A few days ago I got this email:

Hi Quad,

How would you start if you only had 2000 to start with? Would you work on one authority site or multiple site in a network for the same niche. I’m looking at ppc, e-com and authority sites. Would you master one thing or have your hand in different areas of making money online?

So the question is really “Where should someone new to Internet Entrepreneurship Start?’

First, if you’re new and on a budget you will probably be better off doing one site (and doing it well) in a niche than putting up many sites in the same niche with substantially the same content.

Next there’s “Would you master one thing or have your hand in different areas of making money online?” Well, for me I usually pound the hell out of one thing till it’s working then move on to something else once I have a profitable system in place or the “thing” no longer works. It is kinda cool getting a paycheck every month for sites I set up 2 years ago and have barely looked at in the past 20 months. I make more money off of bullshit side stuff now than I did from the stuff I was working my ass off on a few years ago.

PPC vs Organic

Then there is the question of PPC vs organic (authority). Personally, I’d spend that $2000 buying authority, but if you have a great landing page that converts well (and profitably), you could conceivably parlay that $2000 into $4000 rather quickly.

The problem is $2000 isn’t a hell of lot to start with on PPC. And if you’re not making money right off the bat, you have to wonder “is it the terms I’m buying?’ “Is it the Landing Page?” “what about quality score?” and “am I just paying too much per click?” If you don’t solve that problem quickly, you could run through all your seed money before you even get started.

So what about e-commerce?

I hear all kinds of cool stories about people making good money sell crap on ebay. They’ll find something they are interested in and go out and get some inventory (Like used books that they buy for pennies a pound) and resell it on ebay. That’s not exactly my cup of tea (dealing with postage and all), but it’s a nice way to start making some extra cash quickly. Everyone’s got some kind of crap they can sell on ebay.

How to Choose a Niche

You could develop your own niche informational product – like an ebook about traveling in Bangladesh and sell it. You could build up several authority sites and just sell links. You could start a porn site, sell a simple web ap, generate Investment property leads, do café pess stuff . . . really there’s just no end to the possibilities.

What are you really interested in? What niche can you become a bona fide expert in where people will want to seek out and do business with you? It doesn’t matter if it’s Jousting Midgets or Exotic Horticulture, MMORPGs or Woman’s Shoes. What matters is that it’s something you’re passionate about because that will dictate your enthusiasm to get things going and stamina to keep it growing.

Find something you will ENJOY leaning and reading about all day. Then make sure there is some money to be made in that niche and pound the hell out it. For choosing a niche for an aspiring entrepreneur it should really it boils down to:

What do you love?