Internet Marketing as your main income?

34 replies
Hey all, I'm trying to gauge what the money is like in this. I see sites posted on flippa that report a few thousand a month, I feel like I could spin a site up like this once a week, keep the ones that are successful, sell the ones that are under performing.

Is this judgement wrong? Realistically, how much could you expect to make doing IM 8hr/day. I am a developer so much of the work would be focused mainly on spinning sites up. Is it better to focus on one site, then outsource the content, or many at a time using the same model?

Is internet marketing your primary income? How much effort do you put into your daily work? How much is your overhead? How long have you been at it? What is your income like? (dont need to be specific, ball park would work.)
#income #internet #main #marketing
  • Profile picture of the author lotsofsnow
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    • Profile picture of the author SquaredSoftware
      Originally Posted by hpgoodboy View Post

      Really, you can do that?

      A few thousand a month would be let's say $3k per site.

      You say "spin a site up like this once a week" so that would be 4 times 3 = $3k a month income
      without even flipping a site...
      Nah I couldn't make the money, but the actual work of design + programming + articles, yeah I could get "something" running. The SEO and whatnot I realise is rather valuable. I'm still relatively new to this, so hear me out.

      As it stands right now, I dislike what I'm doing. I work on one of Microsoft's cloud platforms as an ASP developer. In my personal life though I do some open source development for Linux -- etc etc. This dichotomy is leading to some unhappyness and I would very much like to work for myself.

      I'm trying to gauge how realistic it is for this as a choice to dedicate a large chunk of time to. In terms of actually setting a site up (outside of wordpress -- custom stuff with complete control over what is being made), doing web design, and outsourcing the rest, I don't see why I couldn't spin something up quickly.

      Correct me if I'm wrong.
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  • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
    Originally Posted by SquaredSoftware View Post

    Hey all, I'm trying to gauge what the money is like in this.
    It depends on lots of variables. Your offers, your customer service, your niche, etc, etc.

    I see sites posted on flippa that report a few thousand a month, I feel like I could spin a site up like this once a week, keep the ones that are successful, sell the ones that are under performing.
    No, you couldn't. If it was that easy, everyone would do it. Also, much of that info on flippa is faked.

    Is this judgement wrong?
    Yes.

    Realistically, how much could you expect to make doing IM 8hr/day.
    See my first answer.

    I am a developer so much of the work would be focused mainly on spinning sites up. Is it better to focus on one site, then outsource the content, or many at a time using the same model?
    Focus on building a brand. Make your brand (and your website) a destination for people in your niche.

    Is internet marketing your primary income?
    No, but I make more online than the median income for the US and I do it part-time.

    How much effort do you put into your daily work?
    2-4 hours per day.

    How much is your overhead?
    Just the cost of hosting, domains, advertising.

    How long have you been at it? What is your income like? (dont need to be specific, ball park would work.)
    20 years. I make more online than the median income for the US and I do it part-time.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jayneal
      Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

      It depends on lots of variables. Your offers, your customer service, your niche, etc, etc.



      No, you couldn't. If it was that easy, everyone would do it. Also, much of that info on flippa is faked.



      Yes.



      See my first answer.



      Focus on building a brand. Make your brand (and your website) a destination for people in your niche.



      No, but I make more online than the median income for the US and I do it part-time.



      2-4 hours per day.



      Just the cost of hosting, domains, advertising.



      20 years. I make more online than the median income for the US and I do it part-time.
      I would have to agree with most of this. You can make money, I know some that have not made a penny and I know some that make millions. it depends on lots of factors and research and knowledge. It takes time a buddy of mine makes millions and it took him over 3 years of hard work every day to get to that. I have been doing it since 2006 and make a fantastic income doing it about 3-4 hours a day and travel pretty much all the time.
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    • Profile picture of the author flyingdutch
      Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post


      Just the cost of hosting, domains, advertising.



      20 years. I make more online than the median income for the US and I do it part-time.
      Really? The first attempts of anything that comes close to IM dates from 1994 as far as I can see . I was involved in that . But as far as I can remember, anyone who claims 20 years of experience in this is a real old-timer. Let alone those who claim 30 years experience...

