There’s no out of the box for making money
I hope this isn’t one of those posts that repeat’s something I’ve already made clear, even if it is it’s probably worth saying again. So we all know that there’s loads of get rich quick scams on the net and I suppose to an extent most of us are immune to them (I hope). However the question remains, is there a way to earn money online out of the box? Well the short answer is no for one main reason, out of the box implies easy with no work. If it’s that easy then everyone would be doing it, and by proxy it probably wouldn’t work anymore.
I’m not trying to say that everything needs to be complex to work but I can guarantee if its point and click it’s unlikely to produce results on its own. That doesn’t mean simple ideas can’t be part of a much larger money making plan, for instance:
- WordPress CMS, 5 minutes and you have a website.
- Cheap web-hosting that’s point and click to setup.
- Contacting other webmasters to promote your site, time consuming but simple.
The thing is I keep seeing people starting up these out of the box ecommerce sites selling the exact same products at the exact same prices as everyone else, why bother? Everyone seems to think that “internet” is a magic keyword that results in instant money. You look at some of the most successful net businesses and while the infrastructure they used was simple the concept and idea were unique and original.
I really think that in order to put together a collection of ideas that work you need to try a lot of things that don’t. This too is another stumbling block as fear of failure can be a major hurdle for anyone starting a business on the net.
Foundation 07 // Chris Sacca from Kevin Rose on Vimeo.
Also on a slightly unrelated note I wanted to post this great video by Kevin Rose I found. It’s one of a series where he interviews successful entrepreneurs and tries to decipher their methods. It’s quite long but I promise its worth a watch, only problem with these kind of videos is they can be quite addictive, information overload can be a real problem!
Do you have to be unique to make it online?
Here’s a concept I’ve been thinking a lot about lately and that’s how unique or new does your business have to be to make it online? On the one hand you have the really big successes like Million dollar homepage which was a unique idea marketed perfectly, it was even on the news where I live! The problem with many great web ideas is that they don’t have the marketing strategy behind them to turn them into money spinners. I remember the guy on million dollar homepage generated lots of publicity at the start by contacting radio stations and newspapers about his site, he then sold some of the space at the beginning to family and friends. People often underestimate the value of hype because that site would never have gotten off the ground with it.
In some ways it does depend exactly what idea you’re trying to get off the ground because not every site is competing in the same type of market. However the principle of getting what you’re doing out to influential people holds firm no matter what your site is about. To me the basics are:
- Contact other bloggers, don’t just ask for a link but explain what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
- Forums are a great way to get in touch with real people. But not just any forum, try to find one which is related to your industry, you need people who are engaged.
- Twitter/Facebook/Youtube have changed the game in terms of how fast you can become popular. It’s now possible to reach millions of people in a matter of hours, but only if you have viral content (that’s a big if).
You see whether you’re the exec at coca-cola or your some local mechanic trying to rank your site in your home city, the principles are the same, it’s just the scale that changes. At the heart of this game web promotion is a popularity contest and there’s a million ways to become popular (just like the real world).
The reason I’m pointing all this out is that so many people do have great and unique ideas for websites and ways to earn from them. But unless you have your marketing/seo/ppc strategy 100% then you’re going to fail. The problem still remains that even in 2011 internet marketing is the afterthought post web-design. Honestly id rather spend ¼ of the budget creating the website and the rest promotion, at least that way I have a real chance of making money.
So that’s it for this post, what crazy methods do you have for promoting your idea?
Why start a website and how much can you make?
The how much and how long question is one that I get regularly and one that’s impossible to answer. The true answer is “as long as it takes” but to most people this is not acceptable though I suppose it makes sense when there are so many scammers out their promising riches down the road. For me part of the problem is that many people are finding this site that are just looking for generic advice on how to earn money online without any clear direction on how to do it. I mean the main focus of people seems to be on making money regardless of the method which to me doesn’t make sense. The method is central to everything, otherwise why not just rob a bank? (If banks still had any money).
