Money Making Ideas

Most people with even a little bit of experience on the web know that a nice profit can be made with a good domain name.  There are numerous stories where a lucky individual got in at the right time and bought a good generic domain name (for around $100 in the early 1990’s) and sold it later for millions.  One example of this is a 43 year old man from Maryland that sold Pizza.com for $2.6 million.

For the most part, the really good domains have already been taken.  Or have they?  Two years ago I bought a very nice keyword niche domain for a measly $250.  I turned the domain into a blog, worked on it for about 2 1/2 years and sold it for $10,000.  Not a bad profit for blogging about something I enjoyed.  I’m still shocked that I only had to shell out $250 for this nice domain.  Did I get lucky or was the timing just right?  Maybe it was a little bit of both.

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I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts today, called net@nite, starring Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur, and during the podcast they mentioned a funny web site/service called MoanMyIP.com. MoanMyIP.com doesn’t just display your IP address like other web sites… it moans it to you thanks to the sexy voice of someone they hired - or perhaps their girlfriend?

Leo mentioned that he thought this may be the brainchild of the guy who created IPChicken.com, but, after doing a bit of research, I think it may be someone else.  Leo speculated that IPChicken.com has made hundreds of thousands of dollars… and it wouldn’t surprise me if his estimates were true considering the popularity of the site.

A quick search of MoanMyIP.com revealed dozens of blog and forum posts plugging the site indicating that the site is experiencing the viral effect - at least among us geeks. Check out the Alexa graph of its popularity:

I can hear the moans and groans already… Alexa, shemexa. Yeah, you can take their stats with a grain of salt, but at least they do provide a general indicator of a web sites popularity. So, what am I trying to get at? I’m curious what it takes to make a stupidly simple and profitable web site such as this. There are hundreds of super complicated Web 2.0 services out there…many which may be less profitable than this super simple one. MoanMyIP.com isn’t the only silly money making idea.  Other legendary sites include The Million Dollar Homepage, SantaMail, AntennaBalls, and more.

Here are a few ingredients I think are necessary to make a super simple profitable web site:

1) Be First - Alex Tew was the first person on the Internet to sell pixels for $1 each on The Million Dollar Homepage. The first person will get the most attention and will ultimately win. Hundreds of copycats followed, but his site was the only one to make a million.

2) Modify a Known Success - If you can’t be first with a great idea, put a twist on an existing successful idea. MoanMyIP.com did this by using a sexy voice to speak your IP address instead of displaying it. I repeat - modify a known success.

3) Don’t be Boring - We are all like monkeys.  Throw a shiny new object to us and we will all drop what we are doing and gravitate to the latest thing.  Think objectively…does your idea really grab your attention or are you deluding yourself?  Does it excite the hell out of you?  What kind of energy does it give you?  Why is the iPhone successful?  Because it is the latest “shiny object” to entertain us monkeys.

4) Would You Tell Others About It - What kind of sites, videos, pictures, etc. motivate you to tell others about them?  Is your idea good enough that you would forward it around, write a blog post about it or mention it in your favorite forum?  What bores you to tears and what doesn’t?

5)  Improve the Quality of the Buyers Life - Now I’m just blowing stuff out my a-hole..but seriously, I guess a great idea has to improve the quality of the buyer’s life in some way…shape…or form.  The Million Dollar Homepage improved lives by (hopefully) providing traffic to anyone who bought an ad - which gave them more sales.  SantaMail gives kids the excitement of getting a letter from Santa.  AntennaBalls helps you find your car faster.  How does your product or service improve the quality of a persons life?

Well, that’s about all I can write about at this point.  I’ve had about four margaritas and need to go to sleep soon.  But, I hope this might perk up a few entrepreneur minds out there and maybe they will post a comment to add their thoughts on this subject.  Yes?  Go ahead… please leave a comment, plug your blog or web site and continue the discussion.  If we all work together, maybe we can once and for all discover the secret to creating exciting, fun, super simple, useful and profitable ideas like MoanMyIP.com…and most importantly, cash in.

I was reading through my favorite blogs this morning when I stumbled upon this article by John Chow on the Million Dollar Wiki, which is similar to Alex Tew’s Million Dollar Homepage, except you get a full page for $100 instead of a tiny 10×10 pixel.

When I read his article this morning, 158 pages had been sold giving this 21 year old college student an extra $15,800 in the bank.  As I write this he is now up to 220 pages sold bringing his total up to $22,000!  WTF?!

Honestly I’m a little peeved, but can only be peeved at myself for not thinking of this first.  Just goes to show you it pays off to take some time off and do some creative thinking/brainstorming from time to time.  If you can’t be first, create a new category.  It is too late to do pixels…it’s been done.  You have to put a new twist on an existing idea to have a chance.

I put a twist on the Million Dollar Homepage by selling pixels for a penny instead of a dollar.  The Million Penny Homepage was born and worked very well… I even sold over a million pixels, somewhere in the range of $12K- $13K.

I wonder what new twist can be put on the Million Dollar _______ idea?  Million Penny Wiki?  What will be next?  I have one idea in mind, but will not tell.  One thing for sure, I’m going to spend a full day every now and then to do nothing but brainstorm a way to create and cash in on an internet fad like this.

It will be interesting to see how well this does.  I have a feeling he will make a million or at least make $100K.  It may be pretty hard to get the press that Alex Tew did, as his idea was PURE GENIUS!  The Million Dollar Wiki is a good idea, but is not truly original.  But, who cares… a few thousand bucks is still a few thousand bucks!  To be continued…