How To Build A Website That Earns $1,000 / Month

[TheMinimalist]

EDIT

You know what? Forget it. I spend all that time doing a writeup only to get the type of responses you see below. I was under the impression this forum was a bit more positive, but really, I have no reason to put myself out there and respond to people like Dragline and Scott 2.

You think this was some marketing ploy Dragline? I was ASKED to write this up. Well, it's gone now, and those who requested it can thank you for that. Feel free to remove my website from your post as well (by the way I never even brought up that site in the first place dude).

Thanks to those of you who were actually helpful in the last thread I created. Unfortunately you have some bad apples in this community and I have absolutely zero reason to put up with it.

If anyone has any legit questions on growing a business online, I'll still answer them here. But my story, my examples, and everything else I had posted here has been deleted.

[Gilberto de Piento]

I'll vouch for this. Everything you said is completely legit.

I can't believe you gave away an example site too. I also can't believe that site ranks and makes money. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's so generic and in what I would have assumed was a very competitive niche.

You're making me rethink giving up on websites. Maybe I didn't push hard enough to get past the micro niches and get into bigger sites.

[Dragline]

Why don't you just cut the retread story that you did not just write now and just direct us to your videos and website, Mike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZJEBDp ... e=youtu.be

This is your real business, right? http://www.affiliatemarketertraining.com/ (He wants $47/month guys) Is this the business you are selling or is it another one?

And this is you running the same story line on reddit last year: https://www.reddit.com/r/Affiliatemarke ... _100k_per/

What other forums have you presented this story line on? And why aren't you being up front with us in the first place?

[fiby41]

How To Build A Website That Earns $1,000 / Month

Pay(Pal) me $297.99 and I will tell you.

[Scott 2]

Dragline for the win! Hahahaha.

[TheMinimalist]

I can't believe you gave away an example site too. I also can't believe that site ranks and makes money. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's so generic and in what I would have assumed was a very competitive niche.

Since you made a legit point, I am happy to answer. Yes, the site IS pretty bland. What you have to remember is that this is more of a blog type setup, so places like my homepage don't see much traffic. Most of my traffic lands on specific posts that I created through keyword research. So, say for example I find that there are a lot of people searching for "Orijen Regional Red Dog Food Reviews" but there aren't many sites delivering on that keyword, I will optimize the page just to rank for that specific keyword. It will rank for others as well, but I always focus on one main search phrase. Some posts get literally hundreds of visitors per day and some hardly get anything at all. In a sense, it's a numbers game.

This is also why I love review sites. You are getting people late in the sales cycle. You don't have to convince them that they need to purchase something. They already WANT to purchase something and just need that final push. Heck, they don't even have to purchase a brand that is on my site. As long as I get them over to Amazon, they can purchase anything and I get a commission on it.

You also brought up the excellent point of competition. Great observation! Yes, I chose a horrible niche! Honestly, at the time, I was so pumped by my initial success that I thought, "hey, why not try a more competitive market!". Bad idea! Honestly, I was trying to create a better version of DogFoodAdvisor.com which is an amazing site, and so far I have failed miserably. Even with that failure, the site does still profit and rankings go up and up almost every month.

Hope this helps!

[FBeyer]

Your deletion makes me think dragline is right. Had you been able to produce an appropriate comeback, you would have shown merit beyond any doubt.

If you TRULY want to help those of us who want to know about building websites, then leave your help out on the open. Deleting the OP because you feel insulted by someone who does not care about your services is very counter productive to your stated goal of coming here in the first place. Right now, your intended help has turned into an embarrassing tombstone topic.

In other words, who do you think you're helping in the long run if you respond to critics by deleting your contributions?

This is not a positive forum, it's a forum of somewhat critical thinkers.
If one supplies proof one gets support. Rational discussion might be confused with positivity because it's so rare

[TheMinimalist]

Your deletion makes me think dragline is right. Had you been able to produce an appropriate comeback, you would have shown merit beyond any doubt.

Welp, I guess dragline is right then!

If you TRULY want to help those of us who want to know about building websites, then leave your help out on the open. Deleting the OP because you feel insulted by someone who does not care about your services is very counter productive to your stated goal of coming here in the first place. Right now, your intended help has turned into an embarrassing tombstone topic.

I simply decided I don't need the headache. Don't read too much into it.

In other words, who do you think you're helping in the long run if you respond to critics by deleting your contributions?

