Diverse Methods To Earn a Side Income Online - What are your strengths as an online publisher
"This again demonstrates the folly of having a business model that is dependent on free traffic, from a free listing, in free search engines. This business model is NOT sustainable long term. This 'farmer' update (like all the previous major ones) should remind you of that." *1
Are all of your eggs in one basket?
Finding the balance in diversifying your income streams without diluting the quality of your product
Recently, a major change in the Google algorithm has adversely effected many online writers, webmasters and e-commerce businesses. Pushing aside all factors that are immediately outside of the control of those that are adversely effected this event should be a wake up call to all who are reliant on the internet in order to create passive and active income.
If your ability to provide for your family and support your lifestyle was reliant on one external parties good graces then you are following an unstable business model and you are directly at fault for the consequences.
Does that sound harsh?
Dont worry, we will attempt to get you informed of your options and evaluate your strengths in a perfunctory manner. Diversification of your efforts, products, income streams, revenue sources, traffic sources and topics or niches is much easier than my language suggests.
| “When I have been unhappy, I have heard an opera... and it seemed the shrieking of winds; when I am happy, a sparrow's chirp is delicious to me. But it is not the chirp that makes me happy, but I that make it sweet.” |
-John Ruskin
This is the internet after all and opportunity abounds, it is quite easy to find ventures that will fit within your passions if you stay aware of where your talents lie and your effort is best expended.
Identify your Strength - Are You Just A Writer
Am I Just a Writer?
Just, has a negative connotation of being a limiter, suggesting that one should not just be anything. Obviously, such a thought is a dangerous untruth. Being just a writer is a glorious and valid calling and the world is made better by your existence.
Is the process of finding profitable informational terms and markets via keyword research and industry trends not an action that you actually enjoy ?
Does coming up with unique ways to describe passionately your love for widget a and how much better it is than widget b fill you with dread?
Does SEO make you cringe, Was the mere possibility of your current publishing platform losing its effectiveness a complete surprise to you?
Are you currently irritated by my improper use of commas ?
You are probably just a writer, if you get no joy out of the requirements of online self publishing why do you do it?
Money?
Writers will always be able to make money, your skills will always be in demand. You can make a great active and passive income writing on demand for preselected topics and you are free to shop around to find topics that you are both passionate and curious about.
Whats wrong with that?
Outside of crafting words there is only one other issue you need to contend with - Finding markets to buy your work.
Finding Markets for Your Writing
You should own this book. I can see my beaten and well thumbed version from my couch. This particular edition, "The Writers Market Deluxe Edition 2011," also provides you with a online user account to see updated offers and industry news in a private database. You will find available markets online and off organized in general categories and sub-categorized into many small niche publications.
If your more comfortable with Fiction writing, you can also add to your library with the 2011 Novel and Short Story Writers Market and the Poetry edition of the same.
Finding Markets for Your Writing Online
The suggested required resources show a combination of offline and online publications that are currently open to submissions. Most have specific formats for writing and proposals. There is never a guarantee that your writing will be purchased but should fail to find interest initially there are still many additional resources you can pitch to or re-purpose your writing for.
A suggested and proven method for juggling your content portfolio:
Online Markets and Resources for Writers
Enter the world of Freelance and Content Brokers.
Freelance Marketplaces
Responding to "calls for work" can be hit or miss and being successful as a Freelancer does require one to get familiar with the various sites, knowing multiple accepted formats for writing and keeping a solid and accessible portfolio of some kind. The details of this are outside the scope of this introductory article.
Some resources to delve into:
- GetaFreelancer.com
- Odesk.com
- eLance.com
- Guru.com
Content Brokers
My personal favorite resource that follows the content broker model is Constant Content. Via this resource you have the option of directly responding to Calls for work or placing your writing into the marketplace, your content can be sold for unique or usage rights. So in some cases your content may be purchased many times by different interested webmasters and online publishers.
Examine Constant-Content , sign up link
Begin your writing career...
Rest assured, if your current business model as an online content producer is currently failing you, but you do have the drive to test new waters and do whatever it takes to succeed as a Writer, you will.
Organization will be your best friend. Make a spreadsheet of where you have submitted, keep track of acceptance and rejection letters. Repurpose content and pay attention to personal branding and presentation everywhere you publish. Make yourself very easy to contact! Even here at Hubpages, stories abound of publishers who have been hired purely because of the quality of their output. It can be done. By continuing to publish here at Hubpages and additionally reaching out for new opportunities you can buffer your earning sources and prevent any changes in the search market from wiping you out.
