So, the titles a lie; effort is required. As always.

Method; i'll explain then i'll step through.

Explanation

The idea is this; facebook is making its new timeline layout a feature on every profile next week. People will be looking for photos for their cover. Lets help help and capitalize on the traffic.

1.) Buy domain based around keywords such as "timeline cover photos" or "<adjective> cover photos". Do your own keyword research (check out those parts of this forum - aim those which already have high search volumes but very little competition and no domains with the keywords)

2.) Stick on your favorite CMS - probably wordpress - and do your basic SEO on the layout, tags, meta data etc. Check the "white hat" section on the forum out for this.

3.) Add content. Lots of content. This will purely be pictures you find online; free stock photos etc. Or if you're feeling adventurous. Take your own! Be warned; photos are copyrighted material - make sure you use ones you are allowed to, or risk a C&D letter. (unlikely, but you've been warned. Just comply if it happens and plead ignorance). Ping this, book mark it, do your normal SEO on it.

4.) Monetize. If you're new to this, just use adsense or PPM targeted ads. Don't intrude, don't content lock, no messages when people leave the site, no popups. Keep it fresh and clean.

5.) Keep adding content, keep making money, keep driving traffic.


Summary

Use news events to predict niche demand, fill this demand to gain an SEO advantage which converts into traffic which can be monetized. Traffic is converted using adsense, or if poorly optimised, PPM ads for guaranteed revenue.


Follow up

Your down line depends on the traffic you get. Don't be scared to start creating link wheels, using web 2.0 technologies, driving traffic using youtube, submitting articles about facebook cover photos to directories etc.


If you get it done in time, you'll see a nice spike in earnings next week, then it'll tail off and remain pretty constant. Given the market size you'll easily be able to get 30k hits a day if you've a good website and a few hundred or thousand pages of content.

I won't be doing this myself as the effort required is too great and autoblogs just won't cut it. I doubt anyone from here will even bother, thinking it's daft; hence for the record when you can see the trends moving on the internet, you'll realise you should have taken the chance.

Have fun, good look. Take care! Any questions, just ask ^^

Free photos are usually crappy.. Is it possible to make money off free photos without using copyrighted content

Buy a Canon Rebel T3 and get to work.

i almost landed here by trying to use some pics from flickr for my autoblogs:

Using your own pictures is the easiest way, however, not many people have the skills to do it.

Remember your income directly relates to the quality of your content, so it's worth looking for better pictures. Many creative commons pictures are free to use aslong as you give credit.

Many people (including US Senators) use copyrighted photographs on their webpage, so i wouldn't worry about using them too much. Worst case you get a snotty email, although its unlikely they'll ever notice.


Of course, you can always sell your own services such as "100% custom timeline covers, $2 each" etc. where you take, edit and offer pictures to those who want them.

Originally Posted by jammie

Using your own pictures is the easiest way, however, not many people have the skills to do it.

Remember your income directly relates to the quality of your content, so it's worth looking for better pictures. Many creative commons pictures are free to use aslong as you give credit.

Many people (including US Senators) use copyrighted photographs on their webpage, so i wouldn't worry about using them too much. Worst case you get a snotty email, although its unlikely they'll ever notice.


Of course, you can always sell your own services such as "100% custom timeline covers, $2 each" etc. where you take, edit and offer pictures to those who want them.

Yeah, something like a Lil Wayne quote could be used by thousands.