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Website Tips For Artists And Creative TypesA Report By Peter HollandI wrote this report for Lisa, my very creative sister in New Zealand.
If you benefit from it too, then feel free to tell all your friends. Before we start - just a quick piece of general computer advice. Go to the preferences in your browser and clear the cookies (might be under 'options') - your computer will thank you for it. Do it now before you forget. There is a new era of the Internet dawning. Some people call it Web 2.0. Actually it has already dawned - the people are taking over from the geeks. MySpace, FaceBook, Bebo, YouTube etc etc. Many artists are already using these Web 2.0 avenues to promote themselves. If this is what you want to do, then this report is not for you. Web
2.0 should be merely a tool that helps promote your online presence
This report helps you to think about how to properly develop a commercial website that enhances your reputation without costing the earth. There are many, many wrong ways of going about it. Trust me, in my enthusiasm to get a presence online I've experienced most of them! Question to encourage your creative brain to think laterally: Do you want to showcase your art online, or do you want to use the Internet as a creative medium to make a living from, which then helps to support and showcase your art? Both are cool options. If all you want is an online vehicle to showcase your art, look to use the services of specialist artist web developers like BeautifulArtistWebsites.com or one of their competitors. Read their article: 'Tips For Creating An Artist Website That Sells'. The messgage here is that because you require a gallery of high quality images you need professional help. However, there are opportunities for a creative person with specialist interests to make money online over and above a straighforward gallery showcase. You need BAM (brains and motivation) and knowledge of the correct process. The correct process ALWAYS INVOLVES THINKING ABOUT TRAFFIC GENERATION BEFORE YOU PAY ANYONE ANYTHING. Having a pretty site that cost a fortune and then promptly disappears forever is the staple diet of web developers. Whatever way you decide to go, this report will help you focus and find your way around the sink holes. Properly used this report will be a catalyst to action and change your life for the better. There are four main Don'ts when getting online:
Getting Online The Happy Way.There are two happy options:
|
To get online yourself is not
rocket science, but does need some
concentrated effort. You need to get a domain name and web host. 
|
About http://ezseonews.com ezSEO News is a web site that tries to cut through the clutter of information out there on how to build quality sites that the search engines love. Anyone who is trying to learn this from scratch is bombarded with a wealth of contradictory information from different sources all claiming to be experts. Read my unbiased reviews and get the free weekly newsletter that can guide you through this minefield. Please check back often - why not bookmark our site. Oh, and if you have a product you want honestly reviewed, drop me an e-mail. |
Summary Of Option 1
Get a web host, a domain name, NVU, Filezilla and publish (upload your website). Read Chris Heng's tutorials and articles. Boast to your friends about how you don't need the services of a web developer or free web host. Learn about how to generate traffic to your site - for example from Andy Williams.
Cautionary note:
In order to be successful at this method, you will need oodles of time, a bucketful of determination as well as the ability to turn on a bit of a techie head when required. Technophobes look at option 2, please!
Second Option - Specific Instructions
Time and tide waits for no man (G. Chaucer 1390)
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter (I. Walton 1676)
There is a flaw in the master plan outlined in option 1 (Do-it-yourself webmastering).
Well two flaws actually. One is time. You need time to learn the skills and implement the plan singlehandedly.
Second, you are very alone.
Some people don't have that much time and don't like being alone. Its nice to have company sometimes.
So
we might need to go to plan 'B'. The trouble
with this second option is you
need to
be prepared to invest some money. Not huge silly amounts like you would pay to local web developer specialists (easily $5000 to $20,000 for a medium sized site). We are talking hundreds of dollars rather than thousands. With plan 'A' there is minimal fiscal investment, but maximum time and effort.
Normally we have to pay for convenience, especially if we want to save time and effort.
If you're broke its back to plan 'A'. If you're broke and also don't have much time to spare - you just crashed and burned before you started.
