How Do I Make Real Money Online?

You're sitting in the shade 

of a palm tree, next to the 

sparkling water of your pool.   

The scent from the lemon and 

orange trees fill the early 

morning air. The sky is clear 

blue.   

A gentle breeze comes drifting 

in from the sea, clean and 

refreshing.   

The laptop computer on the table 

in front of you hums quietly 

into life. You tap the keys to 

access your website to find out 

how much money you made overnight 

whilst you slept.   

For you it's just another day in the office.   

Is such a scenario really possible?   

Is such an opportunity available to ordinary people, or 

is online business still the preserve of the geeky few?   

Today, earning a living and building a lifestyle around 

an internet-based business is open to everyone. The only 

barrier is your willingness to give it a go. Indeed, 

there has never has been a better time to set up an 

online business than today ... and there probably never 

will be a better time in the future.   

The internet continues to experience rapid growth. The 

global audience is huge, and just about any specialist 

subject can find a large enough following to become 

profitable. The technology is reliable and the software 

is so simple that anyone can master it. Yet the competition 

in most areas is still low, giving you a great chance to 

succeed.   

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world are building

their lifestyles around running their own profitable website.

They're not geeks or serial entrepreneurs. They're not 

experienced publishers or computer whiz kids. They're 

ordinary people, like you and me, who are passionate about 

what they write about.   

You can write about your hobby, which could be anything 

from collecting fine wines to collecting Hornby trains; 

from hang gliding to building garden ponds. You can call 

upon your past business expertise and write a website about 

running a business (‘Running a Successful Restaurant') or 

create a specialist site about your industry (‘Beer 

Distribution Bulletin'). Or you could call upon your 

experience to find your perfect subject, how to raise 

money for small charities, retiring to Spain or making 

money on eBay.   

Anyone, anywhere in the world, with just a computer and 

internet connection, can run a profitable website based 

on a subject they love.

But first a quick reallity check! 

Lets get it out of the way before we get into the practical 

stuff. There is no internet money tree from which you can 

simply pluck dollar bills. Despite what you read on the 

thousands of "make-a-million-dollars-in-24-hours" websites, 

there has never been a work-free, lie-on-the-beach, 

passive-income way of making real money online. Never has 

been, never will be.

However I will quickly reiterate. Anyone, anywhere in the 

world can make *real* money online. My definition of *real* 

money is more than person's salary and enough to have a 

comfortable lifestyle. 

How can you Start a Money Making Website About a Hobby?   

I'll illustrate with an example.   

Let's say that you have moved from your home in England to 

live in Spain (or it could equally be moving from Ohio to 

live in Panama). You spent many years researching making 

the move. You spoke to lawyers and bankers, accountants 

and tax advisors. You travelled up and down the coast 

visiting different towns and cities. You quizzed estate 

agents and developers.   

Finally, you chose where you wanted to live.   

You then faced all the challenges of relocating to Spain, 

including buying a house, dealing with the local authorities,

setting up a bank account, hiring a gardener, finding a 

school for the kids ... and thousands of other little 

hurdles.   

Even now that you're settled in, you still regularly learn 

new things about living in Spain and have to deal with issues

you hadn't encountered before. Luckily, you have a network 

of friends and contacts you can call upon for help.   

If you sat down and thought about it, you would realise 

that you are an expert on moving to and living in Spain. 

Your knowledge and experience is hugely valuable to anyone 

else thinking about doing what you have already done.   

You have the knowledge to run a website to help people 

wishing to relocate to Spain and then help them once they 

have made the move. Think back to when you did, and whether 

you would have benefited from this type of advice.   

You could write articles about:

• Finding a house

• Dealing with estate agents

• Getting a mortgage

• Buying furniture

• Having a phone installed

• Buliding a swimming pool

• And much more...

There are hundreds of topics you could cover that would be 

useful to people following in your footsteps.   

Take time to think about subjects you are really interested 

in and how your knowledge could benefit others.

How Do You Make Money? 

Once you have a loyal audience of regular visitors to your 

website, making money is the easy bit.   

You can generate revenue from advertising, affiliate 

marketing, subscriptions and ecommerce. Or you can use 

the website to promote an offline business or event.   

On a website about moving to Spain, you can place adverts 

from dozens of different companies who want to target your 

visitors, including banks, mortgage brokers, estate agents, 

lawyers, removal companies, etc. Or if you don't want to 

sell ads yourself, you can automate your advertising for 

free with Google Adsense or a similar advertising programme.   

You can strike affiliate deals with local companies where 

you get paid for leads and introductions that you source 

via your site. Or you can automate your affiliate program 

by choosing affiliates from sites such as Commission 

Junction (http://www.cj.com/).   

You can create a members-only part of the site to develop 

a community of people moving to Spain or for expats who 

are already living there. The community could share 

knowledge and information, arrange social events and offer 

discounts to its members in exchange for an annual 

membership fee.   

Your site can sell guides to moving to Spain, checklists 

to make the relocation process easier, DVDs about individual 

areas and much more. A simple shop on your site can quickly 

grow to generate significant income.   

