Being in this business for over five years now I have made a lot of mistakes, and being a frequent reader of webmaster message boards I have seen a lot of others making mistakes. I have come to know some of the most common mistakes that new webmasters make. It is my hope that through this article I can help you avoid some of these embarrassing and sometimes even catastrophic wrong doings!
The most common mistake I see newbies making is STEALING CONTENT. There is not such thing as public domain photographs. A lot of new webmasters go to other websites and download the pictures and then make their own site with the same content expecting to make money with it. This is wrong on so many levels and I can tell about you most of them.
|
"Don't treat this as a hobby. If you're serious, you must treat it as your job. Put in the hours." |
First of all, the webmaster you just stole that content from probably paid a lot of money for the legal rights to use that content. Of course, he or she may have stolen it just as you did, but someone somewhere down the line is losing good money because of your theft. Perhaps it is the producer or photographer selling the photo set. You may or may not care about that person, but think of it this way, how many times have you seen the same photo set on website after website after website? Sometimes when the same set of pictures is bought or stolen numerous times, it becomes "saturated".
When a photo set becomes saturated, it hits hard on the content provider who is selling it, because no one will want to buy a set that they have seen on a dozen different sites already. It is hurting the webmasters who have already paid money for that content because you are further saturating it's use and taking away from the value of what they have already invested in.
You are hurting the webmasters who buy that set after you steal it because they are then spending money on a photo set that will probably be rejected by most TGP sites and link sites. You are hurting the surfers that come to your site only to see a photo set that they have already seen a hundred times over. And most importantly, you are hurting yourself because stealing content can get your sponsor accounts canceled, your hosting account canceled, cost you heavy fines if taken to court, and possibly even land you in jail for violation of copyright!
Don't think you won't get caught either, because these hard working webmasters who spend a lot of money buying content will report anything they think may be content theft because they feel cheated that they have to spend money on content that you are trying to take for free!
If these aren't enough reasons for you not to steal content, then I will give you one more. Aside from some very inexpensive quality content providers out there like ZIPContent and Pixmasters, many sponsors give content away for FREE! That's right, you can use their content free of charge as long as you advertise them on your site.
The next big mistake I have seen is trashing sponsors, content providers, other webmasters, etc. on the message boards.
You may or may not get into big trouble over this, but I can tell you one thing that will almost definitely happen to you, especially if you trash one of the bigger, more highly respected companies. You will find yourself being encountered by dozens of irate webmasters who will vigorously defend the company and they will stay angry with you for quite some time. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but trust me, the people you meet in this business can make or break your success in this business. You don't want to piss off anyone if you can help it, and posting messages that cut down other webmasters or companies is notonly completely unprofessional, but it's a sure way to make some quick enemies.
If you have a complaint that you feel you must take public, be VERY careful of what you say. Do not trash or belittle the company, rather try and convey that you personally are having problems with them and that you just want to find out what experiences other webmasters have had with them. Maybe ask if anyone could help you solve your problem. You catch more flies with honey that with vinegar, as the cliche goes, and it's true!
Another common mistake, thought not as frequent as the first two, thank goodness, is cheaters. These are people who cheat sponsors, toplists, etc. by falsely generating hits and/or signups to the program to make money or to generate more traffic from the toplist or banner exchange program. I'm not going to tell you how this is done, because if you don't know it's only the better for you, maybe you won't even be TEMPTED to try it.
All I can say is that many webmasters have tried this route, only to find themselves banned and blacklisted, virtually blackballed from the entire industry and it's not a pretty thing. If you really want to make it in this business, never, EVER cheat ANYONE. You'll only end up hurting yourself in the long run. And if you're caught? Well, I think you know what could happen...
Another common mistake is to jump in feet first without testing the waters. What do I mean by this? Well, a lot of webmasters come into this business thinking that they can make a quick fortune with very little effort, and for the most part, that is completely untrue. Sure, a few people have done it, but mostly by lying, manipulating and cheating their way into it and I can tell you right of way that well over 99% of those people are not in this biz anymore, and all that quick fortune they made has probably gone to attorney fees and court fines.
This business does take a lot of work if you want it to be a good income, and you can't just jump in, make a site and expect to get rich. You have to start by reading anything and everything you can about this business. Get you some free hosting somewhere, make a site or two or a gallery for the thumbnail posts, and see how well you can do. One thing I don't advise, that many of my fellow webmasters do, is to start on paid hosting.
I recommend that everyone start on free hosting until they see whether or not they can make money. Some people can't. You must have a genuine talent for sales and persuasion to make much money in this business. If you don't have it, it's much better to find out using free hosting than to get hit with a $500 bandwidth bill for hosting and only one or two sales to pay for it with! This has been the downfall of many, many webmasters. Don't let it be yours.
Untitled Page
Practice makes perfect, and if you spend time researching and redesigning your sites until you find something that works for you, you can fit in this business, it just takes time!
These are the most common mistakes I see, but there are others. Many, many others, here are a few more for you without going into too much detail.
A few other DON'Ts:
- DON'T start with a paysite. It costs a lot of money to start and it won't make much at first.
- DON'T be tempted to promote illegal content such as underage or animals. Self-explanatory.
- DON'T forget to keep learning. Read the boards at least once a week to stay up to date with new trends.
- DON'T neglect to help others when you can. Remember those who helped you as a newbie.
- DON'T give up if you don't make your goals. Study, practice, and keep trying!
- DON'T treat this as a hobby. If you're serious, you must treat it as your job. Put in the hours.
- DON'T be afraid to ask questions. Someone once told me the only stupid questions are the ones you don't ask.
You'll figure a lot more out on your own. The best advice I can give you is to use common sense. Frankly, there are many people out there that don't even seem to have any common
sense and it's truly sad. They are the ones that don't last in this industry. If you're truly serious, and you want to be successful in this business, you can do it. Be nice to everyone you meet, don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it, roll with the ups and downs and work hard! Good luck!