See additional sources below to see some examples of Hubpage Authors who have diverse online presence.*2,3
Identify Your Strengths: Are You a Webmaster ?
For the purposes of this discourse, we will consider Webmaster to be someone who runs an independent online business. There are "webmasters" that simply perform site management duties for existing companies and brands .. I will ignore that possibility.
Are You a WebMaster ?
Do you realize at this point that the average visitor will be done with me? We have just crossed the 1000 word threshold and most users dont have that type of attention span.
Does the recent algorithm change fill you with curiosity about how and what was effected, have you been trawling forums and blogs reading up on the news?
Have you been analyzing your stats and identifying which traffic sources have changed, trying to find keywords and terms that have gained or lost traction?
Can you name your conversion and clickthrough percentages off the top of your head?
Can you read and recognize the problem in the php code below? What CMS does it belong to?
<?php
if (function_exists('related_posts')) {
echo ('<li id="recent">Related Articles<ul>');
related_posts();
echo ('</ul>');
}
?>Does that describe you?
There is one requirement to being a webmaster, you have to have a hosting account! If all of your eggs were in a shared basket and now you are hurting because of it, its about time to start your professional career.
Im not a webmaster, if I use article sites and free resources?
For the most part, NO! , you are a sharecropper, you are dependent on outside parties for your boat to stay afloat. Furthermore, you will be ineligible for most worthwhile affiliate partnerships and you will never be forced to learn the backend of the net and the importance of a sites "skeleton" in its ranking in the SERP's.
So have we identified your passion?
As the title of this article suggests, the point of defining your passion is to diversify along streams you may enjoy. As the puzzle of online income generation is one of my passions, I will not be attempting to include every possibility into just one hubpage, I will be spreading this series across a diverse network of locations and formats and be encouraging an open roundtable of experienced discussion among those who are diversifying their portfolios.
Possible streams to incorporate into your online repertoire - a brief overview
The first and most relative issue to address with the one trick pony/eggs in one basket webmaster that can be heavily effected by a Google algorithmic change is:
Traffic Sources - Develop diverse traffic sources
Currently, you are likely dependent on two sources- organic search traffic from your google overlord and internal traffic from your Web 2.0 underlord ( I jest, i like them both ;) )
We will disregard that not all traffic is created equal and that free search engine traffic is certainly the most desirable and evaluate some alternatives.
- Paid CPC Advertising
- Paid Media Buying (Banner Ads)
- Image Search
- Video Search - Video Marketing
- Social Marketing - Twitter/Facebook
- Parasitic Marketing (Comment and Forum Posting)
- Guest Posting (Referral Traffic from established or upcoming sites)
- Return Traffic/Fan base - Quality content combined with an easy navigation and memorable voice or branding is integral to long term success.
Many of these are not foreign to you, but are often only discussed as linkbuilding tools, but when we are diversifying our traffic sources we would be ignoring any seo benefits of the link and only concentrating on making great informative and relevant ads, comments, posts and videos that will attract real human beings to visit and share your properties .. some seo benefits may be unavoidable.
Revenue Sources - Affiliate/PPC/Referral Model
Just as being stuck to one traffic source is a poor decision so is dependence on any one revenue source. Many are most likely in the common models of PPC advertising or Affiliate advertising.
A close evaluation of your returns via PPC advertising should be done routinely. The commission structure of most affiliate opportunities should pay much more if you are capable of attracting targeted traffic that will buy products or trial services. Keep in mind, the buyers on the other side of the PPC model are doing exactly that - profiting from your traffic.
If a letter from ePn or adsense stating that you are no longer in the program would wipe you out - you must be prepared for that eventuality. If Internet Sales Tax Law 5 passing in your state may result in you being booted from Amazon, then you must be prepared for that eventuality.
The best way to do that is to join many affiliate networks and get access to thousands of businesses running affiliate programs.
Revenue Sources - Product Creator
The top of the affiliate food chain is the actual product owner. A successful product creator has a virtual army of affiliates like you selling his products for him. You can be a product creator, it does not require a manufacturing and shipping facility. eBooks and POD Books are in demand, especially with the advent of eReader popularity.
Print On Demand Merchandising can be designed and worked into any of your current campaigns. A timely or meme based product as simple as a t-shirt design can quickly be flogged by armies of affiliates, you wouldnt even have to ship them.
Diversifying your Online Income series
The above is a brief overview that may hopefully get some ideas rolling and your own personal searches started. Diversification IS the only way to stay solvent in an uncertain marketplace. If you do not attempt to do such a thing you are not a business person, you are just a hobbyist.
