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How to structure and monetise this site?

by Rock1084
12 replies
Hi All,
I've recently decided to get back into net marketing after a long while. I've given it a crack a number of times using various methods but have never had much success. I even tried Ed Dale's "The Challenge" several times and got nowhere, whichw as very disheartening. Anyway, I'm pretty determined now to give it another go and have a much clearer idea of my goals.

Since I'm new here, I'm not sure whether it's customary to reveal my exact idea, so I'll keep it non-specific for now:

I have a very particular set of skills and education within the healthcare field. And I'd like to provide an authoritative site(s) providing accurate and reliable info to people seeking help about (a) very specific need(s). I'm not building a blog, info in these areas don't change very rapidly, the info I write will be pretty much the definitive guide to xxxx. I plan on building a new site for each specific topic, however it did cross my mind to build one umbrella site and have each sub-catergory listed under it, still unsure which way to go with that, but I'm sure I can change that down the track - lets just get one started first!

My ultimate goal is to earn an online income, which eventually allows me to cut down on wage based work. So I want to monetise.

I'm undecided as to how to go about structuring the website, and how to monetise it, so I'm hoping to get some advice please.

As far as the structure goes, I could just have a single pager, with all the info people are seeking, or I could divide up the info into various section and create a multipage website, which may look more professional?

In terms of monetisation, do people still earn off on-page affiliate ads or has Ad-Blocker pretty much killed that off now?

I'm not sure I could create a product (e-book) just yet, but perhaps that's something I'll look at down the track.

What about voluntary donations? Given the info I provide will be of a highly reputable standard, are people likely to donate?

Thanks in advance.
#monetise #site #structure
  • Profile picture of the author Jason Streby
    Well, as I'm reading this I'm thinking...

    Why not try all these ideas and see what works best?
    Oh wait, I know why, because it's a lot of work! Silly me

    But seriously though, it depends on what your long term goal is here. If you are wanting to release something that will be more like a flood then you might want to go with a product launch.

    If you want to drip feed this and grow it larger over time then you can just make your blog and monetize it with affiliate offers. Sure, adblock exists, yes it's probably going to cut into your maximum potential profit but not everyone uses adblock and I think it's safe to say you'd still get a nice profit margin by populating your blog pages with affiliate ads.

    Also... why not use that blog to offer something cool for your visitors to sign up for?
    You know, build an email list off your blog like all the big boys are doing.
    If you can get a decent bit of traffic to your blog, if your blog is at least decent, and people like it... then i honestly see no reason why you can't just put in place a few ways to monetize your work in different ways, all centering around this blog.

    You can even do the blog first and then very soon after launch an official product for that rush in sales. I know I'm just throwing out general concepts here with no fine details but honestly it would take a lot of typing to give finner details and well, I'm tired :p
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    • Profile picture of the author Rock1084
      Originally Posted by Jason Streby View Post

      Well, as I'm reading this I'm thinking...

      Why not try all these ideas and see what works best?
      Oh wait, I know why, because it's a lot of work! Silly me
      Haha, yeah, it would take patience too...I'm not that patient.

      Originally Posted by Jason Streby View Post

      But seriously though, it depends on what your long term goal is here. If you are wanting to release something that will be more like a flood then you might want to go with a product launch.
      My long term goal is to have multiple streams of online income that I can 'set and forget' to some degree. The info that I can provide isn't really something that can be blogged about on an infinite basis.

      Originally Posted by Jason Streby View Post

      If you want to drip feed this and grow it larger over time then you can just make your blog and monetize it with affiliate offers. Sure, adblock exists, yes it's probably going to cut into your maximum potential profit but not everyone uses adblock and I think it's safe to say you'd still get a nice profit margin by populating your blog pages with affiliate ads.
      Originally Posted by Jason Streby View Post

      Also... why not use that blog to offer something cool for your visitors to sign up for?
      You know, build an email list off your blog like all the big boys are doing.
      If you can get a decent bit of traffic to your blog, if your blog is at least decent, and people like it... then i honestly see no reason why you can't just put in place a few ways to monetize your work in different ways, all centering around this blog.
      Based on SEO analysis/competition in Market Samurai, this should generate some decent traffic fairly easily.

