Of course when I started the My First 2K competition, I was primarily interested in learning and applying methods of making money that were different from finding a new job or working longer hours. I knew that the income I would be TRULLY proud of, a dollar or a million, would be that, which came from alternative revenue streams. Ones that I would then be able to share with the other members of My First 2K's competition.
In the process of finding these golden streams I wised up a bit. Sure there are strokes of genious that bring amazing and immediate results and inspire the rest of us, but their success most often isn't subject to replication. Often it's a matter of being in the right place, at the right time, with the right mental inclination; you know, what many people call 'luck'.
In fact, I would like to share one such story with you. It is a story from the book The One Minute Millionaire. Like many stories it centres around change; the Brookly Bridge in NY was being dismantled, in way for a new bridge. Our hero (the ruthless money making machine; MMM for short) saw this as an opportunity!
Perhaps, you and I would see an opportunity in the pile of lumber that the construction workers took down and needed to get rid of as well. Maybe we'd think that we could use that lumber as firewood, or maybe we'd plan to build a ship, in which we'd sail away only to return with a hull full of riches. But MMM had a mentality that was different! He saw an opportunity for IMMEDIATE financial gain. A real win-win too!
He approached the foreman with an offer to get rid of the wood from the old bridge. From the foreman's point of view, getting rid of the wood was his responsibility, and added work for him and his guys, so he happily accepted. Now MMM had the wood, and he set in action his master plan. Instead of reselling the lumber as firewood, he created a higher perceived value for it and sold it off!
He cut the lumber into little pieces, and together with certificates of authenticity that he printed, he sold them off for a few bucks a piece, as pieces of N.Y.'s history.
That's right! Worthless wood, became thousands-of-dollars of HISTORY, because MMM saw the same thing through his own lense, from a different angle!
In much the same way pieces of the Berlin Wall are sold of for a few Euros a piece to Berlin's tourists, but where am I going to create a piece of history to cell in my city?
Well. That is why I say I wised up. I am still just as interested in a quick way to riches. But NOW I am also open to the slower approach. A way that I overlooked, while I was looking for MY bridge.
What I came across was a model of growing slow, but having a steady income. I found my inspiration in an eHow article, and after tweaking a good idea to make it better, would like to share it with you. It's not so much that it's growing slowly, as it is doing things right!
Izzytellsall, the author of the article "How to Make $100 a Day with Niche Blogging" breaks down the process into a few simple steps and recommends that you follow one golden rule; focus on quality, not quantity! To the adsense profit, add affiliate marketing revenu and you'll have a killer combination!
Remember first that the development of a $100/day website is much like the development of a $5/day website (or even 20 of them!). You still have to put in similar effort!
Then the first step, as you probably guessed though, is RESEARCH. Use google's keyword tool to help you narrow down your niche, and select those keywords that have the adequate payout. Type in as many words as you can think of that will relate to your topic of interest, and scroll down to the bottom of the page for the words that google recommends as related. That will help you find more word ideas!
For start; select those words that have at least 4,000 monthly searches and an estimated CPC of about $1.50. (Higher amounts are either way too competative or don't last as a consistent payout.)
For your second step begin with a little SEO in mind; that is pick a word or phrase that would be all encompassing of the words you selected. (So if your words are: storing stamps, cleaning staps, trading stamps; a good name would be collecting-stamps.com, or any closest availabe varient)
Next install an adsense theme to the blog you started for this venture.
For the fourth step cross reference the words that have an acceptable CPC value, and search volume against the number of pages that google has indexed.
For example:
'stamp cleaning' is searched 4,000 times, the CPC is 1.40
'stamp storing' is searched 4,000 times, the CPC is 1.50
At first glance, you may think that 'stamp storing' is a better choice, but I advise you reconsider! Type each keyword combination "in quotation marks" into google's search box and see the number of page results. The reason for quotation marks; is because it's an instruction for google to only show you the results where 'stamp storing' appear side-by-side and in that order! (A page that has the phrase 'storing stamp' or 'storing all your stamps' is irrelevant to you)
So then if 'stamp cleaning' returns 15,000 pages, while 'stamp storing' returns 30,000 pages, you know that 'stamp cleaning' is a better choice; since you will find it easier to get higher google rating.
In step five write an article tailored to promote a chosen keyword and post it to your blog. More keywords = more articles. Whether you post is a new page or a new post, really depends on what you're planning to do with it. Here is a forum discussion of which is better for SEO.
Then for step six register an adsense account, and install it to your blog
Write one more article per keyword in step seven, and submit them to article publishing sites. While you`re doing this, why not make a few pennies off of them as well? Check out My First 2K's Resources for a list of websites that earn you money online, and select those that are relevant (like eHow, which pays out half the advertising revenue your articlesa helped generate) You want to have your keyword repeating enough, but not too much. 2-5% is a good rule-of-thumb. Use the the Keyword Density Tool to find out your word`s density.
Repeat, repeat, repeat. That's step eight for you! The more relevant articles you have, tailored for a specific resource (those on your blog, and on article hosting websites, linking to your blog) the better your search result position in google - the more visitors you get!
Step nine is all about generating more revenue! You should already be trying to submit your articles to websites that do ad revenue sharing, but now let's do more with your website. Besides relevant adsense ads, you can also incorporate some text-link ads and more importantly affiliate products! Check Amazon and clickbank.com for products that are relevant to your site and create a product review or promotion page on your blog. Now the visitors to your site can make a purchase, earning you a commission!
If you need more keywords, more things to write about, proceed to step ten; go to google's keyword tool, but instead of entering a keyword, get suggestions from entering your blog's URL! Google will recommend relevant content for you!
Now you may be asking yourself still, 'Why is this better than doing multiple mediocre websites, promoting different products?' Well I'll be happy to tell you: Poor websites (ie content and layout...you know quality) will not get people talking about them, referring them, and sharring them.
Good ones will!
What you are doing here is you're becoming the leader in a niche! Articles that are written for users, not just for search engines make the site useful. It is then shared, and posted on forums and other places where you didn't think possible. Now other people are promotting YOUR SITE - and your site avalanches the number of unique and repeat visitors. So even if they didn't click on some ad the first time around, they may NOW.
That's what my research at this time has led me to believe anyways; that to build success, I must build quality!