Here is an open invitation for anyone who has any questions about growing an online business to contact me personally. I'd be happy to help. Dragline also posted my affiliate marketing blog, YouTube channel, and the Reddit AMA so people are free to reference those sources.

This is not a positive forum, it's a forum of somewhat critical thinkers. If one supplies proof one gets support. Rational discussion might be confused with positivity because it's so rare

Now I know, and knowledge is power!

[Did]

That's a shame. Was it some sort of pay me and I will tell you scam. I wondered about that.

[TheMinimalist]

That's a shame. Was it some sort of pay me and I will tell you scam. I wondered about that.

Yes, and I prefer a bank wire transfer. Interested?

[Dragline]

I would still like straight answers to my straight questions above, particularly about what business you are selling to achieve FI. Thanks.

Sorry you chose to take down the OP, although its pretty much a duplicate of what's on Reddit. I've seen this kind of "long lead" marketing before and the psychology of it is always interesting. It typically involves taking advantage of a combination of cognitive biases that include "Priming" and "Overlooking Statistics" (from D. Kahneman, "Thinking, Fast and Slow") to get the prospect to become enamored with a particular "narrative of success". To wit:

PRIMING. Conscious and subconscious exposure to an idea “primes” us to think about an associated idea. If we’ve been talking about food we’ll fill in the blank SO_P with a U but if we’ve been talking about cleanliness we’ll fill in the blank SO_P with an A. Things outside of our conscious awareness can influence how we think. These subtle influences also affect behavior, “the ideomotor effect,” (page 53). People reading about the elderly will unconsciously walk slower. And people who are asked to walk slower will more easily recognize words related to old age. People asked to smile find jokes funnier; people asked to frown find disturbing pictures more disturbing. It is true: if we behave in certain ways our thoughts and emotions will eventually catch up. We can not only feel our way into behavior, we can behave our way into feelings. Potential for error? We are not objective rational thinkers. Things influence our judgment, attitude, and behavior that we are not even aware of.

THE LAW OF SMALL NUMBERS. Our brains have a difficult time with statistics. Small samples are more prone to extreme outcomes than large samples, but we tend to lend the outcomes of small samples more credence than statistics warrant. System 1 is impressed with the outcome of small samples but shouldn’t be. Small samples are not representative of large samples. Large samples are more precise. We err when we intuit rather than compute, (see page 113). Potential for error? We make decisions on insufficient data.

THE CONJUNCTION FALLACY (violating the logic of probability). After hearing priming details about a made up person (Linda), people chose a plausible story over a probable story. Logically, it is more likely that a person will have one characteristic than two characteristics. That is, after reading a priming description of Linda respondents were more likely to give her two characteristics, which is statistically improbable. It is more likely Linda would be a bank teller (one characteristic) than a bank teller who is a feminist (two characteristics). “The notions of coherence, plausibility, and probability are easily confused by the unwary,” (page 159). The more details we add to a description, forecast, or judgment the less likely they are to be probable. Why? Stage 1 thinking overlooks logic in favor of a plausible story. Potential for error: committing a logical fallacy, when our intuition favors what is plausible but improbable over what is implausible and probable.

OVERLOOKING STATISTICS. When given purely statistical data we generally make accurate inferences. But when given statistical data and an individual story that explains things we tend to go with the story rather than statistics. We favor stories with explanatory power over mere data. Potential for error: stereotyping, profiling, and making general inferences from particular cases rather than making particular inferences from general cases.


But the principal mechanism to get the ball rolling is actually what Cialdini called "Liking" and Kahneman calls "The Halo Effect", which is to get your audience to like you first by being overly obsequious and signalling that you and they have a lot in common. In retrospect, this seems to have been the purpose of the first thread.

THE HALO EFFECT. “This is the tendency to like or dislike everything about a person—including things you have not observed,” (page 82). The warm emotion we feel toward a person, place, or thing predisposes us to like everything about that person, place, or thing. Good first impressions tend to positively color later negative impressions and conversely, negative first impressions can negatively color later positive impressions. The first to speak their opinion in a meeting can “prime” others’ opinions. A list of positive adjectives describing a person influences how we interpret negative adjectives that come later in the list. Likewise, negative adjectives listed early colors later positive adjectives. The problem with all these examples is that our intuitive judgments are impulsive, not clearly thought through, or critically examined. To remind System 1 to stay objective, to resist jumping to conclusions, and to enlist the evaluative skills of System 2, Kahneman coined the abbreviation, “WYSIATI,” what you see is all there is. In other words, do not lean on information based on impressions or intuitions. Stay focused on the hard data before us. Combat over confidence by basing our beliefs not on subjective feelings but critical thinking. Increase clear thinking by giving doubt and ambiguity its day in court.



