I am quite passionate about the Internet, and as such I am always coming up with new ideas for websites and online businesses. At the same time I know that focus is vital if you want to achieve success, and I already have a couple of projects going on, so most of the time I just let those ideas site on the back burner.

Thinking about it, though, I figured that it could be interesting to post the ideas on the blog. If nothing else we’ll discuss about business models and making money on the Internet. There is also the chance that someone will like the idea and implement it, or adapt it slightly to launch something similar. If you do and end up making millions I will only be happy!

Anyway today I want to share an idea that I had back in 2008. I even purchased a domain and created a prototype for the business, but it never took off as I didn’t have time to put on the project.

The Idea

As a web publisher, I know how annoying it is to have scrapers copying my content and publishing it all over the web. In fact this practice is not only annoying, but it can be costly too. If people can find your content on other websites they might not visit yours, and excessive amounts of duplicate content might also hurt your search engine rankings, thus reducing the amount of organic traffic you’ll receive.

Unfortunately monitoring who is stealing your content and taking action to solve it would consume far too much time for the average web publisher, and here is where this business would come. It would be a company offering “copyright protection services for web publishers.”

How It Would Work

The service would have three main steps:

1. Content Theft Monitoring: Once the web publisher becomes a client, the company would start monitoring the web to see what websites are stealing the content of the client’s website. Ideally the company would develop a proprietary technology to track the copyright violations effectively.

2. Content Takedown: Upon identifying the content scrapers, the company would take the necessary actions to take it down. On this step you would have a hierarchy of measures. First of all the site owner would be contacted in a friendly way. If that didn’t work, the hosting company would be contacted with a DMCA. If even that didn’t work, the company would study with the client the possibility of taking proper legal action.

3. Reporting: Every month the company would provide the client with a report. It would include all the instances of copyright violation found, and percentage of the violations that were already solved, and so on.

Where is the money?

The business model is pretty simple. In exchange for the services mentioned above the client would pay a monthly fee. The company could have different tiers of service, depending on the size of the client’s website.

For example, a personal blog with fewer than 500 pages could be charged $49 monthly for the service, while a mainstream content portal with over 10,000 pages would need to pay $199 monthly, because tracking all the violations here would consume a lot more resources.

Challenges

The main challenged I foresee with this business is to convince web publishers that they are actually losing money due to content scrapers. If you could build a couple of strong case studies proving that by removing duplicate the revenues of the website actually increased you would be in a good position to sell the service.

Another problem is the content takedown process. You would need to have at least one lawyer aboard to manage this part of the business.

Over To You

What do you guys think about this idea? If any of you want to give it a shot I already have a pretty good domain name (paid $1,000 for it) and a basic website design ready to go.

This is a guest post by Nicholas Z. Cardot. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Far too often I find that people are getting caught up with the technical aspects of blogging like which plugins are the best, which designs are the most appealing, which methods of SEO yield the greatest results while at the same forgetting about the most important aspect of all, connecting with real people.

It’s certainly a good idea to work on creating an appealing looking site that can also effectively draw in traffic from search Engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Yet if people are instantly clicking away from our material and never return again then we’re failing as bloggers and as authors.

At my site I want people to browse through the articles. I want them to interact with the content by leaving comments and sharing the material. I want users to get involved and feel compelled to read my articles as they get published.

The most powerful element to accomplishing all these goals and to building a prominent online presence is developing genuine connections. People will visit your material and read what you have to say because they’ve bought into who you are as a person. You don’t build that with new plugins and fancy post titles. You do that by connecting with real people.

1. Connections provide you valuable feedback when you need it.
2. Connections provide friends to share your content across social media sites like Twitter.
3. Connections provide explosive ‘word of mouth’ marketing for your site.
4. Connections provide guest posting and back link opportunities that might otherwise not exist.

There are two major arenas that you need to learn to use to build connections and it’s important that you don’t pick one or the other. Use both and multiply your efforts in building relationships online.

