What would you do with a 10k budget for 1 year?

[f0reclone]

Hi builders, I would like to collect Ideas what is possible to do with a 10k budget for 1 year.
I'm in relative young age but I started early with Internet Marketing so I know how to build successful websites, I know how to code etc. This shouldn't be Ideas only for me but for everyone who has some knowledge in IM and some Budget for a new project.
My Ideas are:
1. Affiliate Sites:
Start Researching and find some niches out there. Then build about 5 sites with monetization over amazon or other affiliate networks. Let's say 3 are successful getting in each 1k. 2 Are so so and get in each 0,5 k. So there would be a monthly revenue of 4k. If I would sell them all after 1 year I would have about 4k/Month Revenue * 18 (Average Sales factor for good websites) This method would leave me 72k(sites sale) + 20k (Money earned so far) Total: 92k.
2. SaaS
Build a small Saas. The problem is here to find Ideas which are worth it. To be successful with tiny SaaS I would need to find a problem which is easy solvable with a specific strategy I can figure out and automate it . The problem should be hard enough to get the people paying xx-xxx monthly. The Solution shouldn't be to hard to build because of the time frame and the limited resources. Let's say the Solution costs 50$/month on avg. and I get 200 Customers within 1 year. This would be 10k revenue every month. after the 12 months period. If sold then It should be worth about 200k.

Hope to get a few Ideas from you. Don't take my numbers to serious. This are only estimations for the best cases.

Regards

Andreas

 

[Ryuzaki]

Are you talking about $10,000 for the entire year, or that much to spend every month?

I think you can also fetch higher than 18x monthly revenue. I think Empire Flippers has a flat 24x, Flippa tends to dance around that number and gets as high as 36x depending on the site. My understanding is that FEI tends to do better than 24x on average. While some of these numbers may be slightly off, and I definitely don't mean to misrepresent any brokerage, they are all close and well over the 18x valuation.

I agree that SaaS ideas are hard to come by if you want to be original. I'd find an industry that is just way behind the times in terms of data and websites and solve their problems, versus doing another SEO SaaS, for instance.

Spending the money totally depends on the type of site you're building and the methods you're going to use to rank them. I think for myself, the majority would go towards content production, and I'd spend most of my time promoting the content. But if you're doing smaller affiliate MFA style sites, you may consider spending more on links.

 

[f0reclone]

Are you talking about $10,000 for the entire year, or that much to spend every month?

That will be the budget for the entire year.
About the multiplier I just chose the minimum applicable for low-middle sized websites But your also right with 24 and greater. It also depends on the work which has to be done on a regular basis and how much of the revenue is profit.
I've already spoken with @CCarter about Saas Ideas and youre right another SEO SaaS wouldn't do it as this niche is overcrowded.
If I'm going to build Affiliate Sites about 60% will go into Content. Than maybe 5% for Themes, Plugins. 2% for Hosting. The rest will be for promotion like you said. PBN, Sape or other Linksources.

Regards

Andreas

 

[Calamari]

I'd do way less content. Hell I'd probably write the content myself and spend all 10k on getting traffic to my kick ass content.

 

[CCarter]

Just to re-hash the chat I had with OP this morning:

$10K for a single project is hard enough already (just in SEO terms that's only $833 a month for a budget) For 3 projects you are stretching your resources thin. Concentrate on 1 project, and grind at that with your resources (money and time), until it's a success or an utter failure. There is no excuse for utter failures in niches that already have proven competitors and an audience.

Spreading yourself over 3 project is not "covering" your bets, since you are just dividing your resources and ability between 3 distinct projects. As I stated if one starts dipping you'll have the tendency to go concentrate on the others in some "hopes" that it will rebound. However if you have a single project, and there are NO options then you'll do whatever is necessary to make sure it succeeds, and work double hard in the downward phases.

“Singlemindedness is all-powerful.” - Tsunetomo Yamamoto

Working on multiple projects at the same time in hopes something hits is a waiting game and I especially dislike that. Pure SEO is a waiting game as well. There are multiple people on this board and case studies that have show you that generating 1K, 20K, or even 100K visitors in a single day is more then possible, it's just a mental barrier that you have to overcome.

Use the funds to drive traffic directly or indirectly. You have to become relentless in your pursuit of making whatever you do a success. And when I mean relentless I mean become a madman and willing to do whatever is necessary.

