What potential product idea of mine might have the most potential? Input desired

Marketing
1

Hi everyone,

I am at somewhat of an impasse in my attempt to make money online and was wondering if you all could give me some input to help me make up my mind?

I have given up on all the make money online techniques and marketing gimmicks and have gone back to the basics of sound business principles. Namely offer something of value to a group of people who will pay for it.

The something of value I can offer is rather vast given my level of internet technical skill. That’s part of my problem. There are lots of things I can offer such that I don’t know which one to focus on.

The one’s that have been on the forefront of my thinking and which I would appreciate hearing input on (respecting which one might give others the most value and have the most money making potential) are…

  1. Sell a program (i.e. script) that allows web developers to upload changes to a MySQL database made locally (on their computer) to a hosted database server automatically. No more going into phpmyadmin, dumping a database, logging into a hosted copy of phpMyAdmin, copy and pasting the SQL dump into that, and running it. Just run the script locally and voila. Done. Uses public/private key authentication between host and local computer to login automatically through SSH. I can probably make this script run under Windows (a WAMP installation) but currently I have it running only under Linux. It’s mainly geared toward web developers who develop sites locally under their own copy of Apache before uploading changes to a host server (which is what I do…that’s why I created the script).

  2. Create a site where I give lots of free advice to small and medium sized business owners on what a web presence is all about. All about hosting, mailing lists, types of CMS’s, etc. Monetize (eventually) with affiliate program offerings like hosting and otherwise. Lots of great content. Free. Imitate somewhat the style of a site called LifeHacker in how they send out new pages in newsletter style. Build a mailing list.

  3. Create plugins either for WordPress or Concrete5 (a CMS system). Sell them.

  4. Go door to door to local businesses in person and promote Hostgator hosting (for which I am paid quite well).

Of these, to start with, which one would you recommend I go with and why? I already make money as a web developer but I want something less tied to the local marketplace and one which allows me to have more free time. Web development is very time consuming.

Any input would be most appreciated.

Thanks.

Carlos

2

To be fair, you just summed up the basics of every single online technique and marketing gimmick you can probably think of.

This one is pretty cool. Given that you already have it created, why not give it away to a handful of “big dogs” that can spread around how cool it is and sell it to everyone else?

Ryan Deiss calls this the “inbox magazine” and I do this one this myself. The problem however is this; do you know how to build a list? I mean actually do it quickly? Or are you thinking of simply slogging it out by going the multi-year route of very slowly building up a following? For the record, unless you do things to actively build your list it will take many years. So, how will you build this list? If you know how to do this, you can certainly make a very good living without working hard at all (little more than an hour a day 4 days a week).

How many people actually make anything decent doing this? Do you have any ideas for any killer plugins that people might pay for?

This would be a VERY tough sell. Most businesses that have sites already have hosting and probably some contracted designer that takes care of this for them.

Personally, I’d go with either 1 or 2. With number 1 it’s something you already have and if you know any big players in this space you can kick this off quickly with their help (JV?).

However, it won’t take long for the bulk of people who will want this to have gotten it, and then what?

With number 2, your “start up time” is longer but from a pure business model perspective has the ability to keep you going long term. For those reasons, I’d do both!

3

Hi Matt,

Thanks so much for your input. A couple of follow up thoughts below yours either for you or anyone else that might care to comment further…

Hmm…well a whole heck of a lot of online technique’s I have looked at don’t seem to offer any real hope of making money. Rather they sell or promote the hope of it rather than the reality. Just yesterday I reviewed a whole slew of stuff from a member forum I belong to. Was any of it really actionable? Such that I could realistically see my way to making a living online through any of it. Nope!

I must have looked at something like 20 PDF’s from this site. Most of it was regurgitated, general stuff about finding a niche, doing keyword research, etc., etc., etc…

I mean some good stuff in there to be sure (though a lot of it is outdated in my opinion and not really the key to the real success of…well…real successes who won’t give away what REALLY works for them in the here and now).

In a word mostly junk (in my opinion). Big on hope and very little on how to do it.

This one is pretty cool. Given that you already have it created, why not give it away to a handful of “big dogs” that can spread around how cool it is and sell it to everyone else?

