Can you make a living owning a website?

[PandahFish]

I personally think you cannot make a living owning a website. Unless you own google or something really big . In a way you can, but it will be short-lived. You can't rely on the internet to make money 24/7. Eventually you'll be too old and will need to find real jobs. I just run a website because it's fun, and a place for my friends to hang out. I have no intention in staying there forever, but I will leave my forum after a year.

 

[SimplySidy]

I think it all depends on what is your niche and what you are into. I have a very small static website since the past few years. I havent been doing any blog or anything on it. And it is just there to portray what I do - website development and some marketing consultancy. I will not deny and agree that it is not something that directly generates money for me, but still, I have been using it to showcase my profile to the clients and many a times, I have got a client just by that small help it does to me.

I agree, in the long run, if you are working for an earning soleley from the web, you have not that many places to go, still, you can make some good money if you market it right or at least use it for the right purposes. Many websites fail to deliver just because the people behind those websites expect too much and more so are irrational in their expectations.

I have been at home since the past 7 years now and Internet has been the only way I earn today. Agreed, it is not all what I need to meet my expenses and I wished I could earn more to compensate for all my needs.

 

[Rihtar]

I disagree. For ~3 years I was making more than enough money to make a living using my site as a medium. You can earn money using your website or if you provide services, but of course you have to provide something worthwhile, just like in the "real" world.

 

[PandahFish]

I disagree. For ~3 years I was making more than enough money to make a living using my site as a medium. You can earn money using your website or if you provide services, but of course you have to provide something worthwhile, just like in the "real" world.

I'm glad it worked out for you. How were you able to do that? Were you selling graphics for people ?

 

[abhishek]

yes, definitely I have a friend who earns much more money from advertisements on his blog than any other working professional. But, remember one thing if you want to make living from a website, then you should think and make everything of the same living and should not try anything less than the best.

 

[JLogan]

Do fish swim in water?

 

[Rihtar]

I'm glad it worked out for you. How were you able to do that? Were you selling graphics for people ?

All I really did was promote my website on couple of promotion forums and then I relied on the word of mouth. I was designing various graphics, but I mostly focused on MyBB forum themes.

 

[PandahFish]

All I really did was promote my website on couple of promotion forums and then I relied on the word of mouth. I was designing various graphics, but I mostly focused on MyBB forum themes.

How much do you charge for signatures of forum banners? I like your work and I am interested in buying if it's the right price.

 

[Rihtar]

How much do you charge for signatures of forum banners? I like your work and I am interested in buying if it's the right price.

I'm sorry, but I no longer do design work for others. Also in the future, PM me to avoid going off the topic

 

[lludawg]

I know someone who built up an information site about a particular niche he was into years ago and he is still earning money from it today. From this one website, he is not even close to be able to make a living. However, he did not just create one website. He created about 10 other sites that were similar to the original but was about a different subject in the same niche. He was able to link all of these sites together which allowed his traffic to triple!

 

[JohnSword]

It's definitely possible to make a decent living from your site. However, it's a lot of hard work, and a bit of luck as well.

As the saying goes, 'don't put all your eggs in one basket'. It's always a good idea to invest some of your time and effort into other money-making opportunities.

 

[SimplySidy]

I know someone who built up an information site about a particular niche he was into years ago and he is still earning money from it today. From this one website, he is not even close to be able to make a living. However, he did not just create one website. He created about 10 other sites that were similar to the original but was about a different subject in the same niche. He was able to link all of these sites together which allowed his traffic to triple!

As a matter of fact, this is what many of the big websites do today. For instance, I know a designing website (sells themes for different platforms) and it goes all out to write posts on so many other blogs - I dont think that they are ghost writing or guest blogging - as all these blogs and websites always promote their own themes and talk about their goodies and contributions.

I agree that this is more of hard work, but when there is money flowing in, I could hire a few people who would be in charge of a website or two each and that way, I can keep running those websites with traffic and sales pouring in.

 

[wasi90lk]

It is quite possible to make a living from a website, provided your website gets enough traffic. Majority of the websites that make money are successful because of high traffic.

 

[Shortie]

I feel it really depends on what your website is based around and how much dedication you have to that particular niche as to how long it will be around for and if you can earn a living from it. I agree that after a while it may get tiring and such to be able to keep a website going on your own with no problems like losing interest but if you know that you may have a website that may or is succeeding and brings you a living it is always wise to may be hire people for a small fee to help you keep things running smoothly. There is always a way it's just a case of having what people want to see to keep people interested and even being unique.

 

[milksheikh]

Anyone can make a living from making a site.

You just need to stick with it and work hard on it.

 

[wasi90lk]

@milksheikh

You are quite right. It takes a lot of time for any site to make a significant income. A site owner needs to work hard and has to be patient.

 

[iPhonefreak]

Yes and no. The folks at digital point I think are making a living off their website.

And extending websites to apps, yes. The dev of flappy bird made $50,000 a day! That is more then some make in a year!

 

[wasi90lk]

Yes and no. The folks at digital point I think are making a living off their website.

And extending websites to apps, yes. The dev of flappy bird made $50,000 a day! That is more then some make in a year!

It is possible that some people on Digital Point forum may make a lot of money, but majority of the people are probably not making any money.

It takes a lot of work to make a site make money.

 

[iPhonefreak]

It is possible that some people on Digital Point forum may make a lot of money, but majority of the people are probably not making any money.

It takes a lot of work to make a site make money.

I meant the owners!
But Digital Point is massive, but it is more common among the tech savvy, and not as common as facebook.

 

[DylRicho]

The dev of flappy bird made $50,000 a day! That is more then some make in a year!

He just got lucky; one of those flash-in-a-pan moments.

As for the original question, I believe you can make money from a website, but it takes an awful lot of time and dedication to get it up to the point where it can replace a 9-to-5 job. The Internet is far more volatile in that respect, so I'd personally never give up a 9-to-5 job in favor of it.