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Looking for some hints about if is it worth trying to monetize this idea

by Altered State
11 replies
First of all:
I'm not totally newbie on SEO and IM, but it's been about 5 years since I don't read or do anything related to this. Back in the day, I had some well positionated blogs, and even monetized them.

But now I dedicate my life to a different thing (which is chemistry, specifically, organic/pharmaceutical chemistry), and I know that I won't make a living through online marketing (not in the 10 next years or so, at least), but I felt like coming back to the internet next January.
I want to open a blog/web related to my job (as I said, science, chemistry, pharmaceutical..), which would be filled with original and wuality content, since my job is my passion, and I really enjoy writing about that, and would love to spend time on that kind of website.

Also, I know that is not the most profitable niche, but still, since I will probably invest in SEO and a good amount of time on the website, I am looking for opinions about if I could monetize it in the long term, and what quantity of profit could I get from something like this (so I can be realistic and know what I should spend/invest)



To finish, this is probably something I will do anyway, even if you tell me that is a dead end, because I would like to, just as a hobby.

But some years ago, SEO and IM was also my hobby, so, if I could somehow combine both activities, it would be for me like an explosive combination in which I would be willing to invest much of my free time.


Any help or opinion would be really appreciated!



PS: You can give any advice about how to set the project, (how to orient it, in which I should focus...) but there is only one condition:
I want it to be scientifically accurate, so promotion of "fake therapies", wrong viral facts... or so, are not an option in this project.


Thank you very much.

PS2: I apparently lost my old account here, and maybe the forum has changed a bit. If this is not the correct section, please let me know and move the thread
#hints #idea #monetize #worth
  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by Altered State View Post

    I want to open a blog/web related to my job (as I said, science, chemistry, pharmaceutical...

    Ahhh . . . thinking about starting a blog about your meth lab?

    Just kidding . . . maybe . . .

    You'd be surprised at the amount of money to be made in weird little niches that you never hear anything about.

    I remember years ago seeing a case study about a guy that was selling pet funerals. He took care of all of the arrangements. He had only like 85 people on his subscriber list. But these were people that knew their pet was going to die and that wanted to be prepared for that fateful day. He charged (what I thought was) a very high dollar figure for his services.

    So small niche, weird topic . . . done correctly can still add up to a nice income.

    The key = targeting the right customers and providing them something that they really, really want badly. I don't see why you can do the same thing!

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Altered State
      Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

      Ahhh . . . thinking about starting a blog about your meth lab?

      Just kidding . . . maybe . . .
      Yeah... Maybe some day, but I think I will say no to that for now

      Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

      You'd be surprised at the amount of money to be made in weird little niches that you never hear anything about.

      I remember years ago seeing a case study about a guy that was selling pet funerals. He took care of all of the arrangements. He had only like 85 people on his subscriber list. But these were people that knew their pet was going to die and that wanted to be prepared for that fateful day. He charged (what I thought was) a very high dollar figure for his services.

      So small niche, weird topic . . . done correctly can still add up to a nice income.

      The key = targeting the right customers and providing them something that they really, really want badly. I don't see why you can do the same thing!

      Steve
      First of all thank you for your response.

      But the difference between my case and the one you described, is that in yours, they had something to sell, some service to offer.
      In my case, in principle, it would be only about Ads (adsense mostly, I suppose? Long time no notices abot this world) in a science niche blog.

      If I orient it to curiosities, explanations or so, I suppose that will mean a very bad conversion. So that is why I ask for a better way to orient the website.


      But I said "in principle", because maybe I should orient it a way in which I could offer some kind of -service?-, like, I don't know, answering specific question as tutoring students or somethign like that, but this would be another whole different story... It would be more time consuming, etc. As I said I don't want to make a living out of this, just looking for ideas that could make me transform my hobby into profit.
      (I have other ideas, like maybe, when I havea decent traffic, contact lab material sellers and give them ads for money...)

