Internet Business

[gitarwmn]

Hello,

My partner and I will be buying a boat soon to live on and cruise the north west. We are both tech savvy and have begun working on websites with affiliate marketing and adsense ads to help fund things. My partner also does some writing jobs on the net.

My question is what do other cruiser do on the internet to make money for cruising? Are there other viable options to making money on the net? What has been your experience with them?

I'm just trying to look at all our options so I can quit the rat race and get cruising ASAP.

Thanks

gitarwmn

[jemsea]

My work is internet based. Let me tell you it sucks!

Today I had a hell of a time seeing the screen of my laptop due to the intense sunlight while trying to work in the the cockpit. I finally rigged a shade and struggled through.

I mean with the economy the way it is I feel all good citizens should contribute to the GNP doing what ever they have to do!

We are stuck here in Daytona Beach while I work using my laptop with an aircard. At about noon I just had to quite and take a beverage break due to the seabreeze's drying effect.

To top it off I see the news of how all the northern states are enjoying a white Christmas while all we have is blue skies and warm gentle breezes and I have to ask "Why Me?"

[Chesapeake]

Hi jemsea :
Yeah, its sounds like you are having a real tough time of it,
while I am up here in cold Boston with 2 feet of snow on the ground.
I would be willing to trade places with you if you want.

[gitarwmn]

Ok, no sympathy here, its been snowy and cold for over a week and I've been cramped up in my crappy little apartment.

So I'm curious, what is your business and what drove you to chose that as your business?

Wishing I were some place tropical right now...

gitarwmn

[stuartcnz]

A couple of good places to look are Work abroad | Work from home | Work and travel | The Working Nomad they have a forum for people traveling and working on the internet and another good place is Webmaster Forum - Internet Marketing & Search Engine Forums

[AnchorageGuy]

Not sure what the writing jobs on the net pay but we have been writing for boating publications for almost ten years. We would need to do a WHOLE BUNCH of writing to pay for cruising. It buys some beer and a few dinners out and that is about it. The problem with earning a decent living that will support your cruising lifestyle is that it will demand as much time as a full time job. The only plus side is you will have some great scenery while working on your computer.

[maxingout]

I don't have an internet buisiness, but I do have ten websites that cost a couple of thousand dollars a year to operate. If I was trying to make money and support myself, I would have gone bankrupt years ago.

I don't put any advertisements on my websites because I find that advertisments are irritating, and the amount of income they would generate would be negligible. We get up to 25,000 pages downloaded per week, and I'm not planning to do anything commercial with my sites until I have at least 100,000 pages a week downloaded. I have written four books, and when I hit my download goal, then I will print up one book and sell it on my sites.

My son does sell his cruising DVD on our sites, but I don't get anything out of that except the joy of seeing my son's talent and hard work paying off.

If you figure out a way to make money on the internet, let me know. I have thirty two web domains that I own, and I am on track to becoming a bazillionaire if you can reveal to me the financial secrets of the internet.

Until then, it's a lot of fun helping people get their lives together and inspiring them to live their cruising dreams. Come to think of it, that's a pretty good reward. Not all rewards are financial.

[gitarwmn]

Interesting posts everyone, thank you. We've thought about a web site selling eBooks as I've heard that is a growing industry right now. No shipping, little overhead and they just download them and pay you. We'll probably play around with that one a bit and see how it goes.

The sites we have now are mostly hobby sites (Welcome to Fishrag.com fishing for all. and FindGreenStuff.com, they are still being built so don't critisize us too much ). I used to work with a software developer who quit his job because he was making enough to live on from the adsense on his site. This was inspiring but I see that there is a lot of work in these sites to get to that point.

I'm also a pretty good photographer and was thinking I could do something with it but I haven't thought too hard on that one. Anyone had any experience with photography and making money cruising?

Thanks for your insight and experience.

gitarwmn

[Agur's Wish]

I've made $18.00 on my blog since August so I can now buy 3.5 Kaliks at Captain Jacks. Unfortunately, they won't cut me a check until I reach $100.00. I figure that will be some times in 2010. Party!

[Agur's Wish]

Seriously though, the e-book idea is a great one. I just bought a Kindle and am in love with it. There are not that many e-book sites to download from and the Kindle required books in mobi format. Unfortunately, the free sites have either the old classics or obscure books, if you could figure out how to acquire books to sell for a discounted price that would be great or if you could some how act as a library and rent books for a specified time period for a fee. The public libraries do this. You can download them to a computer you have registered with the library but I have not been able to download them to my Kindle. Just food for thought.

[gitarwmn]

I like your blog Agur, very cool stuff and I clicked on an ad so you might be able to party in 2009.

Your input on the eBook idea was great, thanks. I've been considering buying a Kindle as well for space issues on the boat when I finally get one (looking at a boat on Friday) and to research the product for the site. I hear Sony also has a product out there but I have not heard much about it.

gitarwmn

[SweetSurrender]

Originally Posted by Chuck Baier

Not sure what the writing jobs on the net pay but we have been writing for boating publications for almost ten years. We would need to do a WHOLE BUNCH of writing to pay for cruising. It buys some beer and a few dinners out and that is about it. The problem with earning a decent living that will support your cruising lifestyle is that it will demand as much time as a full time job. The only plus side is you will have some great scenery while working on your computer.

Hey I'm the writer. Writing jobs on the net pay well once you get the ball rolling. Yes, you can work for peanuts if you choose to, but you can find higher paying legit work too. For example, you can be paid to write anything and I mean anything for a small business with writer's block. I'd recommend Googling "freelance jobs" and be prepared to be amazed at the amount of sites you have to choose from to name a few....

Guru.com - Membership fee, but a solid higher paying freelance site.
Elance.com - Membership fee, but a very good higher paying freelance site.
GetAFreelancer.com - Some fees, but a cheaper and more simple site. You can find anything on here. Some scams side by side with good work, but all in all with a little common sense and avoidance of Nigerian princes you will find real work for real pay on this site.

Sites all operate differently and it is very important to read the terms of work for each site and project on which you bid. Often buyers really aren't in any big hurry so you may have to wait a while to make the money (until the project is over and the buyer gets around to paying). It's important to have a cushion of cash....

[AnchorageGuy]

Thanks, I will have a look at those

[SweetSurrender]

Originally Posted by Agur's Wish

I've made $18.00 on my blog since August so I can now buy 3.5 Kaliks at Captain Jacks. Unfortunately, they won't cut me a check until I reach $100.00. I figure that will be some times in 2010. Party!

Your ads looked very appealing so I clicked too through to an informative site about Jewish Bread.

Have you checked out Adbrite? I'd recommend them over Adsense.

Since you like to blog, have you checked out the job board at Problogger.com - this is another way I have found legit well paying work. Just have to be picky if they offer you peanuts...

[jemsea]

A few years ago I approached the owner of the small, two store business, where I had worked for many years and told him I wanted to start a website. We ended up going in together on the project and developed an internet business selling the same products.

The online business out grew the small office where I worked and was moved to the main office. We now employ 10 people just for the internet side of the business and it does more than the two walk-in stores combined.

Since most of my time is spent doing product reviews, answering emails, and a fielding few phone calls I can work from home. And "home" can be anywhere my cell phone and aircard work. (They just seem to work better in Florida in winter than they do in Colorado - except for all that sunshine on the monitor of course )

I do go back to the main office for a week or so every 3 or 4 months and usually spend a couple of months in the summer at home working. I've traded more time off for less money and hope to continue in that direction.

My income varies but is usually equal to, or only slightly less, than cruising up and down the east coast demands.