Gerard Boucher

Category: Tech

  • Should you buy a monetized website for extra income?

    When people think about ways they can make money on the Internet, they usually think of online advertising, product sales, or affiliate programs. Rarely do they think of purchasing or acquiring an already-existent website as a means of generating extra income. But purchasing a monetized website is a smart and safe option for many would-be small business owners.

    Why not online advertising?

    Online advertising is a good way to make some extra money online – but at a significant cost. It takes a really long time to see revenue rolling in. First, a website must be established and made credible before advertisers are willing to pay for ad placement. Additionally, most advertising programs offer relatively low payout rates – not enough to generate significant income.

    Why not product sales?

    A good salesperson can generate plenty of sales (and consequently, plenty of income). But you have to be a great salesperson with extensive knowledge in your particular industry or field in order to make significant money through product sales.

    Buying an existing website solves both the problems of time and expertise

    When purchasing a monetized website, there is no need to wait a long time until you see income generated from the site. This is particularly useful for those who want to use the purchase to generate extra, recurring income to supplement current income. This is in stark contrast to most advertising initiatives.

    Small business owners who purchase a monetized website may find that they can operate – and even grow – the website without much of any experience in the site’s associated field or industry. Usually, financially-successful websites are associated with robust and productive staff who handle much of the technicalities of operating such a site. That means almost anybody can buy – and continue operating – an already-monetized website.

    What should you be cautious about when buying a monetized website?

    When purchasing an already-monetized website for extra income, you should ask yourself several questions in order to become more comfortable with the purchase, and make the purchasing process bearable.

    First, can you truly commit to the venture you are about to undertake? Operating a website does cost time and money, and you should be aware of the specific requirements for doing so on a case-by-case basis.

    Next, you must be ready to financially commit to the site’s purchase. Some websites cost thousands of dollars, while others cost millions. Do you have the initial capital needed to sustain the website and its operations for at least six months? This is perhaps the most important question to ask yourself.

    Finally, once you’ve purchased a particular website, you have to devise a strategy that will help the website grow and prosper in the long-run. You have to make the site’s particular business model work well. This can sometimes be easier said – and planned – than executed.

    So, what’s the verdict – worth it or not?

    Buying a monetized website is definitely worth the investment – the financial and time cost(s) of the purchase will reward you with potentially significant income for years to come if you carefully executive a site’s operations and marketing plans.

  • Blogging 101: Starting a Blog Takes Hard Work & Dedication

    There are tens of thousands of blogs on today’s Internet. So, doesn’t that mean it’s REALLY easy to start a blog and make it successful? In short: nope, far from it.

    Starting a blog requires a lot of time, dedication, and hard work. Most blogs fail simply because of a lack of dedication by the founder/blogger.

    Staying the course – why consistency is the key to gaining visibility and bringing traffic

    Most blogs fail because the owner becomes discouraged. Discouragement is usually the result of stagnant – or sometimes non-existent – website traffic. As many business owners know, website traffic does not appear magically. It is built up over time, often through hard work and perseverance. Over time, good website management practices and effective marketing ensure that a particular website is found and receives regular traffic.

    The same principles of hard work and perseverance apply to blogs. A blog that is under six to eight months old will likely not see much traffic without a substantive marketing effort. And because blogs are not very profitable in their infancy, bloggers do not usually dedicate a lot of time to blogging. This is a recipe for disaster, as blogs become visible and well-known as bloggers consistently keep their blog active and fresh.

    The bottom-line: don’t give up. Stay the course. KEEP POSTING REGULARLY! If you don’t see lots of traffic (“results”) immediately, that doesn’t necessarily prove you’re doing something wrong. Give it time, be patient, and evaluate your progress monthly. Don’t stop posting regularly – at least two blog posts a week.

    Timing is everything – the number of blog posts made matters big-time

    Look, it’s tempting to be lazy and make one blog post a week. “Well, at least my blog is not dead like some blogs!” the saying goes. Guess what? To many visitors, it is dead. People want several blog posts  a week, and anything less annoys them. I conducted a survey of a random sample of “plugged-in” New Yorkers last month, and found that 78% of them will ignore blogs that appear abandoned. That’s a lot of people – and it should be a wake-up call to webmasters and bloggers alike. MAKE MORE POSTS.

    We all feel lazy at one point or another, but we must get up and aggressively overcome our laziness. Failure to do so may mean we are writing off a large portion of potential website visitors who are discouraged by the lack of blog posts made. Do yourself – and your visitors – a favor by blogging at least twice a week.

    Blogging 101 is a series of blog posts that highlights the best practices for bloggers, webmasters, and marketers alike when starting or managing a blog.