I guess there are similarities to adding improvements to your house. Do you have less of an investment with the domains you get? So in the end, the investment in your domain pays off.
Just my 2 cents. I have been around developing domain, ppc using adsense, affliate mktg, using seo techniques to push google rank, article marketing and social directories marketing on domain site.
Yes, it will bring good money, but you need patent and hard hard work. I must say to develop a site take up alot of work and consistant effort for traffic generation, nevermind what people say about having the pefect keyword half the battle is won, in reality it is not the case the key word also depend on the trends of the searchers, CTR is more important, so waht if you have high traffic but not one is buying. Also another point to note is one must do SEO constantly to keep your rank on Google or any engine that matters.
Should anyone choose to embark on this journey, pls be prepared to put in the hard work, time, money and am sure you will earn the money you deserved.
You are right about the hard work and waiting for results. The payoff isn't instant most of the time. As with everything in life it takes effort and patience. It also takes time to see what the response of people will be.