Web Publishing

In my previous post I said that Google is a data company, Yahoo is a content company. How so? They are both search engines, right?

Both Google and Yahoo provide lots of web services. Yahoo always was a portal & search engine, but over the years Google has continued to add more “portal” services — Google Maps, gmail, Google finance, and so on.

Take a closer look at the companies. Compare Google Finance to Yahoo Finance. One of these companies needs an engineer with a cup of coffee, the other needs an engineer, editor, and staff.

Yahoo is focusing on their own on-site content because of the display advertising revenue, there is no doubt about it. There is a problem with this approach. Short term, its not helping them keep up to pace. Long term, this model risks killing their company.

Yahoo is demonstrating a strong interest and desire to pursue an old model — a centralized content distribution structure (walled garden has been a popular phrase lately.)

Consider the two models. Yahoo pushes traffic to their own properties, presumably of good quality content. Google pushes traffic to outside properties, of the most popular content. Google doesn’t have to struggle or focusing on providing fresh content of the best caliber day after day. And, to make things even better, every hit to something the audience like is yet another point for Google’s brand value.

Take a look at YouTube and compare their traffic data to the monster video sites that existed years prior (such as eBaumsworld.) The owners of eBaumsworld certainly weren’t generating their own content. Like Yahoo, they were re-ordering and collecting outside content, presumably by hand. No matter how good the human element got at it, at some point, Youtube’s exponential growth rapidly dwarfed these older video sites within mere months.

Why? Because automated systems can sort and aggregate data far faster and far better than human editors.

Weigh these two things: As Google’s engineers work on rolling out next generation systems Yahoo’s editors have been building sub-portals aimed at a specific age demographic of women.

10 to 15 years out, where will Google be? Where will Yahoo be?

I’ve spent a lot of time weighing content verse data myself. Data won, I changed my business model. More on this topic in the near future.

I was recently reminded by on of my first websites from a blog post by Brendon Sinclair over at Tailored Consulting (soon to be Tailored Web Services.) The post was, “How to make $500+ an hour & other tips.”

Brendon mentioned a particularly unimpressive web site, with particularly unimpressive earnings, making $1 or 2 a day from Adsense. What was special about it was it took just a few hours of work many years ago.

As beginners, everyone wants to jump in and have a six figure income by Friday. What is missed is starting small is just fine. And most importantly, if you build web assets, they will continue to make money for years to come.

For the real beginners — those who struggle with the bare basics of the web and business, starting small is critical. Building your own web site is both a classroom and boot camp in one.

Let me present you with a choice:

1) Pay $1000 for a “guru” kit on how to make lots of money online. Probably pay $50, $100, and more on additional information products.

2) Pay $0, build a website using free software and tutorials, be paid $1000, $2,000, $5,000 or more for years to come.

I really like choice number 2. Its like going to college, but instead of paying off a student loan for the next 30 years, the school pays you for your attendance.

Now to my own experience. Years ago I sat down and wrote about one of my hobbies. It took me hours of work, but by day 2 the website was up and fine. A few years later I added a forum and updated the design a bit, but that was all. The site continues to make $15-$25 a day. The Adsense income goes through direct deposit, I can forget the site even exists. It means little to me now, but years ago that passive income was what allowed me to create and grow bigger, far better projects.

I beat Brendon on his $500+ a hour, this project was more like $1000+. Best of all, I had almost no clue about making money online when I did it.

The catch? The site has to be good, the content legitimate. Write about something you know a lot about. Hack jobs aren’t going to be worth your time or effort 4 years out. Then there were the sites that I built, thinking that hack jobs would be ok, and they didn’t work out. One I slaved away for a month at and it made about $1 a day (and still does.) Ouch.

There are countless paths to get yourself launched in internet business. If you can write, this may be your best shot.

I hate being a quitter, but sometimes quitting is the right thing to do.

When I dropped out of my first class ever, as a senior in high school it was the right thing to do. When I dropped out of college halfway through my junior year, it was the right thing to do. When I decided to stop writing Web Publishing Blog, it was the right thing to do.

The past 3 months of 2008 and been spent expanding and automating my primary internet business. Part of that has involved aborting the projects that distracted me from my goals.

Since “shutting down” Web Publishing Blog my gross and net income have grown. Last month all revenue records were broken. No numbers will be given, but its fair to say that my quarterly taxes are supporting numerous families on welfare.

Look at your goals. Fill your time with things either you absolutely love doing or that drive you further toward achieving your goals. Everything else — get rid of it. If there is any message I want readers to take away from Web Publishing Blog, that is it. You may not get everything you want, but you certainly should have an enjoyable time along the way.

Don’t use rules other people made up in order to organize your time. Life is far too short to piss away.