There are obviously some costs to starting a website like:
- Domain name - This is the actual name of your site and is £10 for two years if you’re buying .co.uk or around £20 if you want a .com
- Web hosting – Your site needs to be stored somewhere so people all over the world can access it (even when you’re sleepingJ ) and will cost around £5 – £10 a month. There are free hosts but I don’t advise using them as they can be unreliable, you get what you pay for.
So those are the only up-front costs that you can’t avoid, there are other things some people decide to spend on like professional site design or custom features but for my method these extras aren’t really necessary. This is because when I build a site it’s really only about the content and not complex ecommerce systems etc.
Another benefit to building simple content driven websites is that no web-design/programming experience is required. Believe it or not the host I use allows me to have a new site up and running with a full content management system and design in about 10 minutes, it’s kinda amazing when you think about it. Don’t get me wrong you still have to create the content and then promote the site but from a technical point of view getting started is no harder than installing Microsoft Word!
So as I’ve outlined there’s really no financial risk to starting a website to make some extra money, especially when you compare it to a bricks and mortar business. The only risk is your own time and effort but still for many people this risk is too much. What if it doesn’t work and I end up wasting all this time? Well that’s part of the reason everyone isn’t making a living online, effort and risk are just part of the game.
Another problem is the time it takes for a website to become successful because on the internet if your new you’re really no-one. This is because so many new sites get started every day and to be honest there’s a lot of sites and blogs saying the same thing, how will you stand out from the crowd and get noticed? Remember there’s only room in any market/niche for a certain number of people to succeed and earn real money so are you prepared to work harder and smarter than your competitors.
Even with the hurdles listed above I really believe that for someone working from home or trying to earn some extra cash with no investment websites and internet marketing could be the answer. You see for most people the main reason they are trying to make some extra money is that they don’t have any in the first place. Even if you wanted to get a loan to start up your own business good luck going to your bank.
So obviously the above isn’t all you need to succeed, patience time and effort need to be in great supply too, but isn’t that the case with anything? As mentioned before I am thinking about doing some kind of eBook on my exact method because there’s way too much to cover in a single post or even in a series of posts. That doesn’t mean creating a successful website is a complex business, there’s definitely work involved but so much of what’s required is just basic things repeated over.
That’s it for this post, maybe you’re not convinced yet what’s possible in the online world because it’s so different than everything else you know. But in my opinion the Internets only going to get bigger and better, the time to learn this business is now.
What is the “Key” to earning money with the net? Do you have it?
So been a while since I last posted but I always want to wait until I have something at least semi interesting to say before I decide to clog up your life with even more information. I suppose that can be a pretty big problem when it comes making a living on the internet, information overload! Yes it can happen to us all, you keep stuffing your brain full of the latest “secret” or “trick” to help you conquer the web and you end up getting more and more confused. Analysis paralysis can be one of the most dangerous things that can happen in any field but it’s even worse on the net as there are millions of gurus all trying to sell you something different.
So how to you work out if you’re on the right path to making money online or another road to ruin? One of the easiest ways to tell is by asking yourself if this method even makes sense to you and/or other people? It’s not an easy question to ask, especially if you have already invested a lot of time and money into this system. Some people don’t know when to quit and others can’t get started.
One thing I do feel has been key to my success and made it possible for me to consistently earn good money online is perseverance. I once heard the phrase
“Brute force beats perfect understanding every time”
And it more or less describes my entire internet philosophy when it comes to building websites and making a living as its been as much the failures as the successes that have helped me to learn this whole industry. What it means is that you get to a point where you just have to dive in and see what happens when you test things. Google is one big puzzle and the only way to find out how it really works is to build something. So many people want the perfect formula before they start so they have no possibility of failure but starting with that attitude more or less guarantees one result (and it’s not a good one).
One thing you also bear in mind that despite what you may think internet businesses do not have overnight success any more than any other business. While yes you can get massive amounts of traffic and hype to your website overnight, this will never or very rarely convert into instant money. Remember traffic and visitors do not always = money, just look at YouTube and Twitter, millions of visitors every day and they still can’t make a profit. Remember quality beats quantity every time, don’t chase a market/visitors that you can never turn into hard ££££.
