1) Can I be successful in [X] niche?
I dropped and shattered my crystal ball when I was about 12 so my ability to look into your future is long gone. 
My philosophy is this. If there is a demand for the kind of information, service, or product you plan to offer then there is always a way to be successful.
The real questions are:
1) Are you prepared and motivated enough to learn how to build and effectively market your website?
2) Have you done enough research to determine if there is enough of a demand for your info/service/product?
3) What sort of unique spin have you developed to set yourself apart from your competition?
Obviously you will never know the real answer unless you try. However, if you address the above questions, you are well on your way to determining if you have any sort of chance with the niche you are considering.
2) How long before I make money online?
Dang it! If I only had that crystal ball.
Let’s pretend you are trying to start an offline business — we’ll use a a dry cleaning service as the example. Would you ever go up to a successful restaurant owner (a completely different niche) and ask them how long before your cleaning business starts making money?
No, because your know that your success will largely depend on location, pricing, product quality, marketing and more. Online is no different — even for bloggers or content affiliates. How much you will make largely depends upon…
1) How much demand exists for your niche
2) How much targeted traffic you have (people who NEED your info/product/service).
3) How well you convert traffic into paying customers.
4) Quality of your product (Yes, your website/content is your product.)
For some reason people think standard business principles don’t apply to making money online. As soon as you realize the fundamentals are the same (supply, demand, product placement, etc.), you will look at your business in a completely different way.
3) I have [X] clicks with AdSense. How come I’m only earning [$X]?
I guess since the customer support is so poor for AdSense, people just resort to asking me. I don’t work for AdSense and the info I share is only based on my experience.
Remember, AdSense doesn’t disclose information about how much you earn per click. Sure, you can figure out an average by taking your total earnings and dividing by how many clicks you have, but that will change from day to day.
Advertisers constantly change their bids, which causes the amount we earn per click to fluctuate on a daily basis. The best way to ensure you are maximizing your earnings with AdSense is to work on building traffic.
I’ve also noticed over the years that I am earning quite a bit more per click. Twenty clicks today seems to be worth way more than it was 5 years ago.
There definitely seems to be a correlation between EPC (earnings per thousand) and how popular/trafficked your site is. My overall clicks are down for AdSense, but I had a record month in July 2011 simply because of my EPC.
Bottom Line: No one can tell you how much you’re going to make with AdSense because there are too many unknown variables.
4) Do I need a blog and a static website?
Before you decide if you NEED anything, you should develop a strategy. What is your blog going to do that your static website does not do (or vice versa)? What will it offer that’s different from your original site?
Don’t just create something because you are feeling the pressure to have what others have. Make sure you have a strategy in mind.
5) What affiliate programs should I join?
If you are basing your monetization strategy off someone else’s niche or success, you are not building your own business. You’re just copying someone else’s business model. While that may work for some, it usually ends up in boredom and/or failure for most.
You can earn a lot of money from almost any affiliate program if you learn how to build a popular website and convert your visitors into customers. Period!
Something in Common
If you notice, most of the questions above are based on the one-size-fits-all strategy, which is the wrong approach to business. Everyone is going to have different experiences online based on their work ethic, motivation, interest, niche and more.
Using stats from successful sites for motivation is fine, but using their exact model as a benchmark for your own site can be very misleading — especially if you haven’t developed your individual strategy.
Hi, my name is 
I really do love #5 because I get this all the time as well. People are quick to ask how they can promote an affiliate product but don’t realize that the amount of work they put toward marketing other people’s things – they could have been working on their own online platform which is infinitely more powerful and offers a variety of verticals for growth.
Build a powerful platform first and foremost. Have some kind of plan and strategy when getting started but be flexible. That’s what I say.
I agree with you. However all those so called ‘gurus’ make a hype around affiliate marketing. For most newcomers it seems like affiliate marketing is the only thing they can do to make money.
There is NO easy way to build ANY kind of business. Lisa, I think people have seen what you have done and want the short-cut route. But, how does that make sense?
Lisa, YOU didn’t have a short-cut. To my understanding you have been at this since ’1999′, that’s over 10 years! What I have learned is that, doing what you love 1st + Persistence + Patience = Success.
Do NOT rush greatness, or else you’ll be doing 100 mph to nowhere!
I agree Louis Lisa has done so well that people can think they can just “copy and paste” her success. Overall Lisa has gave the key and that’s be original period.
i started blogging as a way to make money online. thnks for the wonderful tips. they are well received.
