I need to raise $20,000 by Christmas. Ideas & opinions welcome.

hello Jobin.... I'd create a blogger blog (blogger.com - Google owns it). Put some good content in it, articles that can make someone's life better e.g "How to lose weight without giving up pizza" etc, etc... put about 3 or 4 articles, then re-apply for your adsense account.

Your niches are ok ( i don't particularly like the x-mas website) but hey,i have friends who are making a killing out of these christmas-themed sites.

the best way to start is to make sure your 'ladder' isn't leaning against the wrong wall. You don't want to spend your energy or hard-earned money only to realize
you're targeting a keyword that only gets a few searches per day or one that gets thousands of searches BUT would take forever or near-impossible to rank for.

there are warriors offering their services to do keyword research for you, help optimize your websites and create backlinks (off page and on-page optimisation) etc, etc...and their prices are reasonable.

either that or keep searching...i am sure a more knowledgeable Warrior will be reading your thread sooner and give you a more concrete and workable advice.....

I hope you hit your $20K target by early 2011. Merry Christmas

I don't want to be a pessimist, but chances are it's not going to happen.

The only ways I know of to make $20,000 that fast is to sell drugs, but I don't recommend it.

It's not hard to make $20,000 in that short of time, it just takes money in which case you wouldn't be in this predicament.

One good way I could think of is web design, get on the phone and find clients who would buy websites from you and then outsource it.

For a newbie or a relative newbie, I think the only way to reach that kind of a turnover within the specified time-frame is to (1) have your own product, beautifully developed, attractively presented and in a hot niche, and (2) motivate affiliates to take it on - and (3) have a little luck, preceded by organization and graft of course.

For a seasoned marketer with a pre-existing list, this kind of result is not a problem, but for a newbie it's a MOUNTAIN most don't manage to scale.

I wish I could advise you better than this. I actually think that THIS PLACE here is a great place to find opportunities like that. You can offer your valuable services to people on this forum and - if they're good and attractively priced - you will make some money on that. But $20k...

Bottom line, however, is that you'll need to really put in a lot of effort on your FIRST product to get all the factors right. You'll need to create multiple sites, articles, links, SEO of course, take part in forums, etc, etc.

You CAN also make that kind of money on affiliate marketing, website flipping etc etc - but ALL of that depends on your ability to drive TRAFFIC. And that's graft.

You COULD also try to short-cut all of the above by outsourcing - but that will cost you a little bit. So if you do decide to do that, HAVE A PLAN FIRST so as not to waste $$.

Ultimately, it's always about finding a way to drive qualified traffic to your pages.

You can pay for it - or work for it. Paying for it is actually cheaper, I believe. The only caveat is that as a newbie, you're likely to pay for the WRONG things. For example you might buy traffic from traffic brokers, and chances are that this money would be mostly wasted. Or you might invest in PPC campaigns on Facebook and get the ads wrong, and so on.

So - in a way - for a newbie there really is only one way and that is to just put in the heavy graft first, and only economize and outsource later. That's my experience anyway.

Good luck!

Jobin, you listed as your niches. The last two are actually very large markets with dozens of niches within them. If you're trying to target 'weight loss' in its broadest "applies to everyone" sense, you're in for a tough haul.

You're looking for essentially $10,000 per month for the next two months. Given what you've posted, I wish you luck, but I won't bet money on you.

I know your dream is to pay cash for your education, but you have to keep your eyes on the prize. Keep working toward the goal. Maybe another Warrior will be able to help you more than me. But have a backup plan in place.

Secure the loan, then spend your free time and holidays banking enough to pay the loan in full when you have to start making payments. It's not exactly the same thing, but has the same effect. And you have your education...

I have some very basic sites in the Christmas niche that make very good money with Adsense. I presume they must have tightened up their requirements as the site I applied for my Adsense with back in 2005 was terrible!

Hello Jobin....am back

i've read the replies and looks like you got a bit of taste with 'reality'

as John McCabe puts it eloquently....keep your eyes on the prize.......