FBeyer is correct that this forum is more about critical thinking than positive thinking. We like to look underneath the hood, as it were.

Because "Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion." -- J. Rohn

[jennypenny]

And this is you running the same story line on reddit last year: https://www.reddit.com/r/Affiliatemarke ... _100k_per/

In the old days you could run the same con over and over, but in the days of the eternally searchable internet you've gotta tweak the story a little if you want it to keep working.

Bummer. I was hoping we could all get rich and call it a day.

[vexed87]

It's a good job the ERE crowd are not so easily parted with their greens.

[Did]

Unfortunately I didn't see the deleted post. I looked at the reddit though and didn't think it was scammy. And if he gets paid to do this too well that just makes him even more of a professional doesn't it.

Unless the whole thing is bullshit I suppose, and the only money raker is the training course. It is possible to both though.

[Gilberto de Piento]

I'll vouch for this. Everything you said is completely legit.

Wow, unfortunate choice of words on my part. In my defense, all of the advice was spot on and exactly what I did to build my websites (though they never made it past $1000 per month). Sorry I didn't have my BS detector calibrated correctly. If I ever need a lawyer I'm hiring Dragline!

It's really too bad that people have to pull scams like this. The website he gave as an example (dogfoodinsider.com) does look just like what I've built in the past. The difference is that I would expect that website to make about $20 a month, not the claimed $1000-2000. I suppose that's why the scam works. Give a made up background that demonstrates that anyone can do it (he says he was a trucker), explain that they won't have to do any thinking (there's a system with a helpful acronym), and give a high enough income number that it will be life changing ($25,000 a month) but don't promise that and instead imply that a few thousand a month will be easy.

It's unfortunate because there really is money in internet marketing. It's very much the same as picking stocks though. A few people are skilled/hard working/lucky enough to make money. Most put time and money into it and find it either doesn't work or is just like working a real job.

If anyone wants more info on niche websites check out smartpassiveincome or nichepursuits. Both of them are also trying to sell you products (and hope) but you will find all the information you need on those two sites for free. The nichepursuits niche site projects examples are especially helpful since they show you how hard it really is. I haven't been following it but I just checked the most recent blog post and the three most recent sites, despite being mentored and having every resource, don't seem to be getting anywhere. Don't bother with the junk from the OP, he just wants your monthly payment.

And if he gets paid to do this too well that just makes him even more of a professional doesn't it.

Unless the whole thing is bullshit I suppose, and the only money raker is the training course. It is possible to both though.

There are a ton of people that do this in the internet marketing world. Some really have had success (the two I cite above are like that) and others just want to cash in on people's hopes. The OP's training might be fine (his advice in the post was) but I really don't like the deceptive approach. We'll probably never know if there was any truth to it.

[Scott 2]

Less than ten posts in one thread, then go in for the kill, with rehashed content... sloppy.

This style of affiliate marketing always struck me as especially sleazy. It might not be illegal, but it's right there with payday loans.

[FBeyer]

It's a good job the ERE crowd are not so easily parted with their greens.

I'm easily parted wit' ma' greens'. S'why I need y'all to sniff out the BS for me.

[The Old Man]

Well, unfortunately the original post has been deleted. I read it. I thought it was reasonable. What hadn't been addressed was the costs associated with running those websites. Those servers and admins don't pay themselves. I would have liked to hear more about the running costs.

It appears that web sites/blogs are the 21st century equivalent of magazines except without the paper. They all run on content and advertising.

As part of what to do in retirement I've been thinking about starting a blog for a niche area. My research tells me the competition is poor; however, given the volume of questions that come up in reddit and other locations there seems to be some sort of demand for it -albeit small. So, something I've been thinking about.

$1,000 a month is a reasonable chunk of change, but from what I've seen on web statistics only a very small number of sites reach that marker. It would be useful to know what separates the also-rans from the winners. I'm inclined to think the web/blog environment is a winner take all market.

[Dragline]

It's unfortunate because there really is money in internet marketing. It's very much the same as picking stocks though. A few people are skilled/hard working/lucky enough to make money. Most put time and money into it and find it either doesn't work or is just like working a real job.

