost no potential to generate money.The only way a tribute site can generate cash is to be purchase by a larger company.Attempting to add revenue generating streams to this sort of site greatly alienates the target audience who feel - usually quite rightly -that they can find the information elsewhere for free.Although they are modest and unambitious,tribute sites should be treated with respect ,because they are a labour of love and they are the ones that actually make up the huge pool of information that is the backbone of the web .No matter what your interest, enthusiasm or hobby,someone will have produced a tribute site about it somewhere.
For an example of a tribute site , visit http://www.topcities.com/outerspace/farshores/farshores/
PROMOTIONAL SITES
A promotional site is similar in basic appearance to a tribute site,but it serves an entirely different purpose. where a tribute site seeks only to share information that interests the creator, a promotional site is designed to show off the creator's talents,wares , company or skills. it is the nature of an online portfolio, gallery, showcase or demonstration.Typically, promotional sites either promote something actual, such as a product or company, or hold sales that demonstrate an ability or professional skill, whether it is writing, web design or musical composition. Promotional sites need to be as attractively designed as possible so that they look professional and they need to include full contact details so that if a surfer or a visitor is impressed by what they see they know where to go. Obviously including as much information and material as can be usefully provided about the subject is extremely important and it should be well organized with clears site maps and easily legible web pages , so that potential clients do not run out of patience.If the site is promoting a company, it is important to include on overview of what the company does, full details of the product range,business terms, corporate information location and so on.
Aside from that , promotional sites have to follow the same sorts of guidelines about overt attempts to make money as tribute sites- there shouldn't be any. A promotional site is designed exclusively to draw attention to yourself ro your company and advertising banners, membership forms, requests for visitor email addresses and other web marketing tools will generate a lot of bad feeling towards you.The creator of promotional site needs to think of visitors as doing them a favor, rather than vice versa,and so make sure that the favor is repaid as well as possible by not being invasive.
One thing you can do that works well is to add value to the promotional side of your site by including relevant tribute information.A fantasy novelist might include a historical discussion of fantasy books , for example , or a list of new release from major authors,while a post-production bureau might have cast list,reviews and short,downloaded clips of films that they have worked on anything,in other words,that would keep people who might be interested in what the creator is promoting on the site for a closer look.
promotional sites make money by acting as advertising and marketing for the advertising and marketing for the creator's core business that they are promoting.they will not generate any revenue in aid of themselves. deposits this,as more and more companies turn to the web for all their sourcing requirements from widgets to freelancers - promotional sites are becoming increasingly important.The vast majority of real world company (i.e not ebusiness) web sites that do not actively seek to sell to web visitors are promotional sites and like fax machines in the early 1990s-every business should now have one. For an example of a promotional site visit http://www.geckografx.com
BANNER SITES
A banner site is the most basic form of true e-business.it provides tightly themed information on pages that also include one or more advertising banners for product or service sites related to the information. Typically the creator is paid a small amount of money for each visitor that clicks on the banner and goes thru or a larger amount of money for each product or subscription that the advertiser sells to a visitor who reached their site via the original banner called a sale. Sophisticated programs on the advertisers site work out which visitor came from which specific banner site so that the banner site only needs to host the banner in a page without any fancy programming code.the advertising banners themselves are generally lurid adverts come in a standard size and format and are extremely easy to add to a web page. The banner site creator will need to enroll on the advertisers promotional registration process.No advertisers will pay in advance for banner placement on a banner site and in fact a small minority of unscrupulous advertiser have been known to actually promised.With most companies a click thru may earn a cent or even less while a sale typically earns around a dollar.While the number of banners you can include on any one web page is in theory unlimited,in practice earch one takes a certain amount of time to load upson a visitors irritation.A good rule of thumb is to include no more than five banners on any one page.
Its important to note that banner sites are considerably less surfer friendly than tributes sites so banner sites have to offer either material that is highly desirable or material that cannot be readily obtained on tribute sites of promotional sites.The most successful venues for banner sites are in the grey areas of the web pornographic images.videos and sound files semi legal software downloads mp3 music downloads. and hackers related material. It is also possible to run a banner site profitably with up to the minute information on a field that is regularly changing.Such as sports news,with banner site advertising from relevant sales, banner sites rely on frequent returns from visitors so, to be profitable , the must offer new content on a daily of two daily basis.With a popular content site that features 15 or 20 pages updated daily about 3 hours work and is mentioned on number of listings sites it is possible to get a million hits a weeks or more which will return about $800 a month. for an example of a banner site visit http://www.blackwarez.org
SPAM SITES
A spam site is a relative of the banner site but with one critical and surprising difference: it has no useful content at all just page after page of confusing, misleading links to advertisers and their banner.Obviously such sites get almost no return visitors relying instead on the fat that just about every visitor to the site will mistakenly yield at least one click thru.
