I used to read blog after blog every single day, signing up to the networks they were signed up too, promoting products they were promoting and somehow trying to emulate their success. I set myself challenges, told myself and my readers that is was a simple case of building blocks and putting time and effort into sites that I know today aren’t going to live for much longer.

I build and flipped like crazy, which is there the money was, yet I somehow still thought I was doing something wrong because I wasn’t blogging to the world how I promote network X and get $300 a day.

The fact of the matter is that It’s All Bullshit. There’s no such thing as an “easy way to make money online”, no free eBook or download, no guarantees, nothing! Making money online is the same as making money anywhere else; it is hard, takes time and isn’t for everyone. What started out as a few bloggers recalling their success became a blogging shithole of greedy people charging hundreds of dollars for an ad on their blog, getting you to subscribe to networks through their affiliate links and even promoting random products in a bid for that little bit of extra cash.

These blogs were like gold, and some even for sold (Remember NetBusinessBlog.com – the domain forwards to a Forex page now) for ridiculous amounts of money. It is a sad state of affairs when sharing news and tips becomes a way of sucking time and money out of people.

I’m glad I went and did my own thing. I can’t say I wasn’t sucked in by it all, but through time and learning I’ve realised that the best way to make money anywhere is to put your head down and get on with it. I still share any updates and have helped numerous individuals who have asked for help via e-mail. In fact, I still ask for help from my friends too…but they don’t ask me to click through an affiliate link and then download their eBook first.

I have no doubt some downloads and courses etc are worthwhile, but it just seems like greed has taken over and any old trick in the book is punted to whomever will chew it down. And it is for that reason I no longer read the crap they churn out and instead look for anything else with an ounce of quality in it.

Sorry for the rant, I had to get my point out.

Khalid.

With domain registrations costing £5 odds, it is incredibly easy to think “oh I’ve got another great idea I’ll go buy the name” or “I’ll reg that name because it has xxx exact searches and will generate loads” . That domain registration soon becomes a site and the next thing you’re ordering content and building backlinks. Then, surprise surprise you don’t generate the “loads” you thought about or you’re bored and off onto the next idea.

At the time of writing this I have about 200 domain names in my account, yet only a handful actually generate any revenue. I’m not saying those 195 domains are useless and will never make any money, but the fact of the matter is they mostly sit there un-used and those registration / renewal fees add up. If I took the £xxx saved and put it into my profitable ventures I’d probably end up better off.

As I type away I am thinking that I’m typing what I should be telling myself, and often that sums up my blog posts. It is really easy to preach, but actions are harder. So, I took my domains, un-used websites and began selling them off.

So far I’ve raised £2,100 in revenue from the sale of a network and one mobility name. This revenue will be used to boost the cool stuff I’m doing that is actually bringing in revenue, and the hope is that the low three figures I’m earning will end up in the mid region.

As I plug away finding the cheapest ways to make this happen, I cannot help feel sorry for my friend in Greece who, in the time it has taken me to start and run Ethan Hardy Ltd (my company), has built and sold a petrol station, purchased (and now trying to sell) a holiday home in Bulgaria, was taken for a ride on a newsagents partnership in the same country, bought land in Brazil and is chasing the developer and now lost about 12,000 Euro’s on the stock market.

It breaks my heart to see him try different things and suffer the consequences of rushing into the unknown. We all want to be successful and I genuinely admire those that have, but I realise it cannot be rushed and my friend has proved more than enough evidence of that.

So once again I’d like to remind you to stick to what you’re good at until such times as you can try something new and break any potential fall without placing yourself in a position that you cannot get out of.

Good luck with your pursuits,

Khalid.

By utilising twitter, as well as the numerous directories jam packed with geo users, I’ve reached out, gained interest and got in touch with the right person when usually a generic e-mail to their a business’ mail@ or info@ contact address would be ignored / misplaced.

Just like I said in my picking up the phone post, don’t be shy and get in touch!

Recently, I’ve been working alongside another business owner to try to gain new contracts in a mutual area of business. We both e-mailed a firm and never heard back, yet I got in touch with their London HQ and now we may have the opportunity to work with one of the biggest companies in that industry.

It took me a couple of minutes to get an instant interest where as writing an e-mail and tapping your desk waiting on a reply is not only tedious, it is painful. Often your message gets sent to the wrong person, ends up in a junk mail folder or is simply discarded.

So, my tip of the day / week / month is to get over being shy, pick up the phone and speak to the right person first time. Follow it up with an e-mail if required and make sure you leave a good impression.

One day e-mail will get there, but for now the telephone is top!

If you’ve followed this blog for a while you’ll know that, even after all my experiences, I’m not in a position – and never will be – to say I know it all. I often seek advice from people that have been, or are in, similar situations. And I listen; I listen to what they did and how they did it. Too much information isn’t bad for you, but it is your responsibility to pick out what you need to know and separate the sound advice from the crap. Along the way, there might be an opportunity or two for you to profit and/or learn.

