mattinator

I've been a lurker of these forums for years and I have a few observations I would like to share with people that are just getting started.

You aren't going to make much money right away.

I guess around 2 years ago I gave both AM and Arbi a shot with a few hundred dollars I had laying around. I didn't make any money. Looking back, I realize I tried to make money right out of the gate and that's just not the way it works, at least not anymore. It's going to take time before you figure out how everything works, so be prepared to put in a lot of work up front for not a whole lot of money (and probably no money). As with anything, properly set your expectations.

You can't win if you don't play.

The flip side to the above point is that if you really want to give IM a shot, you need to make an attempt. You might setup a few domains, get a few shitty Joomla sites up and running, and write/buy loads of content before you make a single penny. Sounds lame. But everyone had to do the same thing before they figured it out. So don't despair, just work at it. It will take several months.

Avoid "paralysis by analysis."

Don't be the horse that died of dehydration because he couldn't figure out which troff to drink from. It's good to have a plan, but anything beyond a basic business plan is probably overkill for any given domain. Spending 5 hours researching whether or not the Linux kernel your server is running will most efficiently run nginix as a proxy for Apache... well that's not going to make you any money*. If you are chronically unorganized or you have trouble getting things done I would recommend you check out the following:

The Pomodoro Technique (there is a free ebook)**
"Getting Things Done" by David Allen (it's a book, dummy)

This isn't rocket science.

Good content + efficient SEO + smart monetization = Profit

See what other people are doing. Don't copy them, but learn from them. I think an excellent example on how to make a really popular site is imgur.com. I remember hearing about them about a year ago on reddit.com and they ended up becoming the photo hosting site for most reddit users. I've noticed a lot of digg users are using them as well... they're getting big now. When they started they were not focusing on monetizing their site; there were no ads to be found and they were not charging their users. They had lots and lots of traffic before they worried about making money. I would would guess they were spending over $1000/mo in hosting costs alone before they starting putting up ads. Now they charge for accounts as well as having ads on all the traffic they are getting. I'd bet they've recouped their loses.


I hope this is helpful for those thinking about taking the plunge.


*Unless you use your research to create content for a site, but you get the point I'm trying to make.

** I am not affiliated with this site in any way shape or form. Someone showed me this at work a while back and it has helped me get my act together.

juntao65

So let me get this straight. You haven't done anything and you're giving advice? Stop worrying about others and get cracking.

HundredProof

Your an old little motherfucker here arnt you? Let me venture a guess. Back in 2007, you signed up to make monies and then someone slamballed you into depression. You then went to hibernate and lulled low for a long time. Today, you are out for some revenge. GTFO.

Just Kidding. Welcome Back. Dont go anywhere this time. Id be cursing you if you were are DP!

ppcIcon

Good post for the newbie section. Are you making money right now?

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WickedyWicked

IM success doesn't come overnight & it definitely takes a lot of FOCUSED work to get to the point you want to be.

Just focus on 1 thing at a time. Another thing I've seen, that have helped out a lot of newbies is setting result-based goals, not $-based. So instead of $, focus on getting that traffic!

mattinator

ppcIcon: No I am not making money yet. I own a few domains and I dabble here and there, but I haven't tried anything serious. I'm going to build out a few more domains and try to build some organic traffic and learn some more while I'm saving up some serious capital. Then I'll give it a go.

Hundredproof: As it turns out, I had a shit job 3 years ago so I didn't have the money to seriously pursue AM. I'm now in a much better situation and I now work at a web hosting company (ironically enough, I attribute my ability to land that job with skills I learned trying to setup a few AM campaigns).

juntao65: I'm not giving advice so much as sharing my experience; I'm trying to help fellow newbies properly set expectations. After my own experience, I don't think it's realistic to think you can start with $500 make a decent profit within a month (like I mistakenly thought). At the time it took me quite a while to save up that $500 and so when I didn't make anything back I was jaded and gave up for a (long) while. Hopefully others can learn from my experience.

amanda11

Less talking and more hustling.

SiL^Er_HunTeR

Awesome post, now apply those principles