Four kinds of money making websites you can start by yourself

Making money on the web is becoming a bigger topic.  Every day, I see more people talking about how to do it, or how much they’re making.  For the person who hasn’t even dipped a toe in yet, where to start?  I wanted to offer this list, as a part of Darren’s Group Writing Project, and as a way of helping inexperienced people take their first step into building money-making websites.

This is a non-exclusive list.  It’s meant to cover the main categories, and most of what’s not listed can be considered either a sub-category or a hybrid of what’s listed here.  It’s meant to get you thinking, to get you pointed in the right direction.  The most important thing, in my opinion, for the person ready to start a website is to take action.  Use this list as a way to get you one step closer to taking action.

1. Forums: I put this first as it’s where the bulk of my experience lies, not because I think it’s the most profitible.  My favorite tool for building a forum is vBulletin.   It’s also the only commercial software I’ll list in this post.  There are tons of resources about how to build a forum, and it’s a topic I’ve written on in my blog too.  In a nutshell, you need to choose a topic, selecting the niche is a key here, and assemble a group of people to help you get forum discussions going (a Launch Team), and promote.

2. Content: A news site, or a magazine type site.  This is where you publish articles, or information in other forms, that people will find useful.  Drupal is a good tool for building a content site.  You can write the content yourself, or commission others to write for you.  I do not recommend using free content, it’s ok for experimenting with, but if you want to build a sound business you should rely on quality content that cannot be found elsewhere.  Regularly add new content and promote.

3. Ecommerce: You need to have something to sell.  osCommerce is a good tool to use for an ecommerce site.  You need to have something to sell.  It works best when you have a product that many people need, that you can produce or have produced for you, and sell for a tidy profit.  A lot of people who talk about making money on websites say ebooks are a great way to go, but I think ebooks are a tough sell unless you are breaking new ground.  If you don’t have a product idea, try finding a drop ship company that hasn’t been exploited terribly.  Or, a local company that produces a great product but has no website, make a deal to be their exclusive distributor on the web.

4. Blogs: Last but not least.  Blogging for money works best when you’re writing on a topic that you’re both knowledgeable and passionate about.  I think that choosing the right niche is also the first important decision you need to make when starting a blog.  Blogs can be slow to ramp up, so be sure you’re starting something you care about in the long-term.  Wordpress is my favorite blogging platform.   Make good, regular, blog posts, and network with other bloggers on your topic.