So you want to create the next big thing. The next youtube, the next myspace, maybe even the next eBay, but you don’t know where to get started. You want to make a profitable website, but you’re not sure what niche you want to target. Hopefully today I can help you make your own site by revealing some of the methods I’ve used to create my sites.
Now it is likely that the website you are about to make might have been made already. When Myspace founders created their social networking website, there had already been tons of sites similar to it on the web. At this day and age, many good ideas have been taken and it’s now harder and harder to make a site that hasn’t already been made.
Fear not, even if you can’t think of a great one-of-a-kind site to make, you can always improve or alter something already invented. Take CyWorld for example. It’s a social networking site like Myspace, but it has been successful because it created a more friendly and nice looking environment, uncluttered unlike Myspace (which adds tons of ads). It also adds some cool features like your own avatar which can represent your moods, feelings, and thoughts for the day. Although the site isn’t as popular as Myspace, it is plenty good enough to generate a crapload of revenue, and the site is gaining popularity by the day.
You may remember the days before Google when we used to use Yahoo as a search engine. Then Google came along and dominated the search engine market by providing the real content that users wanted. The same thing happened with Myspace and Xanga (Myspace eventually overtook the old blogging site), and the same thing might happen with Myspace and Cyworld. Take this as inspiration - if you take a model and improve upon it, there is a good chance you can surpass the original.
So let’s say you don’t even have a model yet. Well first ask yourself what you are interested in. If you like basketball, is there a site you could make involving it? If you have any hobbies, perhaps you could make a site about it? My friend is an avid video game player so he decided to make a website about video games. Although there were plenty of gaming sites on the web, he made his unique by sharing his own personal views on certain games. In return, he got many endorsement deals, began getting free games, and earned money off of affiliate programs. It sounds pretty obvious, but you should only make a site that contains content that you are familiar with. It’s not a wise choice to create a site about video games unless you have experience with video games. Likewise, it’s not a wise choice to make a webmastering blog if you just started webmastering 101 with Ms. Chapman at your local Middle School.
Although it’s best to come up with your own idea, many clone websites these days are making loads of money. Flash Arcades and Myspace code sites are hot, but this also means it is harder to promote and advertise them. Blogs are also hot, so if you have an interesting life or if you can teach people something (like I’m doing right now - hopefully), then you can make money with a blog (I hope to cover blog-writing in-depthly in a later article). Another trend these days is Social Networking sites made through the use of the pre-made script PHPfox. Flash arcade sites are using scripts such as Game Site Script. These are just two examples of pre-made sites that you can copy and make revenue out of. You’re not on the path to Youtube 2.0, but you still have a shot to make a revenue-generating website.
Still, being the aspiring webmaster you are, you are bent on creating something that is completely original and unique that can also make money. To help you a little bit more, let’s venture back to 2005 when the Milliondollarhomepage was created. He was just a normal student (read his blog), but he somehow came up with this brilliant idea, or maybe he was just lucky that his idea took off, in my mind the idea wasn’t that great at all (it’s hard to see those ads!), but it turned out that the site was a success. The moral behind this story is to follow your crazy ideas. Take risks, be imaginitive, delve deep into your head to find something unique.
There are three basic steps that will help anyone create a site. First, think and evaluate about topics that you have an interest in or have experience in, second, keep the ideas fresh and always brainstorm new ideas, third, obscure ideas are never stupid, what you think is stupid may become the next big thing. Hopefully I’ve helped to give you some tips and hints that may lead you to create your next site.
