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4 Fatal Financial fantasies - Yahoo Finance

by drewsg
8 replies
Came across this from my twitter feed, interesting they include this along with winning the lottery, waiting for a rich relative to die, and going public with an IPO.

3. I'll start a website and make a killing off advertising.



Various books and websites promise to help you get rich by creating websites that generate advertising income. Sometimes, these books and websites advocate making "junk" websites that do not have any useful content, but that are still likely to show up high in search engine results, get lots of traffic, and thereby make lots of advertising dollars. Others advocate getting rich through creating legitimate websites or blogs that provide content of real value to users and selling advertising on those sites. Sounds great, right? Who wouldn't want to sit back and have the money come flowing in for simply creating a page and paying for a URL?
While the success stories of people who make a full-time living from either "junk" or legitimate websites and blogs can make anyone want to quit their day job, running one of these sites is not as easy as it sounds. Popular advertising programs, such as Google AdSense, hire people to keep an eye out for sites that clutter the web and make it more difficult for people to find valuable information online. If advertisers discover that you are running a junk website, your account is likely to be terminated and your profits forfeited. It is certainly possible to make money from running one or more legitimate websites or blogs, but it's not a viable get-rich-quick scheme. Any website that gets considerable money from ad traffic has done so from hard work and thousands of dollars spent in design, content and upkeep.

4 Fatal Financial Fantasies - Yahoo! Finance
#fantasies #fatal #finance #financial #yahoo
  • Profile picture of the author drewsg
    bump, curious for some responses
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    One response from the horse's mouth
    http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...per-sites.html
    Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    I didn't read the article, but the quoted portion is very slanted and misleading.

    The entry says: 3. I'll start a website and make a killing off advertising.

    But then it goes on to talk about JUNK websites. That's a lot different than "starting a website" that's legitimate.

    Besides, most people don't think to themselves "I'll start a JUNK webiste and make a killing off advertising". They may think they'll make money from advertising, and may not understand the process completely, but that doesn't make it a fantasy.

    I think it would have been less biased and misleading, and more accurate if it would have said:

    3. I'll start a website and rake in a ton of dough; it will be super easy and won't require any work whatsover.

    That's the more widespread fantasy.

    All the best,
    Michael
    Signature

    "Ich bin en fuego!"
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    In the next sentence it talks about "legitimate websites"...

    Others advocate getting rich through creating legitimate websites or blogs that provide content of real value to users and selling advertising on those sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author RobertMandrake
    I would tend to agree with the part "Any website that gets considerable money from ad traffic has done so from hard work and thousands of dollars spent in design, content and upkeep."

    I find this usually true.


    Robert
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      The quoted portion of the article failed to mention how old some of those 'various books and websites' were. There was a time when you could make good money driving traffic to a crappy junk site - or a legitimate one - and cashing in on Adsense and other advertising. That time is quickly receding into the dim realm of history.

      That model basically died when Google decoupled Adsense from their regular search advertising. Before that signature event, Adwords advertisers had no choice but to pay the same rate for ads on the search pages and the content network. It wasn't uncommon to find keywords that paid $1-$20 per click. then Google decoupled the rates. Advertisers that were still paying $5-$10 per search click were now bidding $0.05-$0.10 per click on the content (Adsense) network.

      Of course, many of the products touted during that time are still for sale, laying their trap for the ignorant (not stupid, ignorant, as in 'they know not what they do'). Which keeps the fantasy alive, I guess.
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    • Profile picture of the author kbailey1734
      Originally Posted by RobertMandrake View Post

      I would tend to agree with the part "Any website that gets considerable money from ad traffic has done so from hard work and thousands of dollars spent in design, content and upkeep."

      I find this usually true.


      Robert
      Honestly, this is the reality that most people need to come to grips with.
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      • Profile picture of the author RS3RS
        Originally Posted by kbailey1734 View Post

        Honestly, this is the reality that most people need to come to grips with.
        It really is. Most people that get into this are not "warriors", and barely know what they are doing. They buy into these dreams (their fault for being naive, but hey) and then have it all crash down around them.
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