Giving away an idea

[theBiz]

I had an idea for a website currently I'm busy with something and Im not sure I would ever do this but I think someone could start something cool up. Actually we could add it to this website I personally would find it beneficial.

Ever do research on someone successful and look all over for stuff? I know there's wikipedia and sites like that but what if there was a simple page for a person that gathered quality links leading to there bios ,good videos, articles etc.

The links must be structured almost like a book report where there could be video links and random articles that take a persona early Life all the way to the present.

Like MJ has said many times people focus on the event not the process give me a website that takes me from someones early life to now. It could be used to help describe the lives of successful peoPle, celebrities, etc.

This sounds simple but understand there must be a quality of info and media like no other. It must be so good that once I go there I find no reason to google more things later on. Even if this isn't worthy to start a new biz it would be cool on here. I think having the pages contributed by users and obviously giving them credit would be cool, there would be a final edit by someone.

 

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[Rickson9]

How would this business generate sales?

 

[theBiz]

I really didn't think into it too much, I obviously could say advertising but i would try to do something outside of the box for monitization. Maybe you could start by endorsing products on the side and again make sure its quality. So if there was a page about MJ we would recommend his book and get an affiliate fee. I really like creating new ways to monitize I can't quickly come up with a strategy but I'm sure we could agree that if you built a site like this getting massive traffic there would be plenty of people looking to purchase it from you.

If someone is looking at bill gates we could recommend books of his, maybe video packs like interviews and such, some of that stuff is expensive and can add up quick so affiliate model is just one way to keep it self sustaining in the beginning. Maybe just advertising would do the trick.
.
We could also do this... you have to pay to purchase the rights to the page and then resell it later. So if you want xyz.com/Madonna you have to pay $250 and then as the affiliate links go up our system can auto appraise it and you can resell it and ofcoarse we get over 50 percent. People would run To the site in order to purchase good names. Each page is almost like it's own little business. As time goes on you will see more profit sharing with users happening.

 

[ChrisRempel]

Your audience doesn't seem defined.

Are you wanting to compete with Forbes, or TMZ?

Also - if you're going to go to all the trouble of doing research, due-diligence, historical data, etc. on celebrities... why not consider doing the same process (research, DD, etc.) on stuff that people will pay MAJOR $$ to receive?

Such as - intensely researching new companies that just went public. Or researching specific industry segments.

Take a look at what MarketResearch.com sells - and their price points (!!!)

Here's a list of their reports on Financial CRM market research:

Financial CRM Market Research Reports: Financial CRM Industry Analysis

That's a whole other league

And it wouldn't be any additional workload, either.

(It's all about WHAT you do, not how hard you work)

Just some thoughts man, something to consider...

-Chris

 

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[theBiz]

Hey Chris, well First thing is we would not do the research, users would, we only would do a final edit. Also the hard work is scaleable so I wouldn't mind even if we had to do it. Second thing is this business has few competitors, the market research may be a better biz but I would rather start with something not being done or not being done correctly.

 

[mapaul04]

There seems to be a lot of different ways you could capitalize on a site like this. Interesting idea..

New to the forum, so hello to all.

 

[ChrisRempel]

but I would rather start with something not being done or not being done correctl

I would be very careful about how much time/capital you invest into something that's not yet been done.

Your idea seems nice but there is no clear profit center. You do not want to be relying on "huge generic traffic". You will literally need millions of visitors just to make the numbers work (since they're untargeted, hence your adspace will cater only to massmarket offers, which have very low CPM rates).

Same goes for user-driven sites.

It's not as easy as you might think to make something "perpetual" or "self-growing".

In my experience, every time I've seen someone roll out an idea where the revenue element is secondary ("we'll sell ads or something"), it flops. There are very few exceptions, and I have yet to see one personally.

I say this as someone who has about 40,000 customers who are actively doing, or interested in, affiliate marketing. As well, I have personally launched numerous social-driven networks and sites when I first started years ago. In each case, I would reach a critical mass of a few thousand members, which I could never grow beyond, because there was NO revenue coming in to scale with.

I've had many people over the years tell me about ideas just like this - where it's a socially-driven "breakthrough" idea - and when they execute them, there's just no clear focus, no logical revenue source, and as a result - no momentum.

Your chances of success drastically improve when your business model is very simple and proven.

