People have asked why I don’t quit the cubicle grind and flog Internet marketing for a living. Sure, working from home would be dandy. Not having a corporate structure to be subservient to would be fantastic. Making my own hours would be great. But simply being a slinger of mediocrity into the web sewers is no way to make an acceptable living for my family unit. If I was single with no responsibilities I would most certainly make my living off whatever I could earn from Internet marketing.
So you ask why don’t you create the mother of all authority sites and use it to make 5 figure fat stacks each month? Or why not develop your own products? Why not set up an ecommerce site and sell crap? The same reason why I don’t open up an auto body shop. Or become a worm farmer. I have no interest in that activity.
Seems some folks think that all make money online schemes are the same. Hey, if you like building niche sites then you’ll love dropshipping dog collars from your ecommerce site. If you like building affiliate marketing sites then you’ll love creating your own product and selling it. The hassles of keeping track of orders and selling something is not worth it to me for any amount of money. I’m already a slave to the grind. Why would I want to trade one grind for another? I’ve tried dropshipping and I think it sucks. I am not a software developer. Writing an ebook doesn’t really interest me either. So I affiliate market stuff.
The money I make from the Internet will allow me to retire sooner than later. It allows me to take vacations. It will allow me to send my kids to college. The marital unit does not have to work as she prefers to raise the children. We can homeschool the kids and not subject them to government education. That’s why I build a niche site.
But I do not trust the Internet nor myself to make a living online. I had a great Adsense month this past April. This month Google could terminate my account or de-index all my sites simply because they didn’t like an article I posted. I got an outstanding check from Crapbank last week. Those sites could be eliminated from the search results tomorrow. I really do not care for the online business. Having to make it a full-time gig would be as uninspiring as the work I perform in a cubicle. It’s much more palatable to simply do it when I want to. I am lazy about this business. I prefer to make money the easiest way possible. For me that is affiliate marketing. I don’t want to answer emails. Ship products. Develop stuff. I want to convince you to buy something and get a commission. That’s all.
The business model I follow requires that I rely on Google and to a much lesser extent, Bing and Yahoo. That is a huge risk. For now I reap nice rewards. Like others in this business that could end in a second. Lots of folks have had their income destroyed with the latest grand slash and burn of Adsense sites from Google’s listings.
Diversification is key obviously. I have a few well-paying Adsense sites. I refuse to build any more. The sites that I build now promote products from affiliate programs. If I want to chase Adsense then I use Hubpages and Squidoo as a proxy to collect those coins.
The ultimate goal is to create an authority site that becomes a real business. Something branded that people want to visit while you make good money. Something that will thrive simply because the Internet exists and irrespective if Google remains in business. And you know, an authority site does not have to be a 1,200 page monolith. To me an authority site is simply the go to location for information or entertainment. You know you have an authority site when people are linking to you naturally. When people are talking about your site. When Google stats mean nothing. When people contact you to place an advertising block on your site. That’s when you have a business I think. That’s the site(s) that I want to ultimately have (though lack of motivation and interest will retard that mission greatly) . If you are hustling daily to get backlinks to generate fake interest in your site then you aren’t quite there yet with an authority site.
As usual this was a long ramble. Just an explanation of how I see things. By the way, I hardly ever “teach” on this blog. I have no interest in people following what I do or don’t do. I don’t want to be responsible for your success or failure. I’ll tell you what I’m doing without telling you how I do it. For whatever it is worth.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
No video?
It’s a huge risk trusting your cubicle boss to not fire you too. My wife comes home every day almost glad she didn’t get laid off. Not fun.
I have looked at it long and hard and come to the conclusion that there is risk in a “real” job and risk in this. Who knows which one really has more?
I agree with you. I’m aiming to do this full time because I’m basically unemployable, but I’m very focused on affiliate stuff with a bit of Adsense. The idea of doing e-commerce or my own product freaks me out just thinking about it – dealing with customers?! No thanks lol
And yes, it’ll be nice when my site’s so successful that Google’s opinion of it is irrelevant – got a way to go yet though.
