Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category
Badboyant
Hey Guys,
I came up with this idea after reading Cashquest’s blog post on selling a site for $1000. (Link below). I modified it and added in a new “recipe” of sorts to make it more applicable on a large scale system and allow for less time and more profits (essentially). Towards the bottom of the post, I have added more advanced discussions on just what can be done to take the idea even further. My original blog post can be found here.
This method takes about three months to fully build up. (Lets say about 100 days to be on the safe side). Now as the Cashquest blog already pointed out, if you want to sell a blog for $900 dollars, the general rule of thumb is that the blog must be making a monthly revenue of $90. I agree with this estimate as this is what the general market trend shows. Most people would be willing to pay about 10 times over if they know that they can make up the outset and at least get some profit within the year.
Cashquests wrote the original posts, and I have made some modifications to it so that its would be possible to earn as much as $5000.
Thus, you will obviously need to have 5 (5 x $900 - if you feel this is too much, then hey go for 4 x $900 ) blogs running simultaneously. Now, this may seem like a daunting task, but I can assure you, for a person who spends a lot of time blogging, it’s very easily done. You just need to balance out the posts on all the blogs. For those of you that want to know how I sort out the excessive number of posts per day, I will explain it in full further down in the post.Lets get to it..
1. You will make 5 new blogs per month. Therefore, by the end of the month, you will be having to put out about 30 posts per day across 15 blogs. Not as difficult as it seems (I hope that you will bear with me) as I will tell you how this can be done in under 2-3 hours a day. I will explain further on how to overcome this obstacle of writing up that many posts per day.
2. Blogger blogs are okay, but it is obviously better if you get a proper .com domain. Hosting is pretty cheap these days and you can host multiple database accounts on one server (if you get a good server).
3. Text Link Ads - sell it not for $1 but instead sell it for $2 (times 10 links). Money Made = $20.
4. 125×125 Banner Ads - Set up 6 and sell for $5. Money Made = $30.
5. PayPerPost - This will be your most guaranteed money maker. You will only have to make 1 post per week per blog. Money Made = $20.
6. Feed Ads - Like the man said, if you post on a regular basis, you will make money. Sell your space for $10. Money Made = $10.
7. 480×60 Top Banner - Placed at the top of your site next to the header, this is a prime piece of advertising space and you’re going to guarantee it’s sale by selling it for just $10 per month. Money Made = $10
8. Grand total = $90/month.
9. Ok good, so that’s the first blog. There are a few reason’s why I changed Cahsquests method, and I will discuss them in a bit. Next part is obviously multiplying that by 5 blogs.
10. How do we do that?A few ideas include:
- Easy niches…i.e. some blogs only have pictures to them… or videos (no actual posts)
- Content Rewriters - sneaky and i’m not a personal fan
- Do it the hard way.
11. So you’re going to need to put in 1 or 2 posts a day per blog. Easy you say. Yeah…for the first month or so. But understand that you will once again be buying 5 more blogs in month 2 and another 5 in month 3. Therefore 30 posts. Yes it will be a pretty much full time job. Unless you use content rewriters or have niche such as a picture blog - i.e. Flickrdreams.[NSFW] (probably takes him 5minutes a day to do 5 days worth of posts hehe)
12. Once you hit the obligatory 90 day mark, you can sell the blog. By this time, you would have generated enough blogs to propagate the system.
And there you have it.
Further strengths:
1. You can link all the blogs together (if you the posts are connected, thereby speeding up linking processes etc and traffic generation)
2. Easy to set up linkbait from one blog, to the next, to the next - We shall call it AnthonyJudeLawrence Chain Blog Linking *smirks*
3. The reason that the TLA price was raised from $1(original Cashquest form) to $2 (my version) was so that we could lower the posting frequency.
4. People tend to think of blogs being for selling in such traditional terms. I.e. You post about “how to make money” on a blog until it matures enough, then you sell it. Blogs, for the most part, are exceptionally versatile platforms. Even if you did not want to go for a Flickrdreams [NSFW] type site, you could easily try something like PostSecret or another one of those thousands of sites out there which actively INVITE people to post on their blogs.