If anyone wants more info on niche websites check out smartpassiveincome or nichepursuits. Both of them are also trying to sell you products (and hope) but you will find all the information you need on those two sites for free. The nichepursuits niche site projects examples are especially helpful since they show you how hard it really is. I haven't been following it but I just checked the most recent blog post and the three most recent sites, despite being mentored and having every resource, don't seem to be getting anywhere. Don't bother with the junk from the OP, he just wants your monthly payment.

Exactly -- as they say, "there's no free lunch." Like all sales-related occupations, there will be wild successes, but more individual failures if you were to count them all up, usually arranged along a power-law distribution. The trouble is we can frequently fall for the Survivorship Bias, where we overweight the successes because we are not aware of the failures; people who fail at these endeavors tend to remain quiet and are encouraged to blame themselves.

[TheMinimalist]

I would still like straight answers to my straight questions above, particularly about what business you are selling to achieve FI. Thanks.

Because why? I owe you something? But heck, I'm actually starting to find all of this entertaining so I'll bite...

Why don't you just cut the retread story that you did not just write now and just direct us to your videos and website, Mike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZJEBDp ... e=youtu.be

I suppose I could have, but instead of just copying and pasting stuff from my Reddit thread I sat down to write a unique 3400+ word post that I personally thought was really helpful. I covered all sorts of FREE ways to learn how to build a website, the CTPM strategy for creating content, examples of how to implement the CTPM process and sites (including this one) that uses the CTPM process. I used ONE of my own sites as an example, DogFoodInsider.com. That site received 2,524 visitors yesterday from search engines, but you think I'm wasting my time writing posts here so that I can drive traffic and make sales. I'm not going to convince you otherwise, but if you really think about it, this would be a ridiculous time-wasting strategy.

Second, you were so freaking confident that I didn't write that post just for this forum. You said it was "rehashed" and a "storyline" and blah, blah, blah. If you went to Copyscape and put in my original post, you would have seen that hasn't been posted anywhere else ever before. It took me about 2 hours to write that up. I will now be repurposing that writeup for an article on my own site, so it's no big loss really. It really was a good unique writeup.

This is your real business, right? http://www.affiliatemarketertraining.com/ (He wants $47/month guys) Is this the business you are selling or is it another one?

That is one of the websites I own in my portfolio and it's one of the more recent sites I started. Nobody is paying $1,000,000 for that site alone, obviously. Had you done a tiny bit of research, you would easily be able to look up my entire portfolio of sites if you wanted to. On that site, my affiliate partnership is with Wealthy Affiliate. I'm not going to get into a whole sales pitch about why I've partnered with them, but in short, if someone signs up at Wealthy Affiliate I earn monthly recurring commissions. I am a member of Wealthy Affiliate, I'm able to provide personalized one-on-one coaching when people sign up using my affiliate link (at no extra cost), and I really do think it is a good service for newbies. I'm not goign to apologize for monetizing my websites, even if you don't like it.

And this is you running the same story line on reddit last year: https://www.reddit.com/r/Affiliatemarke ... _100k_per/

Is it a "story line" of it's true? And yes, that's my thread. At which point did you see me trying to scam people? I thought I was pretty helpful in that Reddit AMA actually. I got a ton of responses from people thanking me for it.

What other forums have you presented this story line on? And why aren't you being up front with us in the first place?

My story has been shared in several places. Back when I was still a truck driver, I began blogging for someone else's website all about my trucking career (from CDL training all the way through quitting my job to work on my business full time). That's how I found online marketing in the first place. Here's the post I made (again this is a site I do not own) when I quit my trucking job back in 2011: http://www.truckingtruth.com/trucking_b ... ng-journey

You can check out my YouTube channel back when I was a truck driver here: https://www.youtube.com/user/WigWagProductions

When I started building my online business, I used a service called SBI or Site Build It! to learn all about how to build an online business (special note: I no longer recommend SBI). Due to my success using their platform, I was "SBIer of the month" and my story has been shared many times, including the SBI Facebook page. I can't post a link to it directly, but if you find the guy with the black dog, that's me: https://www.facebook.com/SiteSell/photo ... 8835891337

I don't know where else my story is, but it's out there in a few different places. Go ahead and believe this is all some elaborate scam I've been running for many years if you want to. It's really no sweat off my back.