James’ recent post on making money online got me a little riled up so I thought I would rant a little bit. The only problem is, my rant has no real shape so I’ll probably be all over the map on this one.

First, I have no issues with anything James said, it’s just that the topic of how a beginner can make money online, or how easy it is to make money online brings up a lot of frustration. And that is because a lot of what is said is completely bogus. So this rant is in no way targeted at anything James said in his post, it just got me thinking based on recent experiences.

Now, let me qualify and say that making money online isn’t nuclear physics. Your average person can make money online long before they could learn how to build a nuclear weapon. Einstein-like intelligence is certainly not required even though I have it (okay, maybe I don’t).

I would compare making money online to making money in the stock market. Sure, anybody can do it but many who try it won’t be successful. Many will even lose their shirts (think PPC). Now, if you spend some time studying and understanding the process and options you will be better positioned to make money in either prospect, but there is no guarantee. Why?

Because in both IM and stock investing there are many variables outside of your control. No one can predict the market and no one can predict say, Google’s next algo change. Or, you could buy a stock based on  factors (cash flow, P/E, etc) that indicate that stock is a good buy and yet it tanks. Likewise, you may find a niche and what seem to be good keywords based on search volume and CPC, set up a site, and see almost profit. It has happened to me and I have seen many successful IMers admit it has happened to them.

So in both IM and stock investing there is risk and no guarantee of return. Yet most people seem to know that about stock investing but don’t believe that when it comes to IM. I find that kinda funny. But I also find it frustrating because most IMers aren’t pointing out the risks to newbies. Or if they are currently a successful IMer now selling an ebook, they don’t mention that it took them 2 years to turn a profit or that they are a single guy (with no social life) who has spent 14+ hours a day to finally start making money.

And when I say risk in IM, I’m not just talking about losing money. There is also the risk of unrealistic expectations. Maybe you quit your job to try IM full-time. Or maybe you were laid off and don’t get a new job b/c you think you can make it in IM. Yeah, yeah there are risks with active employment but at least with active employment you are paid for your time. I may get a job and be laid off a year later, but at least I was paid for that year.

The reason I need to get this rant out is because over the past almost 2 years I have gotten glimpses of facts that upset me. I have seen someone pushing WSOs on the WF just to see them elsewhere on the forum admit they are not making money. I am CONVINCED that certain “methods” are sold as ebooks because those “methods” no longer work or don’t work that well anymore.

Think about it, if you had a recipe-like method for creating money-generating, simple websites why the heck would you sell it and create competition for yourself? Even worse, why would you sell a good “method” to the masses knowing that the IM locusts will swarm and make your “method” useless and obsolete. And that is not to say that some of the methods that have been popular don’t work but they never seem to work as well as the ebook says (I have a few products in mind) or they quickly fizzle out.

Another big problem I have in my online forays is that many people just show their earnings and not their net revenue. Newbies or the less successful IMers get all starry-eyed over the people making money, but how much money did they have to spend on content and what-not to get there? How much money do they still spend to maintain their income?

If you read around more on blogs and forums I think it is safe to safe that most people aren’t making good money online. Maybe they are lazy, but many are not. I just don’t think it is that easy. Making money (primarily through websites) takes time and effort. I would say for 90% of people who start today, it will take you a year or two at least to make a living passive income. If you need immediate money you need to provide a service or something and that is not easy either.

Anyway, I could probably rant for another 800 words but this is enough to make me feel a little bit better. I just have happened to come across too many things lately that really start to frustrate me. But correcting misperceptions isn’t going to be making ME any money so this is where I will stop and focus on my own house.

Disclaimer: Some may call me a pessimist but I consider myself a realist. Prove to me that the majority of IMers are successfully make money after one year and I’ll change my perspective.

Well, we moved into our new house so that hurdle is over, but there is still a lot to do. But at least I’ve been able to get online a little more. I have about 2 more weeks until the kids are back in school and I plan to come out swinging.

I started working on a rough plan of what I want to accomplish for the rest of this year. I have come to accept (since I realized it long ago) that my online work was too scattered. I spent too much time jumping around, shifting gears, and worrying about this or that. I need a firm plan and I need to follow it, no deviations allowed. Instead of doing something and then looking for immediate results, I need to build well and know that my work will eventually pay off.

Once I have a firm plan I will post it here for some accountability, but for now I can say that my plan is to keep adding content to my top sites, development backlinks primarily through content (article directories, Web 2.0s), and test out some new niches. I also want to spend a few weeks dedicating myself to two of my sites which are the most profitable at the moment. Get in the groove with each site and trying to increase rankings and earnings – FOCUS.

By the way, my little experiment with ranking those two sites has worked well. Both sites are on Page 1 now and have been sticking. In fact, most of my older sites are now ranking on Page 1 but the big problem is that many are not profitable. That is frustrating especially since I would expect these niches to be profitable. So while I only want to ultimately have less than 20 sites to manage long-term, I need to add more sites to my portfolio that are actually profitable (ya think?). But now I have learned my lesson and will actually test out new niches on Squidoo or Hubpages before building a whole site.

I did however start 2 new sites this summer simply because I came across 2 niches that had lots of products and were niches I had some knowledge on (and enjoy). Maybe I should have tested these niches first, but I really felt good about them so I went ahead and bought domains and have some initial content. These sites also reflect a shift in my niche selection process which is too look at product availability/selection rather than CPC.

So that is about where things stand for me. I’m finally feeling pretty confident in the direction I am taking and hope my effort will pay off in the next few months. I will be reinvesting all of my earnings this year back into my sites so that will help a lot but come January that will have to change.

I actually need to do some financial assessments once all this house-related stuff settles down and figure out where my earnings need to be before I have to consider other options (like a J.O.B). This is another area I have let slip since being laid off and almost assuming IM would pay off when I had more time to spend on it. My goals are not to be a full-time IMer, my goals are financial freedom and I need to get back to that focus. I also have personal goals which have nothing to do with money that I have shamefully let slip. Oh yeah, I also need to renovate most of my new house (okay, maybe I don’t NEED to but I really WANT to).

Off to work on my plan for a little and then unpack something or buy something.