Weaknesses:
1. You’ll be absolutely exhausted with a 30 post/day output. However, if you are considering doing the Flickrdreams type blog, you can always outsource to a randy teenager who will probably do it for you for free! I mean which adolescent male out there wouldnt want to have a license to look up nekkid women! *grins*
2. Can you guys think of any others?
Viability:
This idea seems relatively viable and it seems like it may be carried out with relative ease (for those of you that are willing to put in the time.
Advanced ideas:
1. API mashups to pull in data from Flickr or any one of those media aggregators!
2. Use Social bookmarking to get more traffic (and therefore backlinks to your blogs in that 90 day period) - use Sociable and AutoSocial Poster
3. Enhance SEO so that you garner the best possible results at the 90 day period.
I hope that you guys enjoyed reading about this idea… if you have not already done so, please grab my Full Feed RSS so that you can get great articles like this direct to your Feedreader! Oh and for those of you that want free advertising, please feel free to add your blog to the Free Million Blog Page. Then all you have to do is to write up a short article to give your link there some publicity. The more people that add themselves to the page, the more popular it’ll get, and the more traffic you will get! Cool huh!
Posted in Miscellaneous | 2 Comments »
Gerald
Last time, I talked about the general aspects of webdesign, and we, as website owners, need to ensure that the visitors and browsers have the best experience they can when they visit our site. There is no doubt that web usability is one of the hot topics today (initially championed by Jakob Neilsen), and we must take off our ‘techie’ hat, and put on our ‘user’ hat, to try to experience our website as the users do.
One of the best printed works on this subject is by Steve Krug: “Don’t make me think too much”. His premise is that the user experience needs to be as slick, easy and professional as possible. Any time the user needs to think to use your website, you’re in danger of losing him or her.
So, what aspects of the website should we consider in our analysis? For me, there are four:
1) Initial visual impression
2) Understanding of where you are
3) Navigation to other, possibly more relevant, parts of the website
4) Comfort level in the website use
IVI
I briefly touched on the topic of initial visual impression (IVI) last time. This is based on those first few couple of seconds when the page starts to load. It shouldn’t need to be said, by the way, that the page load time should be as short as possible, even in these times of high speed broadband access. There is nothing worse for a user than to follow a link or a search engine result to your site, and then be presented with a Flash presentation “Loading …. 3%” message. The user will make a judgement, based on how quickly that percentage increases in the first couple of seconds. If, after that time, it’s still in single figures, the user will navigate away.
Similarly, if your landing page is laden with uncompressed photos, which display themselves line by line, the user begins to think that you don’t care about them, and their precious time which is being wasted watching stuff load.
Rule 1 – Flash presentation should be an ‘opt-in’, or allow an ‘opt-out’ at the very least.
Rule 2 – All photos must be compressed down to thumbnails. If the user wants to see them, they can click on them to show the greater detail. Again, they can ‘opt-in’ if they wish.
LOCATION
You cannot guarantee that your visitors will land on your website at the front, or home, page. More and more, internet users are searching for their web content, and as a result, they could land at your website on any page, displaying the specific content they searched for. To encourage them to stay and spend more time at your site, and possibly find more content that suits them. So, what’s important is that it is obvious what page they’re on, where the home page is, and how to explore your website. Which brings us to the third topic:
NAVIGATION
Clear, consistent navigation is possibly the most important visual aspect of your website. Hovers, to highlight parts of the navigation, are good, but nav buttons which have their function hidden until you hover over it are a strict no-no. Navigation is something we’ll discuss in more detail in the next post.
COMFORT
This is possibly the most difficult aspect to define. We (that surf the internet a lot) will know when we feel ‘comfortable’ when we visit a website. It looks good, the navigation is easy to use and makes sense, the content we want to access is easy to access – if it is a written piece, the text needs to be legible, even for those with slight visual impairments. The overall look and feel of the site needs to convey the impression you want to give – the more professional your site is, the more the user should be able to relate to it in that manner. Common mistakes are over-elaboration, too many text fonts and colours, unnecessary graphic animation in several areas of the page, and lack of ‘white space’.
There are many other visual elements to website design, but these four define the user experience, which we should be promoting and improving at every opportunity.