      IM and all the rest started of really after the 2002 internet bubble.

      Yes, the WFdates from 1997. Did anyone made a living from IM in that timeframe?

      But maybe I'm wrong...
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      • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
        Originally Posted by flyingdutch View Post

        Really? The first attempts of anything that comes close to IM dates from 1994 as far as I can see . I was involved in that . But as far as I can remember, anyone who claims 20 years of experience in this is a real old-timer. Let alone those who claim 30 years experience...

        IM and all the rest started of really after the 2002 internet bubble.

        Yes, the WFdates from 1997. Did anyone made a living from IM in that timeframe?

        But maybe I'm wrong...
        Eh, maybe 18 years. Let me do the math out loud here....

        I'm 41 and I've lived in my current home for 12 years and I've been doing IM the whole time I've lived here. So, that's 12 years right there. I worked for Unisys and Amtrak for the 4-5 years prior to that and did it then. And then maybe a year or so before that.

        Yeah, maybe 18 years.

        I don't know if anyone made a living that long ago - was all pretty new. I was a Platinum PowerSeller with eBay years ago, moving 30K+ in inventory a month so I know it WAS doable to earn a living but I've never had the guts to quit my "day" job - I have a large family to support (7 of us).
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      • Profile picture of the author Tsnyder
        Originally Posted by flyingdutch View Post

        Really? The first attempts of anything that comes close to IM dates from 1994 as far as I can see . I was involved in that . But as far as I can remember, anyone who claims 20 years of experience in this is a real old-timer. Let alone those who claim 30 years experience...

        IM and all the rest started of really after the 2002 internet bubble.

        Yes, the WFdates from 1997. Did anyone made a living from IM in that timeframe?

        But maybe I'm wrong...
        No... IM and the rest didn't really start after the 2002 internet bubble.

        I made my first buck in the days of usenet newsgroups... that's where
        many of the pioneers of IM made really large sums of money... long before
        the 2002 bubble. I'd already been at it several years before the Warrior
        Forum came into existence.
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  • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
    Only because you invited it...

    Yes, you are wrong. There is nothing "quick" about launching a business. You are way-oversimplifying what's required to succeed.

    Sure, you could spin up a site quickly. Who cares? Anybody can do that. It's what success you have promoting it and building a business that takes time and money.

    Can you luck out and hit a home run? Sure. Should you bet on it? Nope.
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  • Profile picture of the author marquisman
    Hi Squared Software. I have been a full time internet marketer for 6 years now. I began in MLM which was a good income for almost 2 years but then the company lost its way.

    I drifited for about 6 months not knowing what direction to take whilst dabbling with WordPress and affiliate marketing.

    I now combine these 2 and make a full time income as an affiliate marketer. I also offer affiliate coaching and my own home study course that goes towards my yearly income which is usually close to 6 figures in Dollars although I live and market in Europe so I tend to work in Euros and Pounds.

    As for time spent on all this, well you will normally find me working Mon - Thurs 6 hours a day and possibly 3 hours max on a Friday.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    Yes internet marketing is my only income, and has been for the last 7 years. On average I put in 2-4 hours a day sometimes less, I'm a true believer that the only way to get rich is thru automation and leveraged income.

    I make a few hundred thousand a year from all my various internet income streams.

    It seems like some of your thinking may be incorrect, this isn't a job, it's a business so you can really say if I sit down for 8 hours a day and work my business I will immediately be rewarded $X amount of dollars.
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    • Profile picture of the author lwjc
      Im struggling with Internet Marketing. Mainly focusing on blogging trying to get traffic and using Amazon as one of my affiliate marketers. Any tips? I started in Oct last year and have published around 70 articles....with little success. Appreciate any help. Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author andrewkar
    Originally Posted by SquaredSoftware View Post

    Hey all, I'm trying to gauge what the money is like in this. I see sites posted on flippa that report a few thousand a month, I feel like I could spin a site up like this once a week, keep the ones that are successful, sell the ones that are under performing.

