Archive for General:

Earnings Calculations

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how I intend to earn enough online for it to become my full time job and main source of income. It has been something that I’ve calculated and re-calculated, considered and edited. I’ve amended it over and over until I had the right amount of sites with the right amount of traffic.

So far I’ve got 15 domains registered. Only a handful are fully developed into websites and even less require continual maintenace. If I break them down into categories and say 5 require a daily update (like a blog post) and get 2,000 uniques per day and 10 require little or no maintenance and get 1,000 uniques per day, I have come to the following conclusions…

5 sites x 2,000 unique visitors = 10,000 uniques overall.

5% of 10,000 = 500 clicks per day.

500 x 0.05 = $25 per day in revenue.

My 10 sites would generate the exact same, totalling $50.

Not a lot is it? Sadly, that’s how the projections are looking.

So I’m aiming for 30 sites by the end of April. Give or take a few dollars on each site and I could be earning $100 per day.

Are my calculations completely wrong? What do you think?

Micro-Market Shakeup

In this volatile period where the credit crunch is affective us all and banks are less willing to lend, not so many companies are willing to launch hostile bids for others, even fewer at $44bn. So let’s kick this post off by giving Microsoft a small clap for their enthusiasm to purchase Yahoo.

I think Microsoft’s bid is partially due to being opportunistic. Yahoo need a helping hand after falling stocks and a lack of morale have left them in a bit of a pickle. The question is, would Microsoft make a decent return on their possible investment and how would this affect shareholders, affiliates and publishers? Whilst this may now be old news, I think it is important to highlight some interesting points that may affect web publishers in the long run.

According to some sources, the best opportunity for Microsoft to increase Yahoo’s revenue seems to be hidden in the depths of alternative forms of advertising, other than search. This is Google’s strategy, with their planned $3bn purchase of only media agency DoubleClick. Microsoft are aware of this tactic and so have laid eyes on aQauntive, with a $6bn price tag.

The idea is that both Google and Microsoft could use the platforms and technology to place ads more cheaply and efficiently. The automation of this could result in problems though. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can easily setup a site regarding health care or dieting and apply for the publisher program to display ads as a Google/Microsoft publisher partner but will bid brands, such as Unilever and Procer & Gamble want this?

Probably not and so they could easily end up re-locacting their investment in that area, perhaps to large established sites with their own internal advertising department. I mean, why would a multinational cooperation want to associate their brand with the average 15 year old’s MySpace page?

The result? With big brands backing out, dilution of the quality of network advertisers will probably occur as Google/Microsoft attempt to increase revenues and make up for their big brand losses. Less income for web publishers will most definately be a knock-on effect. You see, an ad is not a commodity that can be substituted or exchanged like a share, it really does matter to advertisers where their ads appear and it matters to publishers which ads appear on their sites. And for that reason, Google/Microsoft would have to tighten their policies surrounding accepting new publishers to avoid diluting their platform.

The future? The future looks hazy, especially with the possibility two major companies – Google and Microsoft – both who are ruthless and profit hunters, controlling the majority of internet advertising. This means earning an income online may become more difficult, less financially stable and less profitable.

My advice? Ride the waves out a little and let’s see what really happens, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket and perhaps invest offline too.

Back to London

I’ll be visiting London again with my work which means I’ll be from my sites for the next 72 hours almost. Surprisingly no-one has submitted any SEO suggestions for my previous post…come on folks!

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

SEO – What do you do?

It is amazing how many different services there are on the web that “Guarantee …” with a “Money Back Refund” etc etc etc. Further to that, the amount of conflicting information is rather bewildering – “Googlebot hates…” or “Googlebot needs”.

Like many things in life, SEO is trial and error. There is no clear system that guarantees you a premium ranking in the SERPs and with so many different things you can do, how would you know what is right and wrong without conducting your own tests?

I managed to rank Kortaz.com #1 – #5 for a number of different keywords. Without sounding arrogant, I think that’s quite an achievement considering “Kortaz” was not even a keyword and the site was not filled with content!

I think the amount of backlinks with the anchor text as the keyword made the site strong and this was the driving force behind its ranking. These links were built up over time with webmasters submitting their own proxy links to be listed on the site.

Aside from backlink building, being popular in Digg and Stumble Upon have their benefits too (I didn’t used them for Kortaz.com but for other sites). As well as bringing in visitors, many webmasters look for content through these sites and this can generate backlinks.

It is quite important to mention on-site SEO too and that generally means ensuring your site is keyword rich with unique content and good anchor texts.

I’d really like to know what you do when it comes to SEO and how you rank well?

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

Moved to a VPS

Building up a new network is a great feeling, especially when you see a return on your investment. The only difficulty with expanding quickly was that I had to purchase a new $14.95 per month hosting plan for each domain.

This was great because it stopped me making stupid mistakes and creating sites without thinking them through. On the downside it was time consuming and quite costly. Don’t get me wrong, Liquid Web are a fantastic host with great staff (touch wood!) so the $14.95 is well worth it, but if you want to run a network you’d really need to think about something biggar.

