Webmaster Chronic Blog » Make Money

The Secret to Making Money Online

kpaul — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:07:02 +0000

money secretz

It was a bright and sunny day outside but the real heat was inside Stanford University’s Kresge Auditorium where an SRO crowd of 700 attended Startup School ‘08, a day-long conference for entrepreneurial wannabes hoping to be the next Sergey and Larry.

The guy-heavy hacker crowd — disproportionately light on nerd girls and disproportionately high on iPhones –- wore t-shirts stating the obvious, like “Science Is the New Black.” There was one startup baby in attendance (dad in tow) and two startup dogs. When lunch was served it was the jet fuel of innovation: pizza and Rice Krispie treats.

World Domination @ Wired

Innovators, Imitators, and Idiots

kpaul — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 06:00:26 +0000

Penny For Your Thoughts Mr Lincoln

Someone smarter than I pointed out that there are three types of people in business. There are the innovators who come up with great ideas and more importantly execute them. Then there come the imitators who imitate the original idea. Once there are so many imitators, the idiots show up. If you look back at 2009, the year the rebills blew up, you can see the cycle, the pattern, whatever you want to call it.

As the Internet progresses, it’s going to be harder and harder to make money as the third group. The second group – the imitators – are even going to have a harder and harder time. The information age that is upon us is all about the innovators. Take your idea and run with it. Don’t just sit back and think about it or talk trash about it on the forums. Roll up your fucking sleeves and do it. Those that do are going to be the ones who survive.

Oh yeah, and Happy New Year.

New to Internet Marketing? Join SEO Book

kpaul — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:44:27 +0000

SEO Book

If you’re new to Internet marketing (some of you who find the Oasis that is webmaster Chronic invariably will be), then I want to recommend signing up for Aaron Wall’s SEO Book. It’s a bit pricey these days, but that’s because there’s demand for the “paid community” experience at SEO Book. It’s a very good investment – even if you’re at the intermediate level and just need to brush up on current SEO trends and join a community that has more signal than noise.

As sites like Digital Point become clouded with too many users pushing too many offers, it’s refreshing to see that private communities are becoming the future. Because you have to pay, people take it seriously and there’s a certain level you have to be at to join the SEO Book community.

What’s included with your membership?

Over 100 training modules, covering topics like: keyword research, link building, site architecture, website monetization, pay per click ads, tracking results, and more.
An exclusive interactive community forum
Members only videos and tools
Additional bonuses – like data spreadsheets, and money saving tips
Every order comes risk free, and with the best selling SEO Book as a free bonus

You should note a couple things. First, I bet you’re wondering if I get a kick-back for recommending this service to you. The answer? Heck yeah. Welcome to the Internet. That said, I don’t wanna sling trash on Webmaster Chronic either. I have a lot of respect for Aaron and what he’s been able to achieve over the years.

Secondly, just this year membership to SEO Book was closed for a time. Aaron’s not just after scaling as large as he can. He genuinely wants to help people. And he does. If you’ve been sitting on the fence wondering what magic e-book to buy, forget about all the others and sign-up for SEO Book. You can come back and thank me later.

Long Tail Crumbs are Yummy

kpaul — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:43:44 +0000

While the goal is to eat at the “big person’s table,” if you’re starting with no or very little money, eating the crumbs that come off that table can make you strong enough to stand up and take your seat at the table where the “real value meals” exist. It takes money to make money, but you must remember that time is money if you have skills.

Here’s a real simple skill that will have you gathering enough crumbs to fill a small bowl. It has to do with the long tail. While it would be nice if you had a one word .com domain with type-in traffic, it’s not likely if you’re here reading this. So, there may be more money at the top of all the niches, and some niches are more profitable than others, but if you start by going after the competitive stuff, you’re most likely going to be disappointed.

Monetize

There’s hope, though. This is where the long tail comes in. Basically, in any niche there are a few keywords that get tons of traffic, but there are many more that get varying degrees of less traffic. This is the long tail – the keyword phrases are usually three to seven words long, but some of them get good traffic. And since they’re so laser focused (albeit in smaller amounts), it’s somewhat easier to monetize the traffic.

Sure, these are crumbs, but like I said, you have to start somewhere, right? Eating crumbs of online money is better than most service based jobs out there, imho. That’s just me, though. Anyway, here’s a little of what I’ve learned about chasing the long tail crumbs while building up to bigger and better things.

