Please Note: For those of you just joining the AnyWired-Middlebrook Make Money Online Challenge you might want to go back and read, “The Beginning.” MyTropicalEscape is NOT becoming a make money online site, but I have come to the determination that if I want to fully pursue the lifestyle entrepreneur existence then I need to come up with some way of generating income online (which will hopefully then become passive income streams). Specifically, I need to learn how to make money online and I would like others to learn as well while we discuss online business in a sort of “open source” entrepreneurial forum.
My self-imposed challenge was partially inspired by my entrepreneurial aspirations, the recent AnyWired post on Becoming a Lifestyle Entrepreneur, Caroline Middlebrook’s Niche Website ebook, and my interview with Shana Albert.
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Last night while lying awake in bed I started to question myself as to why on earth I would put myself out there like this to see if I could make money online? The first thing that came to mind was, “boy you are going to make yourself look like a stupid baboon (not that I have anything against baboons) or an idiot, or both!!” But, what’s done, is done, and now I have to move on.
image source: mocambique
During the past week I did quite a bit of reading. For starters, I went through all of the chapters in Caroline’s ebook. I must say that Caroline’s book is very well written and she conveys her message really well. Most of the WordPress information I was familiar with but I learned some new information about how to configure Google Adsense. Also, I had forgotten about Maki’s pre-existing WordPress themes that are optimized for adsense and I will be looking in to them as I get further along.
The other reading that I did this past week included going through the posts that Skellie linked to in her AnyWired Lifestyle Entrepreneur article. While I really enjoyed all of the recommended readings, if you find yourself in the same position as me (i.e. already motivated) then most of the posts serve to continue to feed the fire. I guess I was looking for more of a “how to.” However, I did not get around to reading Collis Ta’eed’s post on Selling Royalty Free Files to Make Money but that is one that I am going to get to this week. I must say, for the overwhelming price of $0.00 both Caroline’s book and Skellie’s post are great resources.
So where am I at?
Along with all of my reading, I spent many hours racking my brain for some innovative ideas. Unfortunately, I was a little disheartened when my friend Terence Chang had written in a forum that I participate in that he knows of someone running over 100 niche sites and the person is just barely cracking the $3,000 per month… Additionally, according to Search Engine Journal, “Google is decreasing its paid click rates.”
image source: bored-now
Recently, in an email correspondence, Mark Blair mentioned that if I can create one site that is bringing in $5.00 a day (as a benchmark) with adsense then I would be off to a pretty good start. I decided to investigate Google’s payout rate but I found it awfully difficult to find any sort of concrete information on what they pay for clicks.
It would seem to me that in order to make money online you have to market something, or have something for sale that somebody else wants. While on my daily walks this past week I started to ponder all kinds of already existing business ideas from the Pet Rock to Google. I know why I use Google everyday, because it serves a need and it’s simple. But, seriously, how about the Pet Rock? How did those people get consumers to buy a rock in a box? What need did it serve?
Additionally, while on my daily walks I also decided to create a mental list of what I am good at and what I like to do. And I began to think critically about websites that I visit on an almost daily basis. Some of the sites that I go to everyday include Nicaragua Surf Report, Surfline, CNN, Yahoo Mail, Muhammad Saleem, ProBlogger, DoshDosh, Seth Godin (who doesn’t read these last three…?), and there are many more. What do these site have that keep me coming back?
My Goals
For the scanners, here is the short version:
- create a source of online income
- generate a minimum of $5 per day as an initial benchmark if I decide to use adsense (note: this is just for the beginning stages) and transfer this “blueprint” to other niche sites
- site (or sites) should be able to be maintained with approximately two hours a day of work
- prepare for my next sabbatical
My Goals - The Full Story
I certainly don’t think that I am cut out to make a career out of blogging. However, I am not going to lie (this is open source, right?) to you, one thing that really spurred me on to create my little challenge is the fact that Tim Ferriss has a HUGE audience and reader base. He really hasn’t done anything tremendously different than a lot of us who have pursued an unconventional lifestyle by living overseas or seeking adventure. That statement is not meant to take one bit of credit away from Tim! Where Tim succeeds is in his ability to tell a story and draw people in. Specifically, he is very good at selling the allure of “living the dream” of traveling the globe, or just quitting your job and working for only four hours a week. Also, like Tim, I want to free up more time so that I can enjoy my surroundings and travel the globe.