You have to think of your website like a brick and mortar business. If you have limited funds would you open up 3 locations at the same time and hope and pray people walk into your business? Would you only advertise on the yellow pages (Google SEO SERPs in this analogy)? No, it's better to start off with 1 location and use every tactic in the book free and paid to generate customers. Measure what's working and what's not, throw out what's not working to drive customers, then scale that. But continue testing different channels/mediums of marketing/advertising (free and paid).

I wouldn't say all "SEO SAASes" have been done, but I also wouldn't come in with a copycat mentality if you were to jump in. Whatever you do whether it's SAAS or content websites the best way to achieve success is to stand out from the crowd, bring in a different angle to an industry or audience. There are random industries like I talked about like oil that have outdated software and they are desperate for help. Maybe accountants, CPA, or plumbers need a better process - not thinking CRM or something already done, but there are niches building managers that need a way to organize tenants, repairs, and realtors that need help.

SAAS is great, but you still will have to get that idea, and build it for who knows how long, and then take it to market. And if it fails, you'll have to pivot or figure out where the failure was and use that learning experience for next round. And we're not even talking about dealing with churn yet.

Solving a problem is pretty simple, you just have to have your ears to the ground in an industry and listen to what the biggest complaints are. And if you state there are no complaints, you aren't listening hard enough, cause everyone from a homeless person to a wall street executive has a problem that can be solved with a better solution.

 

[built]

I wouldnt fuck up and buy 2 pcs

 

[f0reclone]

Thank you @CCarter for posting this here on buso.

First the budget for Promotion is applicable for me as I know how to do most of the things myself. Example: Link building: Find expired Web 2.0 or quality Expired Domains is no problem for me as I'm specialist in this topic. (and many more SEO tactics)
Paid traffic won't be used for an Affiliate Site as long as I have to pay per Visitor because the ROI per Visitor on an Affiliate Site is most of the times low. For an SaaS thats another thing because of the higher ROI.
What I would use for both is Paid Traffic Leaks: for example Pay 100$ to get my Guest Post on a popular Niche Relevant Site as there is no limit in visitor stream.

If I start a SaaS it's clear I can start only one. But If I start an Affiliate Site there is sometimes a growth limit. For example if I found 3 very good keywords in a Sub Niche with a total search volume of 20k. If I get all the Longtails in thats maybe 30-40k. But this Sub Niche is located in a broader Niche which is highly competitive. So I can only grow in this Sub Niche but can't take the competitive keywords within 1 year. So my taught is to launch 2 more Niche Sites where I can get this easy traffic too.
I'm only speaking about SEO because I wasn't yet into these Traffic Leak strategies. I see biggest problem here to get related but not-converting traffic (prove me wrong ).

Regards

Andreas

 

[planBman]

This budget for a Saas business seems running to a cashflow disaster, at first sight.

As you state being a specialist in Link building: Find expired Web 2.0 or quality Expired Domains, why don't you just sell this traffic surge skills for brick & mortar businesses,
taking good account of most frequent problems/questions with any prospect/client contact...
so, as well getting paid & gaining expert reputation, you get niche input for a better Saas project design.

Just my 2 cents

 

[CCarter]

I see biggest problem here to get related but not-converting traffic (prove me wrong ).

I don't need to do shit. I'm not obligated to prove you wrong. If at this late date you haven't even tried traffic leaks but go in with this mentality that you'll get "non-converting traffic", you won't survive anyways. If you can't figure out how to get converting traffic then you didn't convince the audience or you could not get them into the buying mood BEFORE they clicked your traffic leak link. All your failures are and will be of your own making, no one else.

Go into with this mentality and this 3 project nonsense and you'll end up exactly like the thousands of SEOs with a dozen side projects and no focus. But go ahead, you've already convinced yourself you can divide your time up by 3 and become successful enough to beat your competitors who use 100% of their time to conquer their niche... Good luck.

P.S. To readers reading this: If 99% of the people are utilizing the same strategy (the SEO waiting game) yet are failing (as in not making their main income off their side projects) - why in the world would one use that exact same strategy? Wouldn't it make sense to do the exact opposite of the individuals failing?

 

[emp]

Cc... I hear you praise the 100% focus approach over and over.
And I think there is some value in it.
Yet know for fact you did several projects at once, before serpwoo.

