Hey Guys, Just a bit of background. I'm currently 19, and this is my first steps into the world of business, and first attempt at a website/online business in general. I am at the stage where I have refined an idea to the point that I am happy with, and I'm now working at the realities/predictions/lessons I need to take into account before I move on. On that note, any links to vital information for first time webmasters would be greatly appreciated. Onto the idea, I have in mind a site which would consist of a few hundred, to the low thousands of profiles, as well as an attached community forum. I am not concerned about getting those numbers, as the niche I intend to target and fill seems very receptive to the idea. Beyond that, there would be a "classifieds" section, which would be rather busy. In addition to the main members of the site, all of a certain profession, it would serve as a general resource to the public at large, therefor gathering views from that side. Eventually I intend to gain money via first hand advertising and affiliate deals, but the thought of using a system such as Adsense intrigues me greatly. I know it's extremely hard to make predictions, but seeing as I will have rather high amounts of traffic, in my opinion, what could I expect to be earning through a system such as Adsense or Yahoo etc? If I could clear 200-300 dollars a month, it would provide me a rather stable platform on which to expand. Thanks guys.
You seem to have a good idea of where you want to go, and the ambition to make it happen -- that's the important part. I would caution that the "community" websites are often the most difficult to get going (and often to make money off of, if they're free membership) as conversion and click through rates are often dismal. Moreover, people won't join sometimes unless the site is already active (it's kind of a paradox), so getting the first couple hundred members will be the most difficult. Instead of Adsense, you may want to look into something more CPM oriented, as you may not get a lot of clicks... It could be more profitable to charge a nominal fee for posting things on the classifieds section if there is demand for it, kind of like an eBay format (assuming you have the audience that would really want that targeted traffic). But, honestly -- earnings will very. Predicting future earnings is not only going to lead (potentially) to a letdown in terms of it may never get that high, but also if you're seeing the dollar signs now, it will take quite a while before you even get near that target. Are you willing to do all that work and maybe only make like $5/month for the first few months, maybe even longer? It could take off, but NEVER count your chickens before they hatch -- first rule of this business (there is not necessarily a correlation between traffic and revenue...look at sites such as Twitter, do they even have a real revenue model? ) Good luck!