I recently covered a principle of profitability in a masters class on manufacturing that I believe strongly applied to the profitability of a web site. With in the scope of manufacturing the idea is this: if a process does not add value to the end product then it should be eliminated. If the final infrastructure contains only value added processes then we have refined the operation to a greater state of efficiency and consequently a greater state of profitability. How does this apply to making money online? Well, if developing the site is our process only those elements that will bring profit are the ones we should concern ourselves with. The processes that are going to bring us profit are going to be the processes that bring in traffic. This means a great deal of time spent on graphic development will not yield the best return on investment in regards to your time. Everyone wants the coolest looking site around but with so many content management systems (cms) available, with relatively aesthetically pleasing templates, there is very little need to learn such programs as Photoshop and Illustrator. If the graphic development thing is something you like to do for fun great but realize unless you are providing that as a service it isn’t going to bring in the dollar bills.
Goals:
- Make some form of autonomous revenue through a website
Sites:
- Plans-How to
- Ramps
- Pneumatics
- CNC
- AdSense
- Web design
- Templates
- Any popular Domain name with sponsors
Biz:
-Wall art
-Online POS and accounting for home Salons.
-Complete business that is packaged and can be used as a stepping stone to the next level. Each would consist of a POS and accounting database, a website, and any needed hardware.
- Screen Printing
- AdSense
- web-design
- CNC
Products:
- Adirondack chairs
- area rugs
- things remembered
Ebay:
- water baloon launchers
Projects
- CNC Router
- Pneumatic Rube Goldberg
Websites
- Lifecenter
- trifit
- EWU Manufactureing
Knowledgebase
- Engineering
The greatest success in entrepreneurship, business, and life can only be found through conforming one’s aspirations to that of Christ’s. Over the past few years I have been beating myself up over business ventures and ideas that have ultimately amounted to little more then an intellectual gain with a financial loss. As I reflect I realize that each was nothing more then the chasing of the wind. My primary motives were that of quick monetary gain and were in no way associated with who I am. I did my best to merge my “passions” with something that would bring in the dollar bills, the problem was that my passions didn’t yield them selves to areas that would bring a quick financial gain.
God geared each of us the way that he did for a reason. It is no mistake that your interests, talents, and abilities are what they are. For me the analytical nature that I have been blessed with said
“Money is a necessity, generating money requires time, time is a limited resource; therefore how do I generate the greatest amount of money in the least amount of time?” I still believe this to be a problem worth addressing but not before the problem of joy. What makes me happy? You see, I was concentrating my efforts on the wrong problem, I was spending so much time working on ways to generate revenue that I was depriving myself of who I am and who God wants me to be. I will still keep my eyes open to future possibilities but concerning myself with Gods will for me as apposed to my will for myself will create the life full of “riches” that I so deeply long for.
On a recent flight from Sacramento it occurred to me that my initial focus and intent of profit socks was a bit miss directed. When I started the site I wanted to focus on financial ventures that are specific to the internet but as an entrepreneur how could I limit my self like that. I am working on so many projects that to have a blog that encompass all of them simply makes more sense. While internet based revenue sources will continue to be covered on profit socks it will now be a category not the main premise. The main premise will now be general entrepreneurial and business ventures. With this new focus I will cover more of the thoughts ideas successes and failures that come from following the entrepreneurial mind set.
While using Wordpress, when ever possible list your posts under multiple categories. As you write you will find that a lot of your content will fit under more then one categorie. This is a good thing, it is even better when what you are writing about demands a category that does not exist yet. It populates your categorie list with multiple lines and increases the number of posts with in each category. This does two things, first it directs your readers to relevant related content and secondly it gives the appearance of a larger site. This is especially bennificial for younger blogs that do not have much content. Think about when you have stumbled upon a blog that didn’t appear to be more then two or three entries. Right away you more then likely told yourself that the other entries were not worth your time.
I mention this because I found a site that was linked threw problogger that appeared to be quite large. After a little digging however I found that it really wasn’t more then 10 or 12 posts. It demanded respect though, when I looked at the site I thought wow I can’t wait until my blog grows up.
Q: Have you had a similar experience with a smaller site that appeared to be bigger then it truely was? If so what are your thoughts?
While it may seem like a good idea to author your blogs in a word processor such as Microsoft Word keep in mind that additional tags will probably come with your content. I was toying around with my fonts and I couldn’t get them to listen to my style sheet. The reason was that all of my text was nested into the tags that were created by MS word. Not a big deal, and an easy fix but something that should be noted.
Q: As bloggers do you use the text editor that is built into your blogging software or do you use an alternative editor that perhaps is more robust?
I haven’t been doing this that long and I can already tell you that the ability to learn and grow as your blog does is essential. After reading over a few old posts I noticed that I wanted to change the way I address my readers. I felt like I was writing to myself and some how including little bits of info for the reader. As a blogger you must remember that people are inherently selfish and don’t really care about you unless what you are talking about can somehow benefit them. Always always always keep your reader at the front of your mind because if you aren’t writing with them in mind it will reflect in your traffic. Understanding the little things such as this from the get go is great but realize that it won’t be that way with everything. When you fall consider it a lesson learned and move on.
I am going to fill you guys in on the path or school of thought that I followed in creating this blog and will follow for any future sites.
The Topic
It has been suggested that the topic of a blog should be relevant, controversial, and continually changing. While I agree with that I also believe that there will be absolutely no Read the rest of this entry »
This may appear to be my first blog but its not. I actually started one prior to this with my buddy Isaac who is into idie rock music.
The site: www.BeforeTheyGoBig.com
The idea: To provide the Indie rock scene with reviews, updates, interviews and polls.
The site is still under construction and in a lot of ways serving a double purpose in that it is allowing us to build a foundation as bloggers while simultaneously generating revenue. Isaac holds the passion for the subject matter while I take care of all the technical stuff. I will keep you informed on its performance.
Blogging only becomes profitable when there is traffic so I’m sure it will take some time before we see a monetary gain but it should be fun and we will both learn a thing or two.