Well, the problem with that Matt is that the script in question is really not that big of a deal. I suppose it is to some that don’t know the first thing about how to do it type of thing. But most people who could use this script to make their life easier (in that the script does automatically what they are doing manually at present) are web developer sorts.

These web developer sorts could copy the script in a heart beat. Rewrite it a bit and then presto! Sell it themselves.

As such I don’t think I can put a high enough mark up on it to make it into a viable affiliate type product. One web developer told me he himself would pay about $35 for such a script if it was done nicely (which it would be once I put some nicety into it…being that it is developed just for my use it is not yet super user friendly but can be easily made such by me).

If that is a realistic price point…well…I suppose an affiliate program could be made from that now that I think about it. But the market for it is pretty small I think. I mean how many web developers develop sites locally on their own computers running their own local copies of MySQL and Apache? Don’t know. I would think that market is not very big.

But I suppose I could package it up and then try and give it to some big wigs to promote for me.

Another problem is that…well…I don’t know any big wigs LOL.

Ryan Deiss calls this the “inbox magazine” and I do this one this myself. The problem however is this; do you know how to build a list?

Technically? Absolutely.

Realistically…hmm…not very experienced at having ever done so LOL.

I mean actually do it quickly? Or are you thinking of simply slogging it out by going the multi-year route of very slowly building up a following? For the record, unless you do things to actively build your list it will take many years. So, how will you build this list? If you know how to do this, you can certainly make a very good living without working hard at all (little more than an hour a day 4 days a week).

Well…initially of course I would sign up for Aweber probably and use it to facilitate building a list. As to how to actually build it I was thinking that it would build itself if I could drive traffic to my site (I am fairly confident that I could offer enough value to one’s coming to visit my site such that a good percentage would sign up…with perhaps a nice giveaway to help motivate them of course).

So driving traffic would be key.

As to how to drive traffic? Well…that one I am somewhat weak in. Probably forum signature postings, guest blog posts, that type of stuff.

It would be slow going of course.

I like the part of making a good living without doing much tail end work. Yes sir. I like that.

How many people actually make anything decent doing this? Do you have any ideas for any killer plugins that people might pay for?

Not many to be sure but I know of some who have made a very good penny doing this very thing. I have no killer plugin ideas but aside from perhaps pacakaging up my script above into a plugin for WordPress and Concrete5 (then TextPattern and any other CMS like program that uses MySQL) there are also other things I could try.

For example there is no faster way to first page load than a static page being served up. CMS’s simply don’t have that capability (I don’t think…WordPress might though).

I know of a way to completely bypass CMS systems using a combination of htaccess mod_rewrite directives and a directory containing static copies of non-changing web pages at a site. I’ve pretty much perfected this technique though it does need some refinement again.

No more slowdown from using CMS systems that are MySQL intensive on a first page load. I mean the CMS would still be used mind you. To made edits to pages. But once created with the CMS the pages would be converted to a static form and then served up that way, until and if a further edit was required.

From there one could create a CMS conversion script to take the MySQL from one CMS like WordPress for example (though that’s not really a CMS per se) and convert it to another one like Concrete5.

Then there is also the need to facilitate changes to WordPress that deal correctly with it’s serialized data storage. People wrongly think they can just go into the database and change things manually. That may work lots of times but if changing a serialized data element it can really screw up one’s database.

Ideas like that might work I think.

This would be a VERY tough sell. Most businesses that have sites already have hosting and probably some contracted designer that takes care of this for them.

Good point Matt. That’s not very workable I guess.

Personally, I’d go with either 1 or 2. With number 1 it’s something you already have and if you know any big players in this space you can kick this off quickly with their help (JV?).

However, it won’t take long for the bulk of people who will want this to have gotten it, and then what?

The then what of it is really no more complicated than my being able to get enough income from it to allow me the free time and the seed money to invest in other ventures at worst and at best it will allow me to build a list to which I can promote other things (though what those might be I am not entirely sure at this point :)).

With number 2, your “start up time” is longer but from a pure business model perspective has the ability to keep you going long term. For those reasons, I’d do both!

