Revenue Generation Models for Your Business

In this lesson, we will discuss several revenue generation models that you can use to package, market and sell your products and services both on and offline

1. Product & Service Sales: Many online companies and e-commerce platforms draw a good portion of their revenue from markups on goods and services they sell online. This is the simplest and most direct method of marketing your offerings.

2. Advertising Income: For online publishers and platforms that attract large or specific niche target markets, sales of online ad space can be a major source of revenue. Advertisers will pay to reach your audience if it meets their criteria.

3. Sponsorship Income: Platforms and brands can solicit sponsors for some or all of their content, thus collecting sponsorship fees in order to help cover some or all of their costs. Every time you see something that is “brought to you by a brand” that’s sponsored content.

4. Membership& Subscription Revenue (Including SaaS models)Web marketers can also charge subscription fees for use of their site or service. Many online newspapers, such as the Wall Street Journal or New York Times require subscription fees for their online services. These are recurring payments made in exchange for continued access to a product or service.

5. Profile and User Data Income: Websites and platforms that have built databases containingin-depth user profiles. Such data can be valuable to advertisers who are willing to pay in order to reach particular audiences. Facebook for example, enables 3rd parties to advertise to its users based on a number of different criteria, including your interest, geographic location, job title, etc.

6. Transaction commissions and fees: Some platforms charge commission fees on transactions between other parties who exchange goods or services on their websites. For example, eBay connects buyers and sellers, and takes a percentage of each successful transaction

7. Referral Revenue: Companies can collect revenue by referring customers to others. For example, hosting companies like GoDaddy, will pay 3rd parties for every successful client they receive from them. This is essentially a finder’s fee.