You can use the site to sell seminars about moving to Spain. 

I can think of no better way to learn about the risks and 

rewards of moving to Spain than listening to people who have 

already done it.   

*********   

Everyone has knowledge that is valuable to someone. An 

experienced parent can help new parents. A carer who has 

nursed a terminally ill person can help other people who 

have found themselves in a similar position. A successful 

entrepreneur can help people setting up their first business. 

An expert on fly-fishing can share his knowledge with fellow 

experts or people taking up the sport for the first time. 

And so on.  

How Easy Is It To Set Up a Website?

For non-technical people, the internet can be a very 

confusing place. Indeed, recent research found that 76% 

of people considering setting up an online business gave 

up after looking into the complexities of building their 

website. The technical challenges scared them off before 

they even got started.

But don't be put off by this small bump in the road. There 

are challenges involved with getting your first website 

launched on the internet, but there are now tools and 

companies around that make it very simple. 

If you have never published any content on the web, start 

by publishing on someone elses website. For example 

HubPages (http://www.hubpages.com/) allows you to publish 

articles and share any advertising revenues your pages 

generate. Once you are comfortable with HubPages try 

launching your own blog. This is a simplest way to create 

a basic content website. Try the free Blogger service to 

get started (http://www.blogger.com/). If you enjoy 

publishing online, then it is time to upgrade to a proper 

content site which you can design and has the functionality 

you need to make multiple revenue streams. The best solution 

for people wanting to make real money from their website is 

SubHub (http://www.subhub.com/).

The 12 Point Checklist to Getting Started

I hope by now you are excited about turning your hobby 

or experience into an online business. Here are the 12 

steps you should follow to get launched:

Step #1 - Decide on Your Subject

Choose a subject that you are passionate about. You will be 

living and breathing your website for the next few years so 

make sure it is something you really enjoy. Have a look at 

this article about choosing a website subject.

Step #2 - Choose a Domain Name

Your domain name is important. Once you have established a 

successful website it is almost impossible to change the 

domain name so give it some serious thought at the outset. 

Have a look at this article about choosing the perfect domain name. 

Step #3 - Register Your Doamin Name

It is important to pick the right domain name registrar. 

Don't go for the cheapest, or worse still, never use a free 

registrar.  Have a look at this article about 

10 things you should consider before registering your domain.

Step #4 - Create a Content Plan

Before you write the first article, spend some time writing 

down a list of all the topics you are going to cover. Jot 

down a title for each topic, put them in order of priority 

and assign a publish date to each title. Remember you don't 

need to create all your own content. There are many 

sources where you can get great content for your site, 

much of it free!  

Step #5 - Create Your First Content

You should not launch your website until you have at least 

ten articles ready to publish. You want to ensure the first 

visitors to your website have a good experience and have a 

reason to come back. There is a simple rule called the 

H.E.A.R.T of online content which you should follow when 

planning your content.

Step #6 - Design the Layout of Your Website

Layout is important, but the good news is there are a few 

standard designs which work very well for content sites. 

Don't reinvent the wheel. Use a website layout that is 

already proven. 

Step #7 - Create the Navigation

Your website's navigation is the way people move around 

your website by clicking on links. The way to build your 

navigation is to get a big sheet of paper and draw a 

rectangle at the top of the page and call this the Home Page.

You should then list the links in the Home Page and draw 

lines to additional boxes which represenr additional pages 

on your site. Continue to draw boxes and links until you 

have a complete model or 'wireframe' of your websites 

navigation. 

Step #8 - Choose Your Website Platform

Choosing a platform for you website is an important decision.

You need to be sure the platform can grow as your website 

prospers. One of the most important considerations is 

whether you can make multiple revenue streams from the 

service including advertising, subscription, ecommerce and 

event booking. Here is a list of the features you should 

consider. 

Step #9 - Build Your Website

Once you have created some content, thought about the design 

and chosen your platform, it's time to bring all the bits 

together. This is the most exciting time when launching a 

new site. It is a real thrill to see all your hard work 

rewarded with a published website. 

Step #10 - Launch Your Website

I always suggest doing two launches. The first is a 'soft' 

launch, when you just ask friends, family and colleagues to 

take a look at your site and ask them for their feedback. 

This often highlights problems and opportunities which you 

can address before your full launch. The 'hard' or full 

launch is when you register your website with the search 

engines and send out a press release to let the world know 

you have arrived! 

Step #11 - Update the Site Regularly

Remember the launch is just the begining. To build a 

successful content website you need to update the site 

regularly, which I suggest is at least every other day. Go 

back to your content plan and get writing! 

Step #12 - Get Other Sites to Link to Your Site 

The best way to get people to your website is to regularly 

publish great content and to get other relevant websites to 

link to your website. There are many ways you can get 

'backlinks' or 'inbound' links as they are known in the 

industry.

Conclusion

Hopefully you will now feel inspired to consider creating a 

money making content website to either supplement or replace 

your salary and give you the freedom of being your own boss. 

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