MODEL 7: Indirect product sale
The sale of different goods and services, which are not directly connected with the topic of the website, can be considered a side activity, too. A typical example of this is The Awkward Yeti. Its major idea is to offer different funny comic strips and caricatures where the main characters are Yeti and the human organs, which enter into some insanely funny dialogues.
To a great extent, the website supports itself from Google AdSense but the fan store also has a major contribution. Fans of the series can buy a t-shirt with a heart, a stuffed gallbladder, a Yeti pillow, or even a cell phone case with your favorite cartoon character. Many fetish clothes models on the internet apply a similar scheme, as most of them do not even have a website, they are using their Facebook pages or Instagram as communication channels and are generating revenues. Often these models are advertising themselves, constantly posting racy photos from different photo sessions thus attracting a huge audience of 30,000 to 300,000 consumers. They regularly release their own clothes (bras, thongs, corsages, whips, masks, etc.), calendars with photos, autographs, or even a personal kiss.
This makes these items much more valuable for the fans than any other calendar or t-shirt and they are ready to pay much higher than the regular price to get them. Of course, not everyone is eager to pay but there is always a core of about 10%, who are ready to do anything for their idols.
In practice, this activity is not much different from the opening of an online store, with the slight difference that the major purpose of the Facebook pages or websites in question is not to sell but to attract consumers’ attention to the main job of the top models – advertising photo shoots, fashion shows, and after they have attracted a certain critical mass of fans they can start selling everything with their name or brand on it as a side activity. This brings them a passive income, which often exceeds the incomes from their “main” activity.
