Intro and muse idea

[jonparker83]

Hi guys....

Actually wrote this post out once already but it disappeared somewhere so I'm going to start again

Firsty an intro:

My name is Jon and I'm a 23 year old eCommerce graduate from England currently working a dead-end web development job and looking to escape.

I've spent 5 months in the last 2 years in Thailand and that showed me how it's possible to live like a king on even the most modest western wage

So I'd already intended to do the whole remote/automated thing before I heard about the book, but after finishing it (in 3 sittings) it's given me more drive and determination to get going

Here's the muse idea:

Insipired by all the eBook talk, I've thought of creating an online store where people can sell actually their eBooks.

The difference between my site and the current ones is that I won't charge anything for the service and will make money through an advertising and affiliate revenue model

I also intend to develop a similar site for tangible product sales in the future as well but thought this would be a good start due to it's relative simplicity

So... what do you all think??

I'd be especially interested to hear from current or prospective eBook sellers and also anyone who knows of a site that already does this (I coulndt find one)

Got loads of ideas bouncing around my head at the moment so just trying to figure out which one to get going first

Looking forward to hearing your opinons... and please, be blunt! lol

Cheers

Jon :)

ps. Any other 4HWW'ers who need any help with anything eCommerce or web-related, drop me a PM and I'll see what i can do

[final_id]

There is such a thing as an "eCommerce graduate"? What is THAT all about?

[jonparker83]

There is such a thing as an "eCommerce graduate"? What is THAT all about?
It means that I've graduated from university with a BSc. (Hons) degree in eCommerce

[Muley]

Have you seen www.clickbank.com or www.commissionjunction.com?

[jonparker83]

Have you seen www.clickbank.com or www.commissionjunction.com?
Yes thanks I have but I don't understand how they are relevant to my idea :S

[final_id]

It means that I've graduated from university with a BSc. (Hons) degree in eCommerce


So, did you do a "traditional" undergraduate degree with a specialization in business, and the sub-field of business is "eCommerce"? Or did you abjectly neglect your education in the name of getting a certification which no educated person would value any higher than, for example, a certificate hotel management or automotive maintenance? :)

I'm just kidding, of course. I'm sorry to be negative about a business-oriented education. I hope you also managed to get the remaining range of general undergraduate value, and didn't assume that merely because it wouldn't "sell" (Shakespeare, Galileo) it therefore wouldn't be worth your time.

[jdlk]

A BSc in eCommerce was offered at my Uni as well. It's a full-fledged Computer Science degree with supplemental courses in internet technology and business courses. As with any degree, they require a breadth courses spanning sciences, languages and social sciences in addtion to computer and business courses.

I attended a "Top 5" University in Canada (http://www.macleans.ca/universities/chart_undergrad.pdf), so I'm thinking it is indeed credible.

[luv2trvl1]

Hello Jon,
Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you have the skills/background to take Tim's concepts and run with them, that is a huge head start...

Thanks also for your offer to help with E-com and web related issues, I am sure that you will have some takers on that.

In regards to feedback on your muse idea, sounds like a good place to start your investigation. Clearly you will have do some homework on affiliate marketing, if you haven't done so already, to determine if there is enough of a revenue stream here alone, to cover your time/resource investment.

Plus, you will need that VOC feedback from current and potential ebook authors on what they would need/want/expect a site like yours to do for them. You will have to have a plan to draw their content to you/your site.

To help focus your affiliate efforts and to differentiate your site from the competition, you might want to consider working with ebooks that fall into a sub category, like travel, computer related, gardening, etc. With that focus, you could also get a little blog/forum activity going that would help continue to bring people back to your site.

Again, welcome aboard!

[final_id]

Interesting, that your e-Commerce degree was based on computer-ing, with a smattering of business added to it, rather than the other way around: based on business studies with a smattering of computers added to it (which I would have assumed would be the model).

[jonparker83]

I'm just kidding, of course. I'm sorry to be negative about a business-oriented education. I hope you also managed to get the remaining range of general undergraduate value, and didn't assume that merely because it wouldn't "sell" (Shakespeare, Galileo) it therefore wouldn't be worth your time.
For a start, you should never appologise for having your own opinion!

Personally, I don't think my education could have gone any better; I learned enough about myself through my academic and non-academic activities while at university that I've already made the decision to escape the the world of 9-5 before I've even spent a whole year in it. The best thing about this, is that I've done it years, if not decades (if ever) before most bitter 40 year olds! ;)

Hello Jon,
Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you have the skills/background to take Tim's concepts and run with them, that is a huge head start...

Thanks also for your offer to help with E-com and web related issues, I am sure that you will have some takers on that.

In regards to feedback on your muse idea, sounds like a good place to start your investigation. Clearly you will have do some homework on affiliate marketing, if you haven't done so already, to determine if there is enough of a revenue stream here alone, to cover your time/resource investment.

Plus, you will need that VOC feedback from current and potential ebook authors on what they would need/want/expect a site like yours to do for them. You will have to have a plan to draw their content to you/your site.

To help focus your affiliate efforts and to differentiate your site from the competition, you might want to consider working with ebooks that fall into a sub category, like travel, computer related, gardening, etc. With that focus, you could also get a little blog/forum activity going that would help continue to bring people back to your site.

Again, welcome aboard!

Thanks for the welcome!

With regards to their being 'enough' of a revenue stream, I figure that for most of my ideas where I'd employ this revenue model, I would rely on good natural search engine optimisation and other tequniques for the sites to promote themselves. Therefore once the site is up and running, I'd need very little investment of time, thus making *any* sort of income from the site a good result.

I'll mainly be developing sites with the intention of serving google pay-per-click adverts to create revenue

Obviously as I can develop websites myself, I'm in a position where I can throw a site together in a couple of days without having to worry too much about whether or not it's going to make me rich.

To be honest, after a lot of thinking last night, I don't think that the eBook route is necessarily the best one to go down at the moment

Even though I'm certain there is the market for an idea like mine, I'm thinking that I might do better with one of my ideas in a less saturated market in relation to something I'm actually passionate about to start with

Thanks for the pointers though... They definitely lead me to focus more on customer value and competetive advantage to come to the above decision

Interesting, that your e-Commerce degree was based on computer-ing, with a smattering of business added to it, rather than the other way around: based on business studies with a smattering of computers added to it (which I would have assumed would be the model).

Well I'd say it was half and half really - I presume you're intelligent enough to realise that eCommerce isn't just 'selling stuff on the internet'.

It was a very broad degree with modules involving a range of subjects from practical networking and programming, through to business development, and supply chain and operations management.

[MariaG]

I'll mainly be developing sites with the intention of serving google pay-per-click adverts to create revenue

This concerns me a bit, Jon. Google is notorious for banning sites from Adsense over the slightest infringement on their Terms of Service. They are also notorious for changing their PageRank formula in ways that just kill good-earning sites.

Your model itself seems sound. If you could attract enough high-quality ebooks and traffic, you could definitely do well with advertising. However, you might want to explore other types of advertising and affiliate income, such as selling ad space directly or using other brokers like Text-Link-Ads.