Pick a Niche – If it’s something you’re interested in, it’s going to be easier. Other than that, the crumbs for some of the bigger niches are going to be bigger, but there’s more competition for them as well.
Find a Phrase - Once you have the niche, find a two or three word phrase that is still available as a .com. You’ll want to try to make it somewhat generic and specific at the same time. You have your niche, right, so maybe your mid-tier domain idea is “cheap digital picture frames” or something similar. There’s still room to grow at this mid-level in the niche while not having as much competition as the top of the niche.
Set-up the Site – Get the site installed on a server (this is up to you) and throw WordPress or another CMS on there (Drupal has a higher learning curve, but it can do more – content types, userpoints, etc.) Once you have the site, don’t forget analytics. I use Google Analytics, which some will warn you against, but it’s really up to you. As long as you can see what kind of traffic is coming in.
Add Content – Based on the keyword in the domain, start creating good content around that. Maybe reviews. Or articles on how to do this or that when it comes to your keyword. Quality over quantity.
Get Links – The goal is to have good enough content to get a decent link or two. This does not mean go out and go crazy with comment links, etc. There are good links and bad links. You want some links, though, so you can start getting traffic.
Analyze that Traffic

Analyze the Traffic – Once the site has been up a while (3 to 6 months simmering time depending on the quality of your network – hiding Whois information is gonna be another long ass post – stay tuned…) Once it’s been up a while, you can start to look at what people are actually typing into the search engines to find you. This is a gold mine. For $7 (domain), a few bucks for hosting, and time or money for content, you have a real look at data that is useful. So, you look at the top keyword phrases that are bringing traffic and create new content based around what people are searching for in Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
Rinse / Repeat – As you can see, this can be a long, ongoing cycle, but this is a good thing. The more content you have, the more links you’ll get, the more traffic you’ll get, the more data you’ll have on long tail phrases in this niche and the more content you can create that is laser targeted for what people are wanting…

Oh, there are many details that should be here, but these are the basics. It’s simple, right? The trick is in taking this knowledge and applying it – actually going out and doing it, not rushing off to the next blog to dream about another idea or model.

Like I said, these are crumbs usually, but the sites can make enough (even with Adsense) to “pay their rent” (as Eli at BlueHat SEO would say), which means they’re not losing you money. They may not be making a ton of money, but they’re not costing you and they’re pulling in valuable data on a niche – what keywords people are typing in. And that’s a good thing. Crumbs or not, it’s a way to take it to the next level. Everyone has to start somewhere.

MySpace Vs Facebook Advertising

kpaul — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:03:48 +0000

I’m a newb on the PPC/media buy side (having been concentrating on the publishing side), but I get my hands dirty testing. Here’s some things I’ve noticed regarding Myspace Advertising and Facebook advertising. If you think I’m FOS, please say so. I want Webmaster Chronic to be a place where it’s all about learning and not wasting your time.

Myspace Vs. Facebook Advertising

MySpace Advertising

Quick Approval – Compared to Facebook, Myspace has been approving campaigns a lot quicker.
Stats update once an hour – western time…
Love the zipcode targeting, but wish there were more keywords / groups to choose from.
Other Stuff – Not ready to share other stuff I’m learning yet. Heh.
User Interface and design of advertiser section is okay. There are some things I wish it had, but it has some things Facebook doesn’t.

Facebook Advertising

Very, very easy to burn through cash if you don’t know what you’re doing and don’t watch it.
No zipcode targeting…
Design – even at 1024 wide (i know, i know, i should have a mac daddy monitor by now…) i have to side scroll. The user interface has some things I like, but some things I don’t. Google beats them all at this still.

I’m running some local stuff (on a relatively small scale) to test some stuff, so the zipcode targeting was more important for me that it might be for you. It’s very handy, though. I’ll tell you that for now.

Either way, they’re both better than Stumble(crack)Advertising. Ahem.

What do you think?

Managing Online Communities

kpaul — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:57:20 +0000

Here’s a piece of something I wrote to help with community problems on my flagship site – Anderson Free Press.

I’m not going to please all the people on this site. I know that. I do think it’s my job to make this place into somewhere that people from all walks of life can come and interact with others in the community. With that in mind, I ask you to reflect on yourself and how you’re representing yourself on AFP. I understand this will be difficult for some people who don’t do this in real life often (again, I’m naming NO names and have no one particular in mind), but it’s something that’s really helpful.

Instead of thinking of AFP as a collection of cliques and groups, think of AFP as a big family. If you know families, you know they don’t always get along – especially during the holidays. At the core, though, is a love that’s hard to describe. Your fellow posters here at AFP certainly aren’t real family, but they’re a form of online family, in my opinion. And that means it’s important to treat them as such.

Now, before I’m bashed, I’m not saying you have to agree with everyone on here or walk on egg shells not being yourself, but I beg you to think about how your actions in this public forum affect others. If all the posting members do is bicker back and forth – what reason is there for new people to sign up? If you’ve noticed, we’ve gotten a lot of new users lately (and even had some old favorites decide to return.) This is a great thing. If AFP becomes known as a place that is dangerous or not fun, this could stop. And I don’t want that.

