JohnathanQuincy
Registered Member
- Nov 5, 2014
- 69
- 31
Background
Hello! I am not very skilled at much when it comes to internet marketing, or many of the things that are done here on BHW. SEO? Not a clue. What I have, though, is some time and a lot of motivation to make more than just my day job (Audio/Video/Control Systems Design Engineer). Last year I set out on a journey to make $50/day using a combination of a few sources (found on this thread here). Most of those sources fizzled with the exception of Redbubble. 12 Months into that project and I have not come close to the $50/day mark... But at the same time, I never expected to - I always set my goals high. The ending total was $2,882.90 for the 12 months. That's an average of $240/month, or $7.80/day.
A couple of factors to consider when looking at that - my first December was only $38.15 and my second December was $529.00, so the growth there is obvious. Also, the investment made in this entire project has fallen under $200. A Wordpress .com (GoDaddy), a few proxies, TumblingJazz, a subscription to Picloadr, and a handful of Fiverr Designs. I have only relied on traffic from Tumblr to my Website to the products to kick start my designs on Redbubble, but once they get a few sales they rank high enough that they then get most sales from naturally ranking on the RB website, and that's when the real money comes in from any particular design. Because of this, when paired with TumblingJazz... This has been a very passive project. A new market only takes about 1-2 hours total, while new designs are easily done in about 30 minutes start to finish.
So why start something new and not just expand this project?
Diversitry, and also ideas and inspiration. With this sort of project, it takes being creative in a load of different places. Each market or niche I try to have 3 but no more than 5 designs, and then I want to expand into other markets. I feel like each market is relatively capped, and there is a better chance for having higher numbers hitting a multitude of markets. But that isn't easy. I have about 60 designs currently, and only a couple of them are really hitting hard, but the others do turn a profit just not as often. I've also run into products getting pulled despite having no copyright infringement, after battling Redbubble on the issue they've admitted "Even if it's not breaking any copyright, we're not going to fight the larger copyright owner who complained, so it's staying down" and if you get enough of those complaints they shut your store down, albeit temporary while they "clean things up." So while I do plan on expanding on this project, I also want to make sure that I keep trying new things. This was not my first idea that I've tried, and it shouldn't be my last. No idea, no matter how good, should be the last one you try - certainly not since it is running passively, and can be expanded at anytime inspiration strikes.
So what is the plan?
I have no idea, yet. But I am working on it, and reading the journeys of others and trying to find the thing that I feel most comfortable with. I have recently started a side job which makes about $80-$100/week from home with only a few hours of work. This money, while not breaking any banks, is the sort of extra invest-able income that I think I would need to begin a new project while also expanding on my previous. Currently it is going to Christmas gifts, and some bills that have piled up, but 2016 that will not be an issue and I feel comfortable with the concept of some trial and error investing, as long as at the end of the day I have invested wisely and can realize a good return on investment. I recognize that the 1,400% ROI that 2015 brought me is not a realistic number when talking about investing (if only it were that easy) but knowing where to put my first $1,000 will go a long way in making sure that it meant more to do that than to just stash it in savings.
What have I tried?
Not much effectively, unfortunately. I had purchased an Amazon Affiliate store site from Luhasr, but after my first sale Amazon reviewed the site and decided it did not have enough content and rejected my Amazon Affiliate account (which I had been setup previously just fine). I have tried MNS with Adsense, but that was miserable because I just don't have the right knowledge when it comes to SEO and ranking websites.
I have tried doing a few of the other methods described by others in the forum, but alone I just haven't had the ability to make much headway with the skill sets that I lack. I imagine a lot of this journey will require investments, in terms of services purchased or other things being designed or setup by others. I can be comfortable with that, as long as I can see the benefit of it in the end.
So why have a thread, if you don't even know what you're doing yet?
Because I believe that this will help me gather my ideas. I look at everyone's goals on BHW and I feel as if my 2015 $7.80/day is overshadowed and laughable... But I also see a lot of people try and fail and never make anything... So I believe I have been "successful" thus far in simply trying and making a profit.
I would love input, feedback, etc from the group of people out there. This has been a great place to learn, but sometimes it's hard to see what is actually working and who is just trying to sell something (because face it... we're all selling something.) I want this thread to exist, like my last one, for the people out there who want to try something, who may not be as skilled as others, who may not have much or anything to start with, or who may be trying something similar and can think of a new tweak because of my journey.
And it will keep me focused, even before the idea has come to life.
What am I thinking is next?
I wanted to look into the possibility of some SEO and ranking on my current website. While all it is doing is linking to my Redbubble page (So each page is simply a photo of an example of the product that links through) and seeing if I can get some more natural business through another stream.
I has always been curious about getting a product manufactured, and providing it to Amazon through the Fulfilled by Amazon service. I read an interesting journey (or it could have been a podcast) about getting a product manufactured and shipped to Amazon's warehouse. And then from there it was all up to creating an audience and a demand through social media and offline marketing. I've found this fascinating, because depending on the market, it could also become a passive type project - similar to my Redbubble, I find myself wondering if I could make a more generally useful item with a broader audience that I could push people through to. As discussed, this is a possible investment with possible rewards also being great.