The long version of my goals for this whole Make Money Online Challenge are:
- create an “open source” entrepreneurship discussion
- begin to learn how to make money online
- let other people learn from whatever mistakes I make along the way
- decide on what the best way for me to make money online will be (e.g. niche sites, ebook, consulting, etc)
- develop a step by step process that other people can use as a guide
- make money
- prepare for my next sabbatical
What the HELL are your ideas already! Well, I thought you would never ask :)
I have come up with THREE general concepts that I will break down further below. All of the ideas have advantages and disadvantages to them. If I create niche sites then I have to ensure a consistent flow of traffic. Should I decide to create an ebook (as Kelly mentions she would like to do in the comments of the previous post) writing takes me an agonizing amount of time and I am not sure I could finish within this century. My final thought was to do some type of lifestyle design consulting or short online course… Without further delay here is what I came up with:
- Create a “how to escape the cube” website in conjunction with an ebook.However, I am not sure if my experiences (that I would write about) and thoughts about changing careers, or leaving the corporate world, are too radical for the common office worker? Moreover, I am not sure if there are enough people out there who are dissatisfied with their jobs who would support a niche site about escaping the cube?
- Set up a niche travel site that incorporates Flickr photos. Recently, I ran a fairly popular post (for my site) on How to Use Flickr to Travel the Globe for Free. So, I thought about setting up a niche site and somehow incorporating Flickr travel photos and information about traveling the globe or to various destinations. For example, I could setup a site bostonphotos.com and use available images (sort a Boston daily photo) with adsense on the site.
- Develop an information site for people who surf and would like to become expats or live overseas. The site would provide information for people who would like to move to another country and it would be surfer/water enthusiast specific. Let’s say some guy who lives in England but wants to move to Brazil, I would provide country specific information on the surf, job opportunities, visa situation, etc…
- Write an in depth ebook titled, “Quit Your Job, Move to the Caribbean, and Run an INN.” Although Herman Wouk’s book, Don’t Stop the Carnival gives a pretty good depiction. Maybe I could create a step by step guide? Again, I am not sure there are enough people that would support this kind of work or who want to quit their job and move somewhere.
- Establish a website called PeopleandPets.org (.com already exist). People love their pets, so I Googled pet photos to see what currently exists and while there are a few sites, look what icanhascheezburger has been able to do. This is an aside, but if you use the SEO BOOK keyword checker tool and search “pets” you will learn the “pet horoscopes” is the NUMBER 1 pet search term on Google (who are these people?).
- Become a Lifestyle Design Consultant [or Engineer]. Using my existing website I would design and launch a “how to” educational program and online/email based consulting service (this idea was partially inspired by some interaction I had with Dan Clements).
- The final idea I have would include diving deeper into Maki’s article, “Flagship Blog Project: Creating Multiple Blogs for Profit in 30 Day Cycles.” I thought, what if I select a twenty day period (e.g. April 1 - 20) and make the determination that I am going to create twelve niche sites within that time period. Then I could try to package them and sell the whole thing on Sitepoint or other type of forum. The only problem I forsee is that the sites would be setup and ready to go, but they would not be showing much traffic or revenue.
In closing - What’s Next?
image source: tantek
Well, now I leave it up to YOU! If you could please provide me with some feedback, or if you have ideas of your own that you would like to share, I REALLY would like to hear what you have to say. Especially, if you have constructive criticism as to what you think will, or will not, work (Caroline and Skellie are you reading this? ;-)). Additionally, perhaps the SEO Gurus would be willing to chime in with how difficult it would be to get any of the above ideas to rank well in search engines. Of course, we can’t forget the people who are making a living online, maybe you could provide some guidance for the benefit of everyone…?