      Thank you again and any kind of feedback is appreciated!
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve B
        Altered State,

        Is there any way you can poll the people in your niche and see if there are things that you could provide for a price that they can't get elsewhere?

        Do they hang out in Facebook or Yahoo groups, for example? Do they frequent certain niche sites or forums?

        If you can find out where they "hang out" in the niche, you can approach them about what it is they want.

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author PatriciaS
    I don't really have an answer for you -- but wanted to tell you that this site immediately sprang to mind. I imagine it's pretty popular (tho not monetized -- yet? -- but certainly could be, IMO): IFLScience

    I know of it because of its FB page which ONLY has 18+ million Likes. I suppose the catchy name helps that. And if it's not clear, the IFL abbreviation stands for I effing love science.
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    • Profile picture of the author Altered State
      Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

      Altered State,

      Is there any way you can poll the people in your niche and see if there are things that you could provide for a price that they can't get elsewhere?

      Do they hang out in Facebook or Yahoo groups, for example? Do they frequent certain niche sites or forums?

      If you can find out where they "hang out" in the niche, you can approach them about what it is they want.

      Steve
      Well, the thing is that I do not have an stablished niche yet. Chemistry, and even specific fields of chemistry are really broad, and the public can be vary different from one to another.

      For example, I could go for a general public target, publishing articles that explain the science to people who are not scientists; more traffic, but probably harder to monetize

      I could focus on highschool chemistry students, and possibly offer tutoring services, or book selling (amazon affiliate), but I think I would not provide serious profit

      I could start with "real business" and focus on university chemistry concepts

      I also could focus on higher level chemistry, and try to promote books, lab equipment...

      How should I poll or see that kind of data?

      I want to write about I want, but I want as much people as possible to read it, either if it gives me a lot of money or if it gives me nothing (obviously the first choice is preferred).
      What I want to find is the best balance between profit and writing what pleases me to write.


      I remember that the worst thing I did in my IM trip few years ago was starting projects ASAP, and then ending up with a non-profitable business or a project that has to be totally renewed to be worth it. So I'll try to recollect all the advices I can, and guess which is the best niche for my two interests, and then, in a few months, start the project. Any advice on how to achieve that is really appreciated.

      Originally Posted by PatriciaS View Post

      I don't really have an answer for you -- but wanted to tell you that this site immediately sprang to mind. I imagine it's pretty popular (tho not monetized -- yet? -- but certainly could be, IMO): IFLScience

      I know of it because of its FB page which ONLY has 18+ million Likes. I suppose the catchy name helps that. And if it's not clear, the IFL abbreviation stands for I effing love science.
      I know it, and it really surprises me that is not monetized!
      I follow them on FB, and it's like the only FB page I follow which I actually often see and like its publications.


      Edit: Actually, I remember now that every once in a while, they post some "camouflaged ads" on it, so they are probably getting some cash of the page.
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  • Profile picture of the author Altered State
    I will list some ways that i think would be worth monetizing this kind of site:

    - Amazon affiliate (chemistry books)
    - Ads or affiliate to lab equipment online sellers
    - Reviewing chemistry related sites or products


    What do you think about those?
    Is it worth in your opinion?
    Would you add any else or eliminate any?

    Can I get decent earnings only dedicating say 1 out of 10 articles to promote articles/books or would I need more focus on selling than in good content?
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Originally Posted by Altered State View Post


    Also, I know that is not the most profitable niche, but still, since I will probably invest in SEO and a good amount of time on the website, I am looking for opinions about if I could monetize it in the long term, and what quantity of profit could I get from something like this (so I can be realistic and know what I should spend/invest)
    Chemistry is everywhere. It's the basis of everything. Look around. People are going nuts over food additives, genetically altered seeds, pollution, you name it. The list can stretch as far as your imagination.

    All you've got to do is relate what you're doing to what they want. They want alternatives to certain things. You can write about that and point them in the direction you feel would be helpful.

