Yougling Times Blog

When I was kid in grade school I can remember thinking in a history class of some kind about how lucky the people were who lived back in the days of the California and then the Alaskan goldrush. My thought was something like, all those people had to do was go out West and Bang!—-they would be rich.Granted, I have daydreamed from time to time of striking it big or doing something noteworthy but the point is there is a goldrush today and I should feel lucky— and I do. Does anyone else?

The Internet makes it so much easier now. You don’t have to move your family across a hostile and unforgiving frontier. Hell, you don’t even have to go to California. Why don’t more people “pan for gold?”

Making money on the Internet is so straight forward that you don’t have to go to business school to figure it out. The secret is, as I am sure you have already guessed, page views. Get more of them and then write your own ticket. You don’t have to sell anything. You can blog if you have the right stuff.

Not only do page views translate into potential ad revenue but page views can also increase a site’s value should you want to sell it. Page views also garner respect from your peers which in turn gets you more page views. Page views can make you or your site famous. I’m sure you have heard the view that the only people who got rich during the gold rush were the people who sold the miners picks and shovels. Well, if you can figure a way to get others to provide content to your site that will generate page views then you have done just that!

When I look at the Internet today, I see many opportunities for like minded individuals to create value. Every one looks at the tech sector (I am guilty of that too) and wants to be the next Google or YouTube, but what about everything else? I have a small web site that is for collectors of Southern (American South) Pottery. With just a little effort, I now practically own the search results for any keywords related to collecting Southern pottery and that brings me good business.

Whether you are a business expert or just a devoted hobbyist on any particular subject, google some keywords about it. If the results you get are a jumble of useless information or from poorly designed sites see the opportunity there. How do you know if the site is poorly done? Measure it by hard it was for you to find what you were looking for. Was it on the first page of the results? Did you have to read more than a few lines of text in a site to get at it? If so, then that is poorly designed for whatever keyword search you were using. (Use good keywords too!)

I am paraphrasing here but I am sure you have heard the story of two hunters in the woods who stumble upon a grisly bear. One hunter, obviously very worried, looks at the other hunter who has a smile on his face and says, “What are you smiling about? You know we can’t out run that big old bear.” The other hunter looks back and says, “I know. But all I have to do is out run you!” And he takes off. Remember there is gold in them thar hills.

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We are more than just alive, we are the Universe aware of itself… so pay attention! –note to myself
Author’s Yougler Profile is at  netlatch–.