“Just get tons of traffic to your web site and then worry about how to make a profit”. This use to be the internet business model for any successful internet business. A lot has happened since the glory days of the Internet Bubble. The “maximize traffic” internet business model use to work at least for some internet businesses. Now things are changing. The internet has several successful business models now that work. Here they are (per Jun Loayza):
Internet Bubble Mascot – Pets.com Sock Puppet |
1. Freemium Model. “This business model works by offering a basic service for free, while charging for a premium service with advanced features to paying members.” Example Businesses: UserVoice, Flickr, Vimeo, LinkedIn, and PollDaddy.
2. Affiliate Model. “This is a model in which a business makes money by driving traffic, leads, or sales to another, affiliated company’s website. Businesses that sell a product, meanwhile, rely on affiliated sites to send them the traffic or leads they need to make sales.” Example Businesses: Illuminated Mind, ShoeMoney, DIY Themes.
3. Subscription Model. “Sites using the subscription model require users to pay a fee (generally monthly or yearly) to access a product or service.” Example Businesses: Label 2.0, Scrooge Strategy, Netflix.
4. Virtual Goods Model. “Users pay for virtual goods, such as weapons, upgrades, points, or gifts, on a website or in a game.” Example Businesses: Acclaim Games, Meez, Weeworld, Facebook Gifts.
5. Advertising Model. “Sites that rely on advertising, sell advertisements against their traffic. In basic terms: the more traffic you have, the more you can charge for ads (additional demographics about your site’s visitors, such as age, gender, location, or interests, also affects the amount you can charge advertisers to place ads on your site).”
See Mashable’s posting, 5 Business Models for Social Media Startups, for more details on internet business models.