    There is part of your post that is disturbing though, SEO. Why in the world would you want to waste your time with it? It's a recipe for failure. There are far better ways to get traffic, especially in a field where there is soooo much excellent syndicated content available.
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    • Profile picture of the author Altered State
      Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

      Chemistry is everywhere. It's the basis of everything. Look around. People are going nuts over food additives, genetically altered seeds, pollution, you name it. The list can stretch as far as your imagination.

      All you've got to do is relate what you're doing to what they want. They want alternatives to certain things. You can write about that and point them in the direction you feel would be helpful.

      There is part of your post that is disturbing though, SEO. Why in the world would you want to waste your time with it? It's a recipe for failure. There are far better ways to get traffic, especially in a field where there is soooo much excellent syndicated content available.
      Nice input, I like that approach, but...
      It's probably that I am rusty, but I don't know what is that "syndicated" thing I read some people talk about in the past 2 days since I returned to the IM
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    Originally Posted by Altered State View Post

    and I know that I won't make a living through online marketing (not in the 10 next years or so, at least
    So don't waste your time and don't come back and start "trying" to get the ball rolling.

    Originally Posted by Altered State View Post

    To finish, this is probably something I will do anyway, even if you tell me that is a dead end, because I would like to, just as a hobby.
    Why not do everything in your power to make this your primary income. If you go with the mind set of "I will do what ever it takes cause I want this to be my primary income source", your mind will go to work day in and day out to achieve your goals.
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    • Profile picture of the author Altered State
      Originally Posted by talfighel View Post

      So don't waste your time and don't come back and start "trying" to get the ball rolling.

      Why not do everything in your power to make this your primary income. If you go with the mind set of "I will do what ever it takes cause I want this to be my primary income source", your mind will go to work day in and day out to achieve your goals.
      The reason I approach this that way, is because I'm being realistic.
      I am in a position where I cannot go and say: "I'm going to start dedicating full time to this, because this will earn myself a living"'basically because:

      - I am finishing my studies and then I will be joining a PhD plan, which are both time consuming, more than a regular job, if you ask me.
      - I do not have much savings, and from what I read here (and also logic), do not think that is a good idea to try to live from this without enough initial investment. That's why I said that maybe in some years, I reconsider my point of view. Now I consider it not possible.
      - And finally I think I would enjoy working on this specific project because I enjoy BOTH chemistry and IM. And I do not think a single project like this would be my only source of income if I dedicate full time to this, so if I approach this like you say, I'd probably had to start other projects (and no pt only one at the same time), and I'd probably end up tired, because I do not enjoy writing about FOREX.

      Yes, I know it sounds like if I don't really want to earn any money, but as I explained, I do not se this as way of earning 1k/month YET.

      Note that I am planning on making that blog anyway, but, if I can also approach it to earn some money in the future and learn more about IM on the way, would be even better.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Altered State View Post

        Looking for some hints about if is it worth trying to monetize this idea
        I wouldn't hesitate, given your background. In fact, to be honest, I'm not even sure I'd hesitate, given my background. You might want to try this before I steal the idea. (I'm kidding - promise! But I think it could be a fine niche).

        Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

        There is part of your post that is disturbing though, SEO. Why in the world would you want to waste your time with it? It's a recipe for failure. There are far better ways to get traffic, especially in a field where there is soooo much excellent syndicated content available.
        This - absolutely. One of the attractions of a niche like this, for me, would be that I wouldn't really need to be concerned with SEO for it.

        Originally Posted by Altered State View Post

        The reason I approach this that way, is because I'm being realistic.
        Whoa ... just a minute: we can't have this. There never were such days. The new members are starting to be realistic!!

        Originally Posted by Altered State View Post

        I am finishing my studies and then I will be joining a PhD plan
        I hope you get through it more quickly and efficiently than I'm doing mine.

        I think this can be a fine niche for you ... or at least, can develop into some kind of IM project that produces a fine niche or two. Chemistry's not exactly my subject (though parts of pharmacology are, in a way), but it sounds really interesting, and full of potential, to me. (I replied to your "article questions" in another thread, by the way.)

        Good luck!

        .
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