Updated websites

Just a quick post to say I've been trying out a few things and updating our websites.  I'm adding a bunch of new keywords, ad types/formats, and content.  It's been a monster task and I'm not quite finished.  As soon as I get some feel for how it's affecting my stats I'll post here.
Follow the links to see some of the changes:
www.NoFearMRI.com
www.LessonPlansPlus.com

Great article to inspire

This article really inspired me in a number of ways:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_demandmedia

First, it's a great way to freelance with your writing and/or video skills and make good money.  But more importantly it shows the power of using what you know to make money online.

It's the story behind Demand Media and how they hire freelancers to write or make videos about everything under the sun.  They then post this media to try and answer the most popular queries on the internet.  This potentially draws tons of traffic and they make money by ads placed with the stories/videos.  The topics are very highly targeted to what people are already searhing for and so reader are very likely to click on it and hopefully on the ads that accompany.

Many things stand out in this article but what really got my attention was this quote:

When asked for the most valuable topic in Demand’s arsenal, he replies instantly: “‘Where can I donate a car in Dallas?’ One, you have a certain number of people searching for it. Two, the bid term ‘donate a car’ is in the double-digit dollars, like $15 or $20 per click. People have a propensity — 17 percent — to click on an ad when they see the word car. There’s very little competition. And the article will retain its value for a long time.” So why Dallas? He has no idea: “Dallas just happens to be the location where we know people are searching for how to donate a car.”  (Emphasis mine)

Can you imagine getting $15-$20 everytime someone clicked your ad?  You could make a fulltime living with only a few clicks per day.  Those high paying bid terms are rare but you can find them.  Some of the ads on LessonPlansPlus.com and NoFearMRI.com generate more than $1 per click.  The challenge is to get someone to click them.  Currently our click-through rate for all our sites is about 1.67%.  My goal is to improve this percentage over time.  As our traffic has increased so have the number of clicks but if we can raise the percentage of clickers as we increase traffic that would increase profits greatly.  So if you're ever visiting a site you like be sure to click on some of the ads that interest you.  It can make a world of differences to the people running it.

So what kind of article can you post?  Do you specialize in a certain kind of knowlege?  Maybe you can make yourself an "expert" in a certain topic, write a blog about it, and reap the profits.  Demand Media is onto something and we can be too with only a little work and some know-how.  Post your ideas and comments below and make it your first step!  Blogs are free to use and easy to navigate.  Most people just assume they don't know anything that they could write about profitably but you would be surprised.  Who ever would have guessed that general MRI info would draw 600+ people per month or that lesson plans for preschoolers would generate interest from over 1600+ people per month?  How much would an article about donating cars in your city be worth?  The ideas are endless.

Creative way to raise funds

Seth Godin has a great post today about three different ways to raise money for your business.  The first two ways are pretty obvious: 1) Going to a bank (debt) and 2) Going to a venture capitalist (giving away equity).  But he mentions a "3rd thing" that really strikes a chord with me.
The 3rd thing is going to other local entrepreneurs and getting funds by offering a percentage of sales.  For example you need $1000 to fund your start/expansion so you  go to a local business person and offer to give them a certain percentage of every sale.  There are many ways to arrange this to make it attractive to the investor and Seth explains it pretty well.  I like the angle of dealing with local investors as they will have more interest in your story and can have more influence on your success.
Several of my past business ventures operated on this principle.  In each case the business owners supplied not money but expertise or in some cases established customers/leads in exchange for a percentage of sales.  It made for a wonderful low cost way to get up and running.  They weren't out any money if it failed and if it succeeded they would share the rewards for X number of years.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/11/debt-equity-and-a-third-thing-that-mightworkbetter.html

Been a while...still making money!

While I never intended to go this long without a post it's been a good opportunity to allow some time to pass and evaluate some of my ideas. So far, so good!
Both of our main websites (www.LessonPlansPlus.com and www.NoFearMRI.com) continue to increase in traffic and ad revenue generated. LessonPlansPlus also continues to add lesson sales at a regular clip. This is despite taking a hiatus from posting much in the way of changes to the sites.
Over the next few days I'll do my best to break down the details of what's transpired in the last few months and offer up my ideas for continued improvements.

40 ways to make money on the internet.

Here's a link to an article detailing 40 ways to make money on the internet by Dumb Little Man. He does a great job of summarizing each of the 40 ways and providing links for more exploring. What makes this especially attractive is that he doesn't include any "gimmick" stuff. From his description:

"What's NOT included: Taking Paid Surveys, Getting Paid to Surf the Internet, MLM, Contest Sites, "Buy my DVD, CD, Audiobook", etc.
What IS included: Things you can use to legitimately make money online - Everything from Getting Paid to review software to good ole' Adsense."

Click here to start reading and earning.

Entrepreneur forum

Just wanted to share a linka to a forum with like-minded entrepreneurs. You can learn alot about doing business online by browsing this site:
Young Entrepreneurs

Advertising update

I've just signed up with YouTube to display video ads on some of my sites. I put the first player at the bottom of this blog as an experiment (scroll to the end of this page to see it). I want to test which content gets displayed and whether or not this can be effective. I will report back the results after a few weeks. I can also share what methods I used to set up the players. As I add more players to my other sites I'll update that as well.