Does anyone actually make money online anymore?
Firstly, the Internet is less of a standalone feature anymore, with all serious businesses NEEDING an online representation to maintain corporate image and ensure that they reach the maximum user-base possible. But where are the brilliant innovative ideas that generate the cash? The Million Dollar homepage was a less than traditional way of generating income - however effective. Even now, traffic does not necessarily equal money. With such a massive set of commercial options available, customers are as likely to buy your service as they are buy the service next door (metaphorically). To continue that metaphor, imagine you live on a street solely comprised of people offering the same service.
Is it really innovation that generates money? Or is it finding a hole in the armour of an already established product/service and exploiting it as much as possible? As far as this author sees it, a good idea, properly realised is the only true way of making a serious sum of money. However, conjuring an innovative idea that is both new and realistic is the real challenge. It's easy to create concepts that don't have a target user-base, or are so far-fetched they sit beyond the achievable.
So, can you actually make money on the internet these days? I've toyed with several ideas, firstly - designing and selling screen-printed t-shirts. A solid concept, with a definite lack in the market in the UK (certainly geekware or items along those lines). However, to generate profit that you could shake a stick at, the mark-up would push the shirts into high street prices - something that is tricky business for web-retailing (certainly for new businesses).
You can't build computers for profit anymore. Everyone worth their salt at a desk has either an understanding or a friend with an understanding of how to build a PC. So where does the real money lie? Buying broken Laptops from eBay and fixing them - is probably a reasonable idea - if you have the know-how.
Maybe we should resolve ourselves to waiting for that true spark of creative genius to finally hit, and until that point I'll have to settle for the few pence Adsense generates. Please click on my adsense, it's the only hope I have...
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