This Kind of Online Asset Might Surprise You… With How Easy It Is
If you know me, I’m all about online assets – websites that pay you, month after month.
I have several of these kinds of websites but one that’s kind of an oddball, which still makes money each month is TheOriginalSource.com. Here’s how it looks:
There’s no real theme to that website. It’s just informational articles put into categories. It’s mostly questions and answers. It makes money and it’s actually kind of fun to make.
But here’s why this is so easy…
I don’t aim to write 20 articles a month or anything like that – it started out that way (a long time ago) but that’s not how I use it now. I only post articles here when there’s something I need an answer to.
For example, here’s a popular post:
Samsung TV Restart Problem – Fixed!
This was years ago… I had an LCD TV that would just keep restarting when I turned it on. It was a problem and I thought I’d have to get a new TV. I told this to my friend, Al, and he suggested we take a look at it.
We opened it up and he saw that the capacitors were blown. He knew how to fix them very cheaply, so he did it. As he worked on it, I took pictures and made this post.
So, when I have a question and find a solution, I write a post about it. That’s it.
How often do you look things up online?
Almost every day, right?
But how often do you have to do multiple searches to get a good answer?
When that happens to me, that’s my cue to write up a post. It means it’s highly possible that there’s not a good result out there yet. All I have to do is make the result.
It might take 15-20 minutes… that’s it. I’ve done this a lot, so your first, few posts might take longer but just know it gets easier.
Things to Keep in Mind When Posting
Here are some important things to note and some guidelines about your post:
- Write the title of the post as a question or make it compelling
- Post in a H2 heading what question you typed into Google (make it human understandable, of course)
- Explain your situation and why you needed an answer (a short story like I did above)
- Explain the solution like if you were telling a friend how to do it – or your mom. Listing easy-to-follow steps is perfect.
- Include images or videos if applicable.
- Write a summary at the end. Ask people to comment.
- Don’t copy text from anywhere – make it totally original.
- Include links to great resources.
- Your articles don’t have to be perfect – just “good enough” that’s it.
That’s it. There’s no requirement of a certain amount of words or anything like that. If anything, the shorter, the better (seriously) – but not too short. Cover the topic well enough and then don’t feel like you have to add in fluff to get to certain word count (NO!).
Next, Monetize Your Content
The easiest way to monetize your posts is with Amazon affiliate links. You send people to Amazon and when they buy, using your special links, you get a commission.
→ In a nutshell, to make money, your solution should involve one or more Amazon products or those products should be something that can help with whatever solution you’re providing.
For example, if your article/post is about how to get to sleep faster and you have a counting trick or something, also include an Amazon product like melatonin, which might also help people.
Ideally, you want to have links to products worth $100 or more to make good commissions but don’t stick to that rule religiously. People do put other items in their cart while they’re at Amazon, so you get credit for those items, too!
Having an article with a product for under $10 might be an easier sell and then there’s a very good chance that some people are going to add more items to their cart at that time.
This article – this work you do only once (on a topic you know needs help), keeps paying for you into the future, over and over. That’s an online asset – just an article.
A really good way to monetize it is with a free WordPress plugin called Amazon Product in a Post. install it and then simply use this shortcode with the Amazon product’s ASIN number/code to get the product to show up on a page:
For example, there’s a razor I like by Gillette because it really works well with the kind of hair I have in my beard/face.
Let’s say I want to link to it.
On the product page, I search for “ASIN” and find it:
I then use this shortcode which looks like this when it’s viewed:
[amazonproducts asin=”B07K6K99Z4″]
And that’s it. Maybe put that halfway through your article and mention how it’s something that might help them.
Here’s How to Set It Up
If you’ve set up WordPress websites before, this will all make sense to you. If not, I have some help for you – along with tips that will help everyone.
1. Install WordPress
Here’s a guide I wrote on how to install WordPress – along with getting hosting and a domain name:
How to Install WordPress Guide (InstallWPGuide.com)
Choose a domain name that’s generic and general sounding so that you’re not limited to what kinds of articles people will find there. Expect the range of topics to be wide. To help with that, you’ll just create categories to help group common articles together. If you come up with a new topic not covered before, start a new category.
2. Learn WordPress
If you don’t know how, here’s some up to date training:
WordPress Tutorial Guides (WPTutorialGuides.com)
3. Go More In-Depth
I have a course on how to set up niche websites if you want to just concentrate on one topic:
Set Up a Website That Pays in 7 Days (TonyHerman.com)
4. Do Just a Question/Answer Type Website
This is another course I came out with the just deals with writing very short posts about a single topic. The great thing is, you get instant traffic from Google if you set it up like I explain. That means you get to see money rolling in much sooner.
Easy Content Websites (https://EasyContentWebsites.com)
5. Learn More About Affiliate Marketing & Making Products
Maybe Amazon won’t work for you want your website is about. In that case, you might have to turn to other sources or even come up with your own product.
Here’s more info about affiliate marketing – it’s a free guide:
Affiliate Marketing for Beginners (TonyHerman.com)
And learn more about Amazon affiliate marketing:
How to Become a Successful Amazon Affiliate (PDFReports.com)
And to come up with a really great product you can sell for $7 to $27 or more in less than an hour, here’s a great course about that:
1 Hour Product Creation (PDFReports.com)
Conclusion
My mom used to have a website like this. Back then, she just put AdSense ads on it and she was making around $100 every two months. Yeah, my mom did it.
I make a few hundred a month doing this kind of thing. This is really a long-term strategy, which means you won’t make that right away. If you really crank out articles, it can happen sooner or my Easy Content Websites course can help you get there way sooner as well.
All of this, of course, completely depends on the amount of work you put into it. I can’t promise or guarantee you’ll be successful but if you’re willing to spend time building something that is very likely to pay off into the future and keep paying off (since you only do the work once), then give this a try. It has worked for me.
I could have put the info here into a small course and could have charged you $17 for it, but the info here is free… for now. Maybe I’ll do this in the future – it’s that good of a plan/strategy. Instead of watching TV every night, invest in your future and set up your own website so you later keep getting paid.
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