Web Based Revenue Models
How to make money on the web? I’ve been accumulating data and examples of this over the past 4-5 years, since about the beginning of podcasting. Then the model was, “do what you love and the $ will come.” A little too insecure for my taste.
Pay for access to content
Gated communities essentially. This can work for some things, but it hides itself from passerbys. If someone shows up they know what you do and expect a particular value.
Donation
Open access, begging for donations. Perhaps it can work, but I have not seen many examples. Some sites do both, donations and limited advertising.
Pay for scarce items
Open access to a stream of audio, text, services, etc. Buy scarce items or buy access to the creator. This would be dinner with musician, to be a voice in the song, DVD with video or music, greater quality reproductions or notes, limited number of physical items like 250 volume set CDs,.. Another variation of this is a store selling T-shirts, CDs, DVDs, photos, coffee mugs,..
Free
These companies hope for a buyout from a behemoth like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft.
Advertising Supported
Take advantage of the attention to promote a 3rd party product. It helps to sell ads directly and be targeted with ads so the products coincide with the focus of your product.
Payment Methods
Paid RSS feed
A tiny file that computers can download and use as a catalog for 10 or so items. The user can purchase music or articles based on a headline/byline. Purchasers have to do something to get the RSS file and so already have buy in.
Stores
iTunes sells paid RSS feeds for phone ringtones, podcasts, etc. audio content. iPhone applications run on the iPhone/iPod Touch and can be a conduit for audio or text content.
Selling directly
Use an electronic checkout system like Google Checkout, Paypal, etc.