For number 2, even another established dry cleaner will not be able to tell the would-be dry cleaner how much he/she can make. If dry cleaner A opens his shop for only a few hours a day and is closed all weekend, his chances of making money is less than that of dry cleaner B who runs maybe a 24hr service. And it does not end there.
And you forgot to mention that No 3 depends so much on the niche you are in. The more competitive a niche is for advertisers, the more they fall over themselves to be in the No. 1 spot in the ads so the higher they are ready to bid per click. And since Google pays publishers 68% of what the advertisers pay, the amount a website owner will earn per click will always depend on the niche he/she is in.
And for anybody looking to earn as much money as Lisa remember that:
If a niche is competitive for advertisers, be sure that the SEO machines (authority websites) are in that niche. So the question is: even though you stand the chance of earning more by creating a website that is related to these high paying niches, can your website compete for search engine traffic with the big guys? Because that is where the majority of people who will help you earn money with adsense will come from.
Great points, Flo.
wow – these questions sound so familiar. i think every long time blogger is asked these questions by someone entering the “market”. it all really comes down to preparedness. if one truly took the time to research and study the space, the answers to these questions start becoming apparent. when people jump the gun and ask these questions without having put any skin into the game, it makes me question the motivation /desire to enter to begin with. i think Lisa is right in that developing a strategy/plan and then approaching it systematically is the key. the answers to ALL these questions will start surfacing eventually as you progress in the journey.
“I guess since the customer support is so poor for AdSense, people just resort to asking me”. – Hilarious
I agree that it does take time with Adsense. I’ve only launched my site less then a month ago, but I only have 2000 page impressions and no clicks. I’m in no rush. Regarding affiliate programs, I haven’t joined any yet, and don’t plan to until I have much more traffic (trying to do affiliate marketing with only 60 visitors a day isn’t a good idea, I’d imagine).
On a side note, Lisa, I wouldn’t of known you posted this if I didn’t see it on Twitter. So I’m glad you are doing that.
Hello mam we are doing new project work
for build a new web site:) so please help me about this 
we are from india 
i’ve some quation:)
please help me about this ..
1)how we buy i domain name?
2) how we pay amount to that domain company ?
3)how we buy i host in server ? Which one is best ?
4)we want to develop a new site that contain collage info:) {like history of a collage,photos,videos etc} so for this how much space will can i buy in server ?
5) i know about HTML code well:) so after writing code:) how we upload to server? Their is any software?
Both the learning curve and the traffic-growth curve are longer than one would expect. For the first couple of years of blogging, developing content should be the focus. Attracting folks to your blog is effective only if you create a reason for them to return. It takes a lot of content to compel visitors to sign up to your feed or visit your site regularly. The updates must be consistent and of high quality. Thinking about the factors in Lisa’s article is a waste of time until you build a body of meaningful content. Thanks, Lisa, for the words of wisdom!
sometimes it’s easy to tell people to just try it out and learn through experience. experience is the best teacher.
I thought it was just me being asked these questions constantly!! Maybe my next website will be selling crystal balls, there seems to be a HUGE need for them.
LOL Jimmy! I may join you in that business venture.
lol good one Jimmy.
You’ll be competing with Madam Sarah. LOL!
Jimmy I’d like to know the price, Can you please tell us when? how? where? why? who? which?
At first I was one of those bloggers that as lisa would say, was all over the place. One day I wrote about this, the next day I wrote about that.I wasn’t getting any traffic. Over the past few weeks I’ve concentrated on 1 particular topic and I couldn’t be more happier the way it’s going. Having a strategy and goal gives me something to strive for. Thanks for all your information lisa.
Great post Lisa! In relation to #4 I advise that folks set up their website on a CMS platform (such as WordPress) that can be used as either a website or a blog, which offers flexibility should they decide to change their strategy.
Great article, adsense gives me a headache sometimes but earnings go up and down so what doesn’t work today may work tommorrow.
Hi Lisa. Whenever I am asked by a client when they will make money, I’ll always answer, as soon as you start to work with me:-) That is because the business I’ve built was created for this sole purpose, to help them make money. It can be a bit loud but that’s how we really take our business:-)
Just a quick comment in general. Making money online is about finding problems that people are willing to spend money online to solve. I see lots of people build websites that don’t realize that and wonder why they don’t make any money. It’s not just about having a website about a passion or a hobby, it’s about solving problems.
Solving problems, yes!! Great point, Rick. An instant way to build credibility — something many sites don’t have.
Yes these questions really make the people frustrated..Some are Good to njoy the sucess they got..but some are nott
You are so right about #5 Lisa. Building YOUR OWN BUSINESS MODEL is key.