Its nice to have company sometimes
So I am going to give you specific instructions on 3 companies filling this newbie niche. Don't forget, as I mentioned in the intro, if you just want a good looking site to showcase your artwork, then look at specialists like BeautifulArtistWebsites.com Be sure to compare their offering with the services of elance.com (see company no.2 below).
The three companies listed below, deal with helping creative people branch out into ecommerce. I will discuss their respective merits in a frank way (this is no sales pitch!).
Pause for newbie questions:
Q.What's a niche?
A. A niche is a market segment identified by a company who then supplies a product to solve a particular problem within that segment. Ideally you should be a niche marketer too - identifying and solving a problem within your chosen niche. Its not about you, its about them (read my ebook 'How To Make A Living From Your Hobby - 7 Steps To Success For The Daydream Believer'). I digress. Back to plan 'B.' You are a person who wants to get your creative energy online, and join the Web 2.0 generation (Web 2.0? - google it). You don't want to be lumbered with a large web developer fee and a site that doesn't make money. You want to dip your toe in the water but you want a serious site, not a rubbish one from a free web host that uses crappy templates. You don't have too much time to spare and you don't want to get too technical. You want action and you want it now and you are prepared to invest a few hundred dollars (not a few thousand) in the process. Oh and one more thing, you want a bit of help, company, tips and moral support along the way.
Q.What's a niche?
A. A niche is a market segment identified by a company who then supplies a product to solve a particular problem within that segment. Ideally you should be a niche marketer too - identifying and solving a problem within your chosen niche. Its not about you, its about them (read my ebook 'How To Make A Living From Your Hobby - 7 Steps To Success For The Daydream Believer'). I digress. Back to plan 'B.' You are a person who wants to get your creative energy online, and join the Web 2.0 generation (Web 2.0? - google it). You don't want to be lumbered with a large web developer fee and a site that doesn't make money. You want to dip your toe in the water but you want a serious site, not a rubbish one from a free web host that uses crappy templates. You don't have too much time to spare and you don't want to get too technical. You want action and you want it now and you are prepared to invest a few hundred dollars (not a few thousand) in the process. Oh and one more thing, you want a bit of help, company, tips and moral support along the way.
My
list of 3 niche specialists are:
1. Sitesell.com (SiteBuildIt - SBI)
Who
are Sitesell.com
How can they help me?
What do they charge?
Online since 1997 (that's about 100 years in Internet terms), Sitesell are a 'community' based organization who will guide you through all the stages of setting up and profiting from your own website or multiple sites. SiteSell is the Company and SiteBuildIt is the tool kit.
They started small in the 'cretaceous' period of the world wide web and only use their own tools and software. The fact they don't buy in 3rd party systems makes their prices more competitive than some of their rivals. Where their service differs from a web designer is firstly the cost is less because you are doing the work yourself (under close guidance).
Secondly, no local web designer or fancy web host I ever worked with has been able to give clear marketing advice on how best to make money online using the time honored tricks of the trade - Content, Traffic, Pre-Sell and Monetize (CTPM).
In my experience, local web designers just take your money and run, shrugging their shoulders when your site makes no money and gets no traffic. What do they care, they've been paid? If you mentioned CTPM they would look at you with a blank expression. Either they don't know how ecommerce works or they don't feel as if its part of their job to share it with you. Maybe I've just had bad experiences, but I am not the first to make this observation.
Basically Sitesell offer exactly all the stuff you have read about in option 1 (going it alone) - only they put it all into a self contained package and give you a yearly price for one website. Offering a bundle of software, technical support and interactive forums, they are essentially a community based around the work of founder Dr Ken Evoy. If you are loner at heart, you will not like this approach.
If you prefer some back-up, you'll love it. Check out their sales pitch here (make sure you take the video tour as you'll learn something even if you don't join SBI). The costs per year is currently $299 USD per website. They have occasional special offers where you can get 2 sites for $399 USD. You can try it for free for a month (you keep the domain name for free) or try it for 2 months for $50.
