I Need Advice on My Plan to Make 50k a Year!

12 years ago

The first thing that I would recommend is to focus on learning exactly what you need to know about your niche. If it's making money online, then for sure you will need to put some things in place initially.

1. Get a domain name
2. Get hosting
3. Get an autoresponder
4. Get a blog

When you get these things in place, then focus on putting quality and helpful information on that blog in order to build a strong readership. Once that readership get a feel for you, there is a possibility that they will want to know more and opt in to your mailing list. Once you get them on your list, you can then choose to monetize it as best as possible. This is a more sure long term plan and has been proven to work best. Hope this helps.

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HanifQ

12 years ago

Originally Posted by JHandy

The first thing that I would recommend is to focus on learning exactly what you need to know about your niche. If it's making money online, then for sure you will need to put some things in place initially.

1. Get a domain name
2. Get hosting
3. Get an autoresponder
4. Get a blog

When you get these things in place, then focus on putting quality and helpful information on that blog in order to build a strong readership. Once that readership get a feel for you, there is a possibility that they will want to know more and opt in to your mailing list. Once you get them on your list, you can then choose to monetize it as best as possible. This is a more sure long term plan and has been proven to work best. Hope this helps.

The only thing I would add to this is PERSONALITY...if you're trying to go the long-term route and build subscribers and a following, make sure your personality shines through your blog, use emotion, connect as a friend.

Helpful content is a commodity now a days, people are addicted to personality. So inject personality in all you do...

And people will be addicted to you!

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Brendon Zahrndt

12 years ago

Octopus,

Glad to see that you want to make a positive change.

Let me give you some advice - advice I wish I'd had in the beginning.

Niche sites that rely on long tail keyword for traffic take the same amount of effort to create as mini authority sites and on, and the latter two categories also rely on long tail keywords if that is how you set them up.

So why go small?

Low risk, low reward. This will never change.

I am not trying to discourage you - in fact I am trying to motivate you into thinking bigger and releasing some of your fears. There is plenty of money to go around in the Internet Marketing, or Information Marketing field, and you will most likely have some skills that will benefit others, which benefits you too.

If you want a mentor, there are plenty out there to help you, and most of them are worth what they pay. The key will be your follow through.

I would dive in and learn as you go. You will fall flat on your face some, and you will also see some nice successes. It's all about getting up when you feel knocked down and it is inevitable (a fall).

Some people read/study/read/study but never apply anything and wonder why they are broke after two months. You have to take one task and try your best to master it. Stay the course and you are bound to succeed.

I don't know what you plan on doing, but if I had to start over again I would look for a seasoned mentor and listen to every single thing they had to say. I'm five years in and I learn something new every day - but I could have been earning much more, and much sooner, if I had someone showing me what was really going to make a difference in my business from day one.

Good luck on your journey my friend.

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HanifQ

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Brendon Zahrndt

Octopus,

Niche sites that rely on long tail keyword for traffic take the same amount of effort to create as mini authority sites and on, and the latter two categories also rely on long tail keywords if that is how you set them up.

I kind of disagree with this point, but I kind of agree as well

Let me explain...

Mini authority sites require more knowledge/expertise in your niche, more strategic thinking & planning, and more overall promotion/link-building as well. On top of all that, MANY authority sites with great content were still hit by the Google updates last year(Penguin) and the year before(Panda).

On the other hand, more 'basic' mini-sites can almost ENTIRELY be outsourced, from setting up the site to getting the content written all the way up to promotion/link-building.

So in terms of effort, 'basic' mini-sites are very little overall effort, as long as you outsource it. It can also be very predictable once you come upon a niche that's converting/monetizing decent (whether Amazon or Adsense).

On the other hand, you will need to be more pro-active and hands on with your authority site (because the content needs to be high quality and the promotion needs to be more robust as well).

With that said, I think authority sites are great! As long as you have the knowledge and expertise in a Niche that will make you money, and you have a firm grounding of Internet Marketing principles.

Personally, I have 3 authority sites, truly authoritative in every sense of the word, that were slapped HARD by Google last year.

