MetaToast.com

If making money while learning about new things and helping other people to learn about the things that interest you sound like good ways to spend a few hours a week then you should consider building a website / blog.

1) How much money can I make? Darren Rowse at ProBlogger says “bloggers are earning anything between nothing at all and millions of dollars. The upper end of the spectrum is of course rare and those earning very little are in the majority” and yet a few talented and hard working bloggers have established incomes over One Hundred Thousand Dollars per year in only 2-3 years. But, for the sake of argument lets say that one is only minimally talented and not really all that hardworking, and yet persistent – what then? If you devote a reasonable amount of effort into making money online, within a year you could realistically be making hundreds of dollars per month working part time, and if you persist that income can continue to grow almost indefinitely. It depends upon the niche(s) that you target and how much work that you put into it. There is development overhead involved in any niche. The easier the niche, the lower the overhead, but the lower the potential returns. However, even the returns from an easy niche can add up to quite a lot over time. Eventually, you could easily be making a substantial part time income online.

2) How hard will I have to work to succeed? Not really all that hard, but it won’t just fall into your lap either. The harder you work at it, the more money you will make. Blogging is kind of like working out – “real results in 6 months to a year” – can be a true statement, but it doesn’t mean that you will be a world class body builder in a year. Successful blogging takes a level of commitment similar to working out. Most people just won’t stick to it long enough to see any real results.

If you work smart, you won’t have to work nearly as hard to get ahead. This is true in any venture. There are certain things that most profitable bloggers seem to have in common, and you need to learn about those methods before you try to reinvent the wheel. It isn’t brain surgery, but you can cut through a lot of trial and error by studying and learning from those who have already worked out a system. Luckily for you “metablogging” (blogging about blogging) is an extremely popular field. Bloggers are in fierce competition to tell you exactly how to make money at blogging?

3) How long will it take before I make “Real” money? Again, probably 6 months to a year, but again it depends on your target audience (and what you consider to be “real” money). The real beauty of blogging is the potential for passive income accumulation. That is, if you write a good article today, it could make you money for a long time to come. So, if you write a good article every week for years, your passive income will continue to increase for as long as you stay at it.

4) How long before I can quit my day job? Probably about 2-3 years if all of the following apply:

• You work really hard
• You actively try to make money
• You get into a good niche(s)
• You have the ability to communicate engagingly
• You work really hard

5) How much will it cost to get started? You could start your internet business for almost nothing, but you will regret it in the long term if you do. If you take my advice, you will spend about one hundred dollars up front for a years worth of hosting and domain registration and that’s it – you won’t have to spend another penny out of pocket. By the time this expense rolls around again you will be making more than enough money to cover it.

6) What if I don’t know much about computers? Can you learn? If so it doesn’t matter. Content Management Systems (CMSs) like WordPress free publishers from having to be very technically proficient. Many hosting companies have free “one click” WordPress installation, everything else you can learn as you go. However, the more you already know about working with computers the better off you will be.

7) If it’s so easy, then why doesn’t everyone do it? It isn’t a get rich quick scheme, and it isn’t for everyone. If you just can’t (or won’t) carve out a few hours a week to work on your internet business, then you probably aren’t going to thrive. If the thought of doing research just doesn’t appeal to you, then you should probably just click the back button now. And the truth is, even if you do start, most people are going to lose interest before they make any real progress (again, like the body builder), the upside is less competition for the rest of us.

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