To
get the low down on whether Sitesell is value for money take the
time to read the thread of this
forum.
This thread is a discussion between various people who have used Sitesell and what their experiences have been.
Some people are very pro and, interestingly, one person who had a bad experience and calls Sitesell a 'cult' gets a severe telling off from the people who swear by it.
Are they brainwashed cult members or just happy not to be out there on their own, like babes in the woods?
Cult or community? You decide. SiteSell (SiteBuildIt SBI).
For my own web development plans, Sitesell is the perfect vehicle. It's hard to describe how much I like SBI. Without wanting to sound like a fanatical cult member, I wish I'd found it years ago.
The one thing I could say as a negative is the teaching resources are grouped into 10 modules - each named as days 1 - 10. By SBI's own admission the modules take way longer than one day to complete. In my case, day 7 (which is the module glibly instructing me to write 50 pages of original prime content) has been ongoing for 3 months already and I'm only on page 30. However, I am glad to see my first pages already at number 1 slot in some google searches and have up to 100 page views per day of free traffic (and I haven't started the promotional module yet).
Part of the 'Tao' of SBI is the 'Tortoise' mind set. Remember - the tortoise wins the race, not the hare!
Who are elance.com? How can they help me? What do they charge?
If you are an artist who just wants a website to promote and sell your work online, I recommend using this option. Think carefully about how you will get traffic to your website though (this single issue is the reason most websites online are merely financial liabilities for their owners - and NEVER pay their way).
The idea here is that elance.com, the 'find-a-freelancer' site, have figured out that they could be a major player in the newbie-getting-online niche. You need to go to their "Web Developer Packages" section (not their ordinary pages).
How it works is you first tell them your website needs - by filling in a questionnaire about your goals, website requirements, style preferences and sites you like etc.
Within 2 days you get 3 proposals from different web developers. You pick the style you like the most and the respective designer will be assigned to your project. Three days after selecting the proposal you like, you receive up to 5 custom concepts for your website.
You choose the concept you like most and the design concept you pick is the starting point. They develop the website and revise it based on your feedback. You see revisions in about 2 days. They give you up to 10 revisions.
Developer costs range between $395 USD for 1 page and $1495 for 11 - 20 pages. My first 'authority' site was well over 30 pages, so would have been off the scale. If you go for this option, I suggest you write your own content as elance will charge an extra $70 USD per page to write it for you.
Also, make sure you can go back in an edit your pages yourself. Think about combining this option with option 1 and learn how to publish your own pages in the web developers style once you have paid for the first few pages.
Basically, Elance use their position of power over the web developers to control and manage them (like a buying agent) - making sure you get the best possible service for the money.
It is an excellent option for newbies who want a fast and effective route to site building and have the budget to pay for it.
In my view it gives you a better deal than using a local web designer.
However, there is one major flaw that I can see. I have not used the service myself, but I have researched it as an option. Maybe I missed it, and if so I'll stand corrected, but nowhere in the information did I see any reference to content building around targeted keywords (the 'C' and 'T' from CTPM).
If you are looking to use Elance Developer Services make sure you have this area covered before you do anything or pay out any money. Read Andy Williams web pages and free newsletters to find out more about this subject (or watch the SBI videos).
Its no good having a wonderful site if you have not set it up to target the appropriate niche properly. Even if elance do cover this area in the process, its a flaw in their sales pitch not to make it abundantly obvious. Apart from this omission, it looks like a very good option which I would seriously consider.
It may seem not to be the case as you are reading this section, but I am a fan of simplemoneymachines.com / smartmoneywebsites.com and their founder Wayne Van Dyke. I think the actual product is a wonderful bit of kit, but the business model Wayne teaches is seriously flawed (for newbies). However, Wayne has a different view. Here's what he says:
Launched about a year ago now, this product is a niche within a niche. It sets out to give newbies all the stuff they need to publish single page affiliate pre-sell pages (in other words become an infopreneur).