Makes sense Matt. I believe I will do that.

Carlos

4

Hmm…well a whole heck of a lot of online technique’s I have looked at don’t seem to offer any real hope of making money.

Unless it’s some stupid “one click” software scam … most nearly everything I’ve ever seen is some variation of “give stuff to attract people to sell them stuff.”

The problem isn’t in the technique … the problem is in actually DOING IT. That’s where most people trip.

Was any of it really actionable? Such that I could realistically see my way to making a living online through any of it. Nope!

Can you give some idea? I highly doubt that absolutely nothing in this site had any value even if it was just rehashed stuff from 2008.

I must have looked at something like 20 PDF’s from this site. Most of it was regurgitated, general stuff about finding a niche, doing keyword research, etc., etc., etc…

So? Those things still have value and far too many people have NO IDEA how to find and penetrate a market which is why there is so much out there about it.

I mean some good stuff in there to be sure (though a lot of it is outdated in my opinion and not really the key to the real success of…well…real successes who won’t give away what REALLY works for them in the here and now).

Absolute B.S. here. Take a look at the big dogs and you see a very similar model.

  1. Build a list (or make the one they have ever bigger)
  2. Sell stuff to the list

In building a list they’ll sometimes use JVs and affiliates, but even that isn’t necessarily true.

Well, the problem with that Matt is that the script in question is really not that big of a deal. I suppose it is to some that don’t know the first thing about how to do it type of thing. But most people who could use this script to make their life easier (in that the script does automatically what they are doing manually at present) are web developer sorts.

So what? It’s still something that they can get from you that is already done, tested, and proven to work. How long did it take you to create it? Lets say 3 hours is all it took in total time to create, test, and improve the thing. I think the real time is longer but lets go with that.

Lets say that the average PHP developer is making 30 bucks an hour. That’s 90 bucks of actual MONEY.

You could sell your script for 47 and save people money they could put to use in billable hours. Not to mention this one little fact …

Most of us HATE to test and debug. You know it’s true. We enjoy writing the code but testing and debugging is annoying.

You can sell your script on the “hey, this is done so you don’t have to debug it! Think of all the hassle you get to save.”

These web developer sorts could copy the script in a heart beat. Rewrite it a bit and then presto! Sell it themselves.

Few actually will and fewer will have the marketing chops to pull it off.

If that is a realistic price point…well…I suppose an affiliate program could be made from that now that I think about it. But the market for it is pretty small I think. I mean how many web developers develop sites locally on their own computers running their own local copies of MySQL and Apache? Don’t know. I would think that market is not very big.

I would venture a guess that quite a lot develop locally so as not to have to mess around with uploading to test. It’s faster and easier.

Another problem is that…well…I don’t know any big wigs LOL.

Ohh … I’ll bet there’s more than a few right here on this forum that you speak to regularly.

Well…initially of course I would sign up for Aweber probably and use it to facilitate building a list. As to how to actually build it I was thinking that it would build itself if I could drive traffic to my site (I am fairly confident that I could offer enough value to one’s coming to visit my site such that a good percentage would sign up…with perhaps a nice giveaway to help motivate them of course).

So driving traffic would be key.

You drive traffic to a basic squezze page with an initial video that gives some good information and tells them to sign up to your list to get more.

Done, problem solved … there you go.

As to how to drive traffic? Well…that one I am somewhat weak in. Probably forum signature postings, guest blog posts, that type of stuff.

Or you could go to some place like nextmark.com and simply buy your way into a ton of lists and get a bunch of traffic FAST. (that’s what I’d do)

It would be slow going of course.

Doesn’t have to be at all.

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Quite true Matt but I guess what I meant is that the stuff that all this literature is promoting as a give away (whether information or otherwise) is not that valuable to my thinking (which I admit might not be typical). I mean it’s almost as if all this literature is promoting the do as little as possible and manipulate to get what you want from others “technique” rather than really provide something of real value (that took some work to create) to those in need of it.

And a lot of it just seems to be a bunch of internet marketers trying to sell…well…internet marketing to…well…other internet marketers or even worse to people who want to make money online and are pursuaded to part witht their money in return for the hope that the latest thing they buy on how to do it might…well…do it for them and be their ticket to riches.

