Oudam Em is a web entrepreneur who has been making a living online since 1996. He owns and operates over 70 websites and is using this site to share tips, tools and articles related to SEO and internet marketing.
A lot of people have approached me about making it big on the internet. They’ve heard of the Jerry Yangs, the Jeff Bezoses and others who have made billions on the web.
Truth be told, these are the very tiny, almost non-existent, exceptions to the rule. Most people who enter the business never make it, especially when they enter a niche not related to porn or gambling. The web business is dynamic and challenging endeavor that requires an enormous degree of creativity and luck. There is no magic formula, and a lot of trial-and-error is necessary.
But not to get discouraged! While few people, including this blogger, have struck it rich, many have been able to make a decent living off the web. In fact, tens of thousands of people make a living selling on eBay and other marketplaces.
I think the key is stop looking for an easy way to make a lot of money. Instead, do what you love. The online business is fiercely competitive, where you have to go up against people from all over the world. It takes an incredible amount of learning, tedious work and inspiration to gain the edge over your competitors. It’s hard to get inspired if you don’t do what you love and, instead, focus on getting rich.
This is a question that has often crossed my mind. There are many online valuation tools that attempts to estimate what your site is worth based on its Google PageRank, traffic rankings, niche, age of domain, and so on and so forth.
These tools, while interesting and entertaining, are mostly useless and should not be used, even as only one of several factors, to appraise a site.
It goes without saying that a site is worth only as much as someone is willing to pay for it. But how do you know how much to ask for your site? What is the ballpark figure?
One method is to price it as you would a brick-and-mortar business. You could, for instance, price your site at 3 times your annual net profits. At 3x net profit, you could ask for $36,000 for a site that earns $1,000 a month (minus all advertising expenses).
But a website isn’t a brick-and-mortar. It does not have tangible assets that you can liquidate to recoup some of the loss should your online business fail. Therefore, the value of a website should be adjusted (i.e. downward) accordingly.
Another consideration is that the web business is generally much more fluid than a brick and mortar one. More than the current profit, one should also consider the ever-changing nature of the internet technology. A site that is useful to a lot of people today may become a thing of the past the next year. So, one must take into account the risk associated with this and the amount of work needed to keep up with the trends so that your site does not become obsolete. Therefore, the price should be adjusted downward further.
Online classifieds are an effective marketing channel often overlooked by webmasters. Online classified sites like www.craigslist.org and www.backpage.com get enormous traffic from people looking to buy and sell services and products.
Although not recommended for link building as they expire in 7 to 10 days, online classified ads represent an excellent source of direct traffic. They are best suited for products and services catered to local and regional markets but may be used for global as well.
Placing an ad is not as difficult as you might think. In fact, much of Craigslist’s enormous popularity is owed at least partly to the site’s fast, no-nonsense design and the ease of ad placement.
I have dozens of domains registered Godaddy.com. If you’re like me, you probably get a notice every week from Godaddy telling you which domains are coming up for renewal. Here are some codes that could save you some money for new registrations and renewals. Some work and some don’t. Please report through the comments.
Oudam Em is a web entrepreneur who has been making a living online since 1996. He owns and operates over 70 websites and is using this site to share tips, tools and articles related to SEO and internet marketing.
October 18th, 2008 by 
that SEO guy
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