calling all web gurus!

[byron]

Hi,

can anyone help me out here?

I am an experienced programmer working in a typical 9-6 job.

I want to get into some sort of online business as a part time venture - ie i have a couple of hours free every day etc, I understand IT, servers, web concepts and so.

I have some money to spend(not too much), but lets say that buying domains and renting hosting is not a problem etc.

But, I am looking for something to do, that would say generate $150 a month.

The more I research online, the wider and more stressfull it seems. Blogs, dropshipping, online shops, twitter, networks, ppp, SEO, channels and it seems endless.

I know someone is making money out there, but I am seriously distrustfull of all the "money making blogs". i see some examples of Blogs that make huge money but they have literally 10000 hits etc - and are useless examples as they are right place-right time kinds of endeavours.

What would you recommend is the simplest method/place to start? Blogging seems low return for high effort, dropshipping seems better.

I guess I want something that grows as I work on it, my thoughts have been to just buy some cms.shooping cart software, get a host and experiment, but I am painfully aware that I caould just make wrong decision after wrong decision and give up..

Any tips would help.

Thanks
Byron

[Nullig]

Why not just do website development?

When I was developing sites part time with CMSMS, I was making $600-$1000 a month. Now I'm doing it full time and making considerably more.

Finding a passive means of making money on the internet is a real "hit and miss" scenario.

Nullig

[Wishbone]

I do web design on the side so that I can afford my kart racing.... 80% of my racing budget comes from maintaining a mixed martial arts promotion's website and forum. Updating fight cards, posting articles, and uploading photos to the image gallery after each event. I don't have enough (or want) enough business to have it be my day job, but its enough to fund my hobbies. A couple of hours a week to fund my $3000/yr racing season. For me, this is easier than trying to generate money with my own websites.

[replytomk3]

As far as making money from ads (blog etc), it is all hype. Just like with celebrities, everyone talks about them but those are just a few statistical anomalies. You will find out when you try to maintain your own website (whatever it is, content, sales, or anything else) that there is much more work involved than you thought.

So don't get spread too thin by thinking about anything, and just roll up your sleeves, and do some work. Attend local meetings (meetup.com fe), find people like you to motivate and support each other. I can't promise the money making part, but this will be something that will you will enjoy doing during all of your free time.

As far as content and sales, make it real and needed and it will be there for a long time. Try to push noone needs and you will probably just sink your money and time into it.

Does not matter what you do, the doing part is what matters.

[byron]

is cms made simple able to be hosted in the uk (as thats where i will be in the future)

[reneh]

why not....
CMSMS have a pretty low requirement for hosting.