In a sense you still are.
Serpwoo, trafficleaks.com, your blog....
I guess some maintenance of your old projects might also be needed (unless you sold them)

What gives?

Curiously yours,
::emp::

 

[Calamari]

Way to poke the bear.

I'd agree with you if I didn't realize all that other stuff was to further his own brand which allowed him to more easily roll out serpwoo.

 

[CCarter]

Yet know for fact you did several projects at once

I believe you are confusing a lot of things.

I guess some maintenance of your old projects might also be needed (unless you sold them)

Why? I'm not here to play around with "projects". Projects aren't businesses. Businesses are primary revenue drivers. Some case study I did on a forum is not a business. It's a side project and we aren't talking about side projects here. When OP came to me it was regarding his path at two business models.

Trafficleaks.com is a website that I created in the 3 week period I created the original traffic leak content. That's a hobby - it's not a business, there is no revenue goal for it. MoneyOverEthics.com is a personal blog. That's not a business, there is no revenue goal for it. When I was doing the majority of my threads at WF I wasn't "working" on those threads - the threads where hobbies, they were never my primary income, how could they be? I was WORKING at the agency I owned, I only worked on 1 business, my agency. I consider WORK being what drives in your business income.

I'm not "WORKING" when I write a blogpost on MoneyOverEthics.com - that's a hobby. I'm not working when I post on forums, that is a break or a hobby.

WORKING = Driving in personal income or business revenue. Nothing you mentioned except for SERPWoo does that. My FOCUS is on my business. When I wake up I work on my business. The advice I give is about businesses or projects that "MAY" turn into serious businesses. Just like how I don't give advice about how to meditate or be the best parent to my kids - I have nothing to share about either of those subjects.

When I started my agency as well as when I was coding up SERPWoo - as well as my other businesses, I solely worked on those operations, there were no external focuses or "other projects". It was do or die, with my back against the wall - that's literally the only way people can rise.

"We only make changes for two reasons, desperation or inspiration." - Dan Peña

I believe this is where people are confusing what constitutes the focus and energy I am referring to. If I have a "project" I'm messing around with, that project has an end goal - when the end goal is met that's it - that would be a project like TrafficLeak.com. A "project" is not a business. ALL my businesses' have revenue as an end goal. If people throw in writing a blogpost on their personal blog as doing "business" they've got a one-way VIP ticket on the fail train to failure.

You can do your hobbies, play with your kids, go to the movies, login on Facebook, surf the internet or whatever - none of that counts as business. In this thread we are talking about a $10K yearly budget towards BUSINESS(es) (or project depending on how serious OP is). Not $10K towards "life or hobbies". So OP can waste time dividing up his time and resources by 3, or create a SAAS business or whatever, but the focus should be on ONE thing. Not a "few affiliate sites" - meaning you are dividing up the energies and time - that doesn't work. It's not going to work for you cause it has not worked for the 99% of the other hobbyist SEOs doing the waiting game...

When Zuckerberg worked on Facebook he JUST worked on Facebook. He didn't have 2 other "what if this fails I have 2 other things to fall back on" projects. Facebook was his BUSINESS which he worked on. When Bill Gates worked on Microsoft he WORKED on ONLY Microsoft. Yes, he took the time to go eat, take his soon to be wife to the movies, and other NON-WORK activities, but when he WORKED, it was on ONE business. When Elon Musk created Paypal they literally slept in their office - actually so did Gates and Zuckerberg, but the point is when you are coming up and you have limited resources, limited time, and low funds, focus on ONE thing - one business, not 3 "projects".

Unless you guys are just doing all this SEO / marketing stuff as hobbies and have no intention on creating actual solid businesses... then I'm definitely not the person to turn to. I no longer waste energy on giving advice to people with "side projects". If you are rising like OP and are in the state of do or die, and have NO options, fucking around with 3 projects is not an option - well it's an option if you want to fail.

This shit isn't a fucking game. If what you DO is not your business or you don't take your business seriously, and don't have 100% Focus on your business, you will fail. It is that simple. A half-ass business model or a not thought through plan is not an option when you consider this is YOUR life, YOUR dreams, and YOUR future. If you just dilly daddle through life with half-ass "projects" and are content, then fine.