I also have over 30 mini basic sites, and these were hit as well.

But I've bounced back and adjusted my strategies to be compliant with the modern era. As far as money goes, I've made about the same money from my basic sites as I have with my 3 authority sites...

But the basic sites were almost entirely outsourced and were much easier to setup.

So my recommendation, start off with basic sites and after you gain some experience and see some cash, build an authority site that you know is in a proven market.

Other than that, if you're building Amazon sites that are targeting 'long tail' keywords, I HIGHLY recommend building Web 2.0s alongside each site (Blogger, Youtube, Squidoo, etc)....

You can have multiple rankings on the first page of Google and have a nice little pyramid thats pushing more linkjuice to your main site. I would aggressively build links to the Web 2.0s, and be gentle with your main site....

That way you'll likely achieve multiple rankings on Google for atleast some of your keywords, diversify your strategy, and insulate yourself from risks.

Also, make sure your content on the Amazon review style sites is friendly, conversational and written by native English speakers, UNLESS you can find good non-native writers then go for it. but its much harder to find.

For backlinking, as I said focus on the Web 2.0 pyramid thing and try to buy some aged, pageranked domains that are expiring, throw up some quick blogs and link back to your main site. Personally, I also use article marketing networks like UniqueArticleWizard and ArticleMarketingAutomation to build backlinks, but I'm very cautious with this strategy now.

All the best to you!

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After my first 2 years of losing over 10K in internet marketing SCAMS, I am now a 6+ year IM veteran with lots of experience building Niche Sites, Ecomm Stores & running PPC campaigns. I've made most of my money through Affiliate Marketing, Adsense & Infoproducts. I promise to provide lots of FREE VALUE from all my experience over the past decade!

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travlinguy

12 years ago

Originally Posted by HanifQ

I kind of disagree with this point, but I kind of agree as well

Let me explain...

Mini authority sites require more knowledge/expertise in your niche, more strategic thinking & planning, and more overall promotion/link-building as well.

What's a mini authority site? That's like saying a tall, short person. Authority sites by their nature are large with lots of info.

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Brendon Zahrndt 12 years ago

A mini authority site is a site that gets more Google ranking 'love' than long tail niche websites, but isn't trying to compete with the Amazon.com, eBay.com, and WebMD.com's of the world.

Mini Authority Site: 20-100 pages of value driven, enriching content that eventually gets scooped up by search engines and provides value to both the site owner and site user.

Originally Posted by travlinguy

What's a mini authority site? That's like saying a tall, short person. Authority sites by their nature are large with lots of info.
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World Marketing

12 years ago

Whatever you do stick with one plan and execute it...When I first started I was all over the place trying different strategies and I was just getting confused...Niche blogs could be a good start just start off small and be persistent....Good Luck

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mattjay

12 years ago

That can be a profitable business model, and you can expand by adsense, selling affiliate products, building your list and creating your own products to sell as well. Whatever you decide, take action. Don't go after millions of things at once, just decide what you want to do after research, and take action. there are plenty of warriors here who are willing to help you if you get stuck.

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keyon

12 years ago

Originally Posted by octopus

I looked at some methods to make money online and I really like the fact that small niche sites targeting long tail keywords seems like a smaller risk.

Be careful that you're not reading (or buying) outdated SEO information. I've seen a lot of programs being peddled today that are straight out of 2008. Maybe the basic concepts still hold true, but a lot of the SEO "tricks" that worked back then simply don't work now.

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octopus

12 years ago

@Brendon Zahrndt : Thanks for your help! What would be the difference between small niche site and small authority sites?

@Keyon : Yea, I saw tools that seemed like they were old too. My first step would be to use a tool but understand also what I'm doing before using it. But I know what you mean. I read a lot of stuff on IM and when I see tools or "methods", it often looks like it's not working anymore and the seller is trying to make money out of it by selling the technique before it crashes. It's hard to know what's working and what is not when you're a newbie like me without any experience

Anyway, thanks everybody for your help. I think the main point here is to focus on one thing and become good at it!

