Hello everyone, There's some really amazing posts on this forum. I've been browsing it for several months and finally decided to start becoming an avid poster. A little background, I run a very small (3-5 contracted employees) marketing firm IRL that does work for businesses in my area. I have focused predominantly on local advertising but a while ago decided to allocate all my time to mastering advertising and marketing (SEO/PPC/etc) on the internet. I'm the type of person who reads every blog I come across, subscribes to all kinds of free content, studies and researches endlessly - and after about 2-3 months of research on the online world..I'm kind of perplexed. It feels like everything has been done before and is, as a result, oversaturated. Adsense, ebooks, ebay stores, affiliate marketing, youtube marketing, article submissions, blogging, adwords, myspace, facebook - you get the idea. People are obviously still making money off the aforementioned methods. There are a lot of heroes of internet marketing that might view this thread - and to you and others I ask, is it too late for these places? Is it time to try and find/create uncontested market-space on the internet or is that even possible anymore? I'm interested in trying to make a few sites on my own to generate revenue from advertisements and possibly e-books (I sold ebooks 3-4 yrs ago but the market was a lot less saturated then) - is it reasonable to pursue? Is there still money to be made here with unique content and quality sites? Or are these methods going downhill? Thanks for the advice and your thoughts, Devin Nash
Honestly it mainly depends on what you're trying to do, and who you are targetting. Really, if you are looking to jump right out there and get a business, community, or website up without the funding, marketing, and knowing the sites that target the correct traffic your way its useless to even try. But, I feel if you still have the right idea, (and yes, even though it does not look like any ideas are left but that is not true) you can still make it on the online market. With this said, it comes down to who you know, what you are trying to achieve, and the funding you want to put into it. I honestly don't think you can come on the internet now days (like you were able to in the past) and put up a website and expect to get traffic.. Not unless you are a member on 30+ forums, have some seniority, and made a bunch of friends to help you free link it other places. My two cents. Anyways, what kinda market are you trying to get into, and what type of website are you planning to open if you want to share?
Thanks for the response, HypedGaming. I think you're right, as I see it these days I'd want to get into a market I'm interested in...generally I was thinking a martial arts blog that works with companies to sell equipment, gives people unique content - if it builds up in traffic through organic search, maybe offer an e-book on self-defense. I can do things on spirituality also, the various religions, or even gaming. People like Paul from uberaffiliate give me some hope, knowing there are people out there doing more than "making it" with $200,000 a month in revenue, but also understand that there may be 5~ million people in IMing and only 10 are making that kind of money, I don't know the numbers, to be honest. I've done a lot of work, and a lot of research. It seems to me there might be a place for markets that are in a good niche still. Martial Arts and philosophy comes to mind - there are not a lot of people who can do those things and also focus on IMing in my experience.
That might be true.. Well, keep us in check with what you plan to open up.. throw ideas out there, and what not.. You never know who might be interested in helping you out.
Name one thing that isn't saturated. Ok, two things. Look at all the books out there on a subject that has been beaten to death, but they are still best sellers. Look at all the message boards out there on marketing, and then look at DigitalPoint. It doesn't matter if it is saturated. We all go to more than one place. We all read more than one book. Don't worry about a subject or product that is saturated. Just do it well, give it value, sell it at a decent price, and you will make the money. No, e-books are not dead. Yeah, there is a lot of free stuff out there, but how much of it is pure shit? Look at all the stupid crap on this board? Many will buy a good e-book, if it has value put into it, free tips given, and a 30-day free trial.
Thanks for the responses everyone, I really like the comment about market saturation, Perry. I had never really looked at it from that perspective. I guess the question if everything is saturated is how to "differentiate" and add value to your products beyond the competition. Thanks HypedGaming, I'll keep DP updated, there are so many markets and so many things to do - I figure I might start with work for other people (affiliate programs, Amazon HITs, maybe) and then move forward. And IMO on E-Books, it's dependent on market, really. Also if you have an existing website that has a lot of credibility, it helps market the book.