Another important aspect of the online world is word of mouth or viral marketing. This is wonderful, but you must also keep in mind that a lot of the initial buzz will be generated through your other marketing and PR efforts. The next topic of conversation was revenue models. For many sites, the main revenue source is advertising. Also, don't forget to consider the sale of email inventory in addition to space on the site.
Sponsorships are another great model, especially for sites with targeted content sections.
Some sponsorship models include offering fixed positioning on the site, granting exclusivity within a category, developing micro-sites, or even custom publishing such as advertorials. Other revenue generators mentioned were affiliate programs, auctions, fee-based content, paid listings, licensing, and barter. Finally, every company has to deal with expenses. First, there are staffing costs. One of the biggest problems facing the Internet business world today is a severe shortage of online marketing, sales, and management talent.