Simply Seven

Seven options for monetizing a web site: It is nice having a great web site, but it needs to make money, too. Many companies face this challenge – both established businesses as well as new ventures. Some executives have burned through millions just trying to find the right way to make money on the internet. In fact, there is a fair degree of pessimism among established companies whether money can be made on the internet at all, given the wide availability of free offers. That everything has to be free on the internet is a popular misconception. But internet users are extremely sensitive about what exactly they spend their money on. Flagship internet companies such as Google, eBay, Skype or Facebook took considerable amounts of time to make sure they had the right business model. Having the wrong business model or implementing the right model badly can be detrimental. AOL, for example, was not able to ramp up the advertising business model in time while its subscription revenues declined by 75% from 2006 to 2009. One of the biggest challenges Facebook faced in its short history was when it first introduced ads in 2007. Nevertheless, many companies have succeeded in finding a business model that supports profitable growth on the internet in a sustainable way. Simply Seven is a practical approach which simplifies the process of selecting the right business model for a web site. By clustering all potential business models into seven groups, it is possible to evaluate and compare success factors and pitfalls.