I have been developing a hobby/passion site myself, discussing make money online and online marketing is not a cash cow. At least not in my experience, but it is a great way to keep up motivation, talk shop and learn from other online entrepreneurs.
Prior to the "Algocalypse" I repurposed the 60DC site to make room for a tutorial series designed for some interested family members and friends and that has begun to evolve int something greater. The series was entitled " Fresh Start To making Money Online" and is currently my passion project with the next installment along the lines of "Organizing Your Online Business", i have some great Guest posts in the works from some successful Hubbers with diverse online activities too!
Below you will see examples of the early branding and development across multiple networks and traffic sources I have put in place. This practice can be done for any and all of your online campaigns and niches. Much of it is integrated and automated and is far less upkeep than you would imagine. My "real" sites get a much more critical treatment but this will serve as an example that I would actually share.
Join the Conversation at HubsAcademy on FaceBook
If you have a Facebook Fan Page you would like to share please do so in the comments and alert me via Facebook so I can "Like" you and showcase you on the page with the other diverse Hubbers.
Facebook Fan Page example
I created a FaceBook page for HubsAcademy. Its purpose is not to endlessly flog content generated on the site but rather to share related news, blogs and methodology in marketing, seo, site design and trending.
To design a Facebook Fan page and get a custom url is easy and one can design one in under 20 minutes. The custom URL option is available after your receive 25 likes. Options to integrate your facebook fan page and existing site exist and are quite easy to create.
After you make one Facebook Fan page you now have added the salable skill of Facebook Page creation, which is actually in high demand with Business Professional and local businesses,
Twitter Marketing
In many ways, Twitter is just an opt-in spam me program. Im not sure why the twitter platform would be preferable over other more complex social platforms. I have tried just about every twitter marketing method with my niche accounts and main accounts and it seems to all work the same. Some accounts just perpetually serve feeds with links and hashtags and they are followed, reposted and indexed at random. Some accounts are strict value only , barely any links and a focused interaction with the followers. I say try it all, see if the time expenditure is worth it for your niche.
The HubAcademy Twitter announces new posts and select comments from hubsacdemy.com and retweets Facebook posts. I also make an effort to retweet and post Hubber works that fall under my own personal criteria of Pro-Hubber. The little guy is pretty friendly and you should make him feel popular and follow him.
YouTube Marketing
I created a Youtube specifically to host a few tutorials and I plan on adding more as the need arises. Tutorial creation turns out to not be my strong suit talking during a screencast while clicking and concentrating is akin to rubbing your belly and tapping your head, its certainly an art or at least something practitioners are willing to put more effort into than I am at this time, but I usually video market in a completely different manner. I use animoto to create still slideshow style promotions and informational videos, before Animoto, I did the same with Adobe Premiere
Many articles are planned in this series and they will be released in a regular manner if I can stay motivated and engaged, All of the below are already planned - which should be first?
Filling the vacuum
Preliminary statistics of the SERP's show increased visibility for eBay, Amazon, Etsy and aged-outdated sites.
"Speed is the essence of war. Take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness; travel by unexpected routes and strike him where he has taken no precautions."
-Sun Tzu
A wise course to pursue at this time for a diverse online income generator is to use their keyword and search knowledge to take advantage of what is essentially user generated ecommerce! eBay and Amazon are ripe for visibility at this moment. If you are a retired seller, it might be time to jump back in.
Its not a stretch to imagine that some of these old outdated web 1.0 sites that are rising up in the ranks may be for sale. Buy one! .. if the site is forgotten a great price may be arranged.Although, marketplaces on eBay and flippa and forums such as digitalpoint exist for site sales, your best bet is watching your niche for rising seemingly abandoned sites and starting a conversation via contact or registration info. It doesnt hurt to try.
Engagement Device - Suggested by Web Copywriting Books
What should the next installment in the series be?
Books pictured from Authors Library
Links Of Interest:
- Vetted Educational Resources for Online Entrepreneurs = Hubsacademy/astore
- Make Your First Guest Post = hubsacademy.com/guest-posts
- Fresh Start to Making Money Online Series
Sources:
- Google Webmaster Forums
- SufiDreamer - Freelance Writer & Editor Portfolio
- Susana S - HubPages Portfolio
- Referred parties who order hosting through my referrals are eligible for personal technical support and theme and plugin assistance with the Wordpress platform
- Internet Sales Tax - Performance Marketing Association
- * There is no error with the php code pictured :)
