erlog Wrote:Steve Pavlina is an internet get-rich-quick huckster that made his bones in the blogging boom of the early 2000's. You'd be much better off not listening to him. That is...unless you think Don Lapre is a credible figure as well.

Note how many of his articles promise personal growth in X number of days. Note how he appeals to "karma," in order to spur donations to his site. Notice how many of his ideas are extraordinarily exclusionary to those around him. Pavlina doesn't give a damn about helping you make money. He wants you to donate to him.

Here's how to replicate his success: start a blog about how to blog and make money on the internet that requests donations, and then mix in a few articles about polyphasic sleep.

I've seen a bunch of your posts around here over the last few months, and they leave a bad taste in my mouth. You aren't the first person to learn Japanese. There aren't a lot of profound insights into what works when it comes to learning Japanese. Flashcards and conversation practice are it. The internet has made most of it pretty easy. Also, the "I'm gonna make boatloads of money off the interwebs!" ship sailed long ago. It just isn't that easy. It was that easy for a few guys 10 years ago, and has become much harder since.

Go ahead, though. Make some pillar articles. Update a few times a week on a regular schedule. Install Google Analytics and Google Ads, and make $0.25 a day. I guarantee you'll be the next Arianna Huffington. Maybe you'll be the next Khatzumoto. Though, you should know that I don't really consider that a compliment.

erlog Wrote:Here's how to replicate his success: start a blog about how to blog and make money on the internet that requests donations, and then mix in a few articles about polyphasic sleep.

Zarxrax Wrote:In my opinion, its difficult.
I don't think you can just expect to set up a blog and then start raking in tons of cash.

I operate an active website with a fairly large userbase (literally hundreds of forum posts per day), original video content, and user submitted content.
For years, I was earning about $20-30 per month in advertising revenue.
Several months ago, I began to look into it in more detail, and reworked how I was doing my ads, in order to try to maximize my revenue a bit more. Now I am making about $100 a month. That is still not a whole lot. My web hosting and software costs still have to come out of that. So its not like I've even really making any profit at the moment (I really need to upgrade some software soon, so the money that has been coming in will go right back out).
It also takes hours of work each month, if not each week.

Is my situation typical? I have no idea. I'm sure there are probably tons of sites with similar amounts of activity as mine that probably rake in a lot more money. I've never really been in it for the money though, I just enjoy running a site that other people seem to enjoy.

gdaxeman Wrote:

erlog Wrote:Here's how to replicate his success: start a blog about how to blog and make money on the internet that requests donations, and then mix in a few articles about polyphasic sleep.

Steve Pavlina says he earns very little from donations — most of his revenue come from ads of products he recommends and from his workshop. And, interestingly, the topics that bring most attention to his blog are really money-related, such as "don't get a job", "be an entrepreneur", "law of attraction" and "how to discipline yourself" (which many people are interested in only to apply to money-generating activities) kind of thing.

Well, in a nutshell, the only way to make money legally is by selling, be it on the Internet or not. Selling your stuff, other people's stuff, your services, your time, selling yourself... It doesn't have to be revolutionary (actually, that rarely sells well), but it has to be something that you can find other people willing to pay you for, usually through some sort of advertising. This selling can be to only one client (e.g., the boss, in the "normal job" path) or to many clients (in the business / entrepreneurs' path.)

Just like in the "real world" (aka outside of the Internet), not everyone succeeds. But not everyone plays the game right, either.

Jarvik7 Wrote:Make something that people want and will pay for instead of starting with the mindset of making something monetizable. Otherwise any success you might achieve will only be short term. The Internet definetly doesn't need a blog full of begging for money.

grillopelu73 Wrote:Two words:

Perry Marshall

ta12121 Wrote:Basically comes down to providing a service that people would be willing to pay for.

ta12121 Wrote:They say people usual succeed when they think differently then everything else.

gdaxeman Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:They say people usual succeed when they think differently then everything else.

