A comedian once told this joke. He said “I was in the store the other day and I asked the guy behind the counter, can I melt dry ice and get wet?” The person behind the counter looks at me and says “I don’t know I better ask my manager Steve”.

Now whether you get a chuckle out of the dry humor it reminds of something we are all familiar with. No matter what situation we are in there is always “that person” someone suggests asking for information. Yes, there are people out there who are the “knower’s” and providers of information.

An example of this in the Internet world is the Internet Research business. Indeed there are many applications for the need of Internet Researchers. Today we are going focus on what I call the information providers, people who make specific information available and offer it via a web site. Sometimes it is free to the web surfer and others are subscription sites. Both are examples to those of you thinking about setting up a site like this.

There are those among us who are very talented at gathering needed and useful information and presenting it in a logical and organized fashion, making life easy for those of us who need such information. You providers have an opportunity to help your fellowman and have a nice Internet business going on. Here are 2 examples.

Oh and remember these 2 examples were chosen by me and not paid ads. I am using them a general examples and not suggesting you use their site or not to use their site. We are strictly interested in how they present their service so we can get an idea of how we could offer ours.

The first one to take a look at is http://www.mapquest.com/. Chances are many of us have used this site. Its primary function is to provide maps and directions.

The Home Page is full of info and choices but not overly cluttered in my opinion, which is good. You don’t want people asking themselves “oh my, what do I do next?” as they are looking at your home page. In fact right at the very top is a tool bar of a few simple choices. One of them is a link to AOL.com which is probably the sponsor for mapquest. A sponsor is a big reason the site is free for you and I to use and a way for AOL to increase their business.

Across the very top to the right is a site search bar, always a good idea. Below the very top line is the mapquest logo and another set of options to choose from in the form of a site menu. You got maps, directions, yellow pages, local, and gas prices to choose from, each providing self explanatory and useful information.

The main section of the site is for directions and maps. To the right of the directions is a prominent banner ad. This is a great revenue maker for your site. This site features this one main one but you may offer more. That is not the only ads and money generators they have however.

Scroll down below the map section and you will see a row of banner/image links. The section is titles Mapquest Tips, Features, and Partners. This is very clever because it mixes presentation of other helpful types of information you can read and it offers a chance to visit some affiliate sponsors. Likely the partners are paying for their presence on the site. Again that is a great way to earn some income by providing ads and links to affiliate partners.

There is also a link to a Mapquest blog and many options at the bottom of the page leading people to other AOL related links. Also demonstrating that you can branch off from your already established Internet business and create a site like Mapquest providing a specific information service and increase promotion for your original business. This is in essence what AOL is doing with mapquest.

Another example is a company providing information for a niche market. Please visit http://beta.beckett.com/. They specialize in the sports collectible arena. For many years the Beckett Company has published magazines for sports collectors to purchase that gives a list of the market value of items such as sports cards. As a result of the massive popularity and the simplicity of the Internet they now offer this member site for the same purpose. It is a paid subscription site.

As you can see on the Home page they also take advantage of advertising. Some of which features items you can purchase from their collectible sales partners. In fact the home page features a prominent banner ad across the top of the page.

Below the banner is a tool bar related to the Beckett site. Parallel to that on the right side of the page is where members can log in or information of how or why you can join. The mid section of the page offers more selections of how to use and benefit from the Beckett site. For example there are message boards and forum type options available. Of course they have a search bar there for your convenience, which is always a must or at least a should.

Now keep in mind however that most of the site is only available to members, which brings us to one quick note. This site is a prime example of how you can turn research and data into a income. Keep in mind that sports collectibles continue to fluctuate in market value and there are always new items put out virtually every day. So they are working behind the scenes to remain up to date with the information and managing the web site by the minute. So part of your member fee is for them to earn money, but also they are working for that money.

So you research gurus out there, maybe this is you gig? Yes Internet research is a job prevalent in the medical and legal fields but it also manifests itself in the form of the examples we have provided today. Beckett offers subscriptions starting at $18 USD a month. So you can do the math and project the potential of what is out there in some niche markets. Now keep in mind there are operating costs. The more involved the site is the more the cost will be to run it. But that is a standard business reality.

Anyway ……. this is something to investigate. Do you have the ability or the access to needed information? Perhaps you can make it available through a free site and earn income through sponsors and ads. Or maybe the information you can provide is worth it to many enough that they would pay a member fee to have it available?

I think you know what you need to do now.

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