{Live Case Study} Starting From Zero Got Nothing To Lose
I have been wanting to launch a live case study for a while but I have always found them to be a bit sketchy. Either the OP doesn't deliver or it's often a super shady pdf that doesn't really help those who are new to internet marketing actually make cash. They are often like pyramid schemes.
I have a personal hatred of THE CASE STUDIES THAT USE CAPS AND HYPE throughout the copy and then get you to buy into something.
Well the good news is that this case study definitely isn't a WSO or a cheap attempt to sell you on something. I'm not pedalling anything, I simply want to collect all the knowledge that I have gained over the past decade and present it in a way that people can consume and actually use. Rather than launch a new blog to do all this - I thought I would go straight to where the traffic is, rather than having to build up the traffic from zero.
Once again this isn't the kind of Lee McIntyre, hype bullshit that your inboxes are no doubt spammed to death with on daily basis - this is an actual example with no inflated numbers.
The truth is that this whole experiment might fail but even in failure there is a lesson to be learned.
I personally don't think you can trust anyone who has never had a failure or six. I personally have had more failures that successes - it is only the fact that my wins have been bigger than my losses that I can say that I have created a successful business.
The Goal
My overall goal for this case study is to create a website that will earn $2000 a month which will pay all my domestic bills. My 6 month goal is to learn more about video marketing and to publish over 10 hours of content and finally my short term, 3 month goal is to recoupe the initial $50 investment so I can grow my website. Finally my macro goal for the next 30 days is to launch my case study website.
The Timeframe
This isn't a hype thread, this is a genuine thread about making money properly. The whole point is to teach that you wont get rich quickly so my timeframe for this project is 365 days. That means 365 little actions which will hopefully amount to success.
The Rules
I decided that for this challenge to be judged as successful I needed to practice what I preach so I set up some golden rules to run the site by.
Produce epic shit!
I personally am sick of reading the same shit online. The majority of content (especially in the make money online niche) seems to be a rehash of other content. This post at ThinkTraffic got me thinking - whatever content I produce has to be epic. I don't want to just add to the noise online, I want to write helpful, useful and interesting content for this project.
Quality links only!
It's easy to get 1000 shitty, low quality backlinks using automated tools but it's much harder to get good links. I want to force myself to get those good links and to push the focus away from quantity and quick, ego pleasing backlinks to quality links that you have to sweat for.
Work for only 2 hours a day on the project
This rule is important. For most of those who are new to internet marketing, time is precious. Internet marketing projects are often done after the day job. A 2 hour window for working on your internet marketing project should be achievable for most people. Get up an hour earlier and go to bed an hour later and you have your 2 hour work window.
Bootstrap the project with $50
Just like time, when starting out on your online adventure money can be tight, you don't want to bet the farm on something that might not work out. You have bills to pay and can't squander those precious funds on the latest tools or coaching programs. Just like the 2 hour work window, $50 is a reasonable amount to spend on everything you need to get going such as hosting and a domain and most people can scrape it together.
Don't fear failure
The 1 lesson that helped me channel my potential online was when I stopped fearing failure. Chances are you high that you might fail but so what - you tried and you learned some lessons along the way. If we all gave up when things got difficult we wouldn't get anywhere. Once you learn that failure isn't a negative thing you can achieve so much.
Be helpful
This is a personal rule - I want to provide the maximum amount of helpfulness to develop clarity in my writing and content. I have also found that the more you give, the more you get back.
Be consistent
You wouldn't run a marathon after only training sporadically for a month or two and likewise you wont succeed in making money online by only building your site on and off for a couple of weeks. It takes work and dedication to make money online. That dream of 4 hour work weeks that the gurus sell is bullshit - I will consistently work towards this project. I could potentially do something every day for a year to work towards my goal but after the year the site will be making money and I will have achieved what I set out to do.
TL;DR
Set out the reason for the live case study, set out some goals, set out a timescale and made a few golden rules for the project.
I have a personal hatred of THE CASE STUDIES THAT USE CAPS AND HYPE throughout the copy and then get you to buy into something.
Well the good news is that this case study definitely isn't a WSO or a cheap attempt to sell you on something. I'm not pedalling anything, I simply want to collect all the knowledge that I have gained over the past decade and present it in a way that people can consume and actually use. Rather than launch a new blog to do all this - I thought I would go straight to where the traffic is, rather than having to build up the traffic from zero.
Once again this isn't the kind of Lee McIntyre, hype bullshit that your inboxes are no doubt spammed to death with on daily basis - this is an actual example with no inflated numbers.
The truth is that this whole experiment might fail but even in failure there is a lesson to be learned.
I personally don't think you can trust anyone who has never had a failure or six. I personally have had more failures that successes - it is only the fact that my wins have been bigger than my losses that I can say that I have created a successful business.
The Goal
My overall goal for this case study is to create a website that will earn $2000 a month which will pay all my domestic bills. My 6 month goal is to learn more about video marketing and to publish over 10 hours of content and finally my short term, 3 month goal is to recoupe the initial $50 investment so I can grow my website. Finally my macro goal for the next 30 days is to launch my case study website.
The Timeframe
This isn't a hype thread, this is a genuine thread about making money properly. The whole point is to teach that you wont get rich quickly so my timeframe for this project is 365 days. That means 365 little actions which will hopefully amount to success.
The Rules
I decided that for this challenge to be judged as successful I needed to practice what I preach so I set up some golden rules to run the site by.
- Produce epic shit!
- Quality links only
- Work for only 2 hours a day on the project
- Bootstrap the project with $100
- Don't fear failure
- Be helpful
- Be consistent
Produce epic shit!
I personally am sick of reading the same shit online. The majority of content (especially in the make money online niche) seems to be a rehash of other content. This post at ThinkTraffic got me thinking - whatever content I produce has to be epic. I don't want to just add to the noise online, I want to write helpful, useful and interesting content for this project.
Quality links only!
It's easy to get 1000 shitty, low quality backlinks using automated tools but it's much harder to get good links. I want to force myself to get those good links and to push the focus away from quantity and quick, ego pleasing backlinks to quality links that you have to sweat for.
Work for only 2 hours a day on the project
This rule is important. For most of those who are new to internet marketing, time is precious. Internet marketing projects are often done after the day job. A 2 hour window for working on your internet marketing project should be achievable for most people. Get up an hour earlier and go to bed an hour later and you have your 2 hour work window.
Bootstrap the project with $50
Just like time, when starting out on your online adventure money can be tight, you don't want to bet the farm on something that might not work out. You have bills to pay and can't squander those precious funds on the latest tools or coaching programs. Just like the 2 hour work window, $50 is a reasonable amount to spend on everything you need to get going such as hosting and a domain and most people can scrape it together.
Don't fear failure
The 1 lesson that helped me channel my potential online was when I stopped fearing failure. Chances are you high that you might fail but so what - you tried and you learned some lessons along the way. If we all gave up when things got difficult we wouldn't get anywhere. Once you learn that failure isn't a negative thing you can achieve so much.
Be helpful
This is a personal rule - I want to provide the maximum amount of helpfulness to develop clarity in my writing and content. I have also found that the more you give, the more you get back.
Be consistent
You wouldn't run a marathon after only training sporadically for a month or two and likewise you wont succeed in making money online by only building your site on and off for a couple of weeks. It takes work and dedication to make money online. That dream of 4 hour work weeks that the gurus sell is bullshit - I will consistently work towards this project. I could potentially do something every day for a year to work towards my goal but after the year the site will be making money and I will have achieved what I set out to do.
TL;DR
Set out the reason for the live case study, set out some goals, set out a timescale and made a few golden rules for the project.