    Is this judgement wrong? Realistically, how much could you expect to make doing IM 8hr/day. I am a developer so much of the work would be focused mainly on spinning sites up. Is it better to focus on one site, then outsource the content, or many at a time using the same model?

    Is internet marketing your primary income? How much effort do you put into your daily work? How much is your overhead? How long have you been at it? What is your income like? (dont need to be specific, ball park would work.)
    you can start one site a week, but building it and selling for at least $10000 is another story. I do IM few years now and this is my only source of income. If I could I would be on it 24/7 because I love it (sure, sometimes it gives me a headache...).
    If you are thinking about it as about regular job, you will eventually create a job for yourself. But if you start thinking about in terms of business, challenge etc. then you might end up as a wealthy person.
    One thing is for sure, creating business calls for a lot of time and heart.
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  • Profile picture of the author RowenaFanning
    There are too many variables. I started this thing of mine 2 years ago and I am still learning and I still feel like I am at the beginning although in the meantime I lost my full-time job and resorted to IM for full support. It was a minimum, provided that I did not have to start from scratch at the moment I was left without a job. It is a good net to fall back on, but not right away.
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  • Profile picture of the author GGpaul
    Originally Posted by SquaredSoftware View Post

    Hey all, I'm trying to gauge what the money is like in this. I see sites posted on flippa that report a few thousand a month, I feel like I could spin a site up like this once a week, keep the ones that are successful, sell the ones that are under performing.

    Is this judgement wrong? Realistically, how much could you expect to make doing IM 8hr/day. I am a developer so much of the work would be focused mainly on spinning sites up. Is it better to focus on one site, then outsource the content, or many at a time using the same model?

    Is internet marketing your primary income? How much effort do you put into your daily work? How much is your overhead? How long have you been at it? What is your income like? (dont need to be specific, ball park would work.)

    Well since my 9-5 IS Internet marketing and my side business is internet marketing as well......I guess internet marketing is my main income
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    • Profile picture of the author SquaredSoftware
      I wanted to give a little context to feel you guys out on this. For the record, I seriously do appreciate the input I have and any you guys are willing to give on the subject.

      I had read a book on a flight a few months ago -- the book was aimed at developers.

      The premise was outsource everything that is lower than what you value your time at, and do quick turn-and-burn style projects to make small sums with a large drag-net.

      The whole "start a site that can make $5-$20 a day, but have 30 of those sites"

      This was kind of the premise I was working off of, and what I'm talking about. I can set up an adsense or clickbank site in about a week and just outsource the crap out of content.

      A friend of mine is unemployed, so I set him up a system to proof read, correct, and SEO up some content I purchased off indian writers.

      I wrote a system to automate this entire thing -- a website gets set up off a style, automatically dishes out jobs which alerts the content writers, waits for them to upload the results, he gets a text that says to review it, it gets approved and goes live on the site, he does backlinks, I get an alert with the sum bill and a link to the results.

      How likely am I to fail at this? Am I going about it the wrong way? I was under the impression this small-sum-gain style would work if I had it set up in mass. I am getting the sense you guys are focusing more on one site in general and just building that up.

      Thank you again...
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  • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
    100 sites each making $2/day looks good on paper but fails in practice
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    • Profile picture of the author SquaredSoftware
      Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

      100 sites each making $2/day looks good on paper but fails in practice
      Could you elaborate? Where is the failure? The $2/day bit or the logistics? The latter is what had I assumed the weakpoint was. Its difficult to maintain that much content on a daily or even a weekly basis.

      Obviously it would have to be more than $2/day. It needs to at least be $5 to cover the cost of a daily article. I could see that there are obviously sites out there that wont make a dime, but it could still be factored into overhead or sold at the cost of development (couple hundred dollars).

      Just trying to get any info I can from you guys -- you obviously know the ropes here. I'm not posting to argue, just inquire.
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      • Profile picture of the author jgant
        Originally Posted by SquaredSoftware View Post

        Could you elaborate? Where is the failure? The $2/day bit or the logistics? The latter is what had I assumed the weakpoint was. Its difficult to maintain that much content on a daily or even a weekly basis.

