Are you an online web developer or webmaster in search of making a few extra bucks off your online endeavors? Such a desire is certainly a valid one the Internet is one of the most, if not the most, powerful forces in today’s global economy, and it is an almost endless supply of wealth and income for those who know how to use it correctly. The Dot Com revolution is still going on today there are plenty of millionaires and billionaires out there who made their fortune developing the Internet into what it is today, and there are plenty more on the way who will develop it into what it will be tomorrow.

There are a lot of different ways to make money on the Internet. The simplest, and most hands free, method may involve selling things you can use big online retailers to sell your stuff for you, whether in auction or list pricing modes of sales. You can go from there to develop your website further and set up your own online retailing site if you so choose.

One of the biggest sources of revenue online, though, is advertising. Ten years ago, advertisers looked almost exclusively at things like television and newspaper ads. Today, people spend at least as much time browsing the web as watching TV, and far more than they do reading their local or national news papers. Advertisers aren’t stupid; they acted quickly and are now capitalizing on this vast new advertising base with advertising schemes that range from subtle page side ads to nearly illegal methods like virus ad ware and pop up programs that run in the background of your computer.

How can you capitalize on this cash flow, without being to obnoxious about it and alienating your users? The answer is simple: the golden rule, interpreted either way. First, do unto others, as you would want other sites to do to you. If you think a pop up ad would hurt the way you look at a site or at the owner of the ad, don’t use them yourself. If you think you can use them tastefully or effectively, go ahead. If you think a banner ad is inappropriate, go with a different category or provider. The second interpretation of the golden rule is, of course, the part about the gold. Maximize your profits by determining what sort of advertising works best for your website.

One simple way to do that is to target your audience. If your site is about backpacking, say, or some other kind of outdoor adventure, then you really don’t want to be advertising televisions and electronics on your site. Instead, you’ll want to advertise hiking and outdoor gear of the sort your website visitors would actually be interested in or may be looking for. Some advertising programs, like Google’s AdSense, will actually look through your site and choose ads that seem appropriate to the content. This is especially useful, for instance, if you run a popular blog that way, the users will read your blog post, be thinking about a subject, and then see a related advertisement at the edge of the screen. Because they’re already thinking about it, they’ll be more likely to click on that ad and that click is what brings you the money. You can make a lot of money simply by finding your target audience and tailoring your website’s advertising to them specifically. Make sure you know exactly what your site is about and know the sort of people who are looking at it, be familiar with advertising methods, and you’ll end up making plenty of money and cutting the cream of the next stage of the Dot Com revolution.

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