Posted in Web Design, Miscellaneous | 3 Comments »
Guaner
Sprint announced that it will begin providing cellphone users with a nifty way to get their hands on merchandise regardless of where they are. Using GPS technology, a Sprint customer could type in a keyword, be it “tennis rackets,” and the service would point them to the nearest store that carries the item. Sounds like a cool plan. If you go to a store and they are sold out of Casio watches, you would simply type that into the phone and a list of results would come up.
This is not brand new as sites offering cell service have been up since late last year. What intrigues me is the possibility of affiliates entering this arena as well. When cellphone users “click” on an ad, the retailer pays a set amount. So far, the online advertising payment model could work well even in other areas, namely cellphones. Large retailers such as Toys “R” Us and Circuit City have already begun to advertise through Sprint’s system. Sites like Shoplinc.com have already incorporated features that allow you to find merchandise and set a price you are willing to pay. When the item becomes available at your price, you are notified on your cell phone. Also, consider the iPhone’s arrival and what that will do to revolutionize the way cellphones are used.
One thing is for sure, how do you make even more money from people who are already having to pay exaggerated cellphone bills? Well, seems like adding a one-stop shopping experience couldn’t hurt.
My question however is this, are we sitting on the verge of something great here? I mean, how successful can this really be? Is this something that could potentially draw many of us as affiliates or will it be reserved to retailers only? I don’t know. With cellphones already being able to browse the internet and see Google ads, I’m not sure this has much hope. But then again, this is only the beginning.
Posted in Industry News, Miscellaneous | No Comments »
Frito Pie
When I first added a community to my website, the community was hosted elsewhere. The domain was hosted on a shared server along with many other sites. It was cheap. No money worries.
When I decided to host the forum on my own domain, I purchased UBB software first and within 2 weeks was having to purge the oldest threads in order to keep the size within my hosting limits. I was notified I would have to move off their server or purchase more space/bandwidth.
I found vbulletin software which had just released their first version. I took the plunge at the urging of my new hosting service, with the expectation that the mysql and php would be the best solution for the forum. It was the right solution for the community. But I still had to move the forum yet again. And again. And again until I was on a hosting plan that was considered “virtually dedicated”.
It wasn’t. Within another few months I was told yet again my website was using too many of server’s processes and would need to move. The word “dedicated” was used to describe my needs.
What did I know about servers? Not much. I had been relying on the goodwill of others to lead the way, telling me what I need while my non-techy brain tried to wrap around it. I knew only one thing. Money was not only a worry. It was a requirement.
I told my staff who urged me to tell the community. Along with some new advertisers and the generosity of our staff and members, the money rolled in. We moved onto our first dedicated server about the same time I went to the bank to request a merchant account.
I found products that matched the niche. i found a simple and free software shopping cart. I found a free-lance customizer who helped me get the store in place. I opened the store with products on shelves in the spare bedroom of my house.
Today, I lease offices to house the store’s products and shipping space needs. Today I keep financial worksheets daily to track the daily income along with the expenses. Today I pay bills for the telephone line, the office worker, the shipping clerk, the CPA, the store software freelancer, the web developer, the graphic artist, the system administrator, the two servers that house the site, the electricity, the taxes, the taxes, the taxes, and more.
It appeared to me then, as it appears to me now. The larger the site, the busier the traffic, the costlier the expenses. The more money that rolls in from advertising, store sales and upgraded memberships, the higher the expense list becomes.
And so began the great exchange. Money for services. Services for money.
Posted in Case Studies, Monetization, Miscellaneous | No Comments »
Frito Pie
I started my website as a hobby, based on a passion, a desire to help other people. I worked in a long term career in a field not even close to the topic of my website. I’d like to think that I still see my website as a hobby simply because it is something I love doing. After all, who could love “work” the way I love managing my website?
Hobby: (noun) An activity or interest pursued outside one’s regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.
Based on this definition, my website is no longer my hobby, no matter how I feel about it, loving it the way I do. My website has become my regular occupation and somewhere along the way over the past decade I moved from hobbyist to business person.
I’ve had to become a business person.
