How can I build a web site that will generate an income?

That's a very broad question. If you want an answer that will be
useful to you I suggest you clarify some things like:
1. what kind of site is this, are you selling
products/services(e-business) or is this content based(sell add space)
2. how big, do you expect 1000 hits a month or 500,000
3. are you looking for somebody to write the the HTML or layout help
4. how much income, your only source or just a supplement

Do you have any areas that you already have knowledge in such as
previous biz experience, HTML, PERL, CGI(web programing), marketing,
advertising, contacts in the area you wish to do business in?

I agree that this is a very broad question.  However, my suggestion
will be just as broad, and I hope that it answers what you are looking
for.  First of all, you will need to come up with an idea.  You may
enjoy sewing and wish to sell blankets online.  Maybe you are
bilingual and wish to offer your service in translation.  You want to
find something that people are willing to pay for.  Perhaps you have
interesting stories, or provide access to something that others do not
have...then you can charge for a membership to your site.  There are a
myriad of ways to generate income by a website.
Next, you meed to come up with a domain name that no one else owns (or
that you can over-purchase).  It should be short enough to attract
users.  Long domains are annoying to type and will turn away
customers.  It should be catchy and rememorable.  You should then find
a provider and purchase or "rent" the domain.  This can be quite
expensive, depending on the URL.
You should visit some sites and learn HTML.  A poorly designed page
will not generate busines.  You want something attractive and
impressive, but should remember that some poeple have limited
connection speeds and will be accessing your site.  You can search
Google for HTML tutorials that will get you up & going.
Lastly, design your site and then pay to advertise.  Google lets
businesses advertise on the side bars.  The more you pay search
engines, the higher your listing, and the more people will visit your
site.  Banner exchanges sometimes work to advertise sites.  You might
also find corporate partners and display their advertisements on your
site in exchange for their promotion of your site.
Once put on the web, allow some time for the site to generate
visitors.  Monitor this with counters.  You might also invest in a
bilboard in your local area to create local interest.

Sites like Bravenet, and others aid new webmasters in managing their
sites and offer tools to use flashy tricks companies with more money
use, but you get them for free, or cheap.  You can polish your
website, sell whatever service you decide, and create a payment
system, usually using .asp extensions, for securely taking money.  You
will want to offer a secure site if you wish to transfer funds.

A website that generates profit usually requires a large up-front
cost.

I would be happy to go on, but I would like to request that you offer
a more directed question.  There is such a large amount of work that
goes into a sucessgul commericial site that it would not be practical
to type it all here, so I provide you the general details instead and
invite you to either refine your question, or try searching Google for
tutorials and tools for those new to webdesign.  I also wish you the
greatest of luck.

Cheers,
dexterpexter

This is actualy a fairly simple question to answer. The easiest way to
build a website that will generate income is to build a website that
will get more than a 1,000 hits a day (meaning at least 1,000 unique
vistors who go to your site in a single day). From this both local and
national advertisers whose segment population match that of the
typical vistor to your site would be more than willing to pay an
inflated price to advertise on your site. Selling advertising space on
a popular site is the easiest and fastest way to generate an income.
This is the thinking that started the .com phase a few years ago.
Using this thinking to create a multi-million dollar business isnt
wise, but this is still a smart move for fast easy income with little
to no effort . Coming up with the niche that will draw vistors to your
site is something no one will give away for a $2.00 search charge.

There are many companies that let you use THEIR website to make money.
 You just have to market them (by, for example, putting fliers up at
street corners).  I know there are companies that will sell erotica,
judaica, jewelry, and other things on-line.  A friend of mine makes
about $200 a week through his judaica website.  It took him five years
to build the business, and all he does is surf the web and add links
to his site to other websites that invite such particiation.