Of course, you need to differentiate and become superior - which isn't that hard.

But to put this in perspective... let's talk about proposing the idea to investors, who would actually lay their money down based on viability.

Would they be more keen on investing in something unproven?

Or a new take on a proven model (such as MarketResearch.com, or whatever)?

Not trying to shoot down your idea man.

It's just that I've been in this game for a while, and I have a unique bird's-eye perspective into the inner workings of a LOT of other people's online projects... and I'm telling you dude - the real money is in the stuff that's logical and simple.

All the best,

-Chris

 

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[theBiz]

Yeah don't worry Chris I don't take it personal and your absolutely right about what you said. The business I'm focusing on now addresses everything you have spoke about, again this was just an idea. I would never try to execute something like this but I would never try to execute something like twitter either, I think a bit smaller or realistic I'd say due to lack of massive capital. I do think with the right people and some investment something like this could be deployed successfully. I always think revenue first but most big websites did not focus on revenue first.

I'd say we've covered everything and this thread is maxed out now, what is it that you do, are you open with the community about your business, I ask because I'm interested. Thanx

 

[ChrisRempel]

what is it that you do, are you open with the community about your business, I ask because I'm interested.

I'm an affiliate marketer, author, software & service producer and in some cases a consultant.

I started out with affiliate marketing. I was primarily active in the public records market, along with about 3 or 4 others (like Forex, Foreclosure Investing, Digital TV, etc.)

At the time I thought most of what others were teaching in the "affiliate" industry was shite. I was doing stuff that totally contradicted their "rules of marketing" and making a killing. Usually around $800 - $1200 a day, passively, from my combined affiliate revenue.

So I wrote a book called "Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate". This is a few years ago now. It became an accidental success. I did ZERO marketing for it, except for putting it up for sale on the WarriorForum, once.

It was so well received that others started promoting it voluntarily. I then put it on Clickbank so they could at least generate some revenue by doing so. I think my total sales count as of today is something like 12,000 copies sold.

As a result, I kind of became an "overnight expert", and I decided to make the most of it. I have a whole series of products and high-end solutions in the industry these days, and it's my core business, with about 40K customers.

Over the years I've built a following of people who seem to like my "shoot from the hip" & sarcastic style of teaching, because it's a stark departure from the usual hyped drivel that pervades the industry in general.

I'm still active on the affiliate side, but not so much in the traditional sense.

These days I set up JV's directly with companies (like Mortgage franchises) and essentially become their marketing department. This way instead of selling leads for $40 or whatever, I'm actually earning basis points on every mortgage that gets written up.

It's starting to pick up some steam... pretty crazy revenue given the traffic.

Anyway - that's more or less what I do.

(My other "job" is fixing my damn Porsches, LOL)

-Chris

 

[theBiz]

That's a great story Chris very impressive. I'm actually going to be contacting you soon, I have something upcoming which I think would be beneficial for you which essentially means money hahaha.

 

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[TK1]

LOL Chris, you're probably the first successful affiliate marketer I've ever read about
My 2 cents on the biz idea:

I am very sceptical in general about ideas that have ads and-or affiliate links as their main moneymaker. Be prepared to invest a lot of money into the process of getting millions of visits to the page.

The next key factor will be getting sued by one person when some sort of content goes wrong etc.

Good luck nonetheless,
TK1

 

[ChrisRempel]

I am very sceptical in general about ideas that have ads and-or affiliate links as their main moneymaker. Be prepared to invest a lot of money into the process of getting millions of visits to the page.

Sorry, but this is baseless conjecture.

You're lumping an entire industry into one segment.

I have some affiliate-driven sites that get less than 100 visitors a day and generate what most consider a full-time income.

-Chris

 

[TK1]

Sorry, don't mean to be rude, I respect anybody who earns money to pay the bills.

I mean it from the fastlane perspective, that I think there are easier ways to get to six digits per month and more than affiliate marketing (I do only mean doing affiliate marketing for other people not offering your affiliate offer for your own site). Affiliate marketing works, of course, just like MLM works for some people, but personally I would have sleepless nights if shooting for the multi-millions using affiliate marketing or MLM.

TK1

Sorry, but this is baseless conjecture.

You're lumping an entire industry into one segment.

I have some affiliate-driven sites that get less than 100 visitors a day and generate what most consider a full-time income.

-Chris

 

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