Internet Marketing Tycoon

**mrdawson** · 07-12-2007, 08:36 AM

Hello all, Over the last few years I have been doing PHP work for a small helicopter company in Las Vegas, Nevada. I've been making only $30,000 a year and this is to support my entire family. It hasn't been working well at all. I love working there but I need a second source of income and so over the last year have been trying to make a few web sites for another small income to give me that extra boost. After about 6 months into both sites being open I could tell they weren't going to go anywhere. I'm not the best marketer and I know that's part of my problem so I have been learning a lot about SEO and marketing (even took a marketing class) and really think if I got a good idea for a site I could take it somewhere (with luck of course). I just don't know where to start though. My past ideas where an article site and a video hosting site. I see they both probably won't the best of ideas because they have been used so much. I've thought it over and I just can't think of anything that will make enough profit to help support my family that won't take years and tens of thousands to get into (I can't afford to loose anymore money). So do you all have any suggestions as to what I could do? I know this is sort of stealing an idea but if you're willing to share it that would help me out so much and if it all worked out I'd love to send you something later to help pay you for the great thing you did for me. Thanks, Jake Dawson

**willcode4beer** · 07-12-2007, 11:12 AM

Maybe a change in jobs?

Punching "PHP" in "Las Vegas, NV" into dice.com shows a multitude of jobs in the $50-90K range.

**ADAM Web Design** · 07-12-2007, 11:26 AM

Jake, I'd follow Paul's advice, except with a twist: don't look online. Everyone looks online and follows sites like dice.com, and from the standpoint of someone who has hired online in the past, it doesn't work. You end up competing with about 3000-5000 others and, if you're not much of a marketer, your resume probably won't stand out either.

How are your design skills in general? Are they good enough to build sites for people in the Las Vegas area locally from a freelance point of view? See what's available that way, and maybe you'll grab some secondary income from that.

**ForrestCroce** · 07-12-2007, 04:37 PM

The good news is Vegas has a pretty low cost of living. Rent is a lot less than half what it would be on any coastal city.

What does your resume look like? I don't mean visually so much as does it present you in the best possible light ... while being truthful? If not, there's no sense talking about anything until you fix that.

Turn your resume into html and make sure it still looks reasonably good - this time I mean visually. Any developer should be able to do that, but you'd be shocked how many can't. Put it on Craigslist, under the resume section, and title your ad with the type of job you're looking for, and lots of keywords describing your skill set. Something like "Need P/T Web Dev Job: PHP, MySQL, Apache, ..."

I did the same thing myself, except with Microsoft technologies, and in Seattle. Within a week I had three to four hundred responses. They're still coming in, even though I started at my dream job a month and a half ago, and the CL post expired pretty quickly. I think resumes there get aggregated into all sorts of job recruiter networks.

If you enjoy working with the helicopter place, that's a luxury for most developers. You might be able to cut back your hours there without leaving entirely, and take a second job as a maintenance dev, or something like that. I don't want to tell you what to do with your personal life, but I haven't liked half the places I've worked, and when I do, that always makes it harder to leave.

**vangogh** · 07-13-2007, 02:55 AM

Jake have you thought of taking some freelance jobs on the side. People are always looking to hire PHP programmers. You might be able to find a few steady clients and in time leave the job and do the freelancing full time if you want.

You could still think of ideas for projects too, but wouldn't feel the same pressure to make something happen quick.

I agree with everyone above though. If you're job isn't working out you could always look for another one. I'm sure there are plenty of companies in Vegas that would pay more for your skills than what you're currently making.

**willcode4beer** · 07-13-2007, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Jake, I'd follow Paul's advice, except with a twist: don't look online. Everyone looks online and follows sites like dice.com, and from the standpoint of someone who has hired online in the past, it doesn't work. You end up competing with about 3000-5000 others and, if you're not much of a marketer, your resume probably won't stand out either.

How are your design skills in general? Are they good enough to build sites for people in the Las Vegas area locally from a freelance point of view? See what's available that way, and maybe you'll grab some secondary income from that.

I might have to disagree with you on this point. Or maybe my experience is unique. The biggest problem I find with posting my resume on dice.com and computerjobs.com is the flood of calls from head-hunters. The problem is, the majority are kind of shady. So, you have to be careful about who you work with.

My resume (unlike most I've seen) is completely limited to the things I know really well, and I actually leave a lot things off it.

I found both my current position (DoD contractor) and my last one (RealNetworks) this way.

You might try the more business oriented social networking sites (like linked in) too. I'm not really experienced with social networking. A co-worker hooked me up to linkedin and it looks like there are a lot of job postings there. However, I can't attest to how useful it is. Maybe someone else can offer more insight. I punched in PHP in las vegas and got 46 positions.

BTW, if you know J2EE and are willing to move to Florida, I'd give you an interview. We're looking to add a couple of people to the team at $75-80K + benefits.

**chrishirst** · 07-13-2007, 09:27 AM

I'd move to Florida for $75k, Don't know J2EE though. Am I in with a chance

**willcode4beer** · 07-14-2007, 01:41 PM

I think you could pick it up fast enough.
Unfortunately, since we work with the defense department, it's citizens only. Which makes it very tough to find people. Out of the last 20 people I interviewed, only one could actually write code.
:-)

**mrdawson** · 07-21-2007, 02:47 PM

Hello again, I'm sorry I haven't responded but I have been watching. Just been really busy thinking and doing what everyone has said. Over the last week I've been job searching and you are all right! There is a mass amount of jobs in the 50-80K range in my profession. I have two interviews this week and I know I could make them both. Thankyou for showing me I could make so much more. But I do want to stay at home and maybe even start my own network of web sites to live off completely. My eldest son is interested in web development and I want it to sort of be a family business. What is a good sort of web site to start off doing? To make enough money to live off. Thankyou for all your help everyone. And thanks for the generous offer WillCodeForBeer but I don't think I could break my family away from Vegas. Sadly.

**vangogh** · 07-22-2007, 01:06 AM

Jake, I'm glad to hear you've got some interviews and good luck with both.

I'm not sure there is necessarily one site that is automatically better than another. For myself I need to feel some kind of passion for a subject before I can really work on it. I think most people tend to be the same so I would first look to topics you enjoy.

What you basically want to do is create a useful site that people want to visit and tell others about. Add something to the web. Figure out a way to monetize the site. There are lots of ways from advertising to affiliate products to offering your own products or services. And then work to bring targeted traffic into the site and keep working to improve the site.

Mix in a lot of hard work and you can get there.