        Obviously it would have to be more than $2/day. It needs to at least be $5 to cover the cost of a daily article. I could see that there are obviously sites out there that wont make a dime, but it could still be factored into overhead or sold at the cost of development (couple hundred dollars).

        Just trying to get any info I can from you guys -- you obviously know the ropes here. I'm not posting to argue, just inquire.
        While the many-mini-sites model isn't impossible, you won't be able to leverage a brand, authority and social media properties nearly as well compared to focusing on building up one or two big sites.

        Sure in time and with hiring people you could have several big sites, but when starting out, work on one or two at most and really create something that people love, will share and will join your enewsletter.

        These days with social media you can build up traffic fast especially if you have some money to invest to get the ball rolling. Once you have traffic, you can tweak/test monetization for maximum revenue.
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      • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
        Originally Posted by SquaredSoftware View Post

        Could you elaborate? Where is the failure? The $2/day bit or the logistics? The latter is what had I assumed the weakpoint was. Its difficult to maintain that much content on a daily or even a weekly basis.

        Obviously it would have to be more than $2/day. It needs to at least be $5 to cover the cost of a daily article. I could see that there are obviously sites out there that wont make a dime, but it could still be factored into overhead or sold at the cost of development (couple hundred dollars).

        Just trying to get any info I can from you guys -- you obviously know the ropes here. I'm not posting to argue, just inquire.
        The entire business plan is the failure because there are several weaknesses. Not every site is going to make $2/day and the time involved to support 100 sites isn't going to be worth the money that it DOES make. Not to mention the costs of domain renewals (100 domains x $12.95 every year).

        It's just one of those things that looks better than it really is.

        There is FAR LESS effort required to build a brand (one site) and to make that a destination for people in your niche.
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        • Profile picture of the author Devilfish168
          :confused:
          ok maybe I was dreaming?

          presently I'm in amazon affliates....and adsense...

          IS IT possible to earn a stable income just only from these two ?
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          • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
            Originally Posted by Devilfish168 View Post

            :confused:
            ok maybe I was dreaming?

            presently I'm in amazon affliates....and adsense...

            IS IT possible to earn a stable income just only from these two ?
            Sure, it's possible. It's just not easy.
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  • Profile picture of the author cyberzolo
    You are definitkey not going to turn a site into a 3K a month site over a weekend. Think again.
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    • Profile picture of the author Devilfish168
      Originally Posted by cyberzolo View Post

      You are definitkey not going to turn a site into a 3K a month site over a weekend. Think again.
      true I agreed...

      even those short term SEO service need few weeks to see the real results etc...

      just curious fastest you have ever heard site rank high take how long?
      next the problem is need to maintain the ranking....

      you are trying to scout all means , services to maintain your site ranking ~
      others also doing the same....
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  • Profile picture of the author Taylor Stewart G
    Originally Posted by SquaredSoftware View Post

    Hey all, I'm trying to gauge what the money is like in this. I see sites posted on flippa that report a few thousand a month, I feel like I could spin a site up like this once a week, keep the ones that are successful, sell the ones that are under performing.

    Is this judgement wrong? Realistically, how much could you expect to make doing IM 8hr/day. I am a developer so much of the work would be focused mainly on spinning sites up. Is it better to focus on one site, then outsource the content, or many at a time using the same model?

    Is internet marketing your primary income? How much effort do you put into your daily work? How much is your overhead? How long have you been at it? What is your income like? (dont need to be specific, ball park would work.)
    You can make a living out of this, and only this. It helps if you have a regular job at first, so that you can pay all your bills and have money to invest. Once the sites start rolling, you can use them to pay your bills and finance further development.

    If you start out with a lot of capital, and you know what you're doing, you can leap-frog into doing this as your only source of income. You won't have to go the route of being a service provider and saving up your money.

