A stupid question but I'm sure someone knows (regarding websites and revenue)

[MistaDobalina]

If I created a website with a friend that has to do with something we're both passionate about...how could I possibly make money from it besides annoying google ads or monthly subscription charges? Say it got up to a million registered users that visit almost daily? Would that sell well or something?

Maybe I could create interesting opportunities for my users to have one-on-one online conversations with professionals in the industry (if we pay them and charge users a fee to be entered in the various contests)?

thanks.

[rossco1]

If you have strategically targeted advertising on the website this can often be a benefit for both the business and user. Neat tidy banner ads are also pretty effective.

Yes, having a lot of unique visitors and users will add value to your website. A million users that are active would sell very well.

Nice idea regarding the conversations!

All the best!

[fwn122]

If you were getting anywhere near 1 million hits a day then annoying google ads would actually be very profitable especially if it has a lot of high ranking keywords. I have had sites that recieve $1 per click from google adsense which would produce 10,000 hits a day even if only 1% of you users clicked on an ad. I know you probably don't like adsense but it can be effective on a lot of sites. Also you might want to consider selling ads directly for a monthly fee to other companies.
Good Luck with your site,
Frank