New to the game

[Linus]

Hello All,
I live in Wales, UK with my wife and 3 kids. My day job is teaching English at the local college. The job is rewarding enough, but financially it's not all that. I don't have much capital and want to create/aquire some income generating assets. I'm in this for the long term, so I figure the way to go is to build a webiste business from scratch to get an idea of the business from the inside; then graduate to buying, flipping and selling them.

I should note that I am not only new to online business, but also to webistes and forums. Please bear with me.

Thanks

Linus

[akirk]

Linus - in the absence of others - welcome
This is a friendly forum ideally suited to those who put effort into joining in - so have fun, but do take part - hopefully we can also learn from you

Alasdair

[ScottJ]

Welcome to Experienced People Linus,

I think it's a good strategy to have some basic understanding of how sites are built, hosted & work, I'm not fluent in html by any means but if something was to go wrong (and it often can) it's handy to know enough to get by until a professional sort things, any particular genre you fancy developing in?

[Linus]

Welcome to Experienced People Linus,

I think it's a good strategy to have some basic understanding of how sites are built, hosted & work, I'm not fluent in html by any means but if something was to go wrong (and it often can) it's handy to know enough...

Ah, I should clarify. When I said 'build a site from scratch', I didn't mean at the html level. I mean build a site as opposed to buy one to improve and sell it.

I can see the value of learning html, but with the time i have available, i need to be focussing on the content, traffic, monetization rather than the code.

I have tried to reply to individual replies with quotes, but either my browser is on the blink, or the graphics for the forum have a glitch?

ScottJ - When I said 'build a site from scratch' I meant build a website as opposed to buying one to develop and then sell. with the amount of time i have available I don't think learning html is feasible, when there are some decent CMS out there. I might get into html later on, but for now I simply want to cut my teeth and try to build a fairly profitable website.

On that note, is it realistic to aim for £500 per month within a year of working 5-10 hours a week?

I'll reply to the other questions soon.

Also, thank you all for making me feel welcome. Get the impression you guys are a big family.

: )

[Clinton]

Linus, welcome to experienced-people.net.

What type of website are you going to start building? How far have you progressed?

[Kay]

Hi Linus

Welcome to our community. I would say that with a small amount of capital to invest you'd be best to start something from scratch (others may disagree with me!). A domain and hosting won't cost very much, and with your skills in the English language you should be able to build up the content quite easily. But, what are you going to do? A blog? A forum? A static content site? If you're trying to make money, how will you monetise it? And, one of the first things I had drummed into me here on EP - what's your exit strategy?

Good luck!

[Linus]

Hi Linus

Welcome to our community. I would say that with a small amount of capital to invest you'd be best to start something from scratch (others may disagree with me!).

Thanks Kay. Good to hear I'm not completely on the wrong track.

A domain and hosting won't cost very much, and with your skills in the English language you should be able to build up the content quite easily. But, what are you going to do? A blog? A forum? A static content site?

I'm going for a static content site. I didn't realise you could make money with forums. Re Blogs, I've heard that they can be more time consuming once they're running compared with static content sites. Is that true. Also, how would you make money from forum?

If you're trying to make money, how will you monetise it? And, one of the first things I had drummed into me here on EP - what's your exit strategy?

Monetizing - I think I will aim for a blend: adsense, affiliates and if possible an ebook. Is that to ambitious? AND When you say exit strategy, do you mean how will I sell it when it's making a profit? To be honest, at the moment, if it makes a profit, I will happily keep it. Unless I'm overlooking something obvious, that is the whole point of my endeavour.

Good luck!


Thanks Kay

[hooperman]

Hi Linus, and welcome to Experienced People

My day job is teaching English at the local college.

Are you thinking of using your English teaching skills in some website related way?

[Linus]

Hi Linus, and welcome to Experienced People


Are you thinking of using your English teaching skills in some website related way?

Hi Hooperman, to be honest, I hadn't thought of that. I think part of me would like to get away from the whole linguistics side of things, but if there's money in it I will definitely consider it. Ideally I would start on a niche that I enjoy, but then business is business and due to my circumstances, it's the business I'm here for.

£500 pm is very realistic...

Thanks Clinton, that's very encouraging. I was worried that that was much too ambitious. If I can reach that level by this time next year, I will be very happy indeed. Also, by then I will have gained some experience and be in a better position to build other sites faster and more efficiently, and possibly progress to buying and selling and so forth.

On that note, which would you say is easier to do profitably: build or buy and sell?

Hi Linus, and welcome to Experienced People


Are you thinking of using your English teaching skills in some website related way?

Hooperman, I meant to ask: do you have any ideas on this front?

[hooperman]

Hooperman, I meant to ask: do you have any ideas on this front?

I do indeed. Recently this maths worksheet site sold on Flippa, and since then I've been running into similar sites. When I read that you were teaching English, I immediately thought of something ESOL/ESL related like http://esl-pro.com/. The maths worksheet site wasn't making that much money but I'm guessing if you could sell your own stuff like the esl site is doing, you'd make more. If you could buy an established site already in that area, that would be a huge help. But I'm running away with the idea now