When someone approaches me and asks, how can I make money on my website? My answer is almost always the same. What is your point? What are you willing to give, or give up? Why do you want it?
Let’s start with what is your point. It reminds me of a conversation I heard once where a father asks his son, what do you want to do when you grow up? The son’s reply was “I wanna make money”. The father answered there are no jobs called making money.
In order to create a revenue stream from your website you will need a product or service that you can consistently provide to your client. You must define what you are doing. What is your goal, how are you going to go about it. Think about it. I am not suggesting you over think and talk yourself out of it. I am suggesting that if you know where you are going it is easier to get there. You don’t drive north from Arkansas to get to Florida. If you do drive north from Arkansas, in route to Florida, just know it is going to take a bit longer to get there.
Maybe you build websites, maybe you blog about diet and exercise, maybe you have a widget to sell that will save the world from its own destruction. No matter what it is I suggest you like to do it. You will be spending a lot of time on it, might as well enjoy your time, as well as earn an income. You are going to need to be a little obsessed, or OCD. It will take 20 years to be an overnight success.
So, what are you willing to give? Maybe the better question is, what are you willing to give up? You will need to give up some weekends, talk to people. I have been in this business for nearly 25 years, and I can name so many folks who have come and gone because they were not in it for the long haul. Earning a living on the internet is not like cooking in a microwave. Plan you work, work you plan, and take a baby step every day. Be consistent. Most often an hour or two a day is more productive than 10 hours and any given Tuesday. Anyway the key here is get started, set a time each day to focus on yourself, your business, your life, your marriage, all of it…plan, plan and plan some more. If any of those four pillars crumble during your journey it is most likely that the ball will stop rolling there.
So ask yourself, what do you want? If your answer is “I wanna make money”, then I believe you need to define your message. If you want folks to help you, you have to help them. I know very few people who will support you and your family out of grace. Maybe a meal or a coat for winter, but grace has limitations. At the same time I know a wealth of people who will offer five dollars for a widget that will help them in some way. Really, have you been to Wal-Mart? Have you seen all of the little plastic ideas they sell to make your life easier. Consider how you can help someone, and focus on it.
This article showcases the importance of defining your idea, your message, and how you can help your client or customers. If you define how and when you will help your customers, it will be easier to do so when they arrive. In the works of Dave Ramsey, if you want to make a lot of money, then help a lot of people. The next article will focus on the specifics of monetizing a website.