In closing, I truly hope that my “open source entrepreneurship” experiment can become a source of inspiration for all of us online money-making rookies. If you have anything to offer, please feel free to let it rip in comments section. Until next time, let’s get to work!
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March 31st, 2008 at 2:10 pm
This is a wonderful post with a lot of content. I think your ideas sound great but will take a lot of time to implement. I think that with any well thought out idea with the right motivation, anything is possible. I support you in your efforts and look forward to the follow up posts on how you are managing them.
March 31st, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Mark:
Just saw your new post. Will come back leave another comment. Gotta run for now. I was wondering about your update on your progress!
Will check back to you! Hanging there!
March 31st, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Mark,
I think you should create a “how to” escape overseas and buy, build, invest, in a new place / 2nd life or home product / e book / consulting. Travel is a huge niche and living overseas is directly related. Also this is what you know since you are living the life. Many people especially in big government type places want to live full or part time some place else.
I think in this type of niche people are willing to spend money for good information.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I like the idea of being a Lifestyle Design Consultant with the blog which can incorporate quite a few of the other ideas you have mentioned :)
March 31st, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Hi Mark
Nice follow up on your first challenge post.
Not being an expert, it would be good to see what you find out about how much SEO work you need to put into your first niche site. I know this is something I need to work on with my site - just have to find the time to work on it.
Also, what is your first big goal with regards to a monthly income (you mention $5 per day for the first site), but what is your ideal income and how many sites are you realistically looking at setting up in order to achieve this.
Have you considered advertising on this site - you would be off to a good start.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Mark:
Sorry that my statement in the forum disappointed you. Don’t get me wrong. There are people doing very well with Adsense. Using Adsense don’t always give you the results. Even John Chow states that don’t put everything in one basket.
I like your coaching idea. Please check out the following web site. I met these people on StumbleUpon. They are teaching people how to become entrepreneur. I have not idea how good they are as an entrepreneur themselves, but they seem to be doing OK.
http://yes-to-me.com/
I believe you can too. I think that uniqueness is the key to success. You need to have something different to offer. One of the idea I have for you is to teach people how to manage their oversea business as an lifestyle entrepreneur.
I think there are many people who wants to do the same thing, you just need to make them aware of your great example.
That’s for now!
Keep it up!
March 31st, 2008 at 9:47 pm
A couple of thoughts:
One of the hardest things I have done is to try to take an inventory of what I have to offer. Ask people who know you what they think it is you have to offer. I promise their answers will surprise you. Take the answers they give you and consider ebook topics from that.
Also, take a look at the people in your life and consider what they have to offer in terms of ebook topics. I have come up with a million ideas for ebooks that OTHER people could do. Make them a partner. Get out a tape recorder and interview them for a couple of hours and turn it into a book. I’m going through this process right now. It looks very promising.
I personally don’t see a future in Adsense. Information products are my focus from here on out.
March 31st, 2008 at 10:23 pm
@Kevin:
That’s awesome idea.
April 1st, 2008 at 2:11 am
Thanks, Mark, for sharing your experiments with the rest of us. This will be huge!
I’m now considering joining your challenge and open sourcing my business experiments as well. I’m in fact pondering on the same questions as you at the moment: what is my product?
Maybe my product could be an e-book or interview on you ;)
April 1st, 2008 at 7:27 am
Hi Koka – thanks for the support! I noticed that you have some ads on your site…are you able to make any money off of them (if you don’t mind me asking)?
Hi Sonny – I appreciate your input. One of the areas where I struggle is how do I attract those people to my site, or product? At one point I was even considering corporate workshops…but as Dan Clements poignantly pointed out to me - corporations don’t necessarily want their employees to seek a different lifestyle.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:34 am
Hey Ross – That would look pretty cool on a card, “Lifestyle Design Consultant” wouldn’t it? As you get ready to finish Uni, what are your online plans?
Hi Coqui – Well, I walked by a student loan bill this morning for $354 so it would be great if I could at least bring in enough online income to cover my loan costs. Ideally, for the long-term (I know this is a LONG SHOT) but I would like to be able to cove all of my expenses with online or consulting income streams. Then I would really free to travel, etc.