No cartoon today. Too busy over the weekend to craft anything worthwhile. Had a thought so I thought I’d deliver it.
I am employed right now. I could lose my job tomorrow. I have the web stuff as a back up of sorts. Nothing is guaranteed, but if I quit my job for online dreams I am definitely not going to have that paycheck. It’s why I do both.
That said if I pay off Mrs. Splork’s house then I am done with the grind.
I’m sure that I am not the only one but I sometimes feel that if I quit my 9-5 I wouldn’t get as much done in the day. I just don’t feel I have the discipline to get up every day and work when I knew that there could be a hundred more interesting things I wanted to do.
On top of that, I don’t think I would get half as much link building done if it wasn’t for my 9-5.
For me it’s a hedge. If the online thing bombs then I’m still employed. If I get terminated at work I can focus on making more with websites. One could argue that it would be better to be great at one thing than mediocre at two, but this works for me.
It’s funny but I’m totally the opposite. I hate niche marketing and totally failed every time I tried it. Something about trying to write the same 5 articles a bazillion times drives me insane. Yeah I know there are spinners and such but I can’t seem to use them its a defect of my personality.
I’ve found that I do much better at larger subjects where I can just write my link articles on stuff thats related but not exactly the same. It keeps my attention a bit better.
My subject of choice is also something that everyone tells me you can’t make any money at but I’m pretty sure they are wrong. Everyone’s always wrong…I think.
Once I discovered that there actually are affiliates for my subject I started creating a number of sites and have been having no problems writing and ranking.
Paul Gee is also right about the ability of some people to buckle down and just DO it. I have that issue as well. I stall and avoid and then spend a bunch of time writing and then stall and avoid and spend a bunch of time submitting.
Such is life…
Well, even tho Splork has said part of what I’d planned to say, I’ll say it anyway.
He is hedging. You quit your job and a WHOLE lot more pressure will come on you. Esp with a family.
I think eventually he will make it. We all go at our own pace, those of us like splork or me that will be doing this shit long term:)
And we all have our own preferences. Some aren’t suitable to sell stuff, or build a list. There are so many ways to make moola online, choose one that appeals to you.
One thing I find interesting is as far as I’m aware, splork has never said what he makes. He has a good april. Ok? whats a good month? And a great crapbank week. Ok? Whats a great crapbank week?
Even tho he doesn’t teach, he is saying what he does. But no one really ever knows what he gets for doing it. Just an observation.
He might well respond, its none of our business. True. Gotta give the guburu’s some credit for saying what they make.
I made $23 and change last month. $13 for Adsense. Crapbank $8. $1 from Amazon. And the rest from Shareasale.
Oh really Splork. You said you had a “great” month from adsense and you made $13? You say your earnings pays for vactions? Where do you vacation? Walmart?]
And you can put your kids through college with your earnings? Which college? Community College?
Which all the stuff you do with all the blog making and everything else, and have been doing for quite a considerable time, you must be making at least a $1000 a month.
All that effort just wouldn’t be worth it if it only paid a few bucks.
True?
Every little bit helps. I hope my earnings improve as I continue to work hard.
At the end all we want is cash flow and time without them nothings possible so I had to give up my 9-5 three years earlier.
I totally agree every little bit helps.
I’m pretty confused how you have been able to use your earnings to take vacations.
I guess from what you’ve said over time it seemed like you was making a lot more.
If that actually is your earnings from adsense, can you tell me how much a click you usually get? I’m wondering if the keywords you’ve gone after have quite low payouts.
I get about one click a month from Adsense.
HA ha. Very funny. As I thought. Its a mind your own business then huh? I try to give people the benefit of the doubt when they tell me something.
So I guess you just lie like the guburu’s huh? Least when it comes to your earnings.
Really all you had to say was you didn’t want to say what your earnings were. Thats fair enough. But you are putting what you do out there, and nobody who reads it has any kind of a guidepost what they could do if they did it themselves.
Not that I do or would do your particular approach, but I liked your style in being open about what you do.
Unless it comes to earnings. Which are likely in the $1000 – $5000 range.
I do wish you continued success in the future.