So are you mostly a web developer/designer... or an internet marketer?

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trying to learn a bit of marketing/promotion

i think its better to start as a developer/designer and then learn internet marketing. almost anyone can be a marketer, but to be a coder is not for everyone.

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trying to learn a bit of marketing/promotion

i think its better to start as a developer/designer and then learn internet marketing. almost anyone can be a marketer, but to be a coder is not for everyone.

I guess that's the regular way people get into the web business.

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with me its the other way around. internet marketer first before i started dabbling with codes.

I actually learned coding before I started my business, as part of my aborted university courses.
Now, I learn new coding languages as I go, right now I'm struggling to learn PHP and MySQL.

Guys if you don't mind I have some questions to add to the conversation
How many sites are there in your network (your own sites) ?

Are you making more from your sites, or from building sites for others, which one do you prefer?

How long have you been building sites ?

How long have you been earning money online (selling ads, selling products, selling hosting ?) ?

I know some of you already answered theses questions forgive me but I want to put myself in perspective with everyone else here (don't know if that makes sense to anybody else)

Thanks

As for me the answers are
-5-6 sites in my network
-More money comes from building sites but customers sometimes don't know what they want or want things that are impossible (and create so much trouble that sometimes it feels its not worth it) so I would like to be making money from my own sites
-my programming/website history going from present to past
last 3 months I build/ I am still building/was part of building  10 sites
before that and for the 3 years I build only 3-4 sites in total ?!?! (was not working on this field actually - so I have a gap of 3 years)
before that and for 3 years I was working full time as a programmer, with some internet programming but not too much in building sites
3 years before that I started learning programming
-earning money directly from adsense for the last 3 months (still have not received a check )

For those questions:
I currently have 3 (will be adding 2 soon, one is being purchased from another forum member).
I am making money from my sites, because I build crappy sites (just ask anyone here...LOL).
I have been building sites ever since I came on the web, back in October 2002.
I haven't earned any money yet(hoping to change this soon), except if you count Google AdSense (but still no direct deposit).

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How many sites are there in your network (your own sites) ?

not sure 20, 30?

Are you making more from your sites, or from building sites for others, which one do you prefer?

at the moment I earn at most with the development of custom scripts and applications for customers but making money with my own site is more fun (and for sure the future)

How long have you been building sites ?

5-6 years

How long have you been earning money online (selling ads, selling products, selling hosting ?) ?

I started very small with adsense and one affiliate websites ~ years before

I know some of you already answered theses questions forgive me but I want to put myself in perspective with everyone else here (don't know if that makes sense to anybody else)

I'm not sure if your perspective is the same like money, just think about the diff. economy from both countries where we live

I have about 45 domains on my name, about 40 sites. I have started my first site quite a while ago, but only got into building websites seriously about 2 years ago.

For me at the moment most money comes in from my own sites and I'm working hard to get that income up even more, to a point where it can cover all of my expenses with it.

It's exactly the troubles you describe that makes me want to stop building sites for customers. Also when done right the pay from your own sites can be much higher: $50 a month on ad income for 3 years in a row is better than doing a web design job for a client for a one time fee of maybe $800.

Of course you will need to have a lot of sites running, or a lot of visitors on a few sites, to be able to live of the ad income. Both need a lot of time and work to develop and only start paying slowly. Doing web design for clients can be a good way to make ends meet until your own sites start generating a steady cash flow.

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about trouble with customers...

I'm happy never had this, of course sometimes I need to push them a little but all bills are paid until now. I think because of one reason that new customers have to prepay 50% before project start and 50% before delivery

Never had troubles with customers not paying, but I often find it frustrating to create what they want, like maybe a site using comic-sans as the font, adding music to the page (of course with no way of turning it off on the site)
Ending up with a happy customer is not what I want if it results in a website that I wouldn't dare to show to prospective new customers...