I
tried it and only managed to lose money and waste my time. Infopreneur
I am not! I have to swallow that medicine. 
I had fun
doing it though.
For me, the skills you need to be successful in this field are massive - too massive for me. There are a lot of people sucked into this affiliate world thinking of the get-rich-quick potential.
There is NOT any get-rich-quick potential but there certainly is get-poor-quick potential. Nine out of ten affiliate campaigns devised by experienced and clever infopreneur marketers fail using this business model.
Nine out of ten failures mean one in ten can succeed. The one successful campaign means passive income on auto-pilot for the foreseeable future with no further input required. So if you can master the skills and can live with a 1 in 10 success rate you're cookin'.
The idea is to generate multiple passive income streams based on the various niche areas you are interested in. As I say, good in theory, but if it was easy everyone would be doing it. I ran out of patience with this business model - couldn't accept the failure rate (it broke my perfectionist heart to see one after another of my carefully crafted campaigns fail).
I even bought the affiliates guide book Project Xas recommended by Wayne which also didn't work for me (it didn't come free in the SMM pack in those days). I really got to see the truth of how complex this business model really is when I read a report from super affiliate Andre Chaperon. This guy is one of the best in the business he wrote a report taking you through the complete process of how to launch an affiliate campaign from start to finish with all the details and all the tricks of the trade. This material was free, but unfortunately he took it off-line to re-package it as a product to sell. If you are keen on this area and want a summary of his techniques, just contact me here
It seems to me you would have to dedicate your life to learning the process and my question was:- 'Are the end results worth it?'.
I wasn't smart enough to figure out a way to use this beautifully designed SMM product. Maybe I was missing something or not following instructions carefully enough (probably both). However, I had a lot of fun using it and learned lots as I lost money.
I don't go to the casino or bet on the horses, so I don't begrudge myself the year of fun I had. Maybe I'll try again one day when I'm a big boy. I still like the product despite my abject failure to make it pay.
Simple Money Machines is available in a starter 5 pak configuration and includes a free copy of Project X. It costs $377 for a year. SMM can be test driven for two weeks for $1.00. See how infopreneurship appeals to you! You can see Wayne's sales pitch here.
Website tips for artists and creative types:
Your solution to getting your creative ideas online depends on which creative type you are.
If you just want a gallery showcase go here
If you want to a create a larger online presence and are a loner who is intelligent, determined, has patience, a will to win, little money and lots of time, you can do it yourself on a shoestring budget (see option 1).
If you have $299 UDS and need a bit more help, especially in the traffic generation area, you will thrive with Sitesell.com.
If you have a bit more cash, a bit less time and want to farm out more of the grind, go to Elance.com developer services (but make sure you don't end up with a fancy site with no traffic (a classic 'developer' dead-end).
If becoming an infopreneur is your creative 'thing' then take the Simple Money Machines free trial for a couple of weeks to play around with the idea, but be warned, its not as easy as the sales pitch makes out.
Hopefully this report has been informative and fun at the same time and you can now see some light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to my sister Lisa for coming over from New Zealand to prompt me to complete this report and thanks to little Mia for being a poser.
How to be an Internet hermit and parakeet lover - Barbara Ling
How to set up search engine loving sites - Andy Williams
How to have fun whilst losing money - Wayne Van Dyke
How to build a monetized website with the least expenditure - Ken Evoy
How to corral web designers into submission - Elance.com
How to find out exactly how expensive a fancy web host can be - Web.com
Online since 1997 (that's about 100 years in Internet terms), Sitesell are a 'community' based organization who will guide you through all the stages of setting up and profiting from your own website or multiple sites. SiteSell is the Company and SiteBuildIt is the tool kit.
They started small in the 'cretaceous' period of the world wide web and only use their own tools and software. The fact they don't buy in 3rd party systems makes their prices more competitive than some of their rivals. Where their service differs from a web designer is firstly the cost is less because you are doing the work yourself (under close guidance).