I can’t tell you how many so called “make money online” experts
I’ve come across this past year! It is so obvious that 85% off these “authority figures” straight copied the true experts or pioneers. I can usually tell that they have no clue about what they espouse when I visit their site and find the most boring and basic information on making money. They have NO experience at all and it makes me crazy when I think about all the people they have duped into buying their over hyped and worthless systems.
Talk about something you actually have EXPERIENCE in so that you can talk from personal experience instead of copying someone else.
You are making the TRUE IM go-getters look bad! And the whole industry look shady! It’s getting harder and harder to gain peoples trust because of these fakes.
If you have never made money online then you have no business trying to teach other people how to make money online.
(Rant over)
AMEN!!!
I started blogging to make money, but I have such a blast making content that I don’t have time to monetize. I will someday. My traffic doubles every few months, but it’s still too small to bother with ads or sales. I don’t NEED the money, anyway. I do need to make solid content. I keep reading you because I want to be prepared when I have enough traffic to help sell stuff.
hey lisa, thanks for the great post. I do agree that a lot of newbies asks such questions. but i think they need some attention and we must provide them some resources or links so that they can learn. I had wasted a lot of money searching for what i wanted to know until i started making money online.I like helping peoples. thats because I know once i’ve been a newbie too.
thanks again for this wonderful article. have a nice day.
“How long before I make money online?” ummm…as long as it takes for you to do something worthwhile! haha, great list!
i agree with you, we never know if we never try it, the point is talk less do more, nice article
I really love number 2. a really good site or blog can make money in its first month with some planning and hard work. if you do it half assed from the hip and it can take months if ever before you see any money
LOL ! Great list Lisa, these are some best points you have listed.
PageRank is probably one of the most important algorithms ever developed for the Web.
PageRank is not simply based upon the total number of inbound links.
The basic approach of PageRank is that a document is in fact considered the more important the more other documents link to it,
but those inbound links do not count equally.
good points here about Trust now being a major factor in search engine results,
that goes with what Rand and others have been saying too.
this also settles for me the value of a natural approach to gaining backlinks and not getting a huge bunch of them,
or a large # of high pr backlinks in a short period of time – it rather undermines the Trust factor.
I do wonder what you think of bing and how Trust does/will play a role in their results.
it seems to me from a rather preliminary and cursory look at some results and comparing those to over at google and yahoo,
that bing ofter relies more on the keyword/s being the actual url,
which seems to me a rather poor way to rank sites/pages.Great Experience, will recommend them to everyone.Thanks For Sharing.
Ah the “How long before I make money online?” and “I have [X] clicks with AdSense. How come I’m only earning [$X]?” questions are still being asked today, to the point where I ow offer default replies. My replies are:
“How long before I make money online?” – How long is a piece of string?
“I have [X] clicks with AdSense. How come I’m only earning [$X]?” – I stopped using Adsense a while ago, you are better off asking the Adsense support team.
LOL @ the string response, Dean!!!
I find it strange that affiliate marketing can be so easy, yet when you explain everything to a complete beginner it seems so gruelling and annoying. I guess it’s just a big barrier to entry from all the technical stuff – which is what I spend half of my time explaining to new people. People can’t be bothered to wait 12 months for their first cent of income, even if you tell them within 2 yrs they can be making $50k/year on passive income..
I havent start reading this article but i was attract by the tittle. Im member of many forums and i always see people asking some question that are already share in the forum. I also hate those people who waiting for someone to spoonfeed them. This is stupid.
I have heard these same or very similar questions a lot. For some reason people think it is easy money I guess. Put up a website and slap some ads and affiliate programs and wait for the money to come rolling in. I wish it were that simple and that easy. Some people do make decent money, and some people make little or nothing.
Wow, good points! I know that earning money from my blog will take a while, but that doesn’t stop me. Like my friend said, “there are no shortcut to success.”
certainly the quetions that i asked when i thought about blogging….nyc info btw..lisa….
Some times its a pain
in the ass to read what blog owners wrote but
this website is really user genial!
Hi Lisa
I guess the reason why you get all those question over and over again is because you are a very successful blogger and people looks up to you. What they don’t know is how much work you have put into it and how many years. I really love coming and visiting your blog for inspiration Lisa 
Great post. All we have to do now is to direct people who want to start a blog and get rich in a hurry to this post instead of answering our self
Thank you Thomas. I agree. I don’t think people realize how much time I’ve put into this. This is not something you can work on a few hours per week and expect 6 figures…. at least not in the beginning. Appreciate you stopping by.
People seemt o think adsense is dead, however its very much alive. The CPC is elevated due to competition therefore people are paying more for clicks and as a result google is paying more for advertiser. In most cases this is the truth.
