Some sites I have visited recently are geared almost exclusively to meeting the needs of site visitors. The site owners may not even have the personal expertise to meet the needs, but they have worked to develop a community of individuals who can.

In this scenario a site owner could develop, let's say, a community of photography enthusiasts. There will likely be photographers that frequent the site as well as those who need photography.

For the benefit of the site visitors a system is in place that allows those who need photography to find someone who can provide that photography – often at no cost.

Why would someone do that?

1) Photographer – This individual will take a requested photo and allow it to be used at no cost as a means of promoting their own site as well as their ability to capture great photos.

2) Visitor – This individual loves the fact that they can access quality photos for a project they are working on and will visit this site whenever they need more material.

3) Site Owner – This individual will use advertising (often from the professionals who frequent the site) to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the site.

By itself there may not be enough money coming in to make a living from this type of site no matter how popular it becomes.

How does the business owner make money?

Remember at the beginning of this article I mentioned that the site under discussion is secondary? The business owner likely has a related website that is a profit building enterprise. In an age of ‘customer first' the site owner has come to realize a complimentary website can be developed that would seem to concentrate on the specific needs of the customer.

The primary website will invite interested individuals to visit the secondary photography site while the photography site points visitors to the primary website. This is a case of positive cross promotion.

There's an old adage that says, “Word smarter, not harder.” This is the concept behind using a secondary site to promote your ecommerce site. You have direct control over the design elements and how the site functions. You can place a banner ad for your primary site on the secondary site and you will likely find customers coming back because they found both the products AND services they wanted.