Planning that first website

When you are just starting out it helps to start off the easy way. To develop a website takes time and effort but it can and should be a fun process.

So before you go ahead and buy that "snazzy" sounding domain name I suggest you sit down with a glass of your favourite beverage and outline a plan.

Here are 3 approaches to choosing a theme. They will all work. The choice is up to you.

Follow the money

It is not difficult to find areas that pay great money for sales and leads. Companies that offer credit cards, loans, website hosting, and sports wagering all pay very attractive commissions.

The main advantage to this approach is of course that a successful website will stand to make a lot of money. Unfortunately, there is a downside. The industries that offer attractive commissions are also the fields with the most fierce competition.

Personally, I do not follow this strategy. I should say that I do not follow this strategy anymore. Yep, I tried and found it to be less profitable than the two approaches that I list below.

Follow your passion

This one is my favourite. To write about something you are interested in makes work fun. And if you are interested in a subject you know a lot of things that other people are interested in learning. If you do not believe me, talk to a friend and see what he knows about your area of expertise. I bet you will leave the conversation amazed that not all people know as much about "dog training", "stamps" or "impressionist painters" as you do.

Now you have your theme. Now it is time to find a way to monetize your knowledge. Look for angles. Let me give you an example:

If your passion is "impressionist painters" you can offer posters with motives of famous impressionist paintings. Add books about painters to the mix and you have a plan of attack. What about painting supplies? Does an interest in paintings by famous artisits go hand in hand with an interest in painting? I don't know. You tell me. After all, you are the expert.

For me, this is the most profitable and easy way to make money publishing websites. But unfortunately, sooner or later you run out of areas where you have knowledge going in. This leads us to the Combination approach.

Combining passion and money

So you are all tapped out on ideas. You have written about all your hobbies and passions. Now it is time to combine passion with money.

Start reading up on a subject that you are interested in. Take notes and build your site in your head as you go along.

One big advantage to this approach is that you can make a short list of maybe 5 subjects that interest you. Now, before you start reading, researching and writing you have the opportunity to analyze which subject that would be easier to monetize. It is the best of two worlds. You get to write about a subject that interests you that furthermore has the potential to make you money.

Even better, you learn something new about a subject that interests you. It is truly a win-win.