The future of adsense seems bright indeed.
There are many types of on line businesses you can get involved in. If you are looking for a business already setup for you where you can get involved quickly, simply and cheaply, Success University might be the answer. – site is already set-up and you simply join with a $2.00 donation to “Feed The Children” for your first 2 weeks. You are given your own unique website address for you to “advertise” and you could be receiving payments within a month or so. Do you have any kind of email list, or friends who would be interested in this kind of easy income? You can also download a FREE copy of Napoleon Hill’s E-Book,
Yes i too agree these are questions which irriate even the clamest people ever. How can someone tell you how long it will take to make your campiagn successful, that is very foolish to ask someone. I believe that people should not get into online business before they do not have enough knowledge and even if they get in they should keep readin blogs like these and keep reading e-books.
If you need to ask the question, you probably should be polishing up your CV and looking for a job!
There is little rocket science in running your own business, know your product and customer, ensure service delivery is of the highest standards and is consistent, you have some unique selling points and are prepared to work much harder than if you were in employment.
This applies for all business whether on or off line!
The advice and tips you see on the internet for running your own business will happily fit into the above, if they don’t my experience suggests they won’t be worth bothering about.
Good article. The Web these days is overflowing with people swimming around hoping to to find some way to make money quickly with the minimum effort. As you article points out, while some may get lucky piggy-backing off the successful ideas of others, to really do well you need to have original ideas, or as one poster pointed out be able to provide something that others need and are willing to pay for.
It’s a real shame that crystal ball of yours broke, you could have made a fortune from it by now
It all comes down to hard work and picking the right niche. If you keep on top of the product range, work hard by producing informative content then promoting it properly you could become successful.
Your article was a good read and I think that picking a niche or products that you have personal experience with is the key to success. It makes your writing and promotion more informed.
yes you are right. But you need to be super busy with your online business and not take anything for Granted. Sometimes you will be successful and sometimes you won’t. If people follow the post then i am sure they won’t have much problems.
Many newbies do take online marketing to be the easy way out! Well, sorry guys, it ain’t and sometimes, it can be even harder than your day job. Go figure!
I have been reading blogs and posts for the past 3 months now. And so far the best information i have read has been from Lisa. But still not making much money yet
. I guess only time and perseverance will tell!
Hi Lisa , very nice post.
I am always think to do some kind of online business(freelance)
but i don’t have much knowledge about this all.
after reading posts on your blog, i feel your so experienced blogger .
thank you for sharing this kind of post. it’s really helpful.
Hi Lisa, I agree with with you even I have also faced such braindead questions.
Now coming on to point most of these questions are from the beginners in blogging who want to earn quick buck. But blogging is the game of patience where you have to wait and build a loyal reader-base and then gradually traffic starts to flow and only after this you can earn.
aI just finished reading . I liked it. I’m glad I saw this post on ; and that I am adding it as my favorite. This blog on has helped me in getting additional information about & also helped me see context, which is valuable.
Indeed, it takes time to build the CPM because we need to connect your audience
Hi Lisa
Thanks for sharing this great truth post , I face that all time meanwhile I unerstand why the people think this way ,they got every day punch of emails talking about 6 fig. and alot of this kind of pub.!!! any way I appriciate all what you do.
Regads,
Working online is same like a labor working in a tough condition.
Working online means just that! Actually working rather than hoping for a get rich quick btton to appear on your laptop
It’s all down to the bottomline where blogging can be a passion but not everyone can turn it into a passion..
You will never know until you try.I agree with you.You will know what mistake you made,then you can amend it.Thinking don’t work.You have to practice.I used to do AdSense.But I failed.So I quit.Thanks for sharing.
I’m so tired of the so called expert bloggers telling other people who would like to become bloggers, that they are so tired of people asking them questions about whether or not they will be successful and what to blog about. I once wanted to start a blog, and I asked the same questions, because until recently, people actually did not know why some blogs became successful and why others didn’t. Most people had no idea that it had to do with affiliate marketing. Now all the successful bloggers who make money writing articles about blogging a.k.a affiliate marketing, tell all new bloggers not to start a blog about blogging. In reality a person could blog about the different textures of paper and make money, they just have to know how to become a marketing specialist. You just have to know how to work the system, that’s all it is. Nothing more Nothing less.
Deanna, I think that’s the key. A lot of people choose “how to make money” because that’s what the WANT to do, but desire doesn’t turn into passion. I would much rather see someone start a blog about knitting if that is truly their passion. First of all, there’s probably less competition and they will have more fun doing it.
