Almost all lessons about how to market your online business will begin with the promise that, ‘An online business is capable of generating an income all the time.’ True, with an online business, you will not have fixed office hours, you have no staff to deal with and your production costs will be relatively low. However, an online business is much like any other business in that it is also prone to ‘slow periods’ which results in lesser income for you. As such, it is wiser to employ several profit streams for your online business to ensure a continual flow of income. To make more sense of the various profit streams explained below, assume that you run a travel agency and your website is meant to complement this business.

1. The Sales Model

This is, of course, the simplest and most straight-forward business model as your website will function as an online merchant for your customers. Each time someone clicks on your website, they will be able to view and pay for the holiday packages you offer.

2. The Portal Model

This model is sometimes known as the ‘entryway to the Web.’ Examples of such portals are MSN, Yahoo! and Google. The important aspect of this model is that general information is provided free of charge to anyone who visits your website. For example, say that one of the locations that you recommend people visit is Italy. On your website, you can provide information like weather forecasts in the various locations in Italy, the opening times of various museums in Rome or cultural events in and around Tuscany. You revenue will come for the advertising space you offer on your website: the more visitors you have, the more you can charge for advertising.

3. The Vertical Model

Unlike the Portal Model, the Vertical Model is aimed at a highly targeted and focused niche market. A classic example of how this model works is to offer visitors to your website a chance to subscribe to a monthly newsletter. In this newsletter, you will offer news within your industry, information about upcoming deals and so on. For example, say you’ve entered into a joint venture agreement with a particular hotel in Singapore. In your newsletter, you’d feature information about this hotel and provide special bonuses to subscribers who book to stay at this hotel through your website. Your revenue will be generated from things like premium advertising space in your newsletter and the commission you will, naturally, earn from each booking made to stay at this hotel in Singapore.

4. The Subscription Model

The Subscription Model usually applies to online businesses that have ‘specialty knowledge, or really rare, desirable and useful information.’ Applying this to your website, you could create a special ‘Member’s Area’ in your website that offers very detailed and premium content about some of your products or services. For instance, to expand on the example given for the Vertical Model, you could feature interviews with people who have stayed at the hotel in Singapore and are willing to share detailed information about their experiences (both good and bad) there.

No doubt, you can generate some income from sticking to one profit stream for your online business. However, as shown above, by using several profit streams at once, you will fulfill the promise that your online business can generate an income all the time.

Author Bio: Bruno is an an experienced web entrepreneur and social media marketing consultant who is always seeking new ways to make money online. At the moment his hobby is dogs and he owns several Hunderaser. He is blogging about Rottweiler dogs in a Norwegian Rottweiler forum.

Category: Business
Keywords: Business,Internet,profit,income,online business,make money online