SEOBook author Aaron Wall, has switched his SEOBook product over to a subscription community. I just had a chance to sign up today (link here.) At $100 a month, its not cheap, but you get access to his training program plus exclusive SEO Forum.

I have been a member of several exclusive, paid forums as well as free private communities. The biggest downside is often a loss of momentum due to members cutting their subscriptions. Given how prolific Aaron Wall is with his blog and promoting I am willing to bet this will be a hit.

2007 was big. 2008 is shaping up to be even bigger. I have decided to significantly scale back my posting on Web Publishing Blog. This already happened in 2007, to a degree, but now I just want to make it official. Do not expect any regular posts here on out.

Between business and personal time, things are very tight. I am not alone, other top tier bloggers have done the same, or closed up shop completely.

Here are the facts. Launching the blog was the best business move I have ever made. I can not put a value on the personal contacts I gained as a result. The networking effect continues to compound on itself every single day.

Time goes on, and the law of diminishing returns begins to catch up. Right now I need to walk away for a while, and place my focus on my businesses as we scale them up and out.

Here is a New Years resolution for you. If you have not blogged, then try it out. Forget the organic search traffic, use the platform to aggressively network with others. Likewise, if you blog a lot (or post on forums) then scale it back.

I hate mixed messages, but some times it is what needs to be said.

Holidays + big business projects = no time for blogging. I’ll be back in January.

By the way, you should already have your 2008 goals ready! Coincidentally the post I made exactly a year ago — December 2nd, 2006 echoed this same thought. I’ll just repost it below:

The countdown clock is rapidly approaching a new year. I like to get the gears moving on next years big projects a month or two before that new year actually begins. It is going to be a lot easier for you to meet 2007’s 2008’s goals if you are already working on them right now.

Last year , in 2005, I got the ball rolling for a big project in November, a strike of luck right before Christmas meant I was on the ground running by the new year. This year I had my 2007 financial goals set by September. Good news, I am already well on my way there.

Mapping out your goals based on years and dates may seem small-minded or arbitrary. I think it simply reminds us that we don’t have forever to accomplish what we want.

This isn’t breaking news, but I noticed that MarketingSherpa has released the second edition of their very popular Landing Page Handbook. The first edition had been out of print for a while (despite also being sold in an electronic format) so naturally many web entrepreneurs had been searching for both pirated and after market copies. Now you can buy the real thing, and get data that isn’t two years old.

So, is it worth $501? (thats what I just paid.) Its your call. There is plenty of filler here, but as any successful online marketer knows: just a single idea can foot this price many times over.

I just bought my copy 15 minutes ago, a complete report/review will be forthcoming.

I have just returned from Ad-Tech New York. This is the first time I attended, although I was at the far smaller Ad-Tech Chicago this past summer.

Event highlights included the shoulder-to-shoulder packed after party at Pacha sponsored by PepperJam, RocketProfit, and whole bunch of companies which I do not remember. I also managed to attend a networking event for women in advertising, and consequently am now one of a handful of paying male members of Ad Femme

On a business owner to business owner standpoint I walked away realizing a few things:

Premium dot com domains are still significantly undervalued. Are those record breaking sales signs of a speculative bubble, or are buyers getting flea market priced bargains?

The online ad marketplace is going to become increasingly competitive between networks — high quality publishers (and type-in domain owners) will benefit greatly.

Annual internet advertising revenue projections are now moving north of $50 billion for 2011. Fair to say, you are in the right industry, at the right time. Don’t let the boat leave without you.

A year and a half ago I warned web masters that the US Dollar would continue to slide. This year, the US Dollar weakened significantly against the Canadian Dollar.

The last time I wrote about this issue, in June, we were approaching parity with the Canadian dollar, at $1.05. Today, parity looks optimistic.

The paradox of this situation is that most Americans do not care — many of them are not even aware of it. Last time, someone thought I was an idiot for even taking the time to write about it!

Companies and entrepreneurs are shifting their focus from the United States to international markets. If you haven’t begun to look into this yet, you should. While international stock markets may be speculatively priced, international growth online represents a great value investment. Not only will it diversify you away from the dollar, you will also have the opportunity to dominate niches which are already mature in the United States.

Yeah, the dollar slide hurts. Non-US web developers feel it when they cash their checks, Americans feel it when they fill their cars up with gas. Use this as an opportunity to diversify internationally and make it a win-win scenario.

Holidays present a huge opportunity for internet publisher and marketers. Consumers are online, looking for specific things, and their wallets are open. Even better, their search patterns are very predictable and reliable, year after year.

Thinking about Christmas? Go live in September. Halloween? If you are just getting your Halloween promotions live for Monday, you’ve missed half the audience.