Ask an Expert: Online profits aren't just for the Amazons, etc.

ByABC News
April 14, 2008, 6:08 AM

— -- Q: Steve Do you think it is really possible for the small guy to make money online? It all seems so dominated by the Amazons and Yahoos. What are small businesses supposed to do? Inez

A: Back in 1998 or so I read a book that really shifted my thinking about small business and the Internet. Called Striking it Rich.com (now out of print), the book profiled 23 "incredibly successful websites you probably never heard of."

One of those sites was AsktheBuilder.com.

The book profiled the site and its owner, the builder, Tim Carter. Tim is a nationally syndicated columnist and his website is a font of home improvement columns, videos, tips and help.

His is also your prototypical small business, with but one and a half employees. Yet not only has Tim been incredibly successful with his online business, he's convinced anyone can have similar success.

How? Hold on and I'll tell you, because last week the affable Tim told me.

But first, let's get an idea of just what online success might mean for a small business:

When Tim started his site back in the mid-'90s, he sold ads manually making phone calls and getting banner ads. But the advent of Google revolutionized his business. All of a sudden, instead of having to sell ads one at a time, he was able to sign up with Google AdSense and have Google populate his content with ads.

How successful was this strategy?

So successful that Google recently did a case study about AsktheBuilder. Here is what Google says:

"In April 2004, Carter learned about AdSense for content sites. He recognized that it would enable him to reach thousands of advertisers and screen ad quality with minimal time and effort. Carter immediately experienced a jump in advertising revenue of 400%. His monthly advertising revenues, including AdSense, grew from $1,500 to $7,500."

Wow!

But it gets better. The case study concluded with the fact that AsktheBuilder soon began to make $1,400 a day in ad revenue, but according to Carter, that is now incorrect. Today it makes significantly more than that.