Newbie Question: Websites & Profit

[Evolve]

I dont quite understand why certain websites make a profit when people just visit there site. How does this work?

[maxtower]

Some visitors click on ads, and the owner gets paid. If no one clicked ads, the site would probably lose money.

[superadvisor]

[ QUOTE ]
Some visitors click on ads, and the owner gets paid. If no one clicked ads, the site would probably lose money.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've wondered about this.

Have I overestimated the general populations average intelligence in ad-clicking?

In my whole internet life experience (7-8) years I have probably clicked on less than a dozen ads and never in my whole experience has an internet ad driven me to purchase a product.

[maxtower]

On my sites I get anywhere from 0.5% to 2% clicks/impressions.

Just because you don't click ads, doesn't mean others don't.

You have probably generated revenue for someone on the internet without even knowing. Do you have rakeback? How did you find out about it? How did you first decide to visit a poker site?

[captZEEbo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Some visitors click on ads, and the owner gets paid. If no one clicked ads, the site would probably lose money.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've wondered about this.

Have I overestimated the general populations average intelligence in ad-clicking?

In my whole internet life experience (7-8) years I have probably clicked on less than a dozen ads and never in my whole experience has an internet ad driven me to purchase a product.

[/ QUOTE ]I have adblock plus and never intentionally click on ads, but I must click ads at least once a day on average (there's tons of hidden ads and clicking very quickly on the internet results in misclicks which result in ad misclicks)

[Tupacia]

Adsense is almost never the best way to monetize a site. You have to have a huge amount of traffic to make it worthwhile.

[scotty M]

There are several different ways that a website can make money.

One way is to just have a huge volume of traffic, so it's a safe bet that a certain % of visitors will click ads, buy your product, or do whatever it is you want them to do.

The second way is to have a lower volume of "targeted" traffic. This is how I do things now, and I usually buy my traffic via google adwords or similar programs. If I had a website selling poker books, I'd bid on "harrington on hold 'em" for instance, and then write a sponsored ad letting people know I have it for sale.

[ QUOTE ]
Have I overestimated the general populations average intelligence in ad-clicking?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. Never overestimate the intelligence of the general population when it comes to anything.

For the original poster, never forget that the whole internet is just one big advertisement. Look at 2+2, what's one of the first things you see when you log in?