This series is starting to get off the ground, so far there were three parts explaining the business models of: services and consulting, products, affiliate income. This time we’re going to discuss probably the most obvious model of them all – advertising.

Why is it the most obvious? Well, chances are that if you say to anyone that you intend to make some money over the internet via your website they will assume that you’re going to make that money on advertising.

Therefore, making money on ads, or more accurately – the concept of making money on ads is often the first strategy for online businesses. In essence, it’s simple. All you have to do is convince some advertisers to buy the advertisement space you’re offering. In practice, it’s not that easy to make a viable business model.

Don’t get me wrong, earning some money from advertising is super-easy, but earning a fulltime income is a completely different story.

So far in the series we’ve been talking about services and consulting, and products – two most common business models for online entrepreneurs and bloggers. This edition is all about getting some affiliate monies!

OK, not exactly about the “getting” part. But what I want to do is explain some principles by which the model usually works.

If you don’t know what “affiliate” means it’s just a fancy word for earning money as a result of sending a customer towards someone else’s business. Or in other words, when you promote a product that isn’t yours.

The whole idea might not seem that attractive at first, and what you may be thinking is something along the lines of: “If I am the one getting the sale anyway why not simply offer my own product instead?” – this is a common and valid concern.

Note. This post is a part of my series where I talk about one of the most important elements of various online business models. This element is, of course, where the money is made.

In the previous part I discussed the online business model of services and consulting.

In this part I’m going to discuss a business model that’s a little more intuitive for online entrepreneurs – products.

By products I don’t necessarily mean the physical/tangible stuff. In my dictionary, a product is simply something that has to be developed before you are able to sell it. Whereas a service is something that you sell first and then do the work later.

Products and their advantages

Let’s do a quick comparison of product centered business models and service centered business models.