      Originally Posted by Jason Streby View Post

      You can even do the blog first and then very soon after launch an official product for that rush in sales. I know I'm just throwing out general concepts here with no fine details but honestly it would take a lot of typing to give finner details and well, I'm tired :p
      Thanks mate, appreciate your input
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex65
    HI
    I agree to build one umbrella site and have each sub-catergory listed under it,but I would not ignore the many other opportunities that you can make a blog.

    good luck
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    • Profile picture of the author Rock1084
      HI
      I agree to build one umbrella site and have each sub-catergory listed under it,but I would not ignore the many other opportunities that you can make a blog.

      good luck
      Would this not defy the rule of not putting all eggs into one basket?
      Don't get me wrong, I can see the advantage in building one authoritative site, and therefore a brand name, and this does appeal to me, however initially for SEO purposes would multiple sites specific to each area be better?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Streby
    I of course have no clue what you plan to bring to market but I can say this.

    If you can't produce something that you can just keep dishing out more and more content on then you may want to highly consider making a product for it.

    If this product falls in agreement with clickbank (since it's a health related thing) then I'd very highly suggest using clickbank to get a jumpstart in sales and promotion.

    There is a whole launch sequence you can use to get things kicked off right and it will help a lot to do it "right" but if your product is good and you know this then I'm fairly confident you can just do a nice silent launch and then gradually collect affiliates to promote over time.

    Just an idea however. You really do have as many options with this thing as you care to try out.

    OH, also... SEO

    who needs it when you got Facebook

    if you can use Facebook right you'll be saying SE-who??
    Of course if you got both working for you then hey, all the better.
    But your point of all eggs in one basket does ring true in all cases, this one included. It's just one of those things. Make this one basket then start working on ideas for your next basket.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rock1084
    If you can't produce something that you can just keep dishing out more and more content on then you may want to highly consider making a product for it.

    If this product falls in agreement with clickbank (since it's a health related thing) then I'd very highly suggest using clickbank to get a jumpstart in sales and promotion.

    There is a whole launch sequence you can use to get things kicked off right and it will help a lot to do it "right" but if your product is good and you know this then I'm fairly confident you can just do a nice silent launch and then gradually collect affiliates to promote over time.
    Now that is something I'd never even thought of...I'll definitely look into that. Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Originally Posted by Rock1084 View Post

    Hi All,
    I've recently decided to get back into net marketing after a long while. I've given it a crack a number of times using various methods but have never had much success. I even tried Ed Dale's "The Challenge" several times and got nowhere, whichw as very disheartening. Anyway, I'm pretty determined now to give it another go and have a much clearer idea of my goals.

    Since I'm new here, I'm not sure whether it's customary to reveal my exact idea, so I'll keep it non-specific for now:

    I have a very particular set of skills and education within the healthcare field. And I'd like to provide an authoritative site(s) providing accurate and reliable info to people seeking help about (a) very specific need(s). I'm not building a blog, info in these areas don't change very rapidly, the info I write will be pretty much the definitive guide to xxxx. I plan on building a new site for each specific topic, however it did cross my mind to build one umbrella site and have each sub-catergory listed under it, still unsure which way to go with that, but I'm sure I can change that down the track - lets just get one started first!

    My ultimate goal is to earn an online income, which eventually allows me to cut down on wage based work. So I want to monetise.

    I'm undecided as to how to go about structuring the website, and how to monetise it, so I'm hoping to get some advice please.

    As far as the structure goes, I could just have a single pager, with all the info people are seeking, or I could divide up the info into various section and create a multipage website, which may look more professional?

    In terms of monetisation, do people still earn off on-page affiliate ads or has Ad-Blocker pretty much killed that off now?

    I'm not sure I could create a product (e-book) just yet, but perhaps that's something I'll look at down the track.