I’ve had to learn about banking procedures and being a credit card merchant. I’ve had to learn to deal with vendors and negotiate billing cycles. I’ve become friends with my banker and learned to fill out financial worksheets daily to hand over to my CPA. I had to forage through the paperwork to sign a lease for my offices.
I’m not always comfortable with this notion of moving from hobby to business.
Posting at Earners Forum seems to underscore the idea that I’m in this for the money. I’m not. But I am. I have to be an earner in order to keep the website going. I do not want to offend the members or staff of my website as the business person, behind the scenes working on revenue opportunities to keep the website available for their needs. But, that is why I do what I do, balancing the management of the community and staff with the requirements of the business. I can’t lose track of either. Both hats are essential.
Yes, I could go back to my life’s career. But I’d rather not. I love what I do today and why I do it. And at the end of the day, the end of the week, the end of the year and the end of my life, I’m proud of the work I do and the way I’ve managed to keep my eye on the ultimate mission of my website: helping others.
Its my business.
Posted in Case Studies, Monetization, Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »
Frito Pie
I’ve been a website owner and manager for over eight years. It used to seem so simple. I started a website knowing a tiny bit of html and learned how to write cgi scripts to add functionality. I wasn’t concerned about making money. I was educating visitors.
Every few days I’d add more content, writing the articles myself. Adding them manually. It was messy and time consuming.
When I discovered that my hobby website was attracting visitors who used the website, read the articles and sent me email of thanks and was selected for yahoo’s directory, I knew I was onto something. I found forum software and started the great adventure as a community administrator.
Money was still not an issue. It was not a concern. I had an awesome team of volunteer moderators who helped me on the forums while I continued to add content as the needs changed and expanded.
Fast forward eight years. Today I have offices I rent in a business office building. I have a few employees. I left my “real” career a few years ago and I continue to manage my website. It pays the bills. And more.
I love what I do and wouldn’t change a thing. But I do have a confession to make as I begin the process of blogging about the business of running a forum website.
I’m in over my head.
It’s exciting and doubly thrilling. At the exact same time its terrifying.
There is much I do not know. I do not make money from affiliate marketing so this is uncharted waters to me. I don’t understand much about SEO and page-ranking although I’m well positioned because of the timing I entered the internet with my niche. I have not been able to keep up with html or css or php or cgi. Its all beyond me.
There is much I do know. I know how to find a niche and fill the need. I know how to put the visitors needs as the most important thing and reason for the website to exist. I know how to demonstrate good ethics and high morals which attracts wonderful staff. I know how to articulate an idea and find the right person to manage the task. I know how to manage a large staff, demonstrate good-will to huge “offline” corporations, manage the day to day tasks and plan the long-term goals of my website. And make it all happen.
And thus this blog is a chance to write about the struggles I have with understanding the ever-evolving business environment of the internet. This is my opportunity to learn about those things I know very little about while attempting to implement them within my own online business. And perhaps this blog may be an opportunity to share some things I’ve learned along the way that have been successful.
Posted in Case Studies, Monetization, Miscellaneous | 7 Comments »
Glen Allsopp
Hey, just wanted to introduce myself to all the EarnersForum blog readers and fellow writers, my name is Glen Allsopp and I run a Search Engine Marketing company based in the UK. I saw that Lee offered some spots for blogging and was definitely interested in the opportunity to be able to write to different target audiences as I can on our company blog so thank him for the opportunity.
My posts will mostly be on the Industry News in the Marketing & SEO world, along with general marketing and SEO tips for your websites allowing you to get the most from your websites, communities and blogs. Increase traffic helps you earn more money so hopefully you can apply things to your own websites and begin earning more money.
Thanks again to Lee and everyone else at EarnersForum
Cheers,
Glen
Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »
Lee Dodd
This is part of our entire site migration. My aim is to always provide the most up-to-date and helpful information to enable you to succeed in your online business. Having several different authors writing here at Earners Forum will allow you gain multiple perspectives and additional insight in to how web business works.
Please discuss the posts and ask questions. This is simply a handy extension of the great community of webmasters and entreprenuers you have already been enjoying at this great forum.
If you would like to be an Earners Forum Blogger, you simply need to contact me through PM on the forum.
Enjoy!
Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »
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