Could the internet make you rich?

I watched quite an interesting programme last night on Tonight on ITV the question they were investigating was ‘Could the internet make you rich?’ The answer is yes it can but on the other hand it can also loose you a lot of money. All businesses can go bust. To be successful you need a combination of many things such as a good idea, a target audience, a niche market, the ability to take risks, a unique selling point and a sticky website. The mention of a sticky website instantly made me relate it to the ‘Stickiness Factor’ in ‘The Tipping Point’ by Malcolm Gladwell.

The range of ways to make money on the internet are vast for example on the show we were told about Lauren Luke a woman who began by selling make-up online and showing videos of how to apply the make-up on YouTube. Now she has her own make-up range, a newspaper column and has released a book. You can find her on YouTube, VideoJug, Flickr, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, another family have made a lot of money on YouTube by posting a video of their children, which became very popular and they now make money from advertising that appears next to the video. Others have set up online businesses selling baby shoes, hoover products and car parking spaces on peoples drive ways near to airports. The possibilities I suppose are endless, watching this show once again hi-lighted to me the importance of getting online, showing my work on Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, Blogger etc.

Here is a link to the show if you would like to watch it:

http://www.itv.com/ITVPlayer/Video/default.html?ViewType=5&Filter=107694