That’s a bit different than…let’s say, for example…

All you need to know to becoming a web developer and make excellent income part-time.
How to lay cement and make money at it.
How to service the needs of medical offices for accounting.

Verses…

How to make money with Adsense (most such doesn’t work quite like it’s cut out to work).
How to make money with Pay Per Click (it takes a LOT of money to make money in this).
How to make money through 5 page mini-niche sites (Google knocks these types of sites down almost as quickly as they are
created and you have to create a whole lot of them to make any real money)
How to scrape content and create auto blogs (or splogs if you will).
Link wheel your way to high ranking.
High ranking in Google in 3 easy steps (as if such is that easy).

I mean there are exceptions but do you see the difference between teaching one’s how to offer a real, tangible service that is in high demand and not a variation of the internet marketing theme to make a quick buck?

The problem isn’t in the technique … the problem is in actually DOING IT. That’s where most people trip.

Agreed in general. But that’s not really a problem for me per se. My problem has been that I have been caught up in all the hype and chase after the next promised pot of gold (which never turns out to be that easy or that profitable) and have tended to lose sight of the need to offer real value.

Can you give some idea? I highly doubt that absolutely nothing in this site had any value even if it was just rehashed stuff from 2008.

I would except that I am not at my computer and don’t recall most of it off the top of my head.

  1. Build a list (or make the one they have ever bigger)
  2. Sell stuff to the list

That is for sure a tried and tested and valuable method Matt. But how does one build a list (step 1, step 2, etc.)? What does one sell? How often does one try and sell things to a list? What kind of list management software should one use? How to handle spam complaints? How big is too big of a list? How small is too small to be profitable? How often to mail to the list? How long should your email to the list be? Etc…

Most literature touting the list building to riches technique is sorely lacking in the details. Rather it’s a fleshed out basic build a list and sell to the list explanation in general which does little good (at least to me as in duh…of course one should build a list and sell to it…I am interest in the nitty gritty details of how to do that not a rehash of the basic concept).

As for the rest that you said Matt…you’ve given me a lot to think about and act on. Thanks!

Carlos

6

I’m going to be starting a thread on this exact topic probably later tonight or early tomorrow.

What does one sell? How often does one try and sell things to a list? What kind of list management software should one use? How to handle spam complaints? How big is too big of a list? How small is too small to be profitable? How often to mail to the list? How long should your email to the list be? Etc…

And these issues I’ll cover as part of a “series” of posts.

Here’s the thing. Far too many people (probably you included from the sound of it) make this FAR more complicated than it really needs to be.

Sources of traffic (note the use of plurality) are sent to a squeeze page. That page should contain a video that starts by giving good useful information. Someone should obtain good value whether they sign up or not for watching the video. The video ends with “and to learn more about … simply sign up”

People that sign up are given MORE good information.

After you’ve proven you can help people BY ACTUALLY HELPING THEM … only then do you consider selling something.

Again, I’ll be covering your questions in new threads that I’ll start hopefully today but that will depend on me getting other things done first.
Most literature touting the list building to riches technique is sorely lacking in the details. Rather it’s a fleshed out basic build a list and sell to the list explanation in general which does little good (at least to me as in duh…of course one should build a list and sell to it…I am interest in the nitty gritty details of how to do that not a rehash of the basic concept).

As for the rest that you said Matt…you’ve given me a lot to think about and act on. Thanks!

You’re welcome!

7

Look forward to any such threads you start Matt. But if I may so…when you say “Source of traffic…are sent to a squeeze page…”. I can see where that would be valuable but in line with what I said before Matt…I want to know how to direct traffic to my squeeze page first. In other words it’s got to be information I can use from the very basic to the more advanced. Knowing all about how to use a squeeze page with a video to build a list won’t do me much good if I don’t even know how to get the traffic to the squeeze page.

Just something to consider.

Yes…I admit that I tend to make things too complicated. That’s a common problem with us extreme analytical types (which also makes us great programmers :)). I am open to simplifying things and remain all ears to anything else you care to share either here or on other threads.

Carlos