Secondly, no local web designer or fancy web host I ever worked with has been able to give clear marketing advice on how best to make money online using the time honored tricks of the trade - Content, Traffic, Pre-Sell and Monetize (CTPM).
In my experience, local web designers just take your money and run, shrugging their shoulders when your site makes no money and gets no traffic. What do they care, they've been paid? If you mentioned CTPM they would look at you with a blank expression. Either they don't know how ecommerce works or they don't feel as if its part of their job to share it with you. Maybe I've just had bad experiences, but I am not the first to make this observation.
I feel like a sap not to have
figured this one out
earlier, but I
suppose there's a steep learning curve on the Internet.
suppose there's a steep learning curve on the Internet.
Basically Sitesell offer exactly all the stuff you have read about in option 1 (going it alone) - only they put it all into a self contained package and give you a yearly price for one website. Offering a bundle of software, technical support and interactive forums, they are essentially a community based around the work of founder Dr Ken Evoy. If you are loner at heart, you will not like this approach.
If you prefer some back-up, you'll love it. Check out their sales pitch here (make sure you take the video tour as you'll learn something even if you don't join SBI). The costs per year is currently $299 USD per website. They have occasional special offers where you can get 2 sites for $399 USD. You can try it for free for a month (you keep the domain name for free) or try it for 2 months for $50.
Pause for newbie questions:
Q.Why is Sitesell any different to any other fancy web hosting service I see online like GoDaddy.com or Web.com?
A. As well as all the tools and the back-up, its simply the hands-on help that enables your site to get high rankings with the search engines. In a perverse way I hope people in my niche don't read this report as I don't want the competition.
Q.Why is Sitesell any different to any other fancy web hosting service I see online like GoDaddy.com or Web.com?
A. As well as all the tools and the back-up, its simply the hands-on help that enables your site to get high rankings with the search engines. In a perverse way I hope people in my niche don't read this report as I don't want the competition.
To
get the low down on whether Sitesell is value for money take the
time to read the thread of this
forum.
This thread is a discussion between various people who have used Sitesell and what their experiences have been.
Some people are very pro and, interestingly, one person who had a bad experience and calls Sitesell a 'cult' gets a severe telling off from the people who swear by it.
Are they brainwashed cult members or just happy not to be out there on their own, like babes in the woods?
Cult or community? You decide. SiteSell (SiteBuildIt SBI).
For my own web development plans, Sitesell is the perfect vehicle. It's hard to describe how much I like SBI. Without wanting to sound like a fanatical cult member, I wish I'd found it years ago.
The one thing I could say as a negative is the teaching resources are grouped into 10 modules - each named as days 1 - 10. By SBI's own admission the modules take way longer than one day to complete. In my case, day 7 (which is the module glibly instructing me to write 50 pages of original prime content) has been ongoing for 3 months already and I'm only on page 30. However, I am glad to see my first pages already at number 1 slot in some google searches and have up to 100 page views per day of free traffic (and I haven't started the promotional module yet).
Part of the 'Tao' of SBI is the 'Tortoise' mind set. Remember - the tortoise wins the race, not the hare!
2. Elance Developer Services
| To navigate to their web developer packages go to elance.com home page, then go to right hand side of the page and under 'Elance Packages', click on the link 'Fixed Price Packages' then click on the link inside the 'Websites' box. |
Who are elance.com? How can they help me? What do they charge?
If you are an artist who just wants a website to promote and sell your work online, I recommend using this option. Think carefully about how you will get traffic to your website though (this single issue is the reason most websites online are merely financial liabilities for their owners - and NEVER pay their way).
The idea here is that elance.com, the 'find-a-freelancer' site, have figured out that they could be a major player in the newbie-getting-online niche. You need to go to their "Web Developer Packages" section (not their ordinary pages).
How it works is you first tell them your website needs - by filling in a questionnaire about your goals, website requirements, style preferences and sites you like etc.
