2009 has been by far my best year ever for making money on the internet. Despite the recession, my online businesses have grown amazingly well and that’s the beauty of running a business that gives you a limitless upside. When your business is online, you can create profit from all over the world – what a beautiful thing. I noticed today that one of my sites has had visitors from 176 different countries in 2009.
How crazy is that? It’s obviously a lot easier to produce a lot of money when the world is your marketplace.
Making money online is one of the most exciting things out there, but it’s also one of the hardest things to learn. There will be more money to be made in 2010 than ever. However, it will also be harder to learn. Why? Because there will be more and more garbage to sort through. There will be more crap blogs to read and more ebooks written by people who only know how to make money by selling ebooks. If you get sucked in by too many of these products, you will find it very difficult to get anywhere. You will find the information to be very contradictory and that will cause you to freeze up as you try to implement what you have learned.
If you would like for 2010 to be an awesome year for making money, this guide will serve as a road map. If you get off track, revisit the concepts presented here. They have helped me to create a lot of income for myself and have also helped me to avoid putting time into things that don’t pay off.
1. Follow your interests. I believe that one of the biggest reasons I have done well is that I have always either created sites that I was really passionate about, or have been able to get really interested in the topics I wanted to create sites about. I have made plenty of money with other types of sites (that I wasn’t as interested in) but my sites that have really flourished are that ones that I like the most.
2. Develop web real estate, aka build web sites. There are a lot of ways to make money online, but there’s only one that can provide you with near-residual income. Plan out sites, get them up, and start developing. If you want to produce in 2010 you need to start now. Income doesn’t appear overnight.
If you have already created some sites you’re ahead of the game. If they aren’t producing, move on to #3.
3. Research, research, research. Liking the topic of your websites can definitely help you to grow your income, but this won’t happen if there isn’t a market for the information/products your provide. Take a look at whether there are already sites that cover the topic you’re thinking about. If there are, it’s a good thing – it means that there’s probably money there and you’ll be able to emulate some of the things that those sites are doing.
Digging into your markets to discover additional keywords and subtopics is a hugely important aspect of the game we play. There are probably a lot of untapped traffic sources that you haven’t found, simply because you haven’t looked hard enough.
4. Help a lot of people. Your site will produce 100 times more if you want to really help people along the way. I get a lot of satisfaction out of knowing that what we’re doing here at The Keyword Academy helps people to produce real income. In our forum we have earnings badges that help us to see how our members are doing and there’s a huge payoff every time I see people with new badges (this is especially true when I see earnings badges pop up for members from third world countries). Since we really care about helping the people who use our site, it makes it a lot easier to market. Our members help us to get the word out because they know how much we can help the people they know.
If you’re only in it for the money, it’s going to be a lot harder for you. No matter what the topic of your site is, there will be people who have problems and questions. If you can figure out ways to provide them with solutions to those problems, you won’t have any trouble getting business or traffic.
5. Reduce your information intake. The people I know who make a lot of money online spend very little time reading blogs, watching videos, and interacting with their online pals. A certain degree of interaction is important for everyone, but money comes because of work. If you spend all of your time trying to learn, you aren’t getting much closer to actually producing income. In fact, you might be filling your mind with knowledge that will be detrimental to your success.
Don’t get me wrong, knowledge is very important. However, it can also become a huge addiction that can waste way too much time. Be wary of unproven sources of information.
6. Focus on volume. If your site provides information, provide a lot of information. If your site provides tools, provide a lot of useful tools. Creating more content will help you to increase your site’s traffic, especially if you’re creating keyword rich content. You may be trying to figure out why you have little traffic. A mental shift toward increasing volume can be extremely beneficial. A site that only has one keyword rich article would perform a lot better with 10. A site with 10 keyword rich articles would perform a lot better with 100. A site with 100 would perform a lot better with 1000.
Think about the people who would read your site and map out all of the information that they will need to accomplish their goals. In a lot of niches this will give you an unlimited supply of topics to cover.
Ask any real marketer and they will tell you that search traffic converts better than any type of traffic, for sales, clicks, and leads. In order to create that traffic you will need to do your research well and then create content based around your research. If you create more content, you can obviously plan on getting more search traffic. You should read our 100 blog posts experiment if you need further proof.
