Making a living off the internet is it possable?

 I see alot of websites up forsale every day on www.sitepoint.com. And it makes me wonder, if the website is making $xxx.xx a month why sell it? I see people selling websites that they say are making $400+ a month, some $1,000+ a month. I just dont under stand it. Unless these people are making $10,000's+ a month why would they want to sell a website making so much money?
 Which brings me to my question. Is it possable to make a living off the internet? Enough money to pay your taxes, health insurance ect and bills? Right now I waste away $50+ a month on video games. I could add to it and turn that money into developing websites. But I would want some kind of a return on my investment. I would like to hear from some people that are making money off of the net. Big or small amounts.

The key to making money on these sort of developments is diversify both in terms of your advertising but also what sort of sites you are working on.

I sold a site for a few thousand dollars recently why?
I had a second site in the same niche which was number 1 for its SERP and was getting far more traffic, my network of mini sites was currently supporting 2 sites equally and that was a drain on my resources, so while it was profitable the site was draining and making it harder for my first site to grow. As part of the deal the new owner has agreed to keep a link to my other site and I to his on the principle sites. mean while the network can shift to a single site and I can focus content and link building on just one site.

Many people look at proxies and directories as a good start to making money, and on the whole their are some great ideas but I still favour the mini and niche site, check out Niks payment blogger site it has step by step to starting a range of websites.

It is definitely possible to make a leaving from the internet. I think that the most important thing to this direction is to keep on spending the money you earn in order to make more, until you reach your goals.

Now as $50 per month is not a big amount, I would suggest you to get back in the proxy business. At least until you make some money to invest somewhere else.

yep it is possible. esp if you live in a third world country like me where the dollar exchange rate is high.

Yes right, its possible, try different things Proxies, myspace, arcade, directories and video sites are a good start.

create more sites to get a network (and more earnings), use the proxy business at the moment you earn enough to rent a dedicated server (the proxy business is so good as your host)

I forgot, if you're able to create some unique websites and you have at least 2-4 hours a day for promotion and development you can live from the earnings after ~1 year

Looks like my dream is a possibility...just the waiting for the cash to start flowing now. :D

I guess you need to read my last comment again, as Nick told you before installing a forum is not enough.

Some FREE hint: Promote your directory to get every day at least 50-100 submissions (without your owns)

I think the difference that makes you living from the internet, is when you learn how to work smart.

Of course this happens after some time (maybe a lot of time) working hard, but after that you can see things clear.

But in general if you are persistent I can't see a reason why you shouldn't live from it.

 I heard google is cracking down on proxy websites, is it still a good idea to start one? I was thinking about building a network of websites geared twards adsense. Do you think its a good or bad idea?

MFA site (==made for adsense) belong to the past. At least I don't know someone who make serious money from such sites, and the reason is the duplicate content. The only way to achieve that with MFA is going black hat, and I wouldn't recommend that to anyone as it will probably cost you your adsense account.

On the other hand proxies are not about Google or SEO. The promotion you follow there is totally different. Check this article regarding proxies for more information :)

 Thanks for the nice read on Proxy's Nikolas, its a nice idea but 3TB of bandwidth  :o, well that just scares the crap out of me. And to only build a proxy to have it banned is not a good idea also. I am looking for a more steady income. I would be happy if I had websites that payed for a dedicated server and any thing more than that is a plus. My goal is one day make enough money off of the internet where my wife and I no longer have to work. I know I have seen people do it, so it can be done. The big question is if I can do it.

I think if I had half of the skill you do with SMF I would be home free. Your website is just amazing I havent seen a better SMF forum to date. I have alot of really nice ideas, I just need the money to get them out there.

Thanks for your good words :)

Let me tell you a real example that may work for you too. I made a proxy site that was making about 300-500 per month and sold it for $3000. That amount is enough to buy an established site or pay to develop one of your ideas ;)

BTW the bandwidth issue can be solved if you can disable hotlinking. I had an incident too that I used 3TB of bandwidth because a p0rn site hotlinked my site.

Nikolas how do you disable hot linking?