I see you have some ads on your site, are making any money off of them? Originally, I thought about some advertising here, but I would REALLY need to get a custom layout first…
April 1st, 2008 at 7:52 am
Hey Terence – I was VERY happy to read your comments on the forum! I would much rather know the reality of the situation before I get too far in…
Fact – there are plenty of people making money online.
I (we) just need to figure out the best way for our circumstances. As I stated in the initial challenge post, “I like a challenge” and I seem to have stepped headlong into one. Do you have any new web ventures planned?
Hi Kevin – very interesting insight. I was always under the assumption that you had to have a large subscriber base in order to turn an ebook into profit?
Judging from what Terence said, and with your confirmation, it would appear that adsense is on its way out…At one point I contemplated starting a user owned company like Federated Media to target smaller, less know blogs of very high quality that don’t necessarily have the 8,000 visitors a day that FM requires. [Any collaborators?]
April 1st, 2008 at 8:08 am
Hi Jarkko - I would love to have your participation in this little challenge experiment!! Kelly Rigby stated in the comments of the original post that she might be interested in participating as well. If she comes back to comment on this post maybe we can come up with an arbitrary timeline for all three of us (or anyone else who would like to join)?
For me, I would like to be working on something by the end of April, or at least have a concrete idea as to where I am heading.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:22 am
@Mark: “I was always under the assumption that you had to have a large subscriber base in order to turn an ebook into profit?”
Absolutely not. There are a number of ways to market an ebook including PPC and affiliate marketing. In fact, you don’t even necessarily need a blog to do this. This project I’m working on right now will not have a blog to go with it. It will be exclusively PPC and affiliate. The “content expert” I’m working with has no desire to blog. This will be a true 4HWW type of product. I’ll create it and let technology do the selling.
Doesn’t Ferriss talk about this in 4HWW? It’s been a while since I read it.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
@Mark: That’s great to hear! I actually just finished drafting my blog post in which I declare my decision for joining this challenge and some of my own, personal goals for it.
I think doing something in April is a decent goal. Doable, but not too easy :)
@Kevin: Yeah, I just finished reading 4HWW, and am interested in trying out something similar to what you’re doing: an information product that is sold through PPC advertisement rather than my blog (although of course the blog is yet another good way to get some customers check out the product).
Let’s see how this goes!
April 1st, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Great series, Mark.
I’m of two minds here. The first is to take your time and choose something sustainable.
Ask around, and you’ll find that behind most online earners is a lot of hard work. What fuels that work, I think, is passion. I know that for me, the only thing that keeps the momentum going on a project - especially on something content-rich like a blog or a full book - is that I’m simply stoked to do it.
When I start a new project these days, I ask myself, “Would I do this for free?” If the answer is no, I almost always drop it. If I’d do it for free, I know I’ll have the sticking power. Only then do I move on to examine whether it’s viable from a money perspective.
Now, that being said, I’m all for jumping in once in a while when the stakes are low. Since you’ve already got something you’re obviously passionate about (this blog) why not just throw up some Google Ads and find out first hand how it works? The risk is pretty low, I think. You can spend the month of April figuring out your next steps while your ads work (or don’t work) all on their own.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:08 pm
@Dan,
I think that is great advice. Also I would like to add that most web host’s pay a nice affiliate commission. If you look at Caroline’s #’s That is where the bulk of her posted profits came from. I think blue host pays $65.00 per sign up. 20 sales would be around $1300. With good traffic I think a web host ad and occasional review could generate some decent income.
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:42 am
I love this idea. wondering if you’ve considered site build it for building revenue generating niche sites? Pavlina is an affiliate so he has a lot of information about them on his site.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:14 am
Very nice ideas.
I would like to tell that I liked your website and at oresent I am on a crossroad in my life, where I feel the need of intelligent and creative sites like this one to be able to find myself and take the direction, which is right for me.
June 11th, 2008 at 4:44 am
I just saw this. Man how did I miss it? Anyway, send me an e-mail if you are interested in some joint venture ideas…