Big Lesson on how to make money online
By Marques • Aug 27th, 2007 • Category: Internet, Web designIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
What I’m about to write could be about the Environment, could be about Web Design or could be simply about a kind of Ingenuity that is probably resulting in high revenues. I opted for the third one…
In the beginning…
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It seems that it all begun with an article by Rising Phoenix Design explaining how a darker web site layout saves energy. Of course this applies mostly to CRT monitors.
The reasoning is quite simple to understand and the numbers indicate that white or bright colors can use up to 20% more energy than black or dark colors.
In LCD monitors, since the backlight is always on, the difference in energy consumption between bright or dark colors display comes only from the energy needed to activate the crystals, and is therefore residual.
And a blogger came along…
In January 2007, Mark Ontkush from ecoIron, a blog dedicated to green computing and sustainable technologies in IT, picked up on that article, did some math and calculated that a black version of Google would save 750 Megawatt-hours a year. I could go with you through the numbers but it is definitely best if you jump to his blog and read the full story.
Now, we are finally entering into a “green era”. People are starting to realize that environmental changes are happening and that some adjustments are required in the way we face energy consumption even if just bit by bit. And if a Black Google would help, then why wasn’t Google doing it? 750 Megawatt-hours a year is a big number after all.
The lesson on how to make money online comes at last…
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So, what does all of this has to do with making money online? A lot. If not, look at it this way: Tony Heap, owner of HeapMedia, an Australian company founded in 2005, probably read that original post by ecoIron, probably saw that the “green bug” is hitting a little all over the place making such a post reach over 4000 diggs, and definitely saw its potential for a big source of online revenue.
Blackle (part of HeapMedia) was born some time after Mark mentioned a black google and, in reality, is not more than exactly that: a Google search box placed on a black page with the Blackle grayish logo on top. And since this is a Google custom search box, the end result for the user is in theory not different from the Google site itself and it means that on the results page of every query, the top links are sponsored. Every time a visitor clicks one of those links, either by genuine interest on the link or by not knowing that is a sponsored link, Tony’s cash register becomes happier.
I won’t go for actual numbers but Blackle is a site ranked by Alexa at more or less 10,000. Not too impressive, but not bad for sure. Now, if you go there, you’ll probably do a search. If one visitor our of, let’s say five, actually clicks on one of those links, Tony’s cash register must be very happy indeed.
Nowadays, many copycats have shown up: Darkoogle, Earthle, GreenerGLE, etc. All the same style, all referring to that same article, but none as successful has Blackle.
Seen the lesson already?
Making money online can sometimes not be about how good your content is or what nice affiliates you promote. Seeing the potential for revenue in something you read can be more important than all the hours spent setting up a nice site (Blackle could not have taken more than 1 hour to put online).
Keep your eyes open and who knows if you won’t stumble on something that probably won’t make you rich but can generate a nice passive revenue to complement your other online ventures.
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[...] Marques gives us a Big Lesson on how to make money online. This is a story about one smart guy and how he saw potential in a simple [...]
I admit, I went to Blackle, I did a search, after I read about it (once, no Ad clicked).
Do you remember the British guy with the idea of selling 1 million pixel of ad space on his homepage for 1 dollar each?
Sometimes it can pay off immensely at least in the short term, if you leave your usual trails and bet on the curiosity of people. But you have to be the first one for this.
Adios. — John
Hi there John.
It is as you said. The novelty and sometimes absurdness of an idea can make a big difference in success online. Curiosity is a major driver of people.
I wish I had some of these ideas once in a while.
I hope everyone adopts black/dark backgrounds. That will leave just mine with a light background that people can actually read.
If you really want to save energy, dump your computer and other electricity usage.
Stupid - I do not conserve. Since I have not contributed to the population explosion that uses more and more resources. Let the breeders conserve; I’m not.
Hi David.
Thanks for your comment.
That’s quite a blunt approach to environment issues.
Agreed, I still use the white Google (and will keep doing so) but don’t you think that we all have some responsibility towards environment?
Ok, I have to say that I think there are much better ways to address the problem than just switching to a dark background, mostly because nowadays screens hardly consume more when displaying white. But I still feel that the more “clean” I can go, the better.
[...] Since I had written some days before an article on how I thought the story of Blackle was a Big lesson on how to make money online, I decided to submit that post to the [...]
I have probably been aware of and talking about the environment longer than maybe 90% of you. Since the 1960s. Then, as now, the problem was increasing overpopulation. I wrote back then that there would be little or no pollution problems if population were limited. E.g., I wrote then that if someone dumped an empty beer can into a stream, with a limited population, it would be rusted away by the time the next hiker came by. (BTW, this was in the days of steel beer cans, not aluminum as now.)
Again, the overbreeders have caused the problems. Let THEM pay to clean up and conserve.
I’m not going to unless some bureau-rat has his hired goons put a gun to my head.