It can be done with various ways. You can do it with php, .htaccess or even from your control panel (if you are using cpanel)

My oldest proxy is 9 month old and has still visitors (500-1000 a day)

Olaf how much bandwidth is your proxy using? Thats one thing that worries me. I am scared of a huge bandwidth bill.

with CGIproxy I used 1.5 TB bandwidth (6 proxies),  I changed all my proxies to phproxy now (since a few days) and used in two days less than 30GB (with the same traffic)

Thank you for that information Olaf, my worst fears were right. I should just scrap the idea of running a proxy on a VPS I dont want to run the risk of going over on bandwidth.

Olaf do you mind if I ask you what your server specs are? And if its dedicated or colocated?

Its a dedicated server:
P4 - 2.8 with 1GB memory (I need to upgrade to 2 GB)

 Are you just running the 6 proxy websites off of it? Or are all your websites on the server? The reason why I ask is I am trying to get a idea on what one server can handle. I would love to do proxy websites for the money but I would want to be able to develope other websites as well and not have them suffer from the proxy websites.

My Plan is to host there not more than 8 proxies (curr. 7) and also other sites (arcade, myspace, bigger files)

thats why I need that ram upgrade, from 5pm till 11pm (CET) the server is very busy now :)

but CPU usage and server load is very cool

their is another way to make money with proxies and keep bandwidth low, but it requires a hell of a lot more work ;)

Introducing the Private Proxy
I got out of the main stream proxy business and instead now have 4 Proxies they are located 2 US, 1 Europe, 1 Australia.
Each is a dedicated server running both a web based proxy and squid set up.

I then run a "security club" this club has membership fees which are where I make my money and in exchange they get access to the proxies, now the reason its a lot more work to convince people to stamp up cash every month, they have to believe you are giving value for money so for that money they get...

Access to those proxies,
hardware based firewall, anti spam and mail filtering (basically they can access our VPN and run life through that)
in addition to running through the proxies they can also request to be passed through the tor network (this is done server side, and is an option in the members area)
A nice magazine (no I'm not joking)

Price well I'm not going to say but its more then I would have ever got running multiple proxies and its guarentted every month, I currently have a waiting list with more then 50 names and the network never has more then 25 subscribers at any one time.

Interesting concept Tim. I was thinking to create something similar, but it is just sitting as an idea as I don't have enough time to develop it.

It only works if you aim at high end user group, our clientèle is a mix of Security engineers, people based in parts of the world that have access issues, specialist web site owners and a few individuals who just want some basic security and privacy and are willing to pay for it.

I guess you can use the "freaky" web proxies to promote that kind of service...(get some rich porrn surfer form the middle east as customer :))

true, but its a can of worms I prefer not to open, while clients privacy from prying eyes is the "clubs" first concerned we also don't allow using our services for certain "activities" and we do watch occasionally

right that is the bad site of services to provide some privacy, there are several webmasters getting in touch with the FBI because some user has used their proxies :(

i do.


it is also possible with grey hat techniques. and your account will not get banned. here is a tip with adsense: pick a not so competitive niche and hitch a ride with an authority website like Squidoo.

That sounds good.

Yes you can certainly make a lving, but you have to work hard and spend hours everyday treating it like a job for at least 2 or 3 years.  You have to really take it serious and learn SEO and become creative etc etc.  You can't spend 2 or 3 hours online on one website and expect to make a thousand bucks a month after one year.

If by making a living you mean via one or more websites of yours the answer is: definitely NOT.
I understand many may disagree, but let me explain my point. After all, there can be some rationale in it. And oh, english not my native lang, ok?

The hearth of business is advertisement. Firstly because if people doesn't know you're there they won't reach you at all, secondly because people have a deeply engrained need for being encouraged and reassured about their own judgements (self confidence doesn't abound), about being corrected and guided (tutors are appreciated even by adults...), about being told that they can trust (if i say to you go to that shop and buy, you won't - but if your best friend or a stellar superstar does, you run and buy).

That is called advertising, and unless you can pay for it, and it costs dearly because in these matters if you invest 5,000 it is just as throwing it out of the window, you can forget success. It doesn't even matter how good or bad your product is.
For instance, myspace is definitely bad - as far as design is concerned and the mess of profiles that can be done there. Yet, it is still today constabntly advertyised, and of course when you reach a core of users, say a few thousands, it may start taking off on its own.
You can sell people a camel for 6 millions, if there is Pam Anderson on tv saying it is so convenient a deal.