Ben Franklin, Yo

I have to wonder if some people out there might not want that, though. I mean, AFP closing would make a lot of people happy, I imagine. But I’m not done yet. Lord willing, I’m going to take this all the way. There is a master plan in place. It took Benjamin Franklin 10+ years to build his publishing empire in Philadelphia. I’m no Ben Franklin, so I’m happy to be where I am after 4+ years. I still have hope – even as I look through threads at AFP and see problems.

Beyond the current problems with people not getting along, I see the future of AFP. I can see a future where AFP lives up to its potential. And that’s a very bright thing. We just need to weather the storm until we reach the promised land. And perhaps that’s the thing – there’s never going to be a time when everyone at AFP (or, indeed, any online forum) magically gets along wonderfully with no problems. There is no forum utopia.

You can go read the whole thing if you want. We’ll see how it goes over. AFP is a great UGC site at the moment. User Generated Content. I need to do more posts on that. What do you think?

Basics and Cost of Buying Content for a Website

kpaul — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:31:54 +0000

As you know, content is king online. Good content trumps bad content. (Unique content trumps spun content that is 34.5% unique.) Niche content usually trumps generalized content. (How many more top 10 ways to blog posts can the Internet stand before it bursts?) You get the idea – content is important.

Content is King

Another thing you’re going to come to realize is that you only have so much time as one person. You may be superhuman and filled with Jolt in your bloodstream, but there’s only so much you can do on your own. At some point you’re going to want to outsource. While you can outsource in any area of the business, buying content is one that’s used most in the beginning.

The good news is that there are a lot of “content writers” you can contact online. The bad news is that there are a lot of content writers you can contact online. Now, you might think this is a good thing as a buyer – more writers means more competition means a lower price. Here’s the thing – you shouldn’t be worried about buying the cheapest content. (Just as you should chase down cheap advertising to save a few bucks…)

With that in mind, here’s a very quick and basic rundown of some various levels of writing you can expect when you go hunting on the forums for writers. Let me state upfront that I have no problems with those that aren’t native English speakers – well, except for those that try to pass themselves off as something other than that.

I Rite Rally Goode!

(On a quick side note, if I was in their position, I would make it a marketing thing. Here in the States we have “two guys and a truck” very simple company, but they were honest about what they were – at least in the beginning before they got big because of the brand and service. Anyway, I would totally market myself as “two Indians and a laptop” or something like that. Offer the content cheap while letting people know it might be a little – well, translated or written by someone who is not familiar with the nuances of the English language…)

Okay, moving on. The basic levels of content:

Less than $0.01/word – You truly get what you pay for when it comes to content and content at this level is no different. You almost don’t feel right calling it content. You will most likely have a lot of grammar errors and an unusual style, Sir! I’ve edited enough of this type of copy to know. It was interesting to see in a single batch the styles of two or three different people trying to sound American. That brings up a point, though. If you’re looking for any old content that you might be able to edit yourself quicker than you could come up with everything on your own, this might be for you. That, of if you’re a cheap bastard that doesn’t care about what kind of crap you throw on the Internet…
$0.01/word to $0.015/word – In the beginning, I worked at this level. It was amazing how much clients wanted for this little price (more than some of my newer clients!) There’s something to the saying that if you charge more people will take you more seriously and if you charge too little people will overwork you thinking you have something to prove. I’m getting sidetracked, though. I’m not bitter. I chose to work at this level and it taught me a lot. Anyway, most of the time you’re still dealing with a writer for whom English is a second language. They’re going to be the best of the best, though, having done it a while. The other thing they offer is quick turnaround – which is important to some. All in all, you can find some decent writers working at this level if you look around.
$0.02/word – This is the low rate for most native English writers. You can find some great writers at this level. However, they may not be able to do everything you need. Sometimes writers at this level are just doing it for quick cash in between what they really do for a living. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it can mean they’re spotty with delivery. Still, at the price, you can get some good content at this level – if you send them exactly what you want. If you have no idea what you need, you’re going to need to pay more.
$0.03/word – $0.05/word – This is the middle class of the bottom of the barrel content. Usually you’ll get a lot of creativity and ideas as well as great content. Sometimes you’ll just need to send a list of keywords and they take care of the rest. This content is more expensive, but if you compare it to content bought at lower prices, you’ll find that it is more likely to draw attention (read: links) and be well worth the investment in the long run.
$0.25/word – This is a big leap, but this is starting to get to the level of what “real copywriters” earn. And for good reason. They don’t just type out content, they craft it, carefully choosing words for maximum effect – whatever that might be. This is the type of content you want to buy to make a big splash in the blogosphere – something that requires research and time and therefore is well worth the price you pay, even if it’s a lot more than the $0.01/word articles.

