Let’s just acknowledge for the sake of this article that not every idiot can make good money online.  It takes a persistent and clever kind of idiot to make it  .

In all seriousness, what I mean is that even though I don’t have the skills mentioned previously, it doesn’t mean I don’t have any skills which give me an advantage.

Arguably, I can write well if I really put my mind to it.  Some people might be eloquent public speakers, but can’t put two sentences together on paper.

If I were building a mini-site in the same exact niche as said “eloquent speaker”, I’m betting that my site performs better. It will make more money and sell for more money.  That is just a very loose example.

The point is that your skills might be in identifying upcoming trends and if you are able to get a mini-site out there before your competition, than that is your advantage.



If you happen to develop an intrinsic understanding of adsense placement for high CTR and can vary it depending on niche, than that is an important skill which gives you a competitive advantage.

See, you may not even know where your skills lie yet!  You do not have to go into this knowing you can write well for the web or have an advanced understanding of keyword research.

The fun in this is that you can discover what you are good at while you are building yourself a nice extra income stream.

Sure, some websites will flop, others might break even in terms of time spent, and a few will open your eyes wide to vast potential out there.

If you don’t ever try it, then you obviously will never discover where your skills may lie.  The internet world is still a relatively new one, you must remember.  It is easy to think that everyone else who is making money online has skills that are out of your reach.  But it is just as easy to prove yourself wrong, once you JUMP IN and TRY.

“Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.”

– Will Rogers

• Network to dominate one niche
• Testing the waters before building out a niche
• Just curious?
• Filter for authority site

And remember, this is only part of my income – like I said, I’m a big believer in not placing all your eggs in one basket.

Lately, I’ve been noticing more people expressing an interest in building their own mini-sites. In various forums, for instance, I see some members giving good and encouraging advice.  Other times, I see members giving either poor advice or just plain discouraging.

Aside from getting tired of this and wanting to set the record straight according to MY experience, I guess I saw an opportunity to develop a loyal fan of readers by giving back with free information.


See, I do not believe you have to buy an expensive online course or pay a service $250 to create a decent mini-site for you.  There is nothing wrong with taking a course or paying someone to create one for you, but you should not be discouraged from attempting to build one on your own (with or without a course).

This is because building/creating your own mini-sites does not have to be as intimidating as it seems.

I am not well known on forums simply because I don’t spend a lot of time on them. I don’t get caught up in the whole ‘guru’ thing as it’s just not my thing and we know by now how they are really perceived. I do like to read forums to see what is going on in them occasionally.

Aside from just being too busy to be an active forum member, keeping a low profile is really just who I am. I’m suppose I’m just an introvert at heart.

Plus, my main income doesn’t depend on being ‘out there’, so even if my low profile affects my readership or amount of ‘tweets’ my articles get, I am okay with that.

I can only put something out that I am satisfied will help people. I take a lot of time to do that.  If I depended on joint ventures and list-building, I’d have to be churning out a lot more material on a more regular basis.  But I don’t think I would have a whole lot of new stuff to say if I did that.

I will say that it doesn’t mean every minisite I now build will be successful. I’ve underestimated the competition before, as well as overestimated the power of the keywords I targeted.  And every once in a while, that means I end up with a dud.

For the most part though, minisites are an integral part of my online marketing income. No doubt though, you have heard many people say don’t put all your eggs in one basket. And I wholeheartedly agree.

You can’t count on one income stream when it comes to internet marketing. You just can’t. There is too much that is out of your control. 

Here is the thing though…. time and time again, when other ventures have fallen flat on their face – my mini-sites have maintained value in more ways than just immediate cash.

This is why I wholeheartedly believe in building a small to large number of mini-sites. How many?  That’s up to you. I think it should be a number you can manager work wise and financially.

For a wrap-up on this four part article, check out Part Four.

”I’m not an expert at anything. In fact, I barely graduated high school. With my mini-site system that I perfected over hundreds of years, you too will be able to reap hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is so easy, even my dog could do it!”




My point is that I don’t think being successful on the web is that easy. If it were…well, I’m not going to waste more space going down that path.

This is not a business model. This is a guide. I’m not going to try and sell you some notion that if you build 10 sites a month for the next 2 years, you will have enough to retire in style. And I’m not going to bash any existing models or course either. 

Don’t get me wrong, there a few good courses out there that do hold some value. But the notion that you will get rich by following the paid advice of someone claiming to be a millionaire by doing exactly what they are about to show you…is well, absurd!

Call me cynical (I prefer skeptical), but I just don’t believe ANYONE would pass on the exact model that was CURRENTLY responsible for their millions of dollars.

Sure, some of them will dress it up in the package of ‘giving back’…but if that really was the case, why are they charging for the course?

Okay, if you really want to give someone the benefit of the doubt, maybe it did work for them…LAST YEAR. But it’s NOT working for them NOW if they are giving you exact techniques…otherwise they wouldn’t be selling it to you.

