Easy Income

There is some talk (within financial circles) about a tax on all currency and derivatives markets… also known as the tobin tax.

It sounds good in theory.

To put it simply, the Tobin Tax is a small levy (some suggest it should be between 0.1%  and 0.5% of every currency and derivatives transaction).

Estimates say it can raise hundreds of billions of dollars every year.

I can see some advantages: markets will generally behave the same, but the biggest impact will be on short-term liquidity, as transactions that only last a few minutes will no longer be viable… any profits/hedging advantage will be overshadowed by the tax… in general, this will dampen the knee-jerk market reactions that are often seen on these markets.

Another advantage it that the money can be used for good: aid/medicines/education to poor countries. Some even suggest using some money to fight global warming (if global warming is actually something that can be/should be fought against!)

But there can also be some big problems: Who decides what to do with the money raised? Will the money be squandered on crazy ideas and incompetent bureaucrats?

The people that are most against the Tobin tax are those that will lose out if it gets implemented: derivatives brokers and firms, and short-term speculators.

Personally, I thinks its a great idea, and it should be implemented as soon as possible.

It seems that after the initial hype, that podcasting has mostly faded from the limelight.

It seems that blogging (ie writing articles) is still King, followed by video blogging (or youtube self-advertising).

Why?

I can think of a few reasons:

• Video and audio (together) are more “exciting” than sound alone.
• You can provide a lot more information visually (a picture is worth 1,000 words, etc)
• While listening to a podcast, its so easy to get distracted by visual aspects of, say, another website, and not really hear the podcast.

So, is it worth it?

The only time its worthwhile, is if you have no choice but to do a telephone interview… and even then its worth trying to “upgrade” to a video interview, or at least have the voice play together with a video of something like a animated graphic equaliser.

This relates to personality profiles EI and JI, as mentioned at: http://www.easy-income.com.au/2009/09/whats-your-money-earning-potential.

So, you need to generate regular material for your website and / or blog.

The problem is that you (like many people out there) just can’t stick to regular writing.

You might be able to generate a huge amount of information in just a few hours, and then nothing for a few weeks/months

But you need to produce the “illusion” that your blog / website is active, and not stale.

One technique that works well with many blogs (particularly WordPress), is to schedule articles for future publication.

Just remember to pick a realistic publishing frequency (regardless of whether its daily, weekly, or monthly).

You can smooth out the creative ups and downs by sticking with your schedule.

This blog is a good example: a new article appears every week, but I write maybe 3 or 4 articles in one session… so I end up writing about 3 or 4 weeks-worth of material, and then I have 3 – 4 weeks to “rest” (gather more material) before I need to write some more.

After a while, you will be able to adjust the publishing frequency, depending of how much you can actually output.

The only time scheduling articles doesn’t work, is when you write time-critical posts. eg: if you hear that the Pope has died, then you don’t want to schedule the “story” for 4 weeks time! So if most of your articles are time-critical, then you need to question whether this particular field was a good choice for you.

Since anyone can experience writers block, then another way to get around a self-imposed deadline for writing your blog (or updating your website), is to use guest writers, paid writers, or create a co-op blog / website.

Guest writers are the best, but since they are doing you a favour (maybe write an article in exchange for a link to their own website), then you can’t rely on regular articles from them, but when they do write, then use the opportunity to either take a break, or to increase the number of articles in your scheduled queue.

Paid writers can be fantastic when your scheduled queue of articles is empty, but you still have a writers block. But remember that you might not like what they write, or you might not like the writing quality. So I’d say only use paid writers in an “emergency”

A co-op blog might seem like the best solution. Its based on the principal of “many hands make light work”. If you can share the writing (and ownership) of a blog with like-minded people, then none of you need to write much. But just like a partnership, you will have problems: differences of opinion, differences in philosophy,  some might write more (or less) than others… so if you end up splitting the income from the website, some are bound to feel resentful that they aren’t getting their fair share! Just remember that you need to draw up rules, so that everyone knows what will happen to them if they don’t pull their weight, or if they just want “out”.

This relates to personality profiles JC and JI, as mentioned at: http://www.easy-income.com.au/2009/09/whats-your-money-earning-potential.

The good news, is that you are made of “entrepreneur” material. You can easily get an “overall” feel for what you are doing… Its like you instinctively know how the pieces should fall into place.

The bad news is that you don’t really know much… you are not an expert, at anything.

Your best bet is to  search online for the highest money-earning adsense topics.

From those, look at the websites related to those topics.

What you are looking for, is topics that don’t have any good quality information.

For example: by researching “make money online” you will find many sites that will try to “lure” you into paying for their “exclusive” “one-time-only” information… but you will also find a lot of good information as well… You won’t do well here, unless you are an expert in this field, or have easy access to an expert.