So, as long as you can't advertise, you may have the best product in the world, no one will buy it. Simply.

Making a living out of websites is impossible because when you start making a living because you have invested lots of dough in ads, then i wouldn't call it making  a living: then you're making a grandiose life - then if that means spending all in golf and drinks or in helping the others too, it's your choice (i'd advise for the latter). A website that works, is potentially a source of millions.

You may ask why one sells a website. Well, make the math. In italy a few years ago, i think in 2006 they sold www.splinder.it
The website generated a "mere" 100,000 a year in banners, with barely 120,000 users. Do you know the price it has been purchased by dadanet? 4,5 Millioooooooons

This is why people sell them. The of course, you can also sell a minor site for a "whopping" 4,000 bucks, but you won't 'make a living' out of that, for with the raising prices we have, at the first unexpected expense or bill you meet, your 4,000 will vanish in thin air.
Which of course does not happen to 4 millions.

You will never make a life with a website, unless you can advertise it properly - if you can, you will make infinitely more than a life, and you could even make the difference for many other persons.

Al
www.fullposter.com

Al I really miss your point in your post. It is obvious that a site that makes money requires advertisement, but the best advertisement methods are free. The real thing that costs when making sites that earn money is the hours you have to spend in order to learn what you have to do.

Every body always misses the points in my posts and notifies me. It depends entirely on the fact i truly think out of the pack, and i do not have a tendency that many have (not that i am implying it would have been your case uh!) to embellish the pill.

He will never make money out of a website unless he has lots of money to advertise it or he finds an investor for it. That's the way big business works, since ever. If by making a living he means making 4,000 a year, he may do those only after years of big efforts. And i won't call it making a life.

But if he wants to make really a life out of it, then he has to invest and dearly in advertisement or he goes nowhere. Cheap ways to be advertised lead to cheap websites with cheap income. I know this as a fact :-)

And as for free advertisment, it doesn't exist. It's a urban myth that a man with zero funds can make a million for free and with 'free' adveritisng. If it were the case, we would all be millionaires alredy.
 He can try post here and there a few addresses to his website, but nobody will care about it. There is a reason a rockstar gets paid 10 millions to run a spot on tv ...

Al

Al I will disagree with you. I live from internet, and even that I spend some money on advertisement, my income/traffic comes from free sources. I don't think money can do what social media can do for free in terms of promotion, and that's why there are so many people that with minimal investments earn money from internet.

The advertisement the way you are calling it, is more needed in the traditional business models.

yes with alot of hardwork its possible. sounds like proxies make alot of money i didnt know about this. however they sound really expensive to run also.

i am making 1000 + a month
but still not enough to make living

Sure, it's easy to make a living off the Internet, especially if you have a unique skill set.  For example, programmers are always in large demand for freelance work.  Web designers can always find work if they know where to look.  And then there's the option of building your own sites.  Even if you only know how to build web sites that make $1 a month, if you take the time to build 5,000 sites like that, you suddenly have a $5,000 a month income.

Two question from you nikolas (its always great and learning your posts) -

# I have build a jokes base site (do you think this is also come under the category of MFA)
# What techniques of Black hat involved
# What is proxy sites.

I know some of them are new bie questions but I know you are the only person who can tell us in perfect manner.

Ok let's answer those :)

# I have build a jokes base site (do you think this is also come under the category of MFA)

I think it is because of the duplicate content. the only difference is that most MFA sites are targeted to niche keywords that pay off, while a jokes site will probably have 0.02$ clicks

# What techniques of Black hat involved

Here I was talking about black hat in general. I mean there is no other way besides black hat to promote such a site, but as I've already said this will cost you your adsense account and maybe even your hosting account (or worse depending on the methods you are using) I was refering mostly to spam such as mail spam, referer spam, etc.

If you want my opinion don't go for the black hat. It wont work for too long and it may bring you serious troubles.

# What is proxy sites.

Check this article I wrote about proxies

That what are those sites which are not made for MFA. I mean there are some legends site but if you will leave them than almost every sites are here for MFA because we are into this business to earn money by putting our skill.

Everyone do copy and paste stuff ... if you will check Hot trends and their results than almost all websites which are higher in SERP is doing this kind of stuff.

Nikolas I am sending you a PM regarding few clarifications ... kindly answer them as well.