The Command Post: Your Blog

Successful bloggers understand that in order to draw people in and get them involved then we have to create a sense of community throughout our site. We have to encourage conversations and feedback.

1. Encourage participation in the conversation by asking questions in your posts.
2. Point people to connect with you through other forums like Twitter and Facebook.
3. Provide a contact page that makes it easy to get in touch with you.
4. Respond to comments with more than just “Thanks for the comment.” Actually be conversational.
5. If you want to you can even invite people to connect with you via Instant Messenger.

The Outposts: Social Media

If you’re only communicating with people at your blog then you’re missing out on a lot of potential relationships that could really help you.

1. Connect with like minded bloggers on other blogs by leaving genuine, valuable comments.
2. Connect with people on social media sites by responding to people, sharing other articles that are valuable, etc.

Whether you are at your command post or out at one of your outposts, the key is this: be real with people. Respond to people. Answer questions. Ask questions. Be conversational.

Talk to people the same way that you would talk to someone face to face. The medium might be different. The technology might be constantly changing but the principle remains intact.

Connect with people. Connections are a powerful asset.

Nicholas Z. Cardot is the creator and author of Site Sketch 101 where he publishes daily articles for bloggers and webmasters.

Let’s clear one thing right away: yes I am an affiliate for the coaching program I mentioning below, which means I’ll earn a commission if you end up purchasing it. But your trust is much more important to me than any commission I might earn, so rest assured I am only talking about this coaching program because a) I have actually used it b) I have achieved good results after applying what I learned there and c) I believe you and other people could do the same.

Now back to the central question: have you ever considered launching a membership site? If you have, I would recommend you to take a look at Membership Site Mastermind. Created by Yaro Starak, this is a 6-week program that you’ll give you all the information you need to launch a profitable membership site.

I was one of the first people to have access to Yaro’s course, and it helped me to launch the OnlineProfits.com training program. If you want to learn more about that story, check out this podcast interview I did with Yaro a while ago.

Membership Site Mastermind is structured around 6 modules. They are:

1. Topic Selection and Preeminence
2. Traffic Generation
3. Human Resources and Technology
4. Content and Pricing
5. The Launch Process
6. Post Launch Activities

Each module comes with 2 hours worth of video content, including transcripts and checklists to make sure you’ll act on the important steps. The program was closed for the past six months, and today it is opening again for new members, so check it out.

This is a guest post by Andreas Kambanis. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

I’ve always considered logo’s the realm of big multinational companies. Companies like AOL or Amazon who have thousands of dollars to throw at new designs.

Therefore, despite being constantly told about their importance and the value of branding for my blog I’ve ignored the advice. I’ve put it to the back of my mind and decided to focus on other things. After all logo’s are really expensive aren’t they?

Well, these days that isn’t really the case. Websites like 99designs can provide a new logo for as little as $150. The premise is that you run a competition and then designers from all over the world submit their entries. Within a week you can be up and running with a great new logo.

After avoiding the decision for ages, I took the plunge and launched my logo design contest on 99Designs. The result is a logo that gives a good first impression and was completed just in time to be used in my London Cycle Routes eBook. More importantly, as the eBook is likely to be featured in various big publications, the logo sends the important message of professionalism and this could make all the difference to the success of my site.

If this sounds pretty cool and you are considering it for your website, then here are five things you need to know before heading over to 99Designs.

1. Guarantee your prize

After you have had your first 10 entries on 99Designs you are able to “guarantee your prize”. This means that you have to choose a winner. This might sound scary at first especially if you only have 10 entries and you are not a big fan of them. However, guaranteeing the prize greatly increases the number of entries you have. This means there is a far better chance of finding the right logo. It also motivates you to get the most out of the designers and find the perfect design for your site. Don’t be scared, press the guarantee button!

