You can sell goods online to people you might not otherwise be able to reach.
You've heard it before: "Make money at home in your spare time." Although spam claiming it's easy to get rich quick on the Internet is everywhere, there are many legitimate ways to make money. Countless people and companies earn some or even all of their income online, making the Internet a prominent segment of the economy. Internet commerce serves as both an online counterpart to traditional businesses, like retail, as well as a source of new types of enterprises.
Advertising
Internet advertising is the key source of income for most profitable web ventures, amounting to almost $23 billion in 2009 according to statistics compiled for the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Internet advertising makes money by drawing visitors to a website on the basis of unique content, and then supplementing that content with advertisements. For advertising to be profitable, a website needs to draw a lot of general traffic or a moderate amount of people within a given marketing segment that are more likely to click on advertisements. Many websites generate a nominal amount of revenue through advertising, but not enough to be profitable independently.
Internet advertising is a difficult puzzle to solve. Web entrepreneurs need to market their site effectively, provide compelling content that will keep people coming back, and align their visitors with ads that are most likely to generate interest without detracting from the site's content. There are many forms of Internet advertising, from intrusive rich media ads that cover an entire page with graphics and audio, to small and barely conspicuous ads fit onto the margins. Conventional advertisements appear online as well, such as product endorsements and reviews.
Subscription Services
Subscription marketing campaigns operate the same online as they do offline. The central idea of a subscription service is to develop something so compelling that people are willing to pay regularly for it. Blizzard Incorporated, the providers of online role playing games like World of Warcraft, is an example of a highly successful subscription business model.
Online Retail
The Internet is a great place to sell products. Unlike physical stores, which must maintain an inventory limited by available shelf space and warehouse capacity, web stores can sell a very wide range of products from various locations, reducing space limitations. Moreover, online merchants can sell highly esoteric merchandise would be difficult to profit from in a brick-and-mortar establishment, due to their greater market exposure. This is the so-called "long tail" phenomenon, the idea that if you want something that's hard to find, you would probably find it on the Internet. Of course, web companies can and do sell popular products, as well. Amazon and Newegg are examples of companies that are successful enough to interfere with the business of traditional stores.
Microcommerce
Microcommerce, also called micropayments, is the selling of goods and services, usually in digital format, on a very small scale. This appeals to people who want a very specific product and don't want it attached to something larger and more expensive. It also appeals to those wary of large expenditures online. For example, in addition to selling entire music albums, Apple also sells individual songs on its online iTunes store.
The Value Itself
Advertising, subscriptions, retail and microcommerce are the four most prominent revenue models to make money online. While they tell you about make money, however, they don't say much about what will make money. Anything that people are willing to pay for, will make money. The Internet, supported by free speech laws and a market economy, strongly encourages entrepreneurship by eliminating many of the costs associated with starting a business. You can sell just about anything you want onto a website. This creates opportunity if you have a marketable skill, product or service. Bloggers can make money writing their opinions, while artists and photographers can make money selling copies of their work. Dentists can make money advertising their services to audiences that a phone book won't reach.
