A website network is a collection of internet properties run for profit, often by a single entrepreneur.  Obviously, this idea of a website network is not a new concept.  Webmasters have run multiple websites as long the there has been a world wide web.  And recently, blog networks are all the rage.  The fact is that in the last few years, a few factors have converged to make it easier and more lucrative to run such a network, which explains why they are popping up all over the place.  Below, I give some of the reasons why website networks are doing well, and what you can do about it.

The Internet Means of Production

This one is simple enough.  For one, buying domain names and hosting has never been cheaper.  The process is simple and accessible.  Perhaps more importantly, the appearance of free, easy-to-use content management systems (CMSs) such as WordPress, Joomla, phpBB, and NucleusCMS means that now anybody can set up a professional looking, dynamic site that is easy to update and maintain.  What’s more, sites set up on a CMS are usually optimized for search engines.

This means that the technical and design aspects of running a website are no longer a big part of the equation.  Now, the value you provide is key, whether it’s in terms of content, community, product, or service.  What’s more, if you actually do have some technical and/or design knowledge, you can accomplish more with it.

The New Monetization

This is the clincher.  As the internet has matures, more and more of the economy is moving online.  Products, services, and advertising are making their way online at a faster pace, and people are more comfortable with spending money on the internet.

To the owner of a website network, the growth of spending on online ads is a huge piece of the puzzle.  In the US, the online advertising market is estimated at $16 billion and growing fast [source].  Hence the traffic generated by a website network is becoming more valuable.

Also, it’s easier than ever to monetize that traffic.  The days of dealing individually with each advertiser are numbered as shared-revenue programs take over.  These programs include gorillas such as AdSense and YPN, and upstarts such as Text-Link-Ads, and AdBrite.  Their value proposition is that they allow a network owner to more quickly and easily monetize his internet properties.  This frees up the network owner’s time to concentrate on what he does best - creating value.

The Internet Solopreneur

These days, a network of websites can realistically be run and maintained by just one [motivated and well-organized] person.  And so the Internet Solopreneur is born.  By no means does the solopreneur do everything himself, the solo- in solo-preneur just means that he makes the decisions and collects the profits.  Much of the work can be contracted out to business partners, bloggers, designers, drop-shippers, and the community who visits the sites.  In my experience, these guys tend to be web-savvy, productive, involved, and accessible.  Off the top of my head, and in no particular order, here are a few solopreneurs running website networks:

• Patrick O’Keefe’s ifroggy network
• Chrispian’s 451 Press
• Tyler Cruz’s network
• Guincho Guy’s network
• Jon Waraas’ Developer Hut Network

Check them out - chances are very good that you will learn something

Technorati Tags: ais, entrepreneurship, monetization, blog_network, solopreneur, website_network

I’m sure that to many of you, this is small potatoes (and it is), but I’ve learned that celebrating the small victories often helps to motivate you even more.  So raise your tequila shots, because I just made my first affiliate sale!

I’ve been experimenting with affiliate links from Commission Junction on this blog, as well as on my Myspace text messaging site - Textu.org.  Because of it’s viral nature, TextU gets more traffic.  Also, it’s not a leap of faith to think that many of it’s users will have cell phones, and that some percentage of those users would like personalizing their phones.

So I placed some affiliate links to services such as DadaMobile, which sells ring tones on a subscription basis.  It’s taken over a month, but it looks like my hunch was right.  Out of only 9 clicks this month, I made one (huge) $6 sale.  Now, it’s time to figure out how to up my click-through-rate.

Technorati Tags: affiliatesales, celebrate, monetization, textu

Today the honor goes to a single entrepreneur.  Dan Raine recently completed the 15K challenge, which is a crazy internet marketing challenge he dreamed up with his friends one night when they all had a little too much absinthe.  (Not lying, check out the about page.) The challenge was to make $15,000 from a standing start, at the end of 30 days, using only $150 investment, and not falling back to any of his previous lists, products, or reputation.  I’ll let you go to his site to see how he panned out.

Dan is an experienced Internet Marketer, and he kept a detailed blog throughout the whole process.  This to me was the most valuable piece of the project.  Once I started reading, I went from day 1 to day 90 without getting up from my chair.  It was a real insight into the internet marketing process, and the level of detail was great.  A must read for anyone wanting to learn about viral marketing.  Thanks for this great resource Dan!

Chances are good that by now you’ve heard of Text Link Ads.(aff) Although they’ve been around now for almost a year, it’s only recently that I’ve begun to see them gain traction all over the blogosphere.  And after trying out their program for a Publisher’s perspective for the last few weeks, my conclusion is that that traction is well deserved.

Everybody in the blog world knows that links from other blogs have value (and a lot of value in certain cases).  These guys - Andy Hagans and Patrick Gavin, just started acting like it.  The service is simple and elegant.  Instead of giving up massive amounts of page real estate to post large blocks of ads that pay on a performance basis, you rent out a comparatively small amount of page space for a decent monthly fee.  Presto!  Instant passive income from your blog.

From a publishers point of view, this is great for several reasons.  First, you’re trading only a small amount of space for income.  Second, the ads are one liners and don’t necessarily even look like ads.  Third and most important, you actually get some editorial control over the ads that are placed on your page.  That’s huge!

From an ad buyer’s point of view the perks are great too.  The biggest one I see is in terms of Link Popularity.  Unlike google ads, and most link exchange programs, these are actual, plain old HTML text links.  No javascript, etc.  This means that the links will actually contribute to an ad buyer’s page rank and search engine rankings.  And this is on top of the traffic he’s receiving from the links he’s buying at market value.  Though to be sure, results will vary widely since Alexa rankings and “link popularity” are not necessarily a good indication of traffic.

Signing up as a Publisher is free and easy.(aff) What do you have to lose?  Signing up to buy links is also relatively painless, and right now they have a promotion where they’re giving away $100 of Free Links!(aff) To be clear, I’m suggesting Text Link Ads because in my opinion it is a great opportunity, the affiliate program is just frosting on the cake.

I think a big part of being entrepreneurial is learning how to set big goals and how to achieve them.  That’s a philosophy that I also apply to my fitness goals, which is why this weekend I found myself in Baja California biking the 52 miles between Rosarito and Ensenada.  The ride itself was rewarding and difficult, and the accompanying weekend in Baja with my friends was a blast.  I highly recommend the event, which happens twice a year.

In the spirit of traveling and adventure, I recently came upon a great blog called Adventure Money.  Steve has set a goal to save up enough money for long-term travel and a date by which he will quit his job in order to engage in said travel.  Here’s his progress so far.

Yesterday’s “Entrepreneurs of the Week” was short (because I was tired) so here are some more shoutouts that I saved for later.  No More Cubes has a fabulous name, and on top of that, some great advice on how to get rid of bad clients.  In my limited experience, I’ve already had to deal with a couple of such clients, and it was no fun.  It makes you understand why some freelancers say that instead of one boss, they now have 50.  Jaroad is also off to a great start with his online money-making ventures, having launched a money blog with a short and memorable name, and a niche site already.  And last but not least, One Greek Store which is run in party by 22 year old Dennis, just got an embroidery machine.  What can I say, it’s fun to live vicariously through the lives of other entrepreneurs.  Best of luck to all.

I’ve been brainstorming possibilities for a weekly feature here on Flee the Cube, and I’m ready to give one of them a try.  As it is, I spend way too much time reading the blogs of internet entrepreneurs, and I figure that I can pass on some of that value by pointing out the most interesting posts.  So here are the Internet Entrepreneurs of the Week:

1. When I first read Dave Cheong’s blog I found it amusing that we had so much in common.  Dave is Java Software Engineer with entrepreneurial aspirations and a keen interest in personal development.  Sounds familiar.  Dave shares a list of the top stumbling blocks for new businesses.  His posts on personal development and on productivity are also good reads.
2. Tyler Cruz is a 23 year old internet entrepreneur from Canada.  Tyler’s claim to fame is that he is making an average of $239 a day from his internet ventures.  In his latest post, Tyler gives a very interesting insight into where his income comes from and how it breaks down.
3. In the world of Automatic Income Streams (AIS), everybody knows Burt!  Burt is a smart guys and his blog is full of great information on how to generate an income online.  I especially liked this post on how to create an income stream without a website.
4. Someone recently pointed me in the direction of MBA on The Run.  I already do a lot of my “reading” by listening to audio books and podcast in my downtime (driving, exercise, errands, chores) and John has a lot of great book suggestions and reviews, as well as this list of podcasts, which is similar to my recent post on podcasts for entrepreneurs.

Technorati Tags: ais, ebusiness, entrepreneurship, linklove, solopreneur