specific sequential plan that focuses on a greater business minded outcome. In other words ... you can't get rich quick on the internet ... anymore ... however, you can achieve success if approached with deliberate reason. I agree selling products (one's own) or going affiliate is a way to make money online. I see your point on AdSense being a struggle unless one has lots of traffic. There are other advertising networks that might work better than AdSense (or in conjuction with). I think it makes sense to use the advertising revenue model as well as affiliate sales. My current thinking for my site/venture is predicated on the advertising model with consideration for affiliate products (if only I can find ones I believe in). I need to get traffic (even if I only do affiliate products). I do SEO link building. I also program my own site. Plus I am learning/doing the marketing and promotion. All of these experiences can be re-used in providing services to other people (instead of selling product, I will be selling my services). I tried affiliate marketing before and didn't really like it. Selling your own products and getting affiliates to market them is the best way to earn money online. Making the ecommerce site and buying the stocks is easy, the hardest part of selling your own products is probably marketing, unless you put it in eBay. From experience as well, making a good blog and building reputations from it can earn you money