7. Squeeze the orange. In other words, think about how to get more from your existing traffic. Is there a product that you can create and sell? Can you upsell from that product? Can you sell more advertising? Can you use better placement on pay-per-click ads such as Adsense? Can you sell more affiliate product?
Some of the biggest gains I have been able to make in income in 2009 came with no traffic increase. Mark and I talk all the time about how we can get more out of our projects and when you have it on your mind, ideas will manifest themselves.
Tags: make money, make money internet, make money on internet, research
This is excellent information and advice Mark. I think you’ve very succinctly nailed the major issues and given some excellent tips on moving forward successfully in 2010 and beyond. 2009 has been a year of massive learning and realizations for me and I’m glad to say that in keeping with the principles you’ve indicated here I’m well on my way to making 2010 “my year”!
Cheers,.. and keep up the great work
Russ
You hit the nail on the head Court. I started a cleaning referall company all online and blew everyone out of the water because I had fifty different websites that all linked together, and like you said, you have to do the footwork. Now I am moving on to automobile sales, and it has taken me 120 hours to build 20 linking sites, but it is paying off. Each site is keyword specific (I.E. Make/model specific). Thanks for your insight.
Ben
http://destintoyota.com/
http://toyotapanamacity.com/
Great post Court.
3 things that stood out for me…
1. 2010 will be harder for the new people because there will be more garbage out there.
This is so true. I’m glad I found the Keyword Academy because a person can literally run around in circles for years because of all the garbage out there.
2. If you spend all of your time trying to learn, you aren’t getting much closer to actually producing income.
The problem comes back to all of the garbage out there that makes people confused and lost.
3. If you’re only in it for the money, it’s going to be a lot harder for you.
So true. I’m glad I have a site that I’m totally passionate about. It keeps me sane. On top of that, since this business takes time, wanting to see some big payouts early on is just going to discourage you.
2010 is going to be the best year ever… until 2011 that is.
Thank you for these comments. I have acknowledged that I’ve been seriously caught up in information and acquiring-knowledge overload, and have not yet made any money online. I’m on the precipice of starting, but the little voice (of fear?) seductively whispers in my ear that maybe I need to learn just a little bit more of this or that, then I’ll be ready! I just starting working with an accountability partner to help get me off the learning dime and into running-the-business action. I’m looking forward to writing blogs where I relevantly/appropriately make references to having earned money while I am informing/educating my audience!
I plan on 2010 being my best year ever for sure. I now, thanks to you and Mark, have a good grasp of what I need to do to finally make some real momey on the Internet. Yeah, I think 2010 is going to be a good year.
Excellent post! I couldn’t agree more with two points that you made: (1) there is more money to be made online than via eBooks, and (2) spending time getting your hands dirty instead of reading what other people are doing.
My online business skyrocketed once I stopped reading and starting doing. While I was suckered into 3 god-awful eBooks early on in my “make money online” days, I can say without a doubt that testing, building, and improving upon my efforts is the greatest testament to my success online.
Now that I have the plan laid down, I’m working on automating it even further in order to increase my volume and decrease the time I spent on unnecessary tasks that can be outsourced.
The world wide market place surely become making money online source of power. We can sell any thing without geographical boundary. It have big potential of success if we chose the right stuff to sell. And of course, if we know how to sell it. And your tips seems tells the how.
spot on. what I love about doing work on the web is that it is a scalable business. More websites = more money. There is no real limit to what you can make. The more you put in, the more you get out. and when the whole world is your marketplace, well, you’ll never saturate
Interesting article.
I agree on being passionate. You should do something that you enjoy and are passionate about. Also researching and expanding your knowledge is also an importent factor. The more you learn the eaiser it gets.
Also spot on about if you want to be a success you should read less and watch less and that you should start taking action now. I also read quite a lot because i enjoy it, but I think it;s become time to start putting my time in something useful and start taking action
Nice Post.
Well, I am only in it for the money. Period. And I am doing just find. However, certain sites are more fun to work on than others and those are the niches I am familiar with. I spend more time trying to wring out every dime out of those that I can.