After shooting a quick support ticket to a sales advisor, they checked out my sites and advised me on the $60 per month VPS. Whilst I am fully aware you can get hosting for a lot cheaper, after my troubles with Host Nine I don’t think I’ll ever risk quality for price. If you are going to do a job, do it properly.

The staff quickly migrated all my sites over and helped me through the process of domain parking etc so a big thank you to them! I did have to wait about 48 hours before I could update my sites again due to some minor complications with my domains (my fault!).

Now I’ve got everything in one place and making one payment per month which is good. Things are expanding here, so if you haven’t already, subscribe to my RSS feed for the latest news coming soon!

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

Joyriding The Social Media Boom

Joining the web 2.0 social media boom that is plaguing the internet is something I never thought I’d even consider, especially with the stiff competition in extremely lucrative market. With sites like FaceBook.com estimated to be worth billions, social media websites have recently attracted the backing of global corporations such as Google.com.

Before you think I am going to start “BookFace.com” and attempt to steal a segment of the market (which would make everyone laugh rather loudly), I am not. After finding three successful websites that are quite simply, popular blogs, I have decided to attempt to do something similar.

I have a rather cool name and slogan too, something I just thought up and lukily the .com was available!

I’d really like to know what you think the future is for social media sites and where you see the market going in the next few years? Do you think older sites like MySpace will be pushed out by newer sites like FaceBook? With new ideas like Twitter being able to post notes on the move, what will the future be for letting people know what you are up too or where you are?

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

New Idea

With the recent sale of Kortaz.com I have pondered over selling my entire network of websites and starting afresh with one new idea. Whilst this may be challenging and rather exciting, it is high risk. But, as entrepreneurs, that’s what we do…providing they are calculated risks.

Recently I aquired a new domain name purely by typing in random characters into the search box. I came up with a cool .com which was followed shortly by a neat slogan. After a little keyword research and some brainstorming, I have a new idea.

If you know me then you’ll be well aware I don’t share any pre-launch material with viewers until my site is up and running. Whilst this be slightly unfair if I am trying to teach people how to make money online and provide valuable tips, I have to protect my own assests first.

I’ve submitted a contact form over to a designer to see if this can be turned into an operational site with a solid CMS backend. More to follow shortly, so what this space!

I’ll be in London today and tomorrow with work so apologies if I don’t blog for a day or two.

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

Debt Free 2008 – The challenge

The challenge I face to become debt free is one that is more of a mountain than a molehill. I have 4 credit cards, 1 overdraft, 1 student loan and a graduate endowment (which I may not have to pay, it is dependant on your circumstances). I am not going to state the exact amount I owe, but its probably closer to £10,000 than it is to £5,000!

A lot of money I know, and now something that anyone likes to have hanging over their head. Breaking it down reveals where the debt lies and how it is repayable…

• 4 credit cards -Payable month, I’ll have cleared two with the sale of Kortaz.com.
• 1 overdraft – High interest rates charged monthly so this is a priority.
• 1 student loan – Payable when you earn £15,000 a year or more (which I do).
• 1 graduate endowment – A one off fee of £2,000 payable once you graduate.

My first debt attack will be on the credit cards. Selling Kortaz.com and raising $2,000 will clear two of these and leave me with some cash to spend on new projects. I may end up selling my entire network and starting afresh, I need to think of a new idea first before I commit to losing everything!

When the credit cards are clear I intend to then build up some savings and get out of the red and into the black. Finally, the debt associated with gaining a degree is the last on my list as the interest is minimal and can be removed from my monthly salary automatically.

I suggest you subscribe to my RSS feed if you want to learn how I am going to do this. I intend to clear my debt by the end of 2008 and build up some savings, probably generating overall between £5,000 – £10,000 in addition to my salary.

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

New look, new start!

I decided to change my WordPress Theme as I thought the old one was too plain and unprofessional for someone trying to promote themselves as an Internet Entrepreneur! What do you think of the new theme? Personally, I like the three boxes at the top that display the latest posts, comments and my most popular entries.

In addition to changing the theme, I’ve monetized it slightly by adding some 125 x 125 buttons so check them out and signup! I’ve also placed some discreet text links relating to making money which were there before but now have a better position, hopfully increasing my CTR.

So that’s the new look…what about the new start?

One of my personal goals for 2008 that I never blogged about was to clear my debt. Being a young and influential student, credit was extremely easy to come by, and who wants to live like a poor student when you can live like a rich one? I didn’t buy anything during my time at University, I just made sure I had nice clothes, was able to socialise etc. I should have been more careful, but we live and we learn.

My “new start” is to begin the year without using any credit facilities (except my account overdraft) and to pay off as much as possible. I will be flipping (buying then selling) websites but will carefully hand pick a couple from my network and keep them. I need to ensure I am building an income for the future and not just aiming for something short term.

I am eagerly awaiting Media Jump to fix their webmaster’s admin panel then I can check my earnings and get some quality, informative posts done. Until then, good luck with your earnings!

Khalid.

Selling Kortaz.com

I’ve decided to post Kortaz.com up for sale to gauge how much I could get for the site. If the price is right I’ll sell. Check it out…