2. Contact other designers

At the start of my competition I didn’t have enough entries and the entries I did have were not very high quality. I was at risk of having to pay for a logo I wasn’t entirely satisfied with. This was a massive worry for me. My solution was to look at other competitions and find designs I liked. I then contacted the designer behind them and invited them to join my competition. In total I think I contacted around 10 designers and 4 of those joined my competition. In the end the design I chose was off one of the designers who I invited.

3. Write a good description

Try as hard as you can to articulate what you want from the logo. Should it work on a dark background? Do you want to see simple designs? Should the logo be placed on the left of the text? For me it was “do I want to promote more the sporty side or the simple enjoyment of cycling?” I failed to mention this at first but it was easy to make the change later. A good idea is to look at some of the best performing competitions and take a look at their descriptions. It is best to just launch the competition and then make improvement as designs come in. Don’t delay indefinitely, launch now even if it isn’t perfect because you can always change it later.

4. Feedback, Feedback, Feedback and.. Feedback

It is a tough task providing new feedback every day. Especially in successful competitions with 100 or more entries. Sometimes you just think “bluh, can’t be bothered!” Or perhaps that is just me?

However, good feedback is essential. Think about how the logo makes you feel and what you do and don’t like. What would you like to see in the next version? Should the designer just scrap this one? You should also use many of 99Designs features. Rate other designs with stars so designers know what you want to see more and less of. Leave comments at the bottom about the direction of the competition.

Also don’t be afraid to ask friends. Talking it through with others is one of the best ways to argue about the merits of different designs. I was pretty much 100% set to go with one design when my friend told me it looked like a Ferris wheel. She was right!

5. Don’t neglect the last 24 hours

As I approached the last 24 hours I considered ending the competition early and going with a design I was fairly satisfied with. Luckily I decided to keep going and I’m glad I did. The last 24 hours tend to be very active with a lot of entries. This is the time when you should be focusing on the competition the most.

Bonus tip: Future proof your design. What happens if your name changes from DailyBlogTips to WeeklyBlogTips? Make sure the designer provides you with the editable Photoshop files and Adobe Illustrator files.

If you follow these tips in a week you could be proudly showing off your logo to your followers. Good luck to you!

About the Author: Andreas is one of the most successful cycling bloggers in the UK. You can read more from his on his blog, London Cyclist.

This post is part of the Friday Q&A section. Just use the contact form if you want to submit a question.

Allison asks:

I’m considering setting up a website. Do I have to register a business before being able to charge for advertising space or other services I might offer? Do I need to pay taxes on that revenue?

First of all keep in mind that I am not a lawyer (i.e., the content below should not be taken as legal advice), and that regulations will vary from country to country and even from state to state within your county. That being said, here is how it works generally around the world.

You don’t need to create a business entity to be able to make money with your website. You can operate it as a sole proprietorship, which means that there is no legal separation between yourself and your business. This type of business won’t require a formal registration, because all the profits you’ll earn with it are automatically associated with your person. The clear advantage of this model is that it is easy to setup. The disadvantage if that the owner has full liability over the business, which means that his personal assets can be used to pay eventual business debts.

The interesting thing is that with a sole proprietorship (in some countries) you can still get a business name, known as “doing business as” in the US, and “trading as” in the UK. This won’t create a legal entity for your business, but will allow you to use that name officially. For example, you should be able to create a checking bank account under your business name. The fees for such a registration should be pretty low (i.e., $50).

Which brings us to the second question. Do you need to pay taxes on the revenues generated from your website? The answer is “yes,” unless your website makes less than $400 yearly, in which case it could be considered a hobby (in the US at least). If you are earning more than $400 yearly you’ll need to pay self-employment taxes (because your sole proprietorship business is not a separate legal entity).

The good news is that on most countries you only pay taxes on your profits (i.e., revenues minus expenses), so if you have a lot of related expenses your tax burden will be small.

How much tax do you need to pay? It varies from country to country. In the US it is 15,3%.

Depending on how much your websites are making you should also consider creating a limited liability company to hold them, but that is topic for another post.