One mistake that I see people making all the time when trying to earn money is to start a website about something they love without researching the market properly to see if the money is actually there. Yes you may have a passion for purple slippers with glitter but how many other people do? How many of them are searching for this every day on Google? How many of these people can you convert into sales and £££?
Ok so far you may be thinking this post is all negativity about the pitfalls about a career on the internet and there are so many mistakes you can make when you start but the truth is that many of them can be overcome with hard work and perseverance. This also brings me to another very important point about online marketing and that is that you really have to have an interest in it at some level to really achieve success. I was actually explaining to a friend of mine who also wants to get into this business that you really have to have an interest in it if you’re going to have any kind of success. He said:
“Im interested in making money, does that count?”
The thing is I told him, you won’t always be making money so how will you stay motivated at these times (especially the start). You see I don’t think you have to be a genius to earn money but like most things I think hard work (and a little bit of luck) are what really makes the difference. So until next time….
Find that secret niche to make millions online
One mistake that I see new people to this business making again and again is picking the wrong niche to enter into for their new website or blog. You see one of the main thought processes that people have is that you should write about what you know and/or are interested in. It’s a good idea in principle but the problem is that so many affiliate marketers are of the same demographic i.e. male between 18 – 35. So what you end up with is a million thin affiliate sites all trying to sell iphone accessories or sports equipment. If you do start your business around one of these “traditionally” male tech/sports products you’re going to be competing with all these other people who also failed to think outside the box and 99 times out of a 100 you’re going to fail.
Now I know trying to think completely out of your own experience’s can be very difficult but trust me that the time spent are the start trying to find that untapped market can be recouped many times over down the line. Another big plus of the untapped market that no-one else is noticing is you can be completely under the radar for months (and even years) before people realise just how much money you are making. Indeed it is some of these more “boring” industries that often allow their owners to earn the most over a short period of time. So i suppose you are thinking just what kind of markets/sectors these might be? Well of course I’m not going to give away the farm in one post but here are a few sectors to think about.
- Make-up
- Clothes
- Shoes
- Office equipment
- Packaging
Ok so as you can see not very exciting but when it comes to earning an income online it’s the more boring the better in my opinion. So your also probably thinking at this point what kind of niches should you stay away from? Here are a few sectors that have ruined many an affiliate marketers dreams 
- Iphones (or anything apple)
- Electronics in general
- Books (you know amazon does this right?)
- CDs (heard of mp3s?)
- Poker
- Loans
- Personal injury
Yes some of those niches are worth huge amounts of money, ie ranking on Google for something like “Personal injury claims” could be worth over £1000 a day just in commission. However most people get blinded by these kind of numbers and just forge ahead without evaluating the situation. Most of the sites in the niches above will literally have teams of people working full time on every aspect of SEO and not just to get the site to the top of the serps but to make sure it stays there. This doesn’t mean there isn’t huge amounts of cash in other sectors too (there is) it’s just not as glamorous and in most cases harder to find.
So how to you find this new niche that’s going to make you millions? Well the two keys are both patience and awareness. Anytime you’re searching the net for something (especially if it’s a gift for someone else) you should have seoquake on and have a quick glance at the competition in this market. After a while this will just become an automatic thing and before you know it you’ll be accessing the competition every time you fire up google, it can become a bit time consuming I have to admit but it will be worth it.
I must also mention that it’s not just markets that have little or no competition that you may want to start in, you also want to enter a market were you can offer something way better than everyone else. One of my favourite bloggers is Allyn Hane over at blogger illustrated who talks in some of his (slightly crazy) videos how he started a blog in the DIY niche. The thing about his blog was that he could offer real reviews on DIY hardware and not just the generic product descriptions that you get on most ecommerce sites. The best thing about his blog though is that he sold it for $30,000 to a venture capital firm, now that’s some serious cash!
So there you have it my advice on how to think outside the box (a little bit) in order to earn some real money on the internet. Until next time my digital peeps