The main tip is to offer something people perceive as better than what is already being offered, and to make sure people know you are offering it. The "think differently" part (that so reminds me of Steve Jobs) is where your creativity comes in; you use it to create this something better and advertise it.

jettyke Wrote:heard about forex?
you trade currencies and can lose money or gain profit.

http://jp.forex.com/jp/

my net friend uses this and says its enough for living so that he doesnt have to do a job.

Actually i wanna earn money on the net too, after I get tired of doing baito and my corporate japanese is good enough.

Surreal Wrote:Ta, I don't intend to be trollish, but I think it would be safer and better in the long-term to focus your time and energy on finding a more traditional (part-time since you are a student) job instead of gambling on something like this. If you're having trouble finding a job, you might want to look up tips on where to search for them, how to prepare for interviews, etc. Trying to see if you can get some kind of job through your school/university might be a good idea too.

Really, the kind of work that you would be trying to do would probably be very narrow (ie you're not developing much in terms of competence) and the odds of succeeding don't seem very high. Like others have said, there are plenty of women/men all over the world trying to make money this way, many of them with more experience in both technology and marketing than you. A lot of them are better at spelling and writing coherent sentences too, and that is bound to be a real issue if you want to convey a clear message.

I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but please consider what to do with your precious time and if this really is a good choice for your future.

IceCream Wrote:i also agree, it would be much better for you to get a part time job and concentrate on your studies. If you're serious about entrepreneuship, you can always do a masters in business after you finish, and then set off with the right skills and a great product ready to make it work.

As for making money from a blog, i very much doubt it will be worth the time you'll put into it. As you've seen with AJATT, Khatz obviously couldn't make money from having advertising on his blog, that's why he's selling other stuff now. I also put ads on my blog when i first started, because i had wondered why it wasn't possible for Fabrice to do that with this site in the past. Well, i found out... i made $3 from around 5000 views. And ALL of that $3 came from people clicking the ads when people mentioned them in the thread here, out of kindness
Japanese language learners just aren't the right market for that kind of thing. Perhaps if you made a blog about something entirely boring and business oriented, you could make a little money. Otherwise, it's not so likely.

Similarly, with Forex and stuff like that, i highly doubt that it's going to be worth the time you invest in it. Small time trading has been around for a few years now... and the more people that participate in it, and easier the knowledge of how to win at it is to come by, the smaller edge you will have. It is also very risky. Don't believe success stories easily, there's many reasons people would want to say they're doing great, even if they're not.

Please, take it from me. I got into poker when i was at university, and learned the hard way. At first, it looks glamourous, and when you get a few big scores in, it feels great! And you see your friends winning $1000's or $10,000's of dollars, and you want to learn more, of course, and get better.

The reality, however, is very different. Yes, it is entirely possible to make money at poker (and probably Forex too), once you learn enough. But once you look more closely at win rates, return on investment, and so forth, and calculate the hours you've played, you find that you're actually making around minimum wage. If you want to make more than minimum wage, you have to either do sick amounts of work, or you have to take massive swings playing with a lower edge in higher buyin games (which you consequently play less of). I expect Forex is either going to be the same, or will be in the nearish future (i.e. by the time you learn, it already won't be worth it).

There's no free lunch. Work hard at college, work hard at your part time job, and you'll do good in the future, i'm sure.

caivano Wrote:I think it's a good idea if you set out to make something of good quality and to have a learning experience, with making money as a bonus.

If you try it then you will learn about setting up a website, design and get some good writing practice, so even if no-one reads it it can still be useful for you.

I would stay clear of a 'this is how I learned Japanese' blog as there are way too many already... this is just an idea but I think a detailed, well-written, well-designed anki user guide site would be useful. There is info on the anki site but I don't think it's particularly user friendly. Not sure if you could make money from it but I think it could be good.

Also check out this podcast: http://www.43folders.com/2009/03/25/blogs-turbocharged by Merlin Mann and John Gruber.

It's about having a successful blog without making it shit with crappy ads, link baiting etc.

nadiatims Wrote:Reading your last post, it does sound like you have your head screwed on the right way. You seem to have the right attitude. And having a decently written blog could be pretty useful as a self marketing tool whether you make money from it or not.