Don’t be shy, but don’t be overconfident too as that can come across as cocky. I’ve managed to secure free haircuts for a year in return for creating and managing the website of my hairdresser in Edinburgh. It was her who made the offer, and she wasn’t shy to ask but she knew she could reciprocate.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, after being through the mill a bit I’m still surprising myself.

Good luck with your pursuits,

Khalid.

I’ve said on multiple occasions that if I kept everything I’ve ever built, I’d probably be blogging from a beach telling you that I’ve beaten my $100 a day target and I’ve got a lovely tan.

On the flip side, I’m not one to cry over spilt milk and I regularly take advice, ask for opinions and learn as I go. I’ve been successfully building sites for years now yet I’m still not half as good as some of my peers and regularly get told off for small errors.

However, I’m grateful for the advice and because I sold most of my profitable sites, I was able to clear £7,500 of credit card / student debt in one year, something I am extremely proud off.

This week, my good friend and business partner on some ventures, Rob, told me it would be wise to stop looking for the next venture so quickly, sit down and write a strategy. A business plan wouldn’t work in this situation as I don’t have a single “business” as such, I spend my time on multiple sites.

So I sat and wrote a few pages worth of content and it really got me thinking. I would love to retire by the time I was 30 – what I mean is live off my website earnings – and this plan really put things into perspective. It is amazing how valuable putting pen to paper can be and I’m determined to follow my strategy once Rob has scrutinised it with his hugely pessimistic attitude!

To be fair though, joking side, Rob is a successful Internet Entrepreneur so his guidance is much appreciated…although his spammy comments taking the piss aren’t (I guess when Jeremy Kyle is finished things can get a little boring).

Anyways, I just thought I’d share my tips with you and hope you can do the same.

Good luck with your pursuits,

Khalid.

This game is difficult as the conversion rates can be lower than Adsense (2%) click through rates so traffic is key i.e. a good natural ranking in the SERPs.

However, there are benefits to selling leads. Some markets, such as dental insurance and landlord insurance, can be profitable and when selling leads you are pretty much immune from invalid clicks that can result in account terminations, which regularly happens with Adsense accounts.

If you have the time, ability and confidence to take on the big boys in these areas and compete then it can be extremely profitable, with some lead purchasers paying up to £100 per valid lead!

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

What is the best way to approach these companies to get them on board with a view of having them pay for advertising in the future? I was thinking of a short and sweet e-mail, something along the lines off…

Good morning,

My name is Kal and I’m the founder Psyched Media, a company that owns and operates a number of web properties. One of our newely established sites, StudentsUncovered.com, is a fresh and exciting student portal providing useful local and national information to students across the country. At present our site contains information about student accommodation in Edinburgh and we would really like to get local letting agents on board to advertise.

As our site is launching during Freshers Week (15th September) and we are running a national advertising campaign throughout a number of student nightclubs. We are keen to offer you a free 468 x 60 banner placement on our site for a trial period of one month.

After this period I would be happy to discuss a possible partnership should you wish to continue with your banner placement. Our previous internet projects have generated up to 250,000 unique visitors per month and I am confident your company could benefit from this targetted advertising.

If you would like to accept this offer, please e-mail us back with your banner and we will place it upon our site immediately. Alternatively, if you need to have a banner created, we can do this for you in return for a link to our website on your homepage.

I look forward to hearing from you.

What do you think of this? Do you have any other suggestions to approaching these companies?

Thanks in advance and good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

I was pleasantly surprised to find one or two of my sites have crept up the rankings without link building, just from the domains being a little older. In my experience this can really help and I have read some webmasters buy a domain then leave it for a year before they build a site.

The extra traffic I am not getting will help me nicely and I am sitting here with a smile and I own over 100 domains that are maturing day-by-day. I can’t wait to start producing good quality sites on domains I’ve had for maybe 2 or 3 years.

Right now though I’m still working on my current front line sites, including the content based ones I’ve been talking about. Both are coming along nicely, I just wish it was 6 or 12 months down the line and they were established.

Time will tell. Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

Unfortunately, the waiting time for the latter examination is up to 4 months! Going private is an option but it costs over £1,000 – money that I have but don’t want to spend when I pay taxes and am entitled to free health care.

In an attempt to take my mind off things, I have been building sites continously. I need to let them mature and that means leaving them for a few months. You can’t expect a new site with a brand new domain name to rank well immediately, you need to let things age a little. So, I’m turning my efforts back to my bigger sites and recruiting freelancers to add more content. The hard part here is finding local writers with good knowledge, e.g. a writer in London who has knowledge of local nightclubs. Does anyone have any good sites? My friend recommended Guru.com so I might give them a try.

In other, offline news, my cleaning company, Edinburgh Clean is doing well. We’ve got a few clients and things are building up slowly but surely. I’m looking at expanding into other domestic and commercial services but I need to research this more. I’m a firm believer in not putting all your eggs in one basket hence I invest both on and offline.

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.