EchoTechCon
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- Jan 31, 2011
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Huntsman, I think it is great that you are pursuing the idea of being self-employed, but there is a lot more to running a commercially successful website than one person can typically handle. I am rather in the same boat after a few months of effort, and ever the optimist, think "it will work" eventually. However, there are a few business models to think about and finding the one that is right for you may be just as time consuming as running the darn thing!
Websites make money through ad revenue but as you already determined this often means graduating from a "Personal" account to a "Business class" account (or fully hosted Domain). Nobody needs to setup a server in their home office anymore and assume the full cost associated with "dedicated hardware" because there are many co-hosting and co-location options. Since one business class server can host multiple Domains and will be fully maintained by someone else, resulting in fewer headaches for you, paying someone else to worry about that stuff is the way to go!
I have only seen a few businesses with a need (or desire) to "Host Their Own" site in-house, and this is generally because they want to also run Enterprise class business software (such as an accounting program), operate their own e-mail server (in order to have total control over their '@mydomain.biz' address), and run a Print Server, File Server and perform their own backups (etc.). See, it opens an entire can of worms the minute you graduate from something simple, sweet and clean to COMPETING against boys and girls with bigger muscles who launched their business as part of a college class and fraternity, sorority or alumni association (think of Google or Apple starting in a garage...).
It might be easier to write articles for someone else and get more experience with online publishing tools and practices under your belt before totally going solo. However, please do not let me discourage you from doing what you want! I checked out your site and made a small comment on Overclocking which I hope you will find acceptable! Providing people with the "right" information in the right format at the right price is a great ambition!
Getting noticed for doing so is a little bit more complicted! Remember, there are a sea of opportunists out there and many tens of thousands of good ideas floating around the Internet! -- Creating a mailing list and sending out FREE samples of your writing to business owners in the community *may* get you noticed more easily than coming up with a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, creating a Google Business account (thingy) for submitting your URL weekly and managing the dozens of other technicalities accompanying a "virtual business" these days.
I'm not suggesting you don't do it, just proceed with caution and care in making your choices so the end product will be something you are REALLY happy with. Remember, once it is on the Internet it is conceivably there forever! You may have to explain what you were thinking one day when you wrote... (blah, blah, blah) and did or did not cover the topic adequately. I dunno. If you are very confident in your abilities, knowledge and research skills, then everything will probably turn out alright.
It could be a life-long commitment. A friend of mine has been pursuing his own Domain, site, advice column, consulting business and podcasting for several years (i.e. more than 10). If you private message me I will provide you with the name of his site.
Best of luck!
~
Websites make money through ad revenue but as you already determined this often means graduating from a "Personal" account to a "Business class" account (or fully hosted Domain). Nobody needs to setup a server in their home office anymore and assume the full cost associated with "dedicated hardware" because there are many co-hosting and co-location options. Since one business class server can host multiple Domains and will be fully maintained by someone else, resulting in fewer headaches for you, paying someone else to worry about that stuff is the way to go!
I have only seen a few businesses with a need (or desire) to "Host Their Own" site in-house, and this is generally because they want to also run Enterprise class business software (such as an accounting program), operate their own e-mail server (in order to have total control over their '@mydomain.biz' address), and run a Print Server, File Server and perform their own backups (etc.). See, it opens an entire can of worms the minute you graduate from something simple, sweet and clean to COMPETING against boys and girls with bigger muscles who launched their business as part of a college class and fraternity, sorority or alumni association (think of Google or Apple starting in a garage...).
It might be easier to write articles for someone else and get more experience with online publishing tools and practices under your belt before totally going solo. However, please do not let me discourage you from doing what you want! I checked out your site and made a small comment on Overclocking which I hope you will find acceptable! Providing people with the "right" information in the right format at the right price is a great ambition!
Getting noticed for doing so is a little bit more complicted! Remember, there are a sea of opportunists out there and many tens of thousands of good ideas floating around the Internet! -- Creating a mailing list and sending out FREE samples of your writing to business owners in the community *may* get you noticed more easily than coming up with a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, creating a Google Business account (thingy) for submitting your URL weekly and managing the dozens of other technicalities accompanying a "virtual business" these days.
I'm not suggesting you don't do it, just proceed with caution and care in making your choices so the end product will be something you are REALLY happy with. Remember, once it is on the Internet it is conceivably there forever! You may have to explain what you were thinking one day when you wrote... (blah, blah, blah) and did or did not cover the topic adequately. I dunno. If you are very confident in your abilities, knowledge and research skills, then everything will probably turn out alright.
It could be a life-long commitment. A friend of mine has been pursuing his own Domain, site, advice column, consulting business and podcasting for several years (i.e. more than 10). If you private message me I will provide you with the name of his site.
Best of luck!
~
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