And to play my own devil’s advocate, even if it is still working for them – after selling a course to hundreds of people, how could that ‘system’ still be effective with the same exact techniques?  Believe me, if it was making people any money, it won’t be working for long.   Saturation is a real problem in this industry.

Success does not happen by doing what everyone else is doing. Success can be doing what everyone else is doing but doing it better.  It is also by being unique and you can’t buy that from a course.

Who am I and why am I writing this?

I’ll start with who I am not. I’m not a professional web designer, an internet marketing guru, a programmer or coder.

I’m just a regular person who got into internet marketing a couple of years ago by way of domaining. I spent a lot of time reading, writing and learning while building a lot of different type of minisites the past couple of years.  And as a result of that, I’ve reached a nice level of success.

Like I said earlier, I’m not providing screenshots of income because I think even newcomers realize how silly that is.  I show you a paypal screenshot with 45k worth of monthly income, blacking out people’s identity of course, failing to mention that 35K of that was paid out to affiliates…you get the drift.

All I will say is that while I initially got into this to supplement my income while in between jobs, I no longer need to supplement.  The income I bring in from this allowed me to stop wasting my precious time networking with people I didn’t like because I could stop looking for a job. This is it. I live in California and while its damn expensive here…I have no problem affording it. Freedom Rocks – I’ll leave it at that.

Continue to Part Three

 

]]> http://earntons.com/minisites-part-two/feed/ 0 http://earntons.com/making-money-with-cpalead-surveys/ http://earntons.com/making-money-with-cpalead-surveys/#comments Sun, 19 Jun 2011 02:02:15 +0000 http://earntons.com/?p=30 Most of you reading this have heard of CPALead. It is probably how you landed on this site – by looking for ways to make money with it.

For those of you new to the concept of Cpalead gateways, you can read more about their program at our resources page. Again, if we list an affiliate – it is because we have personally dealt with them and know they can be recommended and trusted. This is not the case for every affiliate or CPA network out there.CPALead.com is on our list and have always been top notch with timely payments and support.

CPA lead like many other cpa networks out there, have at times, been cast in a negative light for some of the less scrupulous ways that some of their affiliates earn money.

No need to go into the details of how they may capitalize on unsuspecting users of facebook or the unscrupulous users themselves who are searching for pirated content in the form of movies and television shows.

The more legit ways to earn with incentivized advertising are via ebooks, specialized content that you either created yourself or have the rights to, and photographs. This can be in the form of a membership site or just a page or two on your othewise open blog.

Another major way to earn is again on Facebook, but with game apps that you have the rights to.  You can have players fill out surveys in order to gain access to game props or virtual currency.  This is a big business and people who utilize cpalead with unique game apps are known to earn in the thousands per day.

]]> http://earntons.com/making-money-with-cpalead-surveys/feed/ 0 http://earntons.com/mini-sites-part-one-starter-guide/ http://earntons.com/mini-sites-part-one-starter-guide/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:12:18 +0000 http://earntons.com/?p=1 This is meant to be a basic, quick starter guide for anyone who has been a little hesitant, but wants to make that jump into the big, little world of niche mini-sites.

Have you have been thinking about creating one or some minisites, but wasn’t sure it would be worth your time? Or maybe you just didn’t know where to start.

This is not a how to build 100 mini-sites in 10 minutes, auto blogs, or anything of that sort. No Gimmicks. Instead, this will require you to roll up your sleeves and get your hands a little dirty….AT FIRST.

Once you get the hang of it, the work involved is minimal and easy. It’s like brushing your teeth to make sure they stay sparkling and clean. Once you get going, you’ll understand why it’s such a great endeavor to reap some rewards.

Why minisites?

My income from niche mini-site development has led to other money making endeavors that never would have happened had I not built that minisite to begin with.

There are so many new perspectives it has provided me, that aside from the very nice income they provide to me now, they have helped shaped business plans for me to put into action for the future. Minisites have been invaluable to me and for that reason will continue to build them and why I feel it’s something newcomers to IM should really master as early as possible.

Even if you aren’t new to IM and your focus has been elsewhere – learning about mini-site development as a foundation can open up a whole new world of possibilities to you. If you’ve been struggling, this is an excellent way to reapproach your business.

If you are wondering what kind of income I have made or continue to make from mini websites, you will have to keep wondering. I choose to keep my income private as that is my right, as well as the fact that it is highly irrelevant since I am not teaching you any particular method or making any claims implementing one. Got it? Good.

For those thinking CUT TO THE CHASE ALREADY! – Here you go:

Telling you that you can make $10,000 a month building mini-sites for adsense these days, is not only unrealistic; it’s hot air.

How much you will make is based on many factors that go beyond the scope of this guide. I will, however, point you to some solid FREE and PAID resources on this subject later on. Like I said, no gimmicks.

This report is simply meant to give you that push (you know, the kind you secretly resent, but know you need), as well as provide good solid starting points that you can immediately put to use and advanced advice.  Continue to Part Two

 

 

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