Those words I am sure each and everyone has heard countless times before and pertains to all websites. With a few days of festive cheer i hear these words again, usually from the thong wearing local yobbo, but thought long about why it is often said and more so in relation to directories. On the surface you would have to say they were correct in their statement and in that come to understand why it is a common cry by the many and a queston often asked here, Can i make money from a directory. Looking at it from where i sit and if i be very honest, after spending many years in the real world mastering the art of sales and people skills, you would think that jumping on line is a pushover. How far from the truth that is and it would be without doubt the hardest undertaking i have ever met, now keep in mind i have personally sold over 175K a week in sales for months and months on end, so this internety thing a walk in the park right ? Wrong and this is where i see many say a website won't work, as above it is one of the toughest gigs going, Don't have a problem with programing and people can get others to help do that, but once that has happened we now find ourself in cyberland. In the real world selling a product is easy, i have a widget, great who buys widget's give them a call do some leg work and land the sale. but here in cyberland, we now have our website, but dang where are the widget buyers, all of a sudden there is PR, DR serps, this rank that rank SEO and by the end of it all you need the ER ( emergancy room ) and yet you still have not sold a widget. Now you realise i'd better upgrade my site, surley that will help me sell my widgets, but by now there is 100 new widget shops, so around we go with another upgrade but still sold no widgets. BINGO i've sold a widget, i have it made, wrong just when you thought you had that right out comes a new and better way to package widgets and unless you have it no more widget sales, and now we have another 500 widget sites. Thats just to sell the widgets, then we have the site itself, all i can see is when you see a site that is super tricked you know the amount of work that must have gone into it, as novice hey yea i'll slap a site up it looks easy as pie, yes you can get a free shelf model and script, but they dont sell widgets, another 500 new model widget shops have hit the cyberspace highway, and guess what while your stessing over all of that, you need to check back all of your er dr pr and evey other combo is updated with seo and any other new idea's so you don't end up yelling Yahoo and get yourself into a froogle. All of the above would account for the average thong slappin yobbo to of course give up and cry " dont bother you won't make money" and is what would be a big key factor in many newer directories lasting less than 6 months. Where does that leave things, well from this angle it gives a greater respect for all of those directory owners and appreciation for the amount of hard work and hours they must have put in, but more importantly they offer a candle at the end of the tunnel to guide those who seek to make their way through the maze ahead. For me it's of to another day of thong slappin yobb's telling me the site won't work and i won't make any money. "Hang tight and see you in the near will be the reply."
Great Post!!! Success is more dependent of your thinking than anything else. Time is a factor that many people are not willing to take and might be the biggest reason why so many fail. Given enough time and with hard work and always keeping up with new things your chances of succes are within reach. There is no better time to start your project today, tomorrow will be late. Merry Christmas to all!!!
Well,... Now my head is spinning in a sea of widgets.. LOL!! No seriously, great post and a good realistic point of view. Dito on the Merry Christmas.
This is not only true in the website industry. This relates to any business venture. Pessimists will always tell you this and that wont work. Too many people are already doing it, etc... It is only up to you to find what you are good at and prevail. A bit of hard work never hurt anyone either.
Just remember sales and people skills do not get any site anywhere, its "Right Marketing, Right Concept, and Value" gets a website going making the green, so downunder you can make money from any website be it directory or w/e as long as your approach is unique. cheers
slept late last night and was woken up early [ around 4 ] by a short storm ...that said i did get lost in widget sales. All i can say i may not have as much experience in life as the OP, who has my regards, but what i would like to add is there is little diffrence between the real world and the internet. in the real world you walk around, and on the net you "sit around". widgets: the best example i would give you is F1 racing(im sure you for one will relate to it), .... no one drives off-the-shelf cars, coz everyones got them, you have to buy them, tweak them a bit to get that extra edge over your best competitor. as a web developer i have possibly touched more niches than i have myself tried, from e-commerce sites to social networking sites, to video sites to affiliates sites (eBay sites) to lots more ..... directories are my latest gig! directories require more time marketing and hence time in getting ROI (return on investments) BUT they require possibly the least tweaking/ managment time or managerial knowledge ....so to say. where other sites for e.g. myspace layouts would require you to constantly get fresh content.... directories in the pure sense .... dont require such tasks. and hence we see more and more people wanting to open up directories, and these are the people who create a stink, "Website has no money" All i can say about directories is work hard and work consistant, succcess will come in time. (now isint that a real world sayin ) M.
Well, you don't make money by just starting a website. You actually have to do something to earn it. That's the part most people fail at. I see many people have the perfect plan and setup a website... then do nothing after it's not an instant success. You either provide a service or a product (or both), then market it. I have a friend at work that wants to make income on the side, and keeps talking about how he will do this or do that... guess what? he never takes the initiative to learn something or do something.... and he is back at square 1.
thong slappin yobb's sounds so funny Glad you threw in the humour into your post downunder i dont think theres anything to add, you have already said it. I guess entering any new business, especially online can give many a thought that the easy life has arrived, and an effort of 2 hours a day will bring riches. I was warned years ago that being self employed/running businesses means 7days a week, long hours etc, for many. I hear those damn widgets have always been a bugger to sell anyway.