When you first start thinking about creating a website and making it into a success, you will probably be thinking of one of two main ‘types’ of website that you’re going to work with. That is to say that either you will be thinking of creating a website that provides a selection of content, or you will be thinking of creating a blog that will contain regularly updated posts.
That’s all well and good of course, and both these methods can be very profitable if you have the right combination of hard-work and sheer luck. However what this is ignoring is just how many other kinds of opportunities there are for websites online. Here we will look at some of the other things you can do, and at what makes them such great options in an overcrowded market.
Web Comic
Of the websites I check on the most regular basis, a good proportion of them are not blogs or article sites. Instead they’re web comics such as XKCD and The Oatmeal. These provide me with a nice dollop of humour first thing in the morning and they’re great for a quick burst of entertainment.
For the creators of both these comics, this is also a very reliable source of income that also happens to be relatively easy and a lot of fun. Rather than writing tons of articles and slaving away doing web marketing, why not just sit outside with your graphics tablet and draw up a new cartoon? All it requires is some imagination and a bit of talent.
Animation
Another of the sites I check on a regular basis is Weebl’s Stuff – home of the amazing Weebl and Bob. These started as Flash animations, but have lately transitioned to YouTube (for Flash-unfriendly devices). They might involve a bit more work, but they’re hugely popular and obviously very profitable – DVD sales alone are a great form of monetisation!
Games
Speaking of Flash, why not create a site of games and upload something new every week? Again it’s a bit more work, but if you can come up with games that are good throwaway fun then you can easily have a viral hit on your hands. And if you don’t have the required skills? Then you can always just collect games that you source from the web or get a community to build…
Quiz Site
An alternative to games that’s a little less intensive would be a quiz site. These quizzes could take all forms, or they could focus on something particular – such as personality quizzes, tests for a certain subject, or brain training.
Web Apps
Or, why not create a site based around a service in the form of a web app? This could be something to help people’s workflows, or it could be a social utility to help manage social networks. Either way, there are a lot of successful web apps out there and once you’ve built one it only becomes a matter of managing and promoting it to keep it going.
Search Engine
If you have the coding knowledge to create a useful online utility, you could always go one step further and try to go up against the likes of Google and Bing. Sure it’s ambitious, but a little ambition never hurt anyone!
Social Network
Google is one of the ‘big dogs’ of the internet. Another is undoubtedly Facebook which the majority of people make their first stop when going online. The good news too is that social networks are actually surprisingly easy to build – there are plenty of frameworks out there you can work from which will take most of the coding challenge out of your hands.
Other Things…
These are some examples of popular and successful types of website, but that’s far from an exhaustive list. There are plenty of other types of website that are currently making a lot of money online, but if you really want to try something different then why not be bold and come up with something completely unique?
Author Bio:
This article is authored by Kristina Parker. Kristina is a freelance blogger who enjoys writing for 7 Strategy, a leading SEO company. Kristina’s life revolves around her blogs, family and her co*cker Spaniels – Ajax and Achilles. You can also follow her on Twitter @Kristinawparker.