$20K by early 2011 maybe difficult for a newbie but it is possible......even if you don't hit your target, by simply taking action, consistently and persistently working towards your main goal, you could come up with some income good enough to put as an initial payment towards your bachelors degree....or as supplement so you won't have to barrow that much....

i found 2 resources i believe could be of great use to you:

resource#1:
I've read a thread here comparing this website to the $1000+ course sold by Ryan Deiss more than a month ago (Perpetual Traffic)...some say it's where Ryan based his course...not for me to comment on that but the principles and techniques that you're about to read in this website helped my "facial cleanser" to rank in Google's first page...TOP#3...... and it won't cost you a single cent to access it...

:: Jiggling the Web for Instant Search Engine Rankings


resource#2
Jason Potash has just released a great report on "Why Google hates blogs...."
13 Tips so you can pick up and tells you the common mistakes bloggers do. Pick up some nuggets nd apply what you're about to learn to your sites.

This could mean some major or minor changes you may need to do ...but remember what I said in my first post..... don't let all your time and efforts go to waste by finding out later the 'ladder' you're using to get to the top is leaning against the wrong wall....

Jason's link here. You'll need to optin to his list but if you're concerned about giving your details away, you can always use a throw-away or secondary email address. (I've learned a lot from this guy....in a way, I owe him a few years of learning curve when I was still a newbie...)
Blog Blueprint System - Top 13 Auto Blogging Blunders

All the best...
moneymarker

Hey Jobin, I don't know what kind of school you are trying to attend, but most don't require an upfront payment of the entire year. You usually pay by the quarter or semester, whichever system they are using. So if that applies to you, then you would only need to raise enough for the 1st semester or quarter, then make sure you have a consistent income coming in so you can pay for the rest as it comes.

Good luck with it.

@ Jobin.... i had a good look @ your christmas blog, keywords in its tittle, articles... looks like it's 'leaning' against the wrong wall.... i did some research and PM'd you some keywords and have included other relevant datas explaining why I think you should target these instead .....compliments


addendum. 'Got some PM wanting me to explain what I mean by "leaning against the wrong wall.."

here's an actual demo. This will explain it better.I still keep this blog to remind me of what NOT to do.

I created this site 1-2 years ago targeting the keyword phrase "tennis for ladies"

My blog 'tennisforladies.com' is ranked number 1 in Google for this keyword phrase...also in first page for "ladies tennis"

tennisforladies.com is hardly getting any traffic at all ... I'd be lucky to have 100 visitors a month ...usually less than that
'

I don't want to be a wet blanket but I think it is important to tell you...

It's hard

The more practical solution will be:
1) If your initial deposit for the education is, say $5,000. Make it a target to earn $5,000 by end of the year, use that for your deposit.

That mean you only need to make $2,500 in November, $2,500 in December.

2) Calculate how much you need every month to pay for school fees and daily expenses. Assuming that you need $2,000 per month, make this your target every month.

Once you are stable with $2,000/month, scale that income and hopefully you'll make $20,000 by December 2011.

Thanks very much for your suggestions and ideas. I will be needing to raise only $4000 to
pay the initial deposit amount. So I am working towards the goal.

Whats the opinion about conducting a firesale /dimesale to start off so that I can build
a list as well to start with ?

Let me ask you a question.

Have you ever made money online? Have you ever done something, that resulted in a profit, even if was only $100 one time, or $100 per month?

Well if you answered YES to any of those 3 questions;

Whatever you did, keep doing it, stop looking for a magic bullet, implement what you already know how to do, put your Nikes on, and JUST DO IT.

The light at the end of the tunnel will start to get brighter...CLOSER...

And then...You get a new improved pair of NIKES (possibly outsourcing) and do it even more!

Good luck!

Yes, you can raise that amount of money here in WF. How? By solving our problems successfully, one after the other.

BTW, what have you been doing for the past 5 years?

Hi JobyArea,

I understand where you are coming from.

From listening to all the IM info out there, people sell thousands of dollars worth of product because they have a list with with bo-billion addresses.

And when they don't have a list they do a joint venture to use someone else's list.

I'm not familiar with forming J Vs but I listened to a webinar with Marlon Sanders and Lee McIntyre recently that gave some good tips. Of course its a pitch for a membership club but maybe the conversation will give you some ideas. Here's the link.

Work Less and Earn More

hope this helps
harmony