As well as normal in page banners sites like this will typically have pop ups windows that open new pages in your browsers , may be even a lot of them and more pop ups will be opened when you try to leave the site. Although they don't generally produce much in the way of income , a lot of people set up spam site in areas where banner sites get a lot hits because they don't take any upkeep at all you can just produce the site and then leave it in place for unaware surfers to fall into like files into a spider web.Most spam sites have titles like free sex best ever pictures or all top software free here today.
If you are considering a spam site you should be aware that they generate a lot of bad feeling from surfer and you can expect to get angry, critical email about the fact.You may also come under attack from hackers many of whom are in favor of uncluttered surfing.It would bot be in anyones interest to provide you with and example of a spam site.
RESOURCE SITES
Resource sites are the next level of e business up from banner sites. they come in a number of different types and styles and are devoted to providing same sort of resource to visitors , hence the name.They too make the majority of their money from banner advertising but unlike the smaller sites many have agreements by which they are paid a small amount for each time the banner is downloaded to a visitors computer rather then by having the visitor click thru.Some also sell related products or offer more extensive resources of the type concerned within a members only area that requires a paid subscription usually a monthly membership. They tend to be considerably more professional in web design than banner sites.In addition, some sites sell related merchandise software or memberships.It isof course possible t have a successful web site that offers more than one type of resource ,as long as it is designed carefully.Resource sites may provide loads of information, downloads , links ,utility functions or entertainment material , and each will be discussed in turn.
INFORMATION RESOURCE SITES
Information resource sites provide current information on a topic that changes fairly rapidly, such as sporting results , stock market information, tv listings, weather patterns , available jobs and so on. They require regular update according to the nature of the subject they provide information on;a stock market site has to be updated up to every few seconds wile a job site might only need weekly updates.Obviously,constant updates are more expensive to prepare,maintain, and administer than regular ones so sites with a very high topicality tend to provide only limited information for free and require membership subscriptions for full access.
Similarly sites that provide information which is expensive to obtain company financial analysis for example - also require paid subscription.Actually running paid memberships is easy as its all done by the software for you.for an example of an information resource site visit http://www.nasdaq.com
DOWNLOAD RESOURCE SITES
Download resource sites tend to be less corporate than information sites,covering things like shareware and freeware,illegal pirate wares software , mp3 music, and other song clips , picture image and video images.
Because the subject after is usually of mass appeal to the internet population, many of these sites do very well, particularly the ones that use generous free samples to sell subscriptions.However they have to compete with the free material that can be obtained from banner sites .That means that download site need to have either unique hight quality content that cannot be found information,extensive,easily searched archive,commissioned reports of phtosets ,actual lve content , regular updates ,reviews of other such value added elements.for an example of a download resource site visit http://www.driverguide.com
LINKS RESOURVE SITES
Most links reserve sites are extremely simple and are half way towards being banner sites.Tye tend to just hold links banner sites.They tend to just hold links to other sites no the web generally on a specific theme.The links are usually grouped into categories to make things function and or small reviews for each site.They have to be kept uptodate,which means that each link in the database should be annually checked either once or twice a week and non functioning links removed.Sometimes the links listed on the site can double as click thru or sales banners increasing the sites cashflow. for example of a links resource site visit http://www.swiss-magic.ch/resource.html
UTILITY RESOURCE SITES
This sites provide web based services that are not easily accessible on other sites or that ay require a large amount of work to set up. successful examples includes a fully searchable on line king james bible, a best train route calculator,online dictionaries and encyclopediask a database of world myths and legends ,wine review news clipping services,local area resource guides and much,much more.some of these sites require a paid subscription but many others do not relying on banner advertising,or even offering the material as a charitable r promotional service.Although some utility resource sites come close in cotent to information site (although the material contended once added ,tends to stay valid) , others are quite radically different. Utility sites are a diverse bunch , but contain some of the most interesting material to be found on the web . For an example of a utility resource site. visit http://www.thelivinggod.com/kjvbible.html
ENTERTAINMENT RESOURCE SITES
This sites have a similar to broad range of styles and contents as utility sites , raying from the fairly informative through to tithe downright unusual, but they are dedicated to fun . Some provide entertainment utilities , such as anagram checkers random shakespearean insult generators,humorous tests and quixxers and so on, while others have web based java games that you can play on your browser . The most ambitious sites provide multi user games that hundreds of thousands of people can take part in simultaneously angling from text only shared worlds knowns as MUDs short for multiuser dimensions that you can participate in with a web browser through to sites supporting the online component of commercial computer game such as quake and diablol.
The larger computer game official support sites are often extremely successful sites are often extremely successful,but obviously require a best selling computer game to drive them on while MUDs where people interact virtually in a make believe setting are generally run as tribute sites,However,there is plenty of scope for using have games another less ambitious entertainment utilities as the backbone of an entertainment site,for an example of an entertainment resource site visit http://www.funtrivia.com