    What about voluntary donations? Given the info I provide will be of a highly reputable standard, are people likely to donate?

    Thanks in advance.
    Here are the elements of what you need:

    1. You need to be able to solve a problem for some people.

    2. You need to know where that specific group of people are.

    3. You need a way of getting in front of those people, or a way to draw them from where they are to where you want them (ie. your website, forum, landing page, whatever.)

    4. You need a method of capturing leads so you can identify and continue to market to them.

    5. You need a way of qualifying them as either potential buyers or non-buyers.

    6. You need a method of converting qualified potential buyers into sales.

    7. You need a delivery method for giving them your solution.


    That's the process. Everything else is window-dressing.

    There's a problem in the WSO section where people misrepresent their product as a full business, when all it really is is a small section of one of these steps.

    Eg. video marketing products...a part of step 3...maybe 3 through 5. But what about the rest?

    Eg. some fancy PPC thing...maybe part of steps 2 & 3.

    Make sure you have all 7.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      I'd have a tough time improving on Jason's answer, so I'll just toss this into the pot for flavor...

      You mentioned two possible site structures:

      > Multiple sites covering single topics, and
      > One large site, siloed into the various topics.

      There's a third option.

      Multiple sites dedicated to single topics tied together by an umbrella site that seeks to funnel visitors to the proper topical site. Ken Evoy offered this strategy in his ebook "Make Your Content Sell". Last time I looked, you could download it free from the SiteSell.com site, although you might have to do a bit of hunting to find it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Rock1084
      Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan View Post

      Here are the elements of what you need:

      1. You need to be able to solve a problem for some people.

      2. You need to know where that specific group of people are.

      3. You need a way of getting in front of those people, or a way to draw them from where they are to where you want them (ie. your website, forum, landing page, whatever.)

      4. You need a method of capturing leads so you can identify and continue to market to them.

      5. You need a way of qualifying them as either potential buyers or non-buyers.

      6. You need a method of converting qualified potential buyers into sales.

      7. You need a delivery method for giving them your solution.


      That's the process. Everything else is window-dressing.

      There's a problem in the WSO section where people misrepresent their product as a full business, when all it really is is a small section of one of these steps.

      Eg. video marketing products...a part of step 3...maybe 3 through 5. But what about the rest?

      Eg. some fancy PPC thing...maybe part of steps 2 & 3.

      Make sure you have all 7.
      Thank you Jason, that's really helpful. Can you tell me a bit more about this model? What criteria can be used to measure when each step has been achieved?

      I believe, based on my keyword research that I can tick step 1.
      As for Step 2 - No idea...the internet?
      Step 3. I'd say I can do this through SEO.
      Step 4. Not part of my plan yet...I was just planning on running banners on my site, but I'm definitely open to more sophisticated/efficient profit making methods like a product (credit Jason Streby)
      Step 5. No idea how to qualify people as buyer
      Step 6. As above.
      Step 7. I'll work on this part once I'm happy with 1-6.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        Would this not defy the rule of not putting all eggs into one basket?
        Too many newbies talking about "multiple streams" and "eggs in baskets" - don't listen to them.

        Before you have multiple streams, you need to create that first trickle. Before worrying about eggs in your basket...you need to build a basket.

        My view: Forget "donations" ....get started on your first site and EARN the money. If you have a lot of 'valuable' info on a subject...build a product (ebook, etc) and list or make it a paid membership.
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        • Profile picture of the author Marc Rodill
          Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

          Too many newbies talking about "multiple streams" and "eggs in baskets" - don't listen to them.

          Before you have multiple streams, you need to create that first trickle. Before worrying about eggs in your basket...you need to build a basket.
          Kay is right.

          When you're first getting started the worst thing you can do is to spread yourself thin. You need to be laser focused on creating one revenue stream and getting it healthy before you worry about another.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rock1084
    Point taken. I'll definitely focus on getting something to happen first, then worry about building up. Thanks!
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