What is your idea of a 'successful' website?

[Asia_Expat]

I've been pounding away at my keyboard for years, trying to get a foothold in my niche. Two years ago, my main website was lucky if it got 50 uniques per day... as of this month, it gets a steady 1,200 uniques per day, around 80 percent of which comes from organic search results.

However, I have yet to generate a usable income form those visitors and my target is to get to 10,000 per day.

That said, I consider my website to be a success and I have built it up out of nothing. I'm actually quite proud of it and my forum community hosts some of the most knowledgeable commentators in my arena. I have made some very dear friends through their participation in my website and I have sure learnt a great deal.

What is your benchmark for success?

[Quadrille]

Each of my sites has its own targets, though in some cases I'd have to think hard to identify them ...

Success is then a step toward those targets, be it income, profit, visitor numbers, visitor participation ... depending on the site.

The sites where I have set formal targets do much better than those that I set up 'for love', maybe because I monitor them more closely, and realign them if they aren't performing. While the 'personal interest sites' are allowed to do much as they please.

[buckworks]

My definition of a successful website is one that generates income while I'm working on something else. :)

[novustek]

Its dependent on each site.

I took a site that got around 900 hits per month and now its up to 5000, now that's not a lot in the grand scheme of things but in our very small niche market its a success.

Its now a usable point of sale for company employees with a lot of industry related info.

[piatkow]

I remember a thread elsewhere about what made a good car. My response to that was that a transit van may not be a "babe magnet" but the two seater sports car will not take 4 guys with surfboards away for the weekend.

Much the same with web sites, is it fit for purpose and meet the targets appropriate for that purpose?

[idolw]

when it is profitable and i can move forward to work on sth else.

[TowerOfPower]

A successful website is a website that you can be proud of.

Aside from that, it depends on your goals.

[adamnichols45]

Well I would say when its earning you double your national average wage.

Thats what Im aiming for.

[nomis5]

For me the definition of success has changed over the years. At first it was to give my young son and myself an interesting and joint interest. It worked, he enjoyed the subject, I enjoyed designing the site. No money was ever earned but I deemed it a success.

Then I started a hobby site, as a hobby and something to inform others and learn from them. Again a success, my knowledge and those of my audience increased and it was fun. Again, no money was earned.

Then I placed a couple of ads on it and realised that money could be earned. I increased the earnings above expectations, still only pocket money, and deemed the site to be a success.

The site then turned into a money-maker and eventually, with the help of a few other sites, the sites enabled me to leave my job and work for myself full time. Now that really was a success. Not only for me but for my family, I can spend more time with them.

So in my view a site is successful if it achieves the aim you have set, however humble or major. The definition of success will change as time goes on and as far as I can see, a webite(s) can provide you with almost unlimited levels of success.

[StoutFiles]

Outperforming your expectations for it.

[Swanny007]

To me, my sites were successful when I earned enough to quit my day job (i.e. making more on the sites than at the day job). That was a year ago and I'm doing what I can to continue the trend. My two largest sites are seeing record traffic levels so I must be doing something right. Your results may vary.

[victorpower]

i agree with buckworks.a sucsessful site may generates profits by itself.but obviously it need you do more effort and time,and money...