Within 2 days you get 3 proposals from different web developers. You pick the style you like the most and the respective designer will be assigned to your project. Three days after selecting the proposal you like, you receive up to 5 custom concepts for your website.
You choose the concept you like most and the design concept you pick is the starting point. They develop the website and revise it based on your feedback. You see revisions in about 2 days. They give you up to 10 revisions.
Developer costs range between $395 USD for 1 page and $1495 for 11 - 20 pages. My first 'authority' site was well over 30 pages, so would have been off the scale. If you go for this option, I suggest you write your own content as elance will charge an extra $70 USD per page to write it for you.
Also, make sure you can go back in an edit your pages yourself. Think about combining this option with option 1 and learn how to publish your own pages in the web developers style once you have paid for the first few pages.
Basically, Elance use their position of power over the web developers to control and manage them (like a buying agent) - making sure you get the best possible service for the money.
It is an excellent option for newbies who want a fast and effective route to site building and have the budget to pay for it.
In my view it gives you a better deal than using a local web designer.
However, there is one major flaw that I can see. I have not used the service myself, but I have researched it as an option. Maybe I missed it, and if so I'll stand corrected, but nowhere in the information did I see any reference to content building around targeted keywords (the 'C' and 'T' from CTPM).
If you are looking to use Elance Developer Services make sure you have this area covered before you do anything or pay out any money. Read Andy Williams web pages and free newsletters to find out more about this subject (or watch the SBI videos).
Its no good having a wonderful site if you have not set it up to target the appropriate niche properly. Even if elance do cover this area in the process, its a flaw in their sales pitch not to make it abundantly obvious. Apart from this omission, it looks like a very good option which I would seriously consider.
| To navigate to their web developer packages go to elance.com home page, then go to right hand side of the page and under 'Elance Packages', click on the link 'Fixed Price Packages' then click on the link inside the 'Websites' box. |
3. SimpleMoneyMachines.com
(also known as SmartMoneyWebsites.com)
The dawn of the age of the Infopreneur
It may seem not to be the case as you are reading this section, but I am a fan of simplemoneymachines.com / smartmoneywebsites.com and their founder Wayne Van Dyke. I think the actual product is a wonderful bit of kit, but the business model Wayne teaches is seriously flawed (for newbies). However, Wayne has a different view. Here's what he says:
| Selling third party products, as
an affiliate, is BY FAR, the FASTEST and EASIEST way to make money
online. |
Launched about a year ago now, this product is a niche within a niche. It sets out to give newbies all the stuff they need to publish single page affiliate pre-sell pages (in other words become an infopreneur).
Pause for newbie questions:
Q. What's an infopreneur?
A. In this context an infopreneur is someone who, rather than taking the time and trouble to build authority sites and creating their own set of products to sell, they go into business just like the bookshop owner, selling other peoples' stuff, only digital products. Sounds good in theory, right? Wayne insists that newbies can be trained to select digital information products (like ebooks) from a broker like Clickbank.com, devise a single page pre-sell web page to promote the product, and get traffic to the pre-sell page either by paying for pay per click advertising (ppc) from search engines or organizing free traffic somehow.
Q.What's an affiliate and what is a pre-sell page?
A. An affiliate is a web publisher who earns a commission from recommending or publicizing someone elses product or service. A pre-sell page is a specifically designed page to 'warm up' a targeted visitor. Pre-sell is the 'P' in CTPM and would be no different to going into a bookshop and being enticed into buying by the displays and ambiance inside (after all the bookshop didn't write the book - its someone elses baby).
Q. What's an infopreneur?
A. In this context an infopreneur is someone who, rather than taking the time and trouble to build authority sites and creating their own set of products to sell, they go into business just like the bookshop owner, selling other peoples' stuff, only digital products. Sounds good in theory, right? Wayne insists that newbies can be trained to select digital information products (like ebooks) from a broker like Clickbank.com, devise a single page pre-sell web page to promote the product, and get traffic to the pre-sell page either by paying for pay per click advertising (ppc) from search engines or organizing free traffic somehow.
