The fall of the dot-coms and the plunge of technology stocks has made many companies realize that to stay alive and healthy, they must follow a stable financial strategy. It takes substantial energy and financial resources to maintain a Web site. At first many Web sites tried selling banner ads as a means of generating income to offset their costs. Banner ads, however, have not proved effective, and many advertisers have withdrawn their ad support.

It seems that finding the successful advertising formula was easy for television and radio. Both have been supported for years by advertising revenue. The Internet, however, is having difficulty finding the right type of advertising to sustain itself. Advertising experiments abound on the Internet. There are now pop-up ads, pop-under ads, and exit ads that appear when you leave a Web page. There are also cookies and Web bugs that can be used to market products and sites.

While all of these marketing and advertising ploys are being tested, many excellent Web sites are struggling for their very existence. For many, offering all of their content and information on the Web for free is no longer financially feasible. Britannica.com is one such Web site.

Access Fees

When Britanica.com went online in October 1999, the entire encyclopedia was offered free of charge to any wired information seeker. As is the case with many other dot-coms, Britannica has found it difficult to survive without sustaining income. During the last year, the information company has been forced to lay off more than half of their US employees.

Like many Internet-based companies searching for a way to stay afloat, Britannica.com has had to give away the give away concept. They will now charge $5 a month or $50 a year for full access to their encyclopedia.

Many Web entities are simply charging for things that used to be free. Being diehard Cubs fans, last year my husband and I listened to the Cubs games for free over the Internet. This year, we found that we had to pay a $10 fee for the privilege of listening via the Web. 

Premium Subscription Accounts

Other Web sites are following suit. Salon, a popular online magazine, and many others are now offering premium subscription accounts. In the case of Salon, for $30 a year, you can access all of their content without any ads or pop ups.

Mailstart, and excellent service that I have used for years to access e-mail on the road, has recently started charging a yearly fee of $10. They accompanied this announcement with this statement, "We are sorry for this change in policy but know this is the only option tho keep the service going".

Tip Boxes

Some Web sites trying to avoid aggravating pop-up ads and distracting banners are instituting a new method of support called "Tip Boxes." These boxes are the electronic equivalent to the jar on the bar for the bartender or on the piano for the pianist. If you have read, used, and enjoyed the content on the site and are supportive of the efforts of the site's creators, you are asked to leave a tip. If people are generous with their tips, the sites will be sustainable; if not, we may see too many good sites bite the dust. Most of the tip boxes that you will see are paid through two companies, Amazon and PayPal. Amazon has a database of 29 million members who have ordered merchandise from their site, and many E-Bay visitors have set up PayPal accounts. If you have an account with either entity, simply click the mouse to give the Web site a tip. If you don't have an account with either, you can quickly set one up. These two payment methods offer a small Web site, like Compu-KISS®, the ability to let their Web visitors pay a tip in a secure environment and to leave a small tip quickly and easily. Amounts as small as $1 are acceptable. Other Web sites now using tip boxes are the non-profit  SETI Institute Online, whose program Searches for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence, and Recipe Source.

The amazing popularity of the Internet is attributed to the value of the information it offers. There is no disputing this wealth of information also has commercial value. It will be interesting to watch the Internet world sort through all the various approaches and strategies until a balance is reached. The demand for the information has been created; the value has been established. Now the practical side of putting a dollar amount on the value and establishing an acceptable means of payment are the challenge. As always, it will be interesting to watch the Internet as it modifies itself in an attempt to accomplish commercial success.