Thanks for reading!
Hello! I am not very skilled at much when it comes to internet marketing, or many of the things that are done here on BHW. SEO? Not a clue. What I have, though, is some time and a lot of motivation to make more than just my day job (Audio/Video/Control Systems Design Engineer). Last year I set out on a journey to make $50/day using a combination of a few sources (found on this thread here). Most of those sources fizzled with the exception of Redbubble. 12 Months into that project and I have not come close to the $50/day mark... But at the same time, I never expected to - I always set my goals high. The ending total was $2,882.90 for the 12 months. That's an average of $240/month, or $7.80/day.
A couple of factors to consider when looking at that - my first December was only $38.15 and my second December was $529.00, so the growth there is obvious. Also, the investment made in this entire project has fallen under $200. A Wordpress .com (GoDaddy), a few proxies, TumblingJazz, a subscription to Picloadr, and a handful of Fiverr Designs. I have only relied on traffic from Tumblr to my Website to the products to kick start my designs on Redbubble, but once they get a few sales they rank high enough that they then get most sales from naturally ranking on the RB website, and that's when the real money comes in from any particular design. Because of this, when paired with TumblingJazz... This has been a very passive project. A new market only takes about 1-2 hours total, while new designs are easily done in about 30 minutes start to finish.
So why start something new and not just expand this project?
Diversitry, and also ideas and inspiration. With this sort of project, it takes being creative in a load of different places. Each market or niche I try to have 3 but no more than 5 designs, and then I want to expand into other markets. I feel like each market is relatively capped, and there is a better chance for having higher numbers hitting a multitude of markets. But that isn't easy. I have about 60 designs currently, and only a couple of them are really hitting hard, but the others do turn a profit just not as often. I've also run into products getting pulled despite having no copyright infringement, after battling Redbubble on the issue they've admitted "Even if it's not breaking any copyright, we're not going to fight the larger copyright owner who complained, so it's staying down" and if you get enough of those complaints they shut your store down, albeit temporary while they "clean things up." So while I do plan on expanding on this project, I also want to make sure that I keep trying new things. This was not my first idea that I've tried, and it shouldn't be my last. No idea, no matter how good, should be the last one you try - certainly not since it is running passively, and can be expanded at anytime inspiration strikes.
So what is the plan?
I have no idea, yet. But I am working on it, and reading the journeys of others and trying to find the thing that I feel most comfortable with. I have recently started a side job which makes about $80-$100/week from home with only a few hours of work. This money, while not breaking any banks, is the sort of extra invest-able income that I think I would need to begin a new project while also expanding on my previous. Currently it is going to Christmas gifts, and some bills that have piled up, but 2016 that will not be an issue and I feel comfortable with the concept of some trial and error investing, as long as at the end of the day I have invested wisely and can realize a good return on investment. I recognize that the 1,400% ROI that 2015 brought me is not a realistic number when talking about investing (if only it were that easy) but knowing where to put my first $1,000 will go a long way in making sure that it meant more to do that than to just stash it in savings.
What have I tried?
Not much effectively, unfortunately. I had purchased an Amazon Affiliate store site from Luhasr, but after my first sale Amazon reviewed the site and decided it did not have enough content and rejected my Amazon Affiliate account (which I had been setup previously just fine). I have tried MNS with Adsense, but that was miserable because I just don't have the right knowledge when it comes to SEO and ranking websites.
I have tried doing a few of the other methods described by others in the forum, but alone I just haven't had the ability to make much headway with the skill sets that I lack. I imagine a lot of this journey will require investments, in terms of services purchased or other things being designed or setup by others. I can be comfortable with that, as long as I can see the benefit of it in the end.
So why have a thread, if you don't even know what you're doing yet?
Because I believe that this will help me gather my ideas. I look at everyone's goals on BHW and I feel as if my 2015 $7.80/day is overshadowed and laughable... But I also see a lot of people try and fail and never make anything... So I believe I have been "successful" thus far in simply trying and making a profit.
I would love input, feedback, etc from the group of people out there. This has been a great place to learn, but sometimes it's hard to see what is actually working and who is just trying to sell something (because face it... we're all selling something.) I want this thread to exist, like my last one, for the people out there who want to try something, who may not be as skilled as others, who may not have much or anything to start with, or who may be trying something similar and can think of a new tweak because of my journey.
And it will keep me focused, even before the idea has come to life.
What am I thinking is next?
I wanted to look into the possibility of some SEO and ranking on my current website. While all it is doing is linking to my Redbubble page (So each page is simply a photo of an example of the product that links through) and seeing if I can get some more natural business through another stream.
I has always been curious about getting a product manufactured, and providing it to Amazon through the Fulfilled by Amazon service. I read an interesting journey (or it could have been a podcast) about getting a product manufactured and shipped to Amazon's warehouse. And then from there it was all up to creating an audience and a demand through social media and offline marketing. I've found this fascinating, because depending on the market, it could also become a passive type project - similar to my Redbubble, I find myself wondering if I could make a more generally useful item with a broader audience that I could push people through to. As discussed, this is a possible investment with possible rewards also being great.
Thanks for reading!
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