The Swog Blog

With so little start up capital, my immediate focus will be endeavours offering a quick return at minimal expense.  I have perused various forums and other blogs in order to determine the best entry points and several options beckon.

i.  Proxy servers.  These seem to be very much in vogue at the moment.  Essentially, they offer a means of getting to sites (such as MySpace, FaceBook etc.) from locations at which they are otherwise blocked (such as university and school networks and some corporation networks.)  Set up expense is minimal (the cost of a domain) and although the profit margin is quite low, turnover can be relatively high as the demand is high, particularly if they come with a little traffic.  One of the principal concerns when running proxy servers is resource and bandwidth consumption.  However, since my aim is to use these sites as a springboard to bigger, greater endeavours, I will not be holding on to them too long and therefore I do not anticipate this extra resource consumption as an issue.

ii. Celebrity sites.  Much like proxy servers these sites are quick and easy to develop and can sell quickly and in volume at a low- to mid-level profit margin.  The method here would be to develop a clean, glitzy site skin and then populate it with details, then duplicate it n- more times, each site for a different celebrity.  Celebrities currently enjoying a little limelight would, of course, be the focus.

iii. Other niche sites.  There are a number of small niches that, it seems, people are willing to invest in.  Even small 2-3 page sites in these areas offer a relatively quick return on investment by selling them on.  Certain travel sites, golf, investment and certain health related sites are in this category. 

iv.  Article writing.  There seems to be a steady flow of individuals seeking well-written Internet copy.  Although some of the rates are derisory (1-2 cents per word) it is possible to earn in this manner by producing several articles per day since the demand is high.  However, a variant on this might turn out a little more profitable.  Instead of writing to order, create a demand.  By using the forums as a gauge of the niches that are in demand, it might be possible to elevate the price on well-written material by producing a series of articles for a given in-demand niche and then offering them up for sale, either auction sale or at a fixed price in excess of the derisory standard rates of 1-2 cents per word.

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Filed under: Miscellaneous