In 5 or 10 years from now, you could have a solid business or two, maybe even several under your belt - or you can be working on a dozen small "side projects" that never get anywhere while working a 9 to 5. FOCUS - Single-mindedness is what will determine which path down the road you end up on...

 

[Louey37]

I posted this in my journal on WF and it seemed like it was relevant here so I thought I'd share it again.

Just my 2c:

------------

THE REASON YOU STILL HAVEN'T MADE A FULL TIME LIVING IN ONLINE MARKETING

(WHAT I'VE LEARNT FROM INTERVIEWING 19 NEWBIES WHO HAVEN'T MADE IT BIG)

I've just spent the last week interviewing the guys who applied for my internship - all guys who've dabbled a little before but haven't been able to make it work.

It was interesting to talk with all of them and see the commonalities in all their projects that haven't yet taken off.

There was only one real thing that was missing: commitment. Not a lack of knowledge, not a lack of time. It was simply that they didn't go all in.

So many of the guys had started a project. They had an idea, found a niche, and started something. But every single of one them just hadn't pushed it through. They committed a bit, did some work, but when it really came down to the crunch, they didn't commit fully.

Why? I'm guessing because they didn't think it was going to work and so were afraid of putting in so much work and not seeing a return on investment.

But, the fact that they didn't commit 100% was the very reason they didn't see a return on investment.

They half arsed it, produced something pretty average, didn't push all the angles they could find, and then gave up when things got tough. And because of that, the project eventually failed. From our conversations, the only reason I could see that I made $XXX,XXX last year and they didn't was that I committed 100% to the projects I was doing and was willing to take a risk on them whilst they gave up when things got tough.

Just to give you an example:

The current project I'm working on has been going for three months now. We've got 3 full-time staff, 3 permanent part time virtual assistants in various roles, 3 writers, and we're about to take on another three staff. That's on top of the work my business partner and I have been doing to build the project.

Our expenses so far are around $9k and we've only just hit the point where our weekly revenues are starting to cover our weekly expenses. As the revenues increase, we're scaling as fast as we can so we don't expect to break even for another two months or so.

But, the eventually payoff? Easy 6 figures a month.

This is the same as what happened with the last big project I was working on and we were making 6 figures a month by month 7.

This what I mean by commitment - going all in, committing right from the start, and giving it everything. Not just throwing up a shitty WordPress site on free hosting with a free template, writing some shitty, under-optimised copy, purchasing some bullshit link wheels from fiverr, and giving up when nothing happens.

You have to commit and you have to commit hard.

If you don't give a project 100% because you're worried that you won't see a return on investment then I can guarantee you that you won't see a return on your investment.

Your project will fail, you'll feel like a failure, you'll think internet marketing is too hard and give it up - all because you didn't give it what was needed to make it work.

"But I don't have the money to do this!"

That excuse is bullshit. Not a dollar of the $9k we've spent so far has been spent on something I couldn't do and you can't learn.

You can learn to write articles. You can learn to edit WordPress templates. You can learn how to optimise your out reach process. You can learn to throw something together in Photoshop that'll pass as an infograph.

You can learn everything you need to know to make a project blow up but you have to commit 100%. You don't have to spend thousands to grow something. $20 a month on semi-decent hosting and a $50 WordPress template is enough to make a site look big-brand. Everything else you can do yourself with a little commitment and a decision that you're going to make this work, whatever it takes.

So, before you do anything else today, take 10 minutes to think about this:

1. What's one project you started that was kind of successful but didn't get the results you wanted?
2. What are the different elements you'd have to change to make that a top level, well executed, 100% professional project that was pushed to the limit in all avenues?
3. What's one thing you can do / learn today to take it there?

If you want to make a full time living in online marketing, you have to commit. You have to give it everything.

If you don't commit because you're worried you won't see a return on your investment then I can guarantee you that you'll never see a return on your investment. Ever.

So, get up off your arse, get your head in the game, and make something happen.

 

[turbin3]

If people throw in writing a blogpost on their personal blog as doing "business" they've got a one-way VIP ticket on the fail train to failure.

LOL I'm reminded of the saying about pictures... That one quote is worth a thousand failed "businesses".

 

[contract]

10K is more than enough, even $20/month is enough.

Hosting + Domain and you're on your way.

However, money can't buy time/commitment/intelligence/drive/motivation/hustle.