Thanks
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Monja 12 years ago

Originally Posted by octopus

@Brendon Zahrndt : Thanks for your help! What would be the difference between small niche site and small authority sites?

You can't really point out the difference but if I had to - a small niche site is even smaller and targets very specific keywords while an authority site "thinks" a bit broader.

I love the advice given here, please feel free to sign up for my 30 days blog action plan where you get a video course on how to set up your blog from scratch, every helpful if you are just starting out and after that, you get 30 days of actionable content so you have a free way of getting started.
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Brendon Zahrndt

12 years ago

I define a mini authority site as a site that competes in a large market with good competition and has about 20 to 100 pages of professionally written content, for starters. It goes after higher search volume keywords while still picking up great long tail keyword traffic.

Small niche sites drill down too far for my taste:

Market - Niche - Subniche - SubSub Niche - Etc. Niche sites aim for long tail traffic at the tail ends of this model.

Does this explain it a little better for you?

Originally Posted by octopus

@Brendon Zahrndt : Thanks for your help! What would be the difference between small niche site and small authority sites?

@Keyon : Yea, I saw tools that seemed like they were old too. My first step would be to use a tool but understand also what I'm doing before using it. But I know what you mean. I read a lot of stuff on IM and when I see tools or "methods", it often looks like it's not working anymore and the seller is trying to make money out of it by selling the technique before it crashes. It's hard to know what's working and what is not when you're a newbie like me without any experience

Anyway, thanks everybody for your help. I think the main point here is to focus on one thing and become good at it!

Thanks

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JasonBennet

12 years ago

If you divide $50K over 365 days, that means you will need to make around $137 per day.

I will make sure that I stay focus on following one proven system and stick to it. Once I am able to make X amount of money with Y amount of work, I will make sure that I will put in more work until I am able to make $137 per day.

Stay FOCUS, follow proven system and just take action

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octopus

12 years ago

@JasonBennet Thanks for the tip! The only question I have is how should I find a "proven system"? I won't know it until I try it right?

Anyway, if you have any tips on this, I'll be more than happy! Do you have a blog or an ebook to recommend?

Thanks

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JohnV88

12 years ago

Don't quit your Job keep IM as your passive income & once you are making good money in IM than think of quieting.

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octopus

12 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnV88

Don't quit your Job keep IM as your passive income & once you are making good money in IM than think of quieting.

I'm not sure it's a good advice for me. I think I'll get more motivated if I really need to "survive"

Anyway, I'll get some "site contracts" if I don't make enough money. I have a lot of experience in programming so that won't be a problem. I'm just tired of having a boss

Edit : I meant "side contracts"

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ParkerArrow

12 years ago

Originally Posted by octopus

I'm not sure it's a good advice for me. I think I'll get more motivated if I really need to "survive"

Anyway, I'll get some "site contracts" if I don't make enough money. I have a lot of experience in programming so that won't be a problem. I'm just tired of having a boss

Edit : I meant "side contracts"

I disagree.

Success is not a matter of determination. It is not a matter of full time commitment. It is not a matter of inevitability. It is not a matter of process. It is not a matter of deserving.

It is a matter of results.

Keep your steady income and replace it with side income. Make your job redundant. Then and only then let your day job go.

Desperation is not an ally. Security is.

Best of luck.

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vmove

12 years ago

I have one word: FOCUS = Follow One Course Until Successful

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vmove

12 years ago

Follow it, and you will get what you want....

Mission > Action > Result

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Jenna619

12 years ago

I'm working on 50k per month my self...I would say make sure you implement your plan and if you fail a bit you can always adjust accordingly.

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Keanuhawaii

12 years ago

Alright dude lesson #1 NEVER look for the short-term goal to make money online. Here is what I mean there's a bunch of ways to create niche sites but these things USUALLY get slapped to the google holes from which they belong,why? Because there is no way of getting it past the search engines in the long-term, yeah there may be some websites that still rank high but there's so much backlinks and things that are going on that you may not know how to do yet that could just mess things up for a newbie. What you should be doing is brainstorm what you want to specialize in and build your blog around your topic. There are some guidelines that you can follow to create profitable blogs that I follow, but you should be focusing on taking action when you take action your going to start your IM career and your going to learn as you go. But there's a lot of people that are willing to help you out. An feel free to PM me or any body I think they would be more than happy to help out here. There are things that people don't want to share to the public we can all agree.

