How do popular websites earn money if not from adverts?

They all have adverts. Facebook has small ads along the side of profile pages, Youtube has sponsored videos on the front page. All major sites have advertisements, however they make them seem more like part of the page and less like an advert so that it is more likely to attract interest since people try to ignore obvious ads.

In addition, facebook sells those “gifts” for $1 a piece.

Ok, I believe youtube and facebook now have advertisments. But all these companies started out not making any money. They had no business model. The funding they recieved was all Venture capitalists. They invest their money into a site/company and hope that there will be a return on there profits. This can happen by either a buyout(as google bought youtube, or yahoo bought flickr) or by starting to place ads(facebook). Eventually all companies need to start to earn some money. You can even start a subscription service(charged a monthly/yearly fee for extra features while offering basic for free). If you have a good idea and investors who believe in you, a site can go for awhile without having to worry about making a profit.

The real question is how do they become popular. If you have advertisements and are offering to sell different merchandise from your site you must have people willing to buy into the idea. Without that there’s little going to be happening.

Hi..not only them can make money, we too as the end user….
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Good Luck.