Q.What's an affiliate and what is a pre-sell page?
A. An affiliate is a web publisher who earns a commission from recommending or publicizing someone elses product or service. A pre-sell page is a specifically designed page to 'warm up' a targeted visitor. Pre-sell is the 'P' in CTPM and would be no different to going into a bookshop and being enticed into buying by the displays and ambiance inside (after all the bookshop didn't write the book - its someone elses baby).
I had fun
doing it though.For me, the skills you need to be successful in this field are massive - too massive for me. There are a lot of people sucked into this affiliate world thinking of the get-rich-quick potential.
There is NOT any get-rich-quick potential but there certainly is get-poor-quick potential. Nine out of ten affiliate campaigns devised by experienced and clever infopreneur marketers fail using this business model.
That's
the point.
Nine out of ten failures mean one in ten can succeed. The one successful campaign means passive income on auto-pilot for the foreseeable future with no further input required. So if you can master the skills and can live with a 1 in 10 success rate you're cookin'.
The idea is to generate multiple passive income streams based on the various niche areas you are interested in. As I say, good in theory, but if it was easy everyone would be doing it. I ran out of patience with this business model - couldn't accept the failure rate (it broke my perfectionist heart to see one after another of my carefully crafted campaigns fail).
I even bought the affiliates guide book Project Xas recommended by Wayne which also didn't work for me (it didn't come free in the SMM pack in those days). I really got to see the truth of how complex this business model really is when I read a report from super affiliate Andre Chaperon. This guy is one of the best in the business he wrote a report taking you through the complete process of how to launch an affiliate campaign from start to finish with all the details and all the tricks of the trade. This material was free, but unfortunately he took it off-line to re-package it as a product to sell. If you are keen on this area and want a summary of his techniques, just contact me here
It seems to me you would have to dedicate your life to learning the process and my question was:- 'Are the end results worth it?'.
I wasn't smart enough to figure out a way to use this beautifully designed SMM product. Maybe I was missing something or not following instructions carefully enough (probably both). However, I had a lot of fun using it and learned lots as I lost money.
I don't go to the casino or bet on the horses, so I don't begrudge myself the year of fun I had. Maybe I'll try again one day when I'm a big boy. I still like the product despite my abject failure to make it pay.
Simple Money Machines is available in a starter 5 pak configuration and includes a free copy of Project X. It costs $377 for a year. SMM can be test driven for two weeks for $1.00. See how infopreneurship appeals to you! You can see Wayne's sales pitch here.
Conclusion
Website tips for artists and creative types:
Your solution to getting your creative ideas online depends on which creative type you are.
If you just want a gallery showcase go here
If you want to a create a larger online presence and are a loner who is intelligent, determined, has patience, a will to win, little money and lots of time, you can do it yourself on a shoestring budget (see option 1).
If you have $299 UDS and need a bit more help, especially in the traffic generation area, you will thrive with Sitesell.com.
If you have a bit more cash, a bit less time and want to farm out more of the grind, go to Elance.com developer services (but make sure you don't end up with a fancy site with no traffic (a classic 'developer' dead-end).
If becoming an infopreneur is your creative 'thing' then take the Simple Money Machines free trial for a couple of weeks to play around with the idea, but be warned, its not as easy as the sales pitch makes out.
Hopefully this report has been informative and fun at the same time and you can now see some light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to my sister Lisa for coming over from New Zealand to prompt me to complete this report and thanks to little Mia for being a poser.
Bibliography and links for further reading:
How ebay can be a free traffic source - Jim CockrumHow to be an Internet hermit and parakeet lover - Barbara Ling
How to set up search engine loving sites - Andy Williams
How to have fun whilst losing money - Wayne Van Dyke
How to build a monetized website with the least expenditure - Ken Evoy
How to corral web designers into submission - Elance.com
How to find out exactly how expensive a fancy web host can be - Web.com