Thanks

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Logan Lee

12 years ago

Your goal of 50k in 2 years is not unrealistic. Here's my two cents:

In my opinion, if you have $2,000 to invest in (meaning if you lost all this, you would still be able to cover your bills) then I HIGHLY recommend finding a coach or mentor. This is the absolute fastest way to become successful in this business. They are not cheap, but if you can find the right one for your needs, your chances of success will be very high.

A few more pointers:

1. What you described was affiliate marketing, understand that there are many different types of businesses in internet marketing. Pick one and really laser focus on it. Some examples include CPA marketing, solo ads, copywriting services, or product creator.

2. Once you figure this out, pick a traffic source to focus on. For example, you can promote affiliate offers through SEO, article marketing, or pay per click networks (like Google or Bing). Pick one traffic source, get good at it, and only once you master it, move onto the next traffice source.

3. Take action. You can read about something as much as you want, but you're only learning the basics. True learning comes from going in the trenches, learning from failure, and then going back to the drawing board to improve on your failure.

4. Work like there is no tomorrow. Seriously, since you have a job, I'm guessing you work at least 40 hours a week. Well that means you'll have to work on internet marketing after your 9-5, and/or on weekends while all your friends are watching sports or going out to socialize.

5. Don't quit your job until your absolutely sure you have income from your internet marketing business. I know you want to quit in a year, but understand that you might have to work at your job longer than that because having steady income will prevent you from making the wrong decisions, say if you were unemployed and trying to build an internet marketing business on borrowed money.

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octopus

12 years ago

@HanifQ : Your post is really encouraging!

@Art of Marketing : Thanks for the tips, I'll certainly read this post!

@Keanuhawaii : Thanks ! I'll PM you

@ParkerArrow : I just feel that if I have 1 full year, I'll really be able to focus. If it doesn't work, I can always go back to my old job. I'll have the money for that 1 year prior to leaving my job. Do you still think it's a bad idea?

@Monja : Thanks for your offer, but I think I know a great % of what blogs are and how they operate. I had one but never monetized it. And I'm a web programmer, so I know all the "technical" stuff. The only part missing is really the marketing / making money out of it. Is your course more focused on marketing or a little bit of everything?

@Logan Lee : In 1 year I'll have enough savings to live for 1 year with 0 income. So I guess that I'll be able to judge when it's safe to leave my job for 1 year or not based on the incomes I'll make from IM? If I make no money at all, I'll stay at my day job I guess

Thanks
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HanifQ

12 years ago

Hi octopus if you're really gonna quit your job and go at this hardcore...

I HIGHLY suggest outsourcing the writing & promotion aspects of the mini-sites, and aim to build atleast 2-3 every single month (about 10-15 pages each site)...

Also, as I said make sure you're also building either Squidoo, Blogger or Youtube(powerpoint style) properties alongside each site to dramatically boost your chances of commissions.

Outsourcing the writing and promotion for each mini site will probably cost you no more than $100 per site, as long as you look around this forum for decent writers and link-builders.

Make sure you diversify your niches and don't jump into the ultra-competitive ones.

Thanks
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Jill Carpenter

12 years ago

Originally Posted by octopus

Hello!

I'm trying to make money online and would like to quit my job in 1 year and be able to make 50k per year after 2 years from now (so 1 year of part time work online and 1 full year). I would like to invest 2k of my savings or less.

Very reasonable IMO.
What it's really going to boil down to is having a solid business plan.

Forget for a minute that you are selling online.
Even though selling online can be kickstarted with much less investment, it has to be considered the same as starting an offline business.

