The One Year Millionaire

When that lightbulb in your head first goes off and you get that brilliant idea… What is your first step? The best business choices in the past have either been to do something completely different from everyone else and hope that it catches a buzz and work to your favor, or stick to what has been tried and tested… something that has been known to succeed!

Marketing strategies have changed dramatically over the years with different trends and variations, but one thing has stayed constant; whenever there is a successful company… there is a hundred or more that are out there trying to copy them and the reason is simply because it works.

Obviously you should use your discretion when using these types of techniques but if done correctly then you will be able to capitalize on the same market that your competitors are currently dominating! The basic theory is that if a formula is successful then it should work with any given alternatives. The originator will usually keep his top spot, but there have been a couple of isolated cases where a copy-cat had later risen above the company he has copied.

You don’t want to copy a website completely… this is an easy way to catch a lawsuit! The best thing to do is take subtle details and certain visualizations and re-create them to your liking. Here are a couple things that you do:

1. Selecting a Font.
   Font Choice for a website is very important and you will notice that many surfers will leave your webpage quickly if your text isn’t legible. Fonts that have worked in the past will always work and you should stick to a simple font for most content based pages. Check out what types of fonts your competitors are using and use a similar one. Never use more than 3 fonts on any given page and you should even stick to just 1 or 2 with variant styles for your entire web page.
2. Color Schemes.
   You may have noticed already that most successful websites have a pretty basic color scheme. The are a few exeptions, but generally the most successful websites will have black text over a really light (white, light gray) background color. There have been marketing statistics done in the past about what kind of colors surfers prefer and the vast majority will stray away from an aqua colored font over a yellow background!
3. Images/Photos.
   You may have noticed this already… but my header on my blog contains a photo of a luxury car. If you haven’t looked around the internet before, many websites that have anything to say about making money online will either show graphics of expensive cars, money in all forms, or beautiful white mansions by the ocean This is because the webmaster wants to offer the surfer the ability to reach their dreams. In other domains they may have different images, but remember that if you have a website about football, then don’t start posting pictures of ballerinas or synchronized swimmers!
4. Layout/Structure.
   The layout of a website is extremely important. You have to make your website easy to navigate while maintaining a professional image! There are times when you will have to implement ads for revenue and other links so make sure that you do have some free space available. When deciding on a layout for your site… once again check out what your competitors have been doing. If it has been successful for them, then chances are that this structure will do good for your site as well.

Now taking all these things into account, please be aware that this will probably not skyrocket your sales. This will provide a boost and if anything build a good solid list of returning visitors so that your website can attain popularity. You might not be able to beat your main competitors but if you can stand up to them then you have done a great job!

In the next issue of the ‘ONE YEAR MILLIONAIRE’ I am going to focus a little bit of my attention on Google Adsense and give you a couple tips that you can use to increase your adsense earnings!