How to Make Money Without Selling Out

photo of origami from on a bed of coinsIn web marketing, you either monetize or you don’t.

It’s dramatic when you consider the extremes between the two camps:

  • Some one-trick ponies monetizers are simply after your money and will stop at nothing to sell you out for their personal gain. They offer zero value, have no dignity and are largely anonymous.
  • The “purists” of the web can’t cross the line from free expression to market value. Instead of making money, they complain about those who do while obsessing over words like ”genuine”, “authentic” and “transparent.” [Confession: this was once me.]

So, dear reader, how do you make money without selling out? Here are 5 ideas to get you started: [Read more...]

Focus on Being You

mermaid1I was recently perusing one of those free downloadable viral reports and discovered a very interesting line of copy. It was a simple yet profound statement that summed up everything about the web content niche I don’t believe in:

Today we are going to show you how to appear like an inspirational, creative, buzz generating genius, with almost zero effort.

Hmmm…why would anyone want to merely appear genuinely inspirational and creative? Why not just be genuinely inspirational and creative? Well, to answer that question look at the end of the sentence: with almost zero effort.

Standing out from a crowd takes effort, no matter who or where you are. Bloggers need to be brilliant, innovative and patient to realize a payoff. However, it’s very common to see the most eager and ambitious bloggers quickly get derailed by the artificial promise of the quick and easy payoff. [Read more...]