$0 - $258,107 in 1 year. How I did it, and how you can do it too...

Good afternoon warriors;

Let me start off by saying that this post will be long-winded at parts (and rightfully so). I also promise to ensure that the information is factual, free of emotional embellishment, and to the point (where appropriate).

What Would You Say If I Promised You a Way to Make $258,101 Profit In 1 Year... And Then How to Lose Every Penny Of It?

Interesting headline, eh? (I'm Canadian, for the record)

In 2007 I embarked on a journey that took me from being broke, unemployed, and homeless (no exaggerations here) to making nearly $1,000 profit daily. Along the way I would be tested on my resolve, ethics, and commitment to being a good human being. Let's begin....

All Good Plans Need a Foundation. What's Yours?

I was 19 years old and had just moved across the country. I lost my job almost immediately for being too cavalier and cocky, and where I was living the economy was quite poor so finding another job was proving difficult. I turned to the online world for a solution, and wouldn't you know it... I found one.

I have always had one undeniable gift, one skill that has granted me numerous opportunities throughout my life: the gift of gab. I have talked myself into (and out of) just about everything in my life, and being broke and homeless was no exception.

I decided to turn to the only portal I had left, the Internet, and offer content writing services. As it turns out, my services were in great demand. Before I knew it I was doing $100/day in articles... then $150/day... then $200/day... and I decided that enough was enough. It was time to make a legitimate business out of it.

While chatting with a repeat customer of mine, someone who's name I've never actually learned but whom I credit almost all of my success to, he gave me some feedback: every article you write for me (charging $25/500 words) I make roughly $200 over the course of a year. You have the natural ability to put words on paper... why aren't you doing that for yourself?

Just like that I had my foundation. I had the basis that would power every venture I would ever embark on after that point. Using my natural ability to write, while focusing on building my internet marketing skills, I would become self-sufficient and financially free.

And I did.

My Foundation Was Writing. My Plan Was Convincing. How Did I Build On Top Of It?

I focused on learning how to build a good website. By a good website I didn't mean "a website that was pretty", I meant a website that had purpose; a website that had intent; a website that conveyed some kind of value to its visitor. This is the first fundamental mistake most new players in the internet marketing niche make: they forget to provide value.

All of my websites focused on providing some kind of value to the visitor. Don't get me wrong: I made websites for AdSense, and profited quite nicely from CPA/lead generation affiliate marketing, but the core of my model was always on value.

How can I get someone to stay on my page longer?

How can I decrease my bounce rate?

How can I entice someone to come back again?

How can I do all of this while generating advertising revenue?

Those four questions formed the basis of every website I built. With the mentorship of the previously mentioned repeat customer I was able to learn SEO and SEM fairly quickly, and eventually was spending $60,000/mo on Google AdWords.

My CTR's were high thanks to targeted ad copy. My bounce rate was low thanks to targeted landing pages that offered real value. And life was good.

The Core Of My Business Model Is, And Always Will Be, Timeless

My business model is simple:

1) Find a niche that is under-served and/or over-saturated with low-value competition.

2) Create a website that provides value. Website size depends on the market/niche.

3) Promote content on social networks, link building, and related communities. Always get the buy in of the communities first.

4) Monetize effectively, but not intrusively.

5) Lather, rinse, and repeat.

Following this principle I built a network of 23 websites that generated $320,100 in revenue in 2008 alone, with profit being nearly $260,000. Not bad for a single guy living in a cheap apartment. This was in addition to the 40% margins I was enjoying on my $1,000+ daily spend on AdWords.

And this, my friends, is the model I still follow today.

In fact, if someone were to ask me what my value proposition would be, it would have to be this: "To provide a useful user experience while finding a way to extract as many advertising dollars from their wallets as possible."

I don't have any lofty aspirations or noble intentions. I intend to simply provide value in exchange for advertising revenue. I satisfy someone's need for information, and in exchange, perhaps they find an interesting ad to click/sign up for/buy from. It's win-win.

Here's The Specifics: I'm Spilling The Beans.

Here is your turnkey system to make money with:

1) Know your market and your users. Spend time researching what the market needs, who the users are, and what their expectations are. Don't spend too much time, but enough to make you know more than the average joe.

2) Provide something worth coming back to. If you're creating a finance-related blog, why not offer debt reduction tools? What about a debt-reduction forum? Or, better yet, what about a savings-incentive program? Find a way to be valuable.

3) Become a destination. Put some effort into your creation. What you can do well do yourself. Outsource everything else to trusted providers. Never do your own article marketing.

4) Grow and expand. Never show your full hand out of the gate. Reveal your hand one at a time. In this case, add new features over time to encourage users to keep coming back.

5) Lather, rinse, and repeat. Once you have one site that is successful, start from step one and keep going.

6) Lastly, never stop working. Don't slack off and think that this is part-time. If you're part-time you will lose out to somebody like me who will dedicate every moment I can to building a better site than you. If you are going to play you had better bring everything you got. If you're still learning, don't be afraid to play with the big boys- what you learn will be worth its weight in gold.

Good luck, stay strong, and work hard.

</post>