You know how twitter has ‘trending topics’? Just visit twitter and you’ll see a list of topics that are being discussed the most. You get what I mean?
Google also has a ‘trends’ feature, but it is much bigger than Twitter’s trending section. Google Trends tracks what people are searching for and displays the most popular web searches over a certain amount of time. Visit their site and see for yourself: Google Insights For Search.
During the height of the Esther Arunga madness in Kenya, Esther Arunga became one of the most searched for terms on Google in Kenya. What does this mean? Well, you have here a unique opportunity to make money online! What if there existed a website that talked of nothing but Esther Arunga? This site would have gotten tens of thousands of visitors when Arunga was all over the news. The site would probably have made some money, too. Nice, eh?
What I am trying to say is that a quick, nice, and easy way to make money on the net is to build sites around popular topics, and make money off them. An example of this is quite common in the more developed countries: when a new movie or computer game is about to be released, tens of websites spring up that are about the new movie or game. These websites are all set up by opportunists trying to cash in on the buzz that will be generated by the new movie or game. Similarly, if someone set up a site just when Arunga’s madness hit, they’d probably be very happy with themselves right now.
Google insights for search is an excellent tool for tracking trends. However, if you rely on it you’d be too late! The trick is to find the trend before it starts or very early (before it runs out of steam), then quickly set up a website that is heavy on information regarding the trending event, topic or person. Then, slap Adsense on the site (or find another monetization strategy – perhaps you could sell T shirts, I do not know) and watch the money roll in.
The basic idea is that because a particular topic is popular, lots of people will be searching for information on it online. As in the Esther Arunga case, there was no one site that exclusively covered her story. If such a site existed, then the owners would have gotten a lot of the traffic generated by the Arunga buzz