Another example might be “bluetooth headsets”. You might find lots of sites that talk about the various headsets, but the information is marketing hype take straight from the manufacturer… hardly anyone evaluating the headsets, and giving scores on headset weight, ability to go jogging with them, how easily they can be put-on and taken-off, etc, as well as hints on what to look for in a headset… Now this is a market you can get stuck into… Spend maybe $200 – $500 buying some leading brand headsets (or ask for “free” evaluation sets from the manufacturer), as well as some cheap brands from ebay, and start experimenting (and writing about your experiences).

The important thing is to keep looking until you find something that suits you… be prepared to look into 20, 50, even 100 different topics, until you find one that suits you.

Don’t be tempted to “just pick something” after looking into 5 topics… you must look at a minimum of 20… the more you investigate, the better the chance of finding something “perfect”.

Besides finding a good topic, also keep in mind:

• How many articles do you think you can write before you start “running out of ideas”. Aim to be able to write something new at least once per week.
• How useful is the information? (teaching people how to use the iphone (which is easy to use anyway) is not as useful as, say, teaching people how to save money by picking the right bank)
• How big is the customer base? (talking about the blue-breasted emu, or about java software development, will have a tiny customer base compared to, say, iphone apps, or online music.
• How affluent is the customer base? (ie you will probably make more money talking about luxury yachts, than about wood screws.

This relates to personality profiles EC and EI, as mentioned at: http://www.easy-income.com.au/2009/09/whats-your-money-earning-potential.

By now, you have decided what field your blog or website will specialise in.

You know it has a reasonable earning potential.

Now what?

You register a domain name and get some hosting. I’m not going to go into this area at this time. For now, you need to do your own research, or contract someone to do this part for you.

The most important part is deciding how you want your website to look and work.

You have a few options:

• Hire a reputable marketing firm to generate a logo, a colour scheme, and general look of the website.

Pros: Everything is done for you quickly and with a minimum of work on your part.

Cons: Expensive. If the firm you choose isn’t good, then it will be even more expensive. Different objectives: you want the website / business to be profitable, the marketing firm want to be paid by giving you something that looks good (but might not suit your business… remember: only you know the true potential of what you are doing).

• Find a friend to help you (ie someone who know a lot about online marketing).

Pros: inexpensive. friend probably knows you and understands your direction better than an impartial company

Cons:  Work might be slow. You need a greater amount of “supervision”. Any difficulties can place a strain on your friendship. The results might be incomplete, or not quite what you want.

• Do it yourself.

Pros: You will get exactly what you are after. No cost.

Cons: Learning curve will slow down development, finding the time to do the research, less time to spend with family and friends.

• A combination of the above (to suit your knowledge and learning potential)

I’ll spend some time on the “do it yourself” option.

I figure that if I give you some direction, you’ll have a head start.

The first thing to do is  research sites similar to the one you are wanting to start.

Get a feel for what  people in your field are talking about.

Take notes on the general colour schemes of the websites, what you like, what you don’t like, how easy is it to find information on the site, how confusing (or simple) the site looks.

Play the role of a “customer” that’s visiting these sites: how would you feel if you went to these sites? How should you feel?

After this, you should start getting an idea on what your site will be like.

Copy the ideas that you like (but don’t copy the text or the exact layouts / colour schemes).

Think of what can be improved.

Think about what you can add (that few other sites have, but that customers will want).

Think about what should be left out… some things just don’t belong on some websites. Don’t be afraid to remove elements to give a cleaner, less cluttered look.

You should now have a clear direction on what the website should be like.

If you lack technical expertise, you can start with a simple free blog, but if you are serious, I strongly advise you to  spend a small amount of money on your own domain name and hosting, and install WordPress (or Joomla if you want to add many features like shopping carts, etc).

Its worth the small amount of effort to install WordPress, as it makes publishing articles only slightly more complicated than writing a document.

Joomla it more complex than WordPress, so only use it if you need to have a “complex” site.

And don’t panic: most hosting providers will usually provide (for free) WordPress, Joomla, and many other utilities that can be installed at the click of a button.

And as far as designing a logo and colour scheme? its not immediately important, but it is important to give it some thought, and make sure the logo/colours reflect your topic and is appropriate for your target audience.

This relates to personality profiles EC and EI, as mentioned at: http://www.easy-income.com.au/2009/09/whats-your-money-earning-potential.

So: you know a lot about some topics. Thats good. But now you want to start a blog, or a specialised website about what you know.

The first thing you need to consider is which filed will you specialise in.

For example, you might know a lot about car racing,  but you might need to specialise further… ie: you know a lot about Formula 1, but virtually nothing about Nascar (or vice versa)… in this case you need to setup a website specific to what you actually know.

The alternative, is that you have a good general knowledge about car racing… all types, like Formula 1, Rally… as well as history, and technology… In this case, you either create a generic car racing site (you won’t be short of material, but you probably need to research each article a bit), or you can choose to specialise (eg car racing history).

