Making money during a recession?

[john.fontane]

Hi from England,

If you look in the news, banks are crashing, shares are dropping and it looks like a big recession is on the way. What does this mean for all of us who are creating muses?

I assume that traditional forms of retail are going to be hit pretty hard and that means our muses will take a knocking. But with every problem there comes an opportunity.

The point of this post is this: which markets and products do well in a recession?

I'm speculating here but I've heard things like gambling and pawn brokers do well but otherwise I'm out of ideas so I'll through it out to you guys.

[blackhatontherocks]

Just ignore it. Seriously. Unless you're into mortgage broking affilliate marketing.

[jcpeden]

The implications of the rising cost of fossil fuels are going to have a greater affect on life than this recession.

[jetpacklife]

Ignore the recession and look at longer trends. "Green" technologies are certainly rising.

[TinaD]

There is a similar thread in another forum...so I'll say the same thing. There are opportunities to be made in a bad economy. Maybe shift your thinking a little? What areas of the new (bad) economy do you know most about? Make that your muse and you are set.

I had an idea even today about a similar opportunity. Might make a muse out of it...might not...depends on how things play out.

During the last depression there were people who made their fortunes also. Don't hold me to it but I think the Kennedy's of Boston made their money then...I'll look into it.

[blackhatontherocks]

Just to give you an example: A friend of a Tutor of mine at university is a real estate agent. He told my Tutor that he was selling about 4 U.S. East- and West-Coast Beach houses a week to german investors as opposed to one per month before the loan crisis.

[Driven]

What areas of the new (bad) economy do you know most about? Make that your muse and you are set.

I know how to feed a family of five with practically no money...

Thing is, the people who would need that info don't have the money to spend on an info product LOL. Ahh, but people who have money now, who are afraid they might need that info later...

At the moment, I think people have "settled down" so to speak - they aren't looking for solutions like that. If/when things get bad, though...

One more idea to add to the list - thanks. :)
Driven

[jetpacklife]

Well, I always suggest providing free ad supported content. Everyone can afford that.

A great site for feeding your family cheap (on $45 per week):
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/

Traffic to it has been rising steadily and it's now over 140K people per month (from compete.com). I think would translate to at least $10k per month from ads alone.

[blackhatontherocks]

Hm ... 7$ CPM isn't too shabby. You don't get that everywhere, but with clever renting out adspaces it shouldn't be a problem.

[jetpacklife]

Sorry, $7/CPM? I don't think so. More like $0.50 CPM, which is about average.

140,000 visits per month * 7 pages per visit * 2 ads per page =~ 1.96 million ad views per month * $0.0005 ( $0.5cpm) = $9,800 per month.

Again, these are all just estimates. And, it looks like they might have 3 ads per page, so it might be a lot more. I also have no idea on their expenses.

[Vacman]

But how do ya get that much traffic.

That's been my biggest struggle up to this point.

[jetpacklife]

After starting with quality, unique content, you just add a little SEO and Tim's ideas. For this site, I think the owner became an "expert" on frugal living, and got interviewed in the news. That really helps traffic of course.

What's your site? You should start a couple of them and see which ones take hold.

[lovinglife]

I first heard about the hillbilly site probably over a year ago on a homeschool board I frequent. Most homeschoolers are living on one income and are always looking for a way to stay within budget. The hillbilly site is a very popular one and is often mentioned.

Give good content, find a couple of boards that you can legitimately participate in (i.e. don't join just to post an ad for your site). If you're not a homeschooler, you could try frugal living boards or cooking/recipe boards in which you become an active member (actually engage in conversation, offer advice, etc.) - you can usually have a sig link or at least a link to your site in your profile. If it is good enough, others will pass on the link.

[Dantplayer]

Yea those sure are estimates...

Seriously though, this is the best time to live if you don't have any investments...it will soon also be the best time to buy :)