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exxfile
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Junior EIR Member

Posts: 9

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online income - 2009/11/03 17:59 For many of us finding suitable work is a daunting and frustrating challenge. We are faced with the day to day challenges of managing our individual illnesses as well as trying to find gainful employment or a suitable income in countries where our diseases and disorders are not recognized by the government .

It is my hope that somewhere a solution can be found for sufferers of autoimmune and mcs through the generation of income online .That is the topic of this forum post.

I was having a discussion with Maff about this and I am hoping he will be the first to kick off this topic as he was about to get off social security after finding an e commerce solution .

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konnor

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Senior EIR Member

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Re:online income - 2009/11/03 19:50 Not really the most optimistic post but it is difficult to generate money online.

Like all things it takes work, something that us ill people struggle with maintaining.

However if you have the time and skills at your disposals I can see these as some options...

- Create a website and generate income from advertising.
- Create a shit hot affiliates website.
- Run a web design business and/or do freelance design and development for other people.
- Use the web to boost and advertise services that you can offer, e.g. tutoring, pc repairs, home crafts, catering or any service for which you are suitably qualified.
- Learn to invest on the stockmarket.
- Learn to play online poker (NOT recommended)

I'm sure there are others. I've purposely avoided many of the get rich quick scams as you most likely lose money rather than make it.

Maff has done well with this site. The draw (in my opinion) is the articles and accessible advise on a range of health issues. The forum, reviews and blogs are nice additions that need time to grow. The silver lining would be a comprehensive practitioner directory and some additional expert residents as even now I think Maff can get a little snowed under!

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Maff

Admin

Posts: 239

Karma: 8

Re:online income - 2009/11/04 14:55 Hi guys,

Unfortunately exxfile I have to agree with konnor when he says it's not easy to make money online - but it CAN be done if you're smart, prepared to work hard, or ideally both!

The story of this website is that it was originally just a personal site where I talked about my experiences with chemical sensitivity. I thought since I am stuck at home and on the PC most of the day anyway I might as well do something that might make other sufferers at least feel like they are not alone.

As I got into it I started writing information about other illnesses I was affected by and that seemed connected, then articles by doctors...and it just snowballed from there to what you see today as I took ideas from other websites and saw what could be done.

It was with my discovery of Google Adsense that I realised there was potential for me to make real money if I worked hard. When I initially added the Google ads I only made $30 per month from them but the site at the time had maybe 50 pages instead of the 4000 it has today. Don't go calculating what the site makes now by just multplying those figures out though as unfortunately it doesn't work like that! The bigger the site gets it seems the harder it is to make more money with Google Adsense.

So now I use a combination of Konnor's top two suggestions: advertising and affiliate programs.

I'd say 70% of income comes from Google, 10% from Kontera (the ads that appear as double underlined links) and the other 20% from various affiliate programs including iherb.com and Amazon. I don't spend any money on advertising at all - the vast majority of the site's traffic comes from plain web searches (mainly Google).

I have been able to live off the site earnings for around 18 months now but it took a couple of years working around 30 hours a week before that to get it to that level. If you want a quick way to make a living online then an information site is not the way to go. If you are passionate about the subject, know enough about it and have patience however it could be for you.

I should mention that earnings from advertising varies hugely depending on the subject of your site. If this site was the same size with the same number of visitors but in a sector such as finance or mobile/cell phones for example I would be many times better off than I am currently! I basically make enough just to pay the rent and bills on a one bedroom flat/apartment, feed myself, run a car, buy a few supplements and not much else. If this site was in a more lucrative sector I would likely be living in a 4 bedroom house with a BMW on the driveway

I agree with all of konnor's suggestions and would add online retail. You can sell products from your own website or on ebay or both. It can be kept simple by sticking to small products you can store at home but you could potentially make a good living this way.

I have tried a few get rich quick systems in my time and none have really offered anything of worth so I'd stay clear. In the end you will only make good money online by putting in some hard work in my experience.

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exxfile
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Junior EIR Member

Posts: 9

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Re:online income - 2009/11/04 16:41 Thanks guys,

one more question .

How do you feel about going it alone as opposed to being part of a team which would operate sort of like a general partnership or an organisation?.

I suppose a forum could be loosly described as such kind of like the support forums that are built up around software and many other technologies and sciences.
Personally I feel that a team effort is far more beneficial, in my research I have uncovered a lot of time wasting but necessary evils to running any kind of an ecommerce solution.

I am hoping more people will comment here .

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Maff

Admin

Posts: 239

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Re:online income - 2009/11/04 16:55 No problem!

I would love to have more people working with me on this site. With 5 or 6 people including a web designer/IT specialist it would be possible to much more quickly and professionally realise my vision for the site.

I would like to have daily news articles published and a lot more articles from doctors and researchers added but I simply don't have time by myself.

Of course in terms of money - working as a team may not necessarily be more profitable for each individual.

Of course in any business or other venture there are always pros and cons to having partners.

E.g:

Pro - more work can be done and a larger and more successful enterprise created.

Con - you have to constantly debate ideas with your partners instead of simply getting on with things.

It's up to personal preference in the end. If anyone out there would like to be involved with The Environmental Illness Resource I am always open to discussing the subject

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konnor

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Senior EIR Member

Posts: 20

Karma: 3

Re:online income - 2009/11/05 12:28 I may be able to offer some help for general admin tasks such as updating facebook or twitter feeds or searching for interesting articles.

I used to do alot of web design about 5 years ago but haven't really touched it since, which is a shame.

There may be other areas where one can contribute.

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