Earning extra cash on the internets: doable?

Tostitos

I'm considering this. Sure, some people start a blog, get a ton of traffic, and sell adsense. Some people start a cafepress or spreadshirt store. Some people play that moola thing obsessively and cash a $100 check every few weeks. Some people are into adult marketing and webhosting- that stuff is way too close to real work though. Some people do the MLM shit.

Is it possible? What kind of things can you do? What do you do? What do you know someone to do?

No affiliate links please.

ege02

There are great books out there for starting Internet businesses. Most bookstores have an entire section devoted to it.

tynic

I hear clicking that monkey can get you the big bucks.

Senjutsu

Sure, it's doable. If you're a hot girl with a webcam.

Otherwise, the pay involved/time working at it isn't remotely rational. A part time joe job is a better money/effort investment.

Tostitos

I'm aware of e-business. Hell, I started a webhosting company. (hard work, you wouldn't think so, but I've learned a ton plus I can always fuck around and start whatever joke site I want so it's OK)

What I mean is stuff that is a little less demanding that the average person who maybe wants an extra 20 bucks or so could do. Like that new Amazon.com mechanical turk thing where you get paid micropayments for doing a few seconds of work.

Tostitos

OK YES I ADMIT IT I'm compiling a list of these things and I'm going to make a website listing them as a guide and cover it in adsense and affiliate links.



I am a horrible person.

But you can still contribute to this thread.

tynic

Tostitos wrote:

But you can still contribute to this thread.

CAN WE???!

Hot diggity.

Tostitos

YES.

I am SO magnaminous.

bsjezz

Tostitos wrote:

OK YES I ADMIT IT I'm compiling a list of these things and I'm going to make a website listing them as a guide and cover it in adsense and affiliate links.



I am a horrible person.

But you can still contribute to this thread.

I've got a way of making money on the internet.

Get an idea for a website which lists all sorts of things that you're too lazy to research. Then you post the idea on a forum and wait for the list to write itself. Time spent is negligible - the work is done for you!

electricitylikesme

Step 1: Identify a fetish unprovided for by the current internet.

Step 2: Make a website serving this fetish, charge for access.

Step 3: Profit.

MikeMan

electricitylikesme wrote:

Step 1: Identify a fetish unprovided for by the current internet.

Step 2: Make a website serving this fetish, charge for access.

Step 3: Profit.

Women dressed as hippopotami beating medium-sized dogs with crowbars.


Aaaaaaand, GO

thorgot

MikeMan445 wrote:

electricitylikesme wrote:

Step 1: Identify a fetish unprovided for by the current internet.

Step 2: Make a website serving this fetish, charge for access.

Step 3: Profit.

Women dressed as hippopotami beating medium-sized dogs with crowbars.


Aaaaaaand, GO

That's actually pretty hot.

Tostitos

I'd pay to watch that. :shock:

And I already have a list. The problem is I'm only using things which I can honestly reccomend to people, so it's fairly damn short and I've found all that I can on my own.

randombattle

So will you be paying us royalties off this thread? Or just stealing all our ideas and making money off it?

japan

I actually do paid market research online. There are a few sites where you can sign up, provide some demographic info, and they'll email you surveys.

They tend to pay in Amazon vouchers, and I only get about £20 a month, but that's £20 of guilt free game buying, and I can do it on my lunch break.

LondonBridge

I work for an ISP and one of my coworkers started a small game hosting service thats exploded into hosting and field support. Amazing what a little capital venturing can do.

Shinto

Tostitos wrote:

I'm considering this. Sure, some people start a blog, get a ton of traffic, and sell adsense. Some people start a cafepress or spreadshirt store. Some people play that moola thing obsessively and cash a $100 check every few weeks. Some people are into adult marketing and webhosting- that stuff is way too close to real work though. Some people do the MLM shit.

Is it possible? What kind of things can you do? What do you do? What do you know someone to do?

No affiliate links please.

I suggest starting a web comic with accompanying post that cover topical events in the video game industry. Then install a forum and sell advertizing and merchandice.

gaming_librarian

Shinto wrote:

Tostitos wrote:

I'm considering this. Sure, some people start a blog, get a ton of traffic, and sell adsense. Some people start a cafepress or spreadshirt store. Some people play that moola thing obsessively and cash a $100 check every few weeks. Some people are into adult marketing and webhosting- that stuff is way too close to real work though. Some people do the MLM shit.

Is it possible? What kind of things can you do? What do you do? What do you know someone to do?

No affiliate links please.

I suggest starting a web comic with accompanying post that cover topical events in the video game industry. Then install a forum and sell advertizing and merchandice.

It'll never work.

Gosling

Pretty much no matter what you come up with, the Internet is so big that someone else is likely doing it already. The trick is to do it better than that guy.

If you CAN come up with something original, though, bonus.

fjafjan

I think the hitting dogs with crowbars was pretty original.
But yeah, most things already exist, just copy the stuff that already exists without the most annoying flaws they have and you might be in business (tis what google did no?)

Doc

fjafjan wrote:

just copy the stuff that already exists without the most annoying flaws they have and you might be in business (tis what google did no?)

No. They made ridiculous innovations in the way searching is done.

LondonBridge

mtvcdm wrote:

Pretty much no matter what you come up with, the Internet is so big that someone else is likely doing it already. The trick is to do it better than that guy.

If you CAN come up with something original, though, bonus.

Meh, works for Hollywood.

Irond Will

MikeMan445 wrote:

electricitylikesme wrote:

Step 1: Identify a fetish unprovided for by the current internet.

Step 2: Make a website serving this fetish, charge for access.

Step 3: Profit.

Women dressed as hippopotami beating medium-sized dogs with crowbars.


Aaaaaaand, GO

Man, medium sized dogs are such a turnoff.