    This is more like a business than a job. You will make a lot more money if you view it as a business. You will make even more money if you view it as having multiple businesses (passive income streams).
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  • Profile picture of the author Justin Ford
    Basically i am a freelancer. Not only internet marketing is my profession but also another work is my main working source of my income. I will try to take it as a chance of my income source.. I am not sure now..
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  • Profile picture of the author GGpaul
    Here's the thing. Don't even think about Internet Marketing being your main income. Just keep grinding and have a strong game plan. It (the income)will eventually go up .
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  • Profile picture of the author affilorama-portal
    IM could be your main (or only) income if you can really pull it off. There are several people here commenting that automation works for them. As for me, I am not that risky and I prefer the long method, which I know I have a sure shot to success. I have been following a good blueprint for my IM business and this blueprint only focused at "quality". And since I am an experienced writer, most of the content work is done by me only as well as SEO. Although I also invest on few several important software for my business. Working 8 hours is a good start and I must say you can already accomplish a lot from that time. ut again, it is very important to follow your timeframe and perhaps get your own blueprint for all your IM work so you can manage the time well. Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author guitarizma
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    Originally Posted by SquaredSoftware View Post

    Hey all, I'm trying to gauge what the money is like in this. I see sites posted on flippa that report a few thousand a month, I feel like I could spin a site up like this once a week, keep the ones that are successful, sell the ones that are under performing.

    Is this judgement wrong? Realistically, how much could you expect to make doing IM 8hr/day. I am a developer so much of the work would be focused mainly on spinning sites up. Is it better to focus on one site, then outsource the content, or many at a time using the same model?

    Is internet marketing your primary income? How much effort do you put into your daily work? How much is your overhead? How long have you been at it? What is your income like? (dont need to be specific, ball park would work.)
    Primary income? NO - Only Income - YES

    How much you can make would depend on your skill levels, perseverance and above all how effectively you can market yourself.
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    • Profile picture of the author criniit
      I make a full time living from internet marketing. Over the last 6 months I have been traveling the world and running my IM business from my laptop, it's an incredible life style!

      Took me a little over 2 years of trying different methods and learning everything before I figured out what I was doing and started making real money. Now I average between $10,000-20,000 a month pretty much completely passive (I've hired people to do most of the day to day work).

      Pick one method that is proven to work, focus only on that and become a master at it before you even consider learning any other methods. That was the lesson that took me 2 years to learn.
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  • Profile picture of the author davidaclark
    You need to make sites that earn a lot more than $2 a day.
    It will take you $2 of time just to look at the site to see if you made $2.
    The administration, backing up and other work would not be worth it.
    Anyway, Paypal or another processor would be taking too much on $2 purchases unless you mean you are making a sale for say $60 once a month averaging $2 a day.
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  • Profile picture of the author cheehien
    is depend on your desire Income Vs Expenses. Normally i will spend around 2-3 hours per day in consistently.
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  • Profile picture of the author bharatreddy
    Yes, i left my job and now i am earning 3x of my salary...
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    • Profile picture of the author Alice12345
      Originally Posted by bharatreddy View Post

      Yes, i left my job and now i am earning 3x of my salary...
      What is your income source?
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Shaw
    Yep! I am a full time marketer and have been for several years. So far you have had a lot of good and bad advice in this thread. First your idea of making 100+ sites that make $2+ a day is more than possible. Infact it is one of the business models I use.

    But doing this just buy adding tons of content to sites with a few links here and there is not going to work with out mixing in some kind of unique angle. Plus if you wanted to go down this route next level autoblogs still work if you know what your doing. I know people with 1000's of them running and they do make a full time living.

    The easier route is using social media to drive traffic to these mini sites. Not much content needed and no seo required but again you have to know where to start.

    I agree with the above post you have to treat this as a business and work very hard to succeed. With your skill set I would look into making automated solutions for others. This is a huge sector of the IM market and is always looking for new talent.
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  • Profile picture of the author jasondinner
    Yes it is my main income.

    Been doing it since 2005. Been doing it exclusively since 2006. Been 100% on my own since July 3rd 2013.

    My personal business income more than tripled from 2012 to 2013 and I'm on pace to do more than double what I did last year this year.

    Keep in mind, my wife hasn't worked a day since July of 2006 and I support her and my 4 kids very comfortably on Long Island NY. If anyone knows this area, cost of living is higher than most others in the country.

    So you definitely can make a great living from a business that is grown with online marketing.

    Just keep at it and eventually things will click for you.
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