What's the best approach as a non-native English speaker?
Hello everyone! I recently discovered this (fabulous) forum and must say the information you can find here is so interesting it's at times a bit overwhelming for a newbie in internet marketing.
I'm trying to find out whether I'm able to earn something extra online. My boss is retiring in 2 years and I wonder if by then I'll have to find a new 'normal' job or if it would be possible to earn a normal wage online. It's not necessary to get 'rich', just a normal wage to get around (preferably avoiding unpleasant things like starving or having to sell organs).
What would be the best approach for someone like me, who lives in a small non-English speaking country? I live in Belgium, 6 million people speak my language (Dutch), another 17 million speak (almost
) the same language in the neighboring Netherlands, and I wonder if that pond is big enough for topics that get talked about a lot on here (list building, SEO niche sites, teespring t-shirts, Facebook fanpages, etc.) or if it's better to try my luck in that big English pond.
Problem 1: my forte is my writing, more than my marketing/technical skills. But by writing I mean of course writing in my mother tongue. I hope I'll understand the English replies in this topic but by no means I can compete with people whose mother tongue is English. So yeah, that's a first issue I'm confronted with.
Problem 2: I've read some topics in here that specifically talk about how European markets are less crowded by internet marketers than the English one, but that was about 'big' EU markets like Germany. The Dutch speaking market is far smaller and my experience in doing stuff online has been fun, but far from profitable.
Experience 1: I've had a 'niche' site for over ten years but never monetized it seeing the low amount of traffic and the low price point of the product that could have been promoted through affiliates. I didn't start the website to earn money anyway, it was just a hobby. But of course, very specified niches will still have a potential of tens of thousands in English, but might only have a few hundred people interested on a smaller market (people who might even first search in English instead of in Dutch...)
Experience 2: Since a few years I write some small articles for a general Dutch gossip site with over 5K visitors a day - which in my eyes is huge. But even that website doesn't give the owner a decent monthly wage, so yeah... I do that because I like it, but I don't earn anything of that. Of course, it's just a gossip site, not selling services/products or anything, but still...
So yeah! Before I found this forum, my intention was to search an interesting, rather 'general' topic and to write articles about it, trying to update the website as often as possible, but it seems hard to earn money with that kind of sites, even when successful. On the other hand, stuff like e-books or selling services online isn't something that is common use in Dutch - people are rather reluctant about spending money online.
I know this is more of a rambling rant than a specific question but my main concern is if it's possible to earn money writing in a foreign language for a small market or if there are more possibilities in the English market - even for non-native English speakers. And how more experience internet marketers would approach this. Or maybe there are Warriors in the same situation as me?
Thanks!
I'm trying to find out whether I'm able to earn something extra online. My boss is retiring in 2 years and I wonder if by then I'll have to find a new 'normal' job or if it would be possible to earn a normal wage online. It's not necessary to get 'rich', just a normal wage to get around (preferably avoiding unpleasant things like starving or having to sell organs).
What would be the best approach for someone like me, who lives in a small non-English speaking country? I live in Belgium, 6 million people speak my language (Dutch), another 17 million speak (almost
) the same language in the neighboring Netherlands, and I wonder if that pond is big enough for topics that get talked about a lot on here (list building, SEO niche sites, teespring t-shirts, Facebook fanpages, etc.) or if it's better to try my luck in that big English pond.Problem 1: my forte is my writing, more than my marketing/technical skills. But by writing I mean of course writing in my mother tongue. I hope I'll understand the English replies in this topic but by no means I can compete with people whose mother tongue is English. So yeah, that's a first issue I'm confronted with.
Problem 2: I've read some topics in here that specifically talk about how European markets are less crowded by internet marketers than the English one, but that was about 'big' EU markets like Germany. The Dutch speaking market is far smaller and my experience in doing stuff online has been fun, but far from profitable.
Experience 1: I've had a 'niche' site for over ten years but never monetized it seeing the low amount of traffic and the low price point of the product that could have been promoted through affiliates. I didn't start the website to earn money anyway, it was just a hobby. But of course, very specified niches will still have a potential of tens of thousands in English, but might only have a few hundred people interested on a smaller market (people who might even first search in English instead of in Dutch...)
Experience 2: Since a few years I write some small articles for a general Dutch gossip site with over 5K visitors a day - which in my eyes is huge. But even that website doesn't give the owner a decent monthly wage, so yeah... I do that because I like it, but I don't earn anything of that. Of course, it's just a gossip site, not selling services/products or anything, but still...
So yeah! Before I found this forum, my intention was to search an interesting, rather 'general' topic and to write articles about it, trying to update the website as often as possible, but it seems hard to earn money with that kind of sites, even when successful. On the other hand, stuff like e-books or selling services online isn't something that is common use in Dutch - people are rather reluctant about spending money online.
I know this is more of a rambling rant than a specific question but my main concern is if it's possible to earn money writing in a foreign language for a small market or if there are more possibilities in the English market - even for non-native English speakers. And how more experience internet marketers would approach this. Or maybe there are Warriors in the same situation as me?
Thanks!
I Coach: Learn More | My Latest WF Thread: Dead Domains/ Passive Traffic
Join ADZbuzz Here:
ADZbuzz Social Network And Content Discovery Platform
The Extra Paycheck Blog | Extra Paycheck Podcast
Cheers, Laurence.
Writer/Editor/Proofreader.
Join ADZbuzz Here:
ADZbuzz Social Network And Content Discovery Platform
Please don't press the Thank you button if this post isn't helpful.