Forget about SEO, forget about throwing meatballs to see which one sticks - IE:

I looked at some methods to make money online and I really like the fact that small niche sites targeting long tail keywords seems like a smaller risk. I feel like I won't have to invest too much money in them. So what if 4-5-6 sites doesn't work, maybe I'll have another one that works? So I'm planning to learn how to do that and earn money with Adsense and Amazon.

^^^
That is the meatball throw.

You want to do what you'd have to do with any business first which is research. Find the market, find the need, determine a niche that you can dominate.

Anyway, is my plan doable? What should I know and what advice do you have for me? Should I find 2-3 great keywords to target and start right now or read a little bit more about this method? Is there any groups I could be part of? Can I find a mentor? ... where should I begin?

Thank you for your help!

That kind of growth with that initial investment can be doable - but I think you are missing too many pieces at the moment.

Do this - go to youtube and search "business plan" and check out writing up a business plan and what it entails.

It's going to force you to realize some of the research you should have behind you and help you determine a better timeline for yourself - at which point you'll have some more solid goals as well as something to measure.

Give yourself a good 2 weeks at the very least to jot down specific details.

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Monja 12 years ago

it has pieces of all :-)
maybe you just pick out the most relevant stuff but the free course is a mix of blog set up, installing different needed plugins and then start with some social media stuff.
you might get not as much out of it as someone who doesn't know the technical stuff. sorry

@Monja : Thanks for your offer, but I think I know a great % of what blogs are and how they operate. I had one but never monetized it. And I'm a web programmer, so I know all the "technical" stuff. The only part missing is really the marketing / making money out of it. Is your course more focused on marketing or a little bit of everything?
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- Chris Silvey 12 years ago
  
  This is the way I do it.
  
  Start
  
  1. Select Niche
  2. Select Product
  
  A. Does the Product/Service have real value.
  B. Is the Product/Service Green and available year round and not a limited offer?
  C. Optimize Sales Copy
  D. Test sales through Social Media.
  E. Does it sell and convert good.
  
  1. If Yes, Goto Marketing Strategies
  2, If No, Goto Start.
  
  Marketing Strategies.
  
  Build Niche or Mini Site.
  Optimize site for speed and conversion.
  
  Techniques.
  
  1. Green light - Long life Passive Income Marketing techniques = low maintenance.
  2. Amber - Marketing Techniques that have moderate life or low cost. ie Classifieds for example.
  3. Red Light - Active Marketing from Syndication, to social media blasts, PPC, etc. Time consuming.
  
  Find Related products and services
  Goto Step A.
  
  At this point you can specialize in one niche, or start another.
  
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MartinPlatt

12 years ago

You need to improve on your plan - how you're going to achieve it, what are the stages between now, and when you earn $50K. What methods are you planning to use to get yourself there.

Those numbers are definitely achievable but you need to be good at planning and setting yourself goals to be able to achieve them.

Learn to walk before you can run. So start by making a dollar online, then double, and so on. What is your plan after you earn a dollar to make 2? How will you achieve it?

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freeadstime

12 years ago

What you described in your opening thread is so many people's dream. So, if there are too many people out there with the same dream, that particular dream would become super hard to reach. Don't quit your job, but definitely start working on new projects. Don't think they will pay you what you have aimed for after short term, look at them as long term projects. Making money should not be in your mind first, making it out there should be.

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ericando12

12 years ago

Choose a franchise program to start

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webrankingseoservices

12 years ago

You need a plan, funds and a good mentor. PPC would be the best to do all such things, but need to have big pockets

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octopus

12 years ago

Thanks everyone!

If I summarize this :

Don't quit your job
OK, I swear I won't quit if I'm not sure I'll be able to survive with the Income I'll make then.

Get a (better) plan
I'll read /watch stuff about business plans! I'll stop throwing meatballs

Get a mentor
Expect a post from me about mentors

Small niche sites are a bad idea
Darn!

Small niche sites could be a good idea
OK!

Don't think you're going to make money fast
Be careful not to buy outdated information
There's a lot of helpful people on WF!

Thanks

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juicedmarketing

12 years ago

I agree with the idea to keep your regular job while you IM from home. I am in the same situation and work with other people who all share similar situations. Hard work....its the key.