Yes, they only see the surface without analyzing what’s beneath. Being too materialistic I would say.
I hate to answer the questions that ends like…answer me ASAP. It makes me feel like im on their payroll.
While I certainly agree that these questions can be irritating, I can also understand why some individuals pose these question. It’s incredible how many individuals are clueless about websites, online marketing, and business in general. They are afraid of what they don’t know, as well, which is why they generate these questions in the first place. I liked this post, Lisa. thanks!
Read the book Good to Great. If you want to be successful online you must first make a commitment to excellence. Than you can set out to achieve your goals. If you are going to go for it and put money in your business go all the way or don’t even bother.
Lisa, you are doing a nice job here.Whether one is going to succeed solely depend on him or her.The world, they say,paves way for him that knows where he is going.
Hi all, it takes a lot of time to take visitors on your web site or blog, as the time you need to build it.
But people doesn’t understand that…
Nice one Lisa! I think most of us are guilty of asking such questions when we first start off. More common questions include; I got a new site and I have just started doing some off page SEO. How long will it take before I get to the first page of google? Answer….No one knows mate!
Another common one is; my site is going through the google dance, when will it stop? Answer…..who knows? Ask google algorithms perhaps!
What’s important is for us to adopt a clear strategy, implement it, monitor it and carry out a periodic evaluation of our work on a regular basis. Success online is all about trying and testing new things in order to find out what works for you.
I really love question no. 3 How long before I make money online? Its so funny actually, we cannot really predict when. If it happens it will happen. I believe that patience is a virtue. As long as we are making progress then have faith in it. Don’t you agree?
build a blog into the field of money is not easy, I have a blog that offers online services product is also very difficult and needs a lot to learn knowledge to increase visitor traffic to my blog. I would also like any other income such as pay perklik or adsense. Your post gives the feel and look different for me to develop a blog to get the additional revenue from customers other than the success obtained from the effect of high traffic, could it relevant?
Great blog! Absolutely right. I have a very stylish blog where one can easily find many free software, tools about project management. Absolutely free!!!
Visit me, I will not dissatisfy you guys, lOLZZZ
Some of those questions sounds really silly and those are genuine people completely clueless and really interested in knowing. You summed up perfectly that they have to try and see for themselves in order to get the answer, there’s nothing like being practical and learning from it.
Thanks for the honest info. I’m planning on starting a few sites and monetizing with adsense. The advice posted here will go a long way in helping a newbie like me.
Good question to tackle them back . It happen most of the time in forum while those question keep repeat and repeat.
If you never research , never try , they suppose not to ask this question because no one get better answer then them personally look for their answer.
I would add “how many back links do I need?” Which is an ever-changing question anyway given the constantly shifting rules.
If it happens it will happen. sometimes it’s easy to tell people to just try it out and learn through experience. Sometimes you will be successful and sometimes you won’t. How can someone tell you how long it will take to make your campiagn successful, that is very foolish to ask someone.
See Lisa I agree with you in all the points except the Adsense one. 2 years ago the kind of traffic I am getting could feed me for an entire month with adsense money but now for the same traffic I get maybe 2 movie tickets a month.
The fact is you cannot depend on Adsense anymore. The most stable way to earn online realistically is to make your own products in the niche you love…or create a laser targeted E-Commerce Site.
Completely agree that no one should depend on AdSense. Even when the earnings are good, it could go away tomorrow. I am constantly reinforcing this both here and my YouTube channel. I definitely feel more stable with my own products to sell.
I believe things happens for a reason especially if you don’t mind the most important one! Like in business, whether be online or not, still you need to be focused and serious. I love reading this post since it gave me new idea about monetizing my works through Adsense. Keep it up!
I have been working my online business for the past 4 years and have spent $thousands on advertising, usually with little to no results. I’m no quitter, so I’ve recently been focusing on Call-to-Action psychology and allowing more ‘white-space’ on my sites. I’ve been revising and simplifying my designs to improve conversions, and only seriously began online marketing methods after spending the money on other methods that didn’t prove to work so well. it’s been a hard struggle but all good things come to those who work. Income is definitely relative to traffic, without traffic your online business is simply a website like any other out there. I calculated last night that I’ve worked approximately 20,000 hours on my business in the last 4 years, just to show the dedication one needs to make their business a success. Give up and you’re guaranteed to fail. People have suggested I give up numerous times, but I have always maintained that I’m very close to the tipping point where it all starts to happen. Consistency and a good plan/strategy will get you there as long as the lessons are learned, I think to become successful in online business you have to love learning because nothing ever stays the same. I love doing what I do and you should too.
Great post Lisa