As a newbie, I am astounded by the amount ebooks which tell readers to sell the ebook they just bought. I would be interested in resources that can lead me to where I can go to put up some simple sites to sell my ebook on Time Management that a non-techie can use. Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks
Gerry
Very solid advice here. I totally agree with choosing a topic that you enjoy and that pays well… I have found that I am far more motivated to work on a website that is both: fun to work on and that earns than a site that just earns. Thanks for the refreshing post guys!
Information from blogs has helped me gain a lot of traction online but it can start to be an issue when you send too much time reading blogs and forums. I want to start outsourcing more so I can continue to learn important strategies.
I’ve recently joined TKA because of its detailed instruction on SEO websites. I agree that my best sites would be ones which I am passionate about. Unfortunately, my “green” keywords do not match my passions. They may, however, prove as a great starting place for affiliate marketing sites. My question – please confirm that affiliate marketing on sites for which the AdSense numbers may not be there, but for which you have a passion, can still be profitable?
Hey Arielle! I would consider a few different things. First, there are topics which I became really interested in after I found them.
Second, yes, you can make affiliate sales in areas where Adsense won’t work BUT it will be a lot harder to plan for. One way to check into that is by trying to find out if there are other sites who are already making a profit in the niche.
Court – Darn decent of you to reply and thank you. I plan to start with my green keywords, and you’re right – I may well find myself interested. I will also research the potential profitability of my “passion niche sites” once those 12 sites are launched. I figure I can look into those passions during the link-building phase for the original 12 green word sites. Thanks again.
Just what i needed to read. Too much analysis + fear = paralysis. That is what i have been going through. But now it is starting with 5 sites.
Court,
your advice is great and simple. I’m sure I’ll back to it and read it again and again to keep myself on the track. This post is a great idea from you.
I know, as a non-native english speaker (natively hungarian, actually) it’ll be much more difficult to me reaching significant amount of income with internet marketing techniques – I mean it’ll take much more time and effort, but you and Griz showed me the right way to do it, and I like your way, and I think it’s the right “job” for me and I’m just very thankful for all your help.
(And besides of that hopefully I can improve my english knowledge quite well. That’s an another important advantage in this IM stuff…)
Regards,
Szabolcs
I like your twist about helping people. I started a few free wordpress blogs a few years back to practice with the software, and on one site I get TONS of comments. When I get done with my 100 post experiment on my Online Community College Courses website, I will see if I can dredge some good keyword concepts from my happy blog with lots of comments but no income. I am enjoying the income from my keyword sites, but I have a few problems. The three sites that are making income are spring and summer seasonal. I need to fill the gap with a winter seasonal and then focus on a few good year round concepts.
Thanks so much for helping me keep my focus clear.
This is some really useful info that you have shared. I have been trying to expand my websites and I am doing it slowly now but I now that in few months I will be creating more sites and working faster than before. Websites can really bring you a lot of money.
I learned a bunch through this post! thanks a lot.
As 2010 approached fast, i found it helps to combine the tips Court mentioned above with some new year goals and resolutions!
I’m getting tired of reading this post every week…
Reduce information intake will be my goal for 2010. I’m right now totally overloaded
nice information and clearly advice for newbie internet publisher like me.
i decided in 2010 to start make money online through my existing blog. Thanks for sharing it
Number 5. “Reduce your information intake. The people I know who make a lot of money online spend very little time reading blogs, watching videos, and interacting with their online pals. A certain degree of interaction is important for everyone, but money comes because of work. If you spend all of your time trying to learn, you aren’t getting much closer to actually producing income. In fact, you might be filling your mind with knowledge that will be detrimental to your success.
Don’t get me wrong, knowledge is very important. However, it can also become a huge addiction that can waste way too much time. Be wary of unproven sources of information.”
This is the best information that I have gotten since I have been researching!!!! I have felt so overloaded to the point I wanted to give up…. But thanks your information I have found a home in learning and continuing education… I am at the point to where I need to do what all I have learned but leave out a few things here and there…. Thank you and I pray for you the best!!!!!
Thanks for all the great info. We’re self taught and are really trying to grow our sites organically…I’ll definitely come back to learn more from you!