4 ms·

how do you define success? I'd say even "breaking even + $30K/yr" does not apply to 90% of websites/web businesses.

• nazgulnarsil 16y ago
  no opportunity cost WRT a normal career path :)
  • vaksel 16y ago
    by that criteria you can create a wordpress blog, slap some adsense on it, and make $10 a month with it.
    • jacquesm 16y ago
      And even that is harder than it seems.
      • MisterWebz 16y ago
        Not really. Updating regularly with good content and some SEO and you could easily get $10/month with adsense.
        • jacquesm 16y ago
          > Updating regularly > with good content > and some SEO > could That's what I said. Updating regularly for $10 / month is a pretty hefty commitment, that's going to work out to what ? $0.30 / hour ? Good content requires writing skills and editing skills. SEO requires SEO skills, you'll have to do that yourself because at $10 / month you are not going to pass it off to someone else to do it for you. That's a good bit of reading. And finally, that's a 'could', not a 'will' or 'shall', it remains to be seen if it will work for that particular case of content, update frequency and SEO skills. For less than $300 / month you're better off washing cars.
          • MisterWebz 16y ago
            You're making it sound like you need to be a professional writer to earn $10/month. I can earn that amount with maybe 20 minutes of work every 2 or 3 days, which, by the way, anyone can unless they're computer illiterate. Whether you're better off washing cars is another argument.
            • mrtron 16y ago
              So ~200 minutes per month for 10$ ~3$/hr
            • codexon 16y ago
              30 / 2 * 20 / 60 / 10 that comes out to $2 per hour.
              • MisterWebz 16y ago
                So what's your point?
                • codexon 16y ago
                  Well my point is that $2/hour is kind of low. Whenever I see people giving these estimates about how their blog is earning $5 a day without doing anything, they always seem to be low-balling the amount of time they spent on it. I've had multiple ad sense websites and they all net below $1/hour. I'm sure I can improve that, but not enough to be a worthwhile part-time job. I would be happy to have someone prove me wrong by helping me build a low effort $10+/hour blog, but until then, I remain skeptical.
                  • MisterWebz 16y ago
                    So writing something for 20 minutes every 3 days (which some might even enjoy) counts as a part-time job? It's like saying browsing on HN is a part-time job. Or were you talking about the $5 a day? In that case, yes, you might have to put a little more effort into it. However, building a blog that earns $5 a day without doing anything(or let's just say, doing a lot less than you're supposed to) is possible, but it's just not ethical.
  • skmurphy 16y ago
    The "normal career path" looks very different from ages 20-40 than 40-60: that's what creates a lot of "involuntary entrepreneurs." Not everyone starting work at Google today, for example, will enjoy the same kinds of returns, and even job security, that have been demonstrated over the last ten years.