A look at successful Internet business models

Some of the Internet's most successful business models have grown from almost nothing to being economic giants in the world economy.

Google - basically a search engine - has become a huge business earning millions of dollars in profits. Examining Google closely reveals that the company offers a range of services. Most of these are free. Every webmaster and blogger is familiar with Adsense which provides web site owners with the opportunity to add advertising to their site. This is supplemented with Adwords - a facility for businesses to advertise on a wide range of websites that publish relevant material. Both of these services use the key word concept. Advertising relates to the content of the page on which it is placed. Advertisers only pay for actual clicks on the adverts. Google also offer referral ads where payment only becomes due on a successful subscription.

One of the oldest Internet businesses is amazon.com. Originally known as Internet sellers of books, amazon.com now sell a whole range of products. Many of their sales come from the many affiliate sites that advertise and promote their products. At the beginning of its life, Amazon.com was able to offer its products at lower prices than retail outlets. There was no need to hold large amounts of stock, to maintain showrooms and so on. Their prices are still competitive and amazon.com now supplies books, CDs, DVDs and a range of other products at the click of a mouse. Amazon.com entered the Internet with its then new marketing and sales strategy before the Internet had become an acceptable medium for purchasing goods and services.

Some of the biggest Internet money spinners are on-line casinos. Many of these operate illegally and their trustworthiness may be questionable. These simply produce casino games in electronic form that allows punters to play anything from blackjack and roulette to a whole range of slot machines. With costs much lower than in a plush walk-in casino and the odds very firmly in their favour, on-line casino's are a huge success in the Internet business.

Porn sites also have a ready audience. Many curious viewers are able to enter this world through the privacy of their own computer.

Dating sites have also become successful. Free membership is offered allowing for the posting of a profile and photos. The member can browse through the other members' profiles and select favourites. But if the member wants to contact another member then a subscription is required. The subscription income is supplemented by advertising. Some dating sites rely purely on the advertising revenue and do remarkably well!

These are just a tiny selection of successful Internet business models. Others include Ebay where members can buy and sell goods and services using an on-line auction mechanism, Yahoo which is similar to Google in many ways. There are even blogs that achieve financial success even if these are only a fraction of the bloggers on the Web. Advertising for most is essential - often using Google as the medium. Many recruit affiliates to bring the traffic and achieve sales.

Many other models exist and Internet scams abound. But it seems that all successful Internet businesses have one thing in common - heavy traffic to the site.