The Information Age

This is said to be the information age and the economy, -The Information Economy. What this implies is that the world turns on the right kind of information. Not just any information, but the most useful, easily digestible kind of information. The Internet has clearly allowed access to a large quantity of information- but someone has to sift through it, distinguish the good from bad, right from wrong and present this information in an easily consumable form. And obviously no single site can do this for all types of information that is out there. And this is where the opportunity lies today.

There are news sites, themselves further specialized into General News, Sports News, Financial News and so forth. There are sites on poetry, literature, video games, dating, biology, physics, chemistry, fossils, and geology so on and on and on. Only the best of those sites however attract major traffic and develop the credibility needed to establish themselves as a source in that field. And then again you have sites such as Yahoo! that specialize in organizing at a higher level- providing links to the best resources for a large number of fields of general interest.

Follow these steps for capitalizing on this income opportunity and creating an information site:

Step 1 of 6. Are you interested in a particular area?

Tap your interests in any particular area, especially in any niche area. Are you interested in music? In specifically say, the violin? You can create a good site with information on it. Interested in childrens books? Focused on mystery stories? A very useful and useable site could be created in that area. Perhaps you have a poultry farm? A site with useful information could be created about that!

It is not necessary that your site be the only site with information in that particular niche area, but you should strive to provide something extra and additionally useful on top of what may already be available on other similar informational sites. Of course if you are unique in what you are providing, then you will get the great first mover's advantage. And to get to that level, you need to dig deeper and focus narrowly within a broad general area.

Sometimes you may just have a passing interest, but you can deepen that interest and use the knowledge thus gained in developing a superb and informative site.

Step 2 of 6. Collect the best information on the Internet.

Once an area is identified, begin collecting and aggregating information from across different sites on the Internet on that topic. Classify this information and make it available in an easily useable format.

Say if your area of interest was antique tables, you may want to classify based on the time period of the table, quality of wood, type of carpentry, type of table and so forth- so that the reader can easily navigate through your site. You may even wish to tell your information in that form of a story (in addition to having it cleanly classified) so that it becomes a pleasure to read and absorb. Your site must save hours and hours of searching for the reader, because you have already done so!

Step 3 of 6. Keep the site fresh with new content

Now, once the site is created with all the useful information and data- you must provide continuous updates.

Say if it is about Physics, you should update the site about new advancements in the field, any latest awards, new applications and so forth. In the absence of new advancements, you could provide profiles of great physicists, their life stories, stories of great discoveries in the field and so forth. The site should always have new information to attract repeat traffic.

Step 4 of 6. Attract Traffic

Once the basic set up and operation for the site is in place, you can begin employing strategies to optimize your site for search engines, get listed in various site directories, and even develop strategies for setting up your own pay-per-click campaign to attract traffic. In our discussion forums, you will be able to get some suggestions for attracting traffic for your site.

Step 5 of 6. E-Zine to capture traffic data.

Once you have a steady traffic on your site, you should attempt to develop a weekly or daily newsletter.

Sending information that is useful and relevant to your users can help you develop a loyal customer base, and also help you monetize that base by allowing brief advertisements in your newsletter. You need to have about 100,000 users to whom you email regularly to charge say $100/advertisement per mailing. Thus a weekly mailing with 3 advertisements (an average number) would fetch you about $15,000/year- a nice chunk of change.

Step 6 of 6. Monetize the traffic.

You can additionally monetize the traffic by using Google AdSense, and also by acting as affiliates for stores that sell products related to your site's theme.

Your credibility will help you make sales for the stores, and you will gain a commission doing so. Success as an affiliate takes plenty of effort- developing traffic, developing credibility, recommending useful products and never letting your readers down; it is easy to become an affiliate- but making serious money as an affiliate takes some doing. However, once you establish success, it can become a rich source of supplemental income for you.

The Information Age is upon us, and the Internet has made access to information extremely easy. However, now it is not a matter of access to information, but instead the availability of information in an easy to use and consumable format. There are still millions to be made in organizing information and presenting it in an easy to use format- so hop on the train and develop a steady stream of income on the side by using your knowledge of areas that you are already interested in!