Mad_Morlock

I work for a digital media distribution company that's offering a novel way of using p2p as a money making scheme. Basically it revolves around independent artists and a form of DRM that's more for accounting purposes than digital protection although it does make music distribution piracy-resistant.

When you buy a song from a content provider, you own a unique copy of that song. If you share it with your friends then you'll earn 20% back of the original sale price. If they resell the copy they've purchased from you, you'll earn 10% back per sale. And the third generation of sales will earn you 5% per sale.

So if you buy a song for a buck, you send it to 5 people who buy it, you'll earn your buck back. If you send it to ten people who buy it, you'll double your money back. Second and third generation sales just represent additional profit.

This system also offers a definite incentive to aritsts in the form of a 50% payout for every sale. The digital media licensing firm earns a standard 15% off each sale.

Finally, if you've purchased a collection of music, you can create your own record label to sell the tracks through. They'll act exactly the same whether purchased through the Internet or a data CD, but an internet connection is required to acquire a preview license and purchase files.

This format also applies to video.

I can post some samples if anyone is interested.

Doc

Musical Amway?

Mad_Morlock

Doc wrote:

Musical Amway?

Something like that... but no stock overhead other than your music collection.

I'd like someone to atually ask for a sample before I post anything. I wouldn't want the mods thinking I'm on here trying to sell something.

Jinnigan

Nice try, Zarflax.

Mad_Morlock

Screw it... I'm seriously not trying to sell anything here, but the thread is asking the question.

Although I could mention that you get $5 to buy music with when you open an account. No credit card or banking information required. Just an email address.

And here's the sample.

2 Watt Bulb - Liberdumb, Freebirdy, Anarchy, Ziltch

sanstodo

Mad_Morlock wrote:

I work for a digital media distribution company that's offering a novel way of using p2p as a money making scheme. Basically it revolves around independent artists and a form of DRM that's more for accounting purposes than digital protection although it does make music distribution piracy-resistant.

When you buy a song from a content provider, you own a unique copy of that song. If you share it with your friends then you'll earn 20% back of the original sale price. If they resell the copy they've purchased from you, you'll earn 10% back per sale. And the third generation of sales will earn you 5% per sale.

So if you buy a song for a buck, you send it to 5 people who buy it, you'll earn your buck back. If you send it to ten people who buy it, you'll double your money back. Second and third generation sales just represent additional profit.

This system also offers a definite incentive to aritsts in the form of a 50% payout for every sale. The digital media licensing firm earns a standard 15% off each sale.

Finally, if you've purchased a collection of music, you can create your own record label to sell the tracks through. They'll act exactly the same whether purchased through the Internet or a data CD, but an internet connection is required to acquire a preview license and purchase files.

This format also applies to video.

I can post some samples if anyone is interested.

You're part of Weedshare? If so, give me a PM. I'm a starting musician so I could use some more information on stuff like this.

Mad_Morlock

Yeah... I just try not to mention the word Weedshare as much as possible until people are interested. I've found it produces a kneejerk reaction.

For those of you who don't know, Weedshare is a content delivery and accounting system run by Shared Media Licensing Inc. out of Seattle, Washington.

They license their database and technology to content providers, like myself, who then seek out new aritsts to sign and examine ways to develop and roll out their distribution system.

I'm a big fan of the tech, but I haven't really made anything off it. Being in Labrador makes it difficult because I'm lacking an audience up here and my roster of available artists is a little limited. Plus I'm the shits at webdesign, so I've been in stealth mode for a while with my own stuff.

sanstodo

Mad_Morlock wrote:

Yeah... I just try not to mention the word Weedshare as much as possible until people are interested. I've found it produces a kneejerk reaction.

For those of you who don't know, Weedshare is a content delivery and accounting system run by Shared Media Licensing Inc. out of Seattle, Washington.

They license their database and technology to content providers, like myself, who then seek out new aritsts to sign and examine ways to develop and roll out their distribution system.

I'm a big fan of the tech, but I haven't really made anything off it. Being in Labrador makes it difficult because I'm lacking an audience up here and my roster of available artists is a little limited. Plus I'm the shits at webdesign, so I've been in stealth mode for a while with my own stuff.

Well, I'll probably use weedshare as a possible distribution outlet for my stuff, though only 50% going to the context producer is a bit low imho since I'm doing everything sans label. Meaning that even off of Itunes (which takes about 35%), I'd get 65% of every sale to go toward revenue.

Mad_Morlock

Depends on the distribution angle you're looking for.

If you're planning on doing all your own distribution, you could buy the files after they've been created and get yourself 70% of every sale.

50% would automatically go to your artists account, 20% would go to your personal account.

For me, I've got a vested interest in build a record label around the format... distributing preview CDs instead of full audio, so I'm building it around the 35% the ICPs get if they can get the music as far and as wide as possible.

Letukka

Only thing I can come up with is making a "info" site of something that ALOT of people are interested in.

That way if the site is very good, word get`s around quick and creates high traffic (=Cash/Money)

But the problem is there`s allready crap load of sites for everything and coming up with a new and good idea is very hard.

But I was a DC mod, getting 500€/month doing shit at all.

It`s all about who you know, what can you do.

Variable

so let's say I had an idea or two, just things I'd like to run a site for. I really just want to do it for fun, but I've always wondered how one goes about getting advertising for their website... can anyone walk through that process?

grendel824_

I've got a similar question - I have an idea for a Web site (no, not sharing it because 1) you don't care and 2) it's all I have) but I have no experience whatsoever in starting one up. I know there are people that do that for you, but knowing as little as I do, I can easily end up getting ripped off or not asking for the right thing.

Any recommendations on how to start? Or what books are really good to pick up that will give us that kind of info? Thanks!