But before you decide, take a step back and think about any other areas where you might have some expertise.

EG: you know a lot about car racing, but, you also know a lot about: Lung cancer, golf, and zen meditation. In this case, you need to decide which area you want to start with.

To help you decide, there are 2 (sometimes conflicting) things to consider:

1. Which area you feel most comfortable writing about.
2. Which area has the most money-earning potential

Point 2 can also be split into a few sub-categories:

2.1)  Make money purely from online activities like google advertising on your website (Google Adsense), as well as affiliate advertising (advertising that earns you a commission on each sale)… and also selling your own products.

2.2) Make money from activities that are indirectly linked to your website (eg you are a plumber, so your plumbing website generates new customers (who find you via an internet search).

To find which area can be most profitable “online” you can look at:

• Create a google adwords account. This will let you use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, which can show you what various words are “worth”. In the above example, you might find that “lung cancer” pays more than “zen meditation”.
• Look at the “most searched terms” on alexa.com
• Do google searches for: “high CPC keywords”… the results will give you many leads.

We all know them (or maybe you are one)… your know, the people that constantly switch from one weird get-rich-scheme to another.

Well, here is your chance to see what type of webmaster / blogger you are… and more importantly, what are your best chances of making a good income from online sources.

Rather than do a silly online quiz, I’ll just list the categories, and you can place yourself into whatever category you think best suits you.

First there is your knowledge base (you will fall into one of there categories):

E) The Expert: you know a lot about a particular field (eg baby food), and can write for hours on the topic

J) The Jack-of-all-trades: you know a bit about many different topics (eg you might be good at trivia)

H) Huh?:  You don’t know much about anything

Then there is your working style (you will generally be one of these):

C)  Consistent and stubborn: You focus, and stay focussed on the task at hand, you hate losing, and won’t give up without a fight. You will keep going at something until you master it.

I) Inconsistent, easily bored, and you struggle to see thing to the end: Not necessarily a bad thing, as you won’t keep banging your head against a brick wall, when you realise there are better things to do with your time.

Now, combining the two, you get the following:

HC and HI :  you can’t make money online (yet): go out and experience life some more, develop a hobby and get a good job.

EC:  You will be a good blogger: start a blog about the field you are interested in or good at. write a short article once or twice per week. You (and your blog / website) will soon be recognised as an expert in your field, and you will get traffic according to the popularity of your field of expertise. There is some money making potential, but it will depend on your field.

JC: You will be a good blogger, and have the greatest potential to make lots of money on the internet: before starting a blog, you will need to research which blog topic will give you the best earning potential, and with a range of techniques and knowledge, you can maximise your earning potential.

EI:  You will struggle with blogging: start a blog about the field you are interested in or good at, but consider a video and/or a podcast blog, this means you don’t need to spend much time working on your blog, and you should be able to keep at it for longer.

JI:  You will find blogging difficult: You will need to try and make it past the research stage mentioned in the JC section… then you can make some money, particularly if you setup residual income streams and/or affiliate marketing associated with your blog / website.

In the next few posts, I’ll look into most of the personality types, and how to maximise your “blogging” style to suit your personality.

While researching various “make money online” websites, I can see a common (false) assumption: anyone can lots of money online.

First lets get the terminology straight:

If you earn, say, $0.01 in a year (eg through google adwords), then, technically, you have earned money online.

The reality is: a website that says you can make money online, probably means at least $0.01 per year… but if its worded correctly, your mind hears: “I can make $1 million per year”.

Of course the fine print (if you can read and understand it) is where you find the truth.

Generally, the fine print can be summarised as one or more of the following:

• We say we make lots of money, don’t blame us if you can’t do the same.
• You need to be serious about this offer (ie you must be prepared to do any crazy thing we ask of you)
• Anyone can do this (its money laundering, a pyramid scheme/MLM, a marketing scheme that once worked, but is now outdated and no longer works).

So, can anyone make a “reasonable” income online?

Yes… IF: you supply goods or services that people need (ie you need to work hard and “smart”).

Of course most people are looking for the easy way out: Can I make a reasonable online income without supplying goods and services?

I think not… for 2 reasons:

1. Not everyone has the correct personality to make/sell a “make money online” concept. It doesn’t matter how much you might want the easy income, you just might not have what it takes.
2. Its not economically viable.

Let me explain point 2: what if everyone in the world tried to sell an “easy money” idea online? The result is that 99% of the people would lose money.

Another way to look at it is: if there were only 5 people, total, on the internet, and all 5 tried to make “easy” money on the internet, then where would the money come from? It doesn’t just magically appear… people earn money in “normal” jobs (manufacturing goods, and delivering services).

So beware the hype.

So: do I make money online: yes, but not enough to cover the time I have spent working on my online. The purpose of this website is to find out if there is a way to earn a reasonable online income with a minimum of effort.