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Never had troubles with customers not paying, but I often find it frustrating to create what they want, like maybe a site using comic-sans as the font, adding music to the page (of course with no way of turning it off on the site)
Ending up with a happy customer is not what I want if it results in a website that I wouldn't dare to show to prospective new customers...

yeah I know what you mean, I have this customers too but always projects where other webdev people are between me and the customer lol

most of the time my own customer are doing whatever is my advice (they know who is the specialist)

I'm not sure if your perspective is the same like money, just think about the diff. economy from both countries where we live

Don't understand quite what you are saying ? (maybe I confused you with my question) but what I was trying to get at was if it takes time to build sites that one can get enough money to live from since I am only in the beggining (I consider myself as just starting out - 4 month and counting)
And your answers tell me that "yes it does need time to build those sites and it needs hard work"

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I'm not sure if your perspective is the same like money, just think about the diff. economy from both countries where we live

Don't understand quite what you are saying ? (maybe I confused you with my question) but what I was trying to get at was if it takes time to build sites that one can get enough money to live from since I am only in the beggining (I consider myself as just starting out - 4 month and counting)
And your answers tell me that "yes it does need time to build those sites and it needs hard work"

my comment was about the work you can do for customers, I think here in Holland are much more people paying for some website 1500-2000 euro

Ohh I see, I can get 1500 here in Chios (small city 30000 people population) but can probably get more in Athens, or Salonica) but it has to be done with design/development and SEO as a package
otherwise just design/development they don't pay more than 1000 (because they don't know - yet - what the benefits are)

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Ohh I see, I can get 1500 here in Chios (small city 30000 people population) but can probably get more in Athens, or Salonica) but it has to be done with design/development and SEO as a package
otherwise just design/development they don't pay more than 1000 (because they don't know - yet - what the benefits are)

its not about the amount of money but about the number of projects you can do, its different if you waiting for projects or you need to tell people that you don't have enough time ...

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Nice questions. Maybe we should also start an "interview yourself" thread

Olaf : Your clients do what you advice because now you know your job and because you were a sales person Sometimes it is really difficult when you don't know how to "sell". I guess the key is to propose to the client something that they didn't think so they can trust you as a developer then. The result is that you talk with your client only about money and you don't let them tell you how to do your job

In Greece that was really difficult before a few years - and now in some cases - because the client thought that you are just a geek and everything is easy to get done.... In addition to that there were many thieves among the web developers and made our job even harder.

How many sites are there in your network (your own sites) ?

I am not sure about that, but I guess about 20-30

Are you making more from your sites, or from building sites for others, which one do you prefer?

I am making much more from developing sites for others, but that's not what I want to do. I started as a webmaster and I want to end this way too
Plus when you know some stuff about the internet (marketing, development, etc.) it is easy to make some money without hard work. Of course hard work is required but mostly to learn as in this field you learn only by your mistakes...

How long have you been building sites ?

I've created my first site in 1996 but I started as a web designer in 98. I was programming since I was kid (my first pc was a commodore 64 which I still own ) and I started with web development somewhere after 2000.

How long have you been earning money online (selling ads, selling products, selling hosting ?) ?

A few years. I think no more than 3. I was selling hosting before but only to my web development clients.

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yes right Nick, Holland and Greece are different markets, I have to answer only to questions:

"is it possible to do"and then "how much is the fish" ( you guys know the blomd german guy scooter?)

Well, I'm an affiliate manager. Yep.

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I can relate to all of you guys, I want my network sites to earn through ads or affiliates too but I can't seem to put much work on them since I am dabbling over maintenance and support for the other sites I built for clients before... Although theres steady cash flow there, it's a lot of work pleasing the customers as well as keeping up with all of them without sacrificing your own projects.

The market where I was before was pretty high, considering businesses would spend loads for getting my services although working for a different named company owned by somebody else that time, that was 2 years ago. When I moved in Asia, theres a lot less market here and people from outer continents think it's cheap labor just because you reside in a certain area, so prices go down depending on the market right?. So anyways, I love reading all of your thoughts on this since I can relate to all of those...

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I think automation is the solution to this. Personally I use only cms products for my clients, mostly WP and now I am using a CMS that I've created myself. This way I don't have to provide so much support to my clients. Also I try to get the less projects I can, in order to continue develop my online business.

This plan is not the fastest, but it works. After some time you'll see your online income raise so you will be closer to your goal

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