1. Birth; this is where you figure out that you can have an online business. Some start a website for fun and only after putting ads or affiliate links on it realised this could actually replace their day job. Others think about money from the very beginning. Many established site owners have gone from zero to hundreds a day while those without a web presense may struggle for weeks or months to earn those first few dollars.

2. Growth; at this point you know how to make money. You can see future goals for your site and have a pretty good idea where you could be.

3. The top; at this point your main site is peaking in terms of potential growth in its niche. You have strong Google rankings and the site is a solid earner. If you have ever seen a product life cycle graph, this is the point where the early exponential growth begins to taper off. If the site is neglected a competitor will emerge and your site’s traffic will begin to shrink rather than grow.

4. Expansion; here you are ready to branch out into related fields. It can be very difficult to successfully pull off the same level of success in different niches, but it is done.