Duck Duck Goose

Here’s the thing about price. Cheap content is available, but you have to think about whether it’s worth it in the long run. Will people who come to your site try to translate the ramblings of an Indian writing about Cosmic Shadows? Probably not – and how does that reflect on you, your site, or your brand.

And this is another post, maybe. That is, what kind of sites are you putting up on the Internet. Do you have a pyramid? (Tap hit to Eli at BlueHat…) What’s your model for publishing online? Is it defensible? If you’re not asking yourself these questions (and tons of others!) you need to quit reading this blog and go home.

The other thing (as a content buyer) I would recommend is having a long list of writers. As I writer I know I have a long list of clients as well. It helps balance everything out. You don’t want to be dependent on any one writer, especially if you want to scale.

Okay, that’s it for now.

Your thoughts? I wanna hear them. Please Mr. Lincoln…

Oh wait, almost forgot…

Back to Work, Bros...

May Your Cyber Monday Be Mighty

kpaul — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:59:19 +0000

Cyber Monday Kiss

Not every Internet plan leads up to tomorrow, but if you’re smart, you have one or two plays that do. For those people, good luck and may your sales hit new records.

For those of you that didn’t start working this summer for the traffic tomorrow, think about that next year. In fact, start right now. You won’t rank right away (unless you’re really, really good), but that doesn’t mean you can’t work your tail off to be here when the next holiday shopping season rolls around.

The takeaway – besides the cute graphic – is that you should have your eggs in more than one basket. At least this is one of the lessons if you read between the lines. Online retail is able to be monetized on many different levels, even for beginners with no cash or capital. It should be one small part of your overall plan.

The How to Make Money part? With hard work and putting up sites/content that are > (greater than) most of the others, you have a good chance of directing a lot of the holiday shopping traffic. And with those eyeballs and those clicks comes cash. It’s work, but it’s fun work. Are you noticing the trend for this blog yet? (Awaits first snarky comment…)

Okay, back to work. Clients mostly these days, but my summer work is paying off a little on my own sites.

May your cyber monday be huge.

No related posts.

Creating Sticky Content

kpaul — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:12:53 +0000

Sticky Content

In the beginning, it was easy to get eyeballs on the Internet. (Anyone remember Justin at Links.net?) Almost anything you threw up would get a good portion of the Internet traffic. Then the number of websites started to ramp up as the number of surfers started to increase. Then there was the bubble. Then web 2.0. And now, approaching 2k10? Content is still king, BUT you have to do something to differentiate yourself.

Seriously. How many rehashes of rehashes do you see out there? To create sticky content (the best kind – that keeps people coming back for more) you need to have a voice, you need to have style, you need something to seperate yourself from the horde. This is actually easier than you might think. If you look in whatever niche you’re wanting to get into, you’ll see site after site that is just mediocre. There may be one or two leaders (although there are plenty of niches – long tail – that still don’t have decent competition), but if you do your keyword research right, it’s easy to create content that will knock the shit out of 80% of what is on the Internet.

Different is Good

Not every post is going to be a home run, but you never really know which one will be. You might have ones you think will go viral that never get any traffic and another you threw up half-ass that people LOVE. The web is like that. It’s important to look at what people are reading on your site, what is attracting them and go from there.

Someone relatively new told me in an email the other day that they based their blog off the Nicky Cakes style. To me, that comes down to honesty, to having a voice, to not being one of the horde circle jerking the same tired links from the top fifteen sites in any niche. Cakes has good content in my opinion, which is why he’s been able to gather a following so quickly. (Well, that and being connected and going to shows probably helps. Heh.)

Grab Their Attention

But yeah … sticky content. Let’s get into that some more. What is it that makes content sticky? Beyond voice, beyond having a style, you need to have something of value. I think the honesty aspect really lends to this. It’s one of the things I hope to achieve here at Webmaster Chronic, one of many many blogs I’ve started over the years.

A post saying you need value in your content doesn’t really give value, though, so here’s a look at some things to consider (beyond having your own voice) when creating content…

Collect - Collect list of links, tools or something else that will save time.
Create - Create something new that people can’t find elsewhere – still has to be interesting, though.
Collaborate - Stuck on ideas? Reach into your network for a guest blog from someone that might jumpstart some ideas of your own.

As I said, though, you want to do your own thing. You want to be different. You want something none of the others already have. That’s what attracts links. I have many more thoughts on content (and this post is thrown together), but I’ll save them for later. I just wanted to get some of these thoughts down before getting back to “work/work.”

Blaze Trails, Don’t be a Follower

Thoughts on the Freelance Lifestyle

kpaul — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:53:28 +0000

After the Empire Dies...

“Entrepreneurs live for a few years the way most people won’t so they can live the rest of their life like most people can’t.”

Do you agree or disagree?

No related posts.