How to Publish Website Content for a Living

Are you a website content geek like me? Do you love to research new topics, write about them, and publish your content online for readers? Would you like to do it for a living? If so, this blog post is for you.

Let me start by saying this is not the only "recipe" for running a work-at-home Internet business. Nor is this the only model for publishing website content for a living. This is just my story. This is how I've done things, and it has worked well for me. I've been running a home-based Internet publishing business for about three years now, and I've done pretty well so far. I've even managed to survive and thrive during the current economic recession.

Here are some things I've learned along the way.

• You need to publish content that interests you. I currently manage a dozen blogs, but they are all built around topics that interest me -- topics ranging from real estate to reptiles. This makes it a lot easier to publish new content day in and day out.
  
• In the early days, I tried to blog about potentially profitable topics that did not interest me, but that didn't last long. If you publish website content about topics that interest you, you'll be more inclined to stick with it over time.
• When one website starts to do well for you, take those lessons and apply them to website #2 ... and then website #3 and #4, etc. It's possible to make a living from a single website, but it's also quite a challenge. I recommend publishing several websites, and working hard to grow them all in tandem. I like to refer to this as "raising crops." Farmers diversify their crops for long-term security. You should do the same with your websites and blogs.
  
• Experiment with different revenue generators. I've experimented with at least a dozen techniques for generating website revenue. Currently, most of my earnings come from advertising, commission programs, e-book sales, and consultation services. But it took me a couple of years to figure out what worked best, based on the nature of my websites and the people who use them. This kind of experimentation never ends, by the way.
  
• Learn how to be efficient. The more efficiently you can publish website content, the more content you'll have over time. This means more traffic and, ultimately, more revenue. Just don't sacrifice the quality of your content for quantity. And speaking of quality...
• Work hard to publish website content that truly helps people. Don't ever put anything online until it meets your highest standards for quality. If you publish excellent information, people will link to it and recommend it to others. This is a key ingredient for success as a full-time Internet publisher.
• Learn how to use free and helpful tools like Google Reader. If you set up an RSS reader and gather RSS feeds from relevant news sources, you'll have a constant source of content ideas at your fingertips. This is how I'm able to publish so many blogs -- I don't have to waste time looking for stories to cover, ideas to write about, etc. They come to me.
  
• Learn everything you can about search engine optimization. The higher your blogs and websites rank in the search engines, the more traffic you'll get. More traffic equals more revenue. I've created a collection of SEO tutorials to help you with this.
• Most importantly, stick with it! I started with a single hobby website, and I was thrilled when it made ten dollars a day. Now I have a network of websites, with new ones coming online every year. It's a full-time job that pays all of my bills. I don't say this to boast, but only to motivate you. If you can envision success as a full-time Internet publisher, then you can achieve success.
  

I hope this list of tips gives you the motivation and the initial guidance you need to get started. If you have any questions about publishing web content -- and doing it for a living -- feel free to email me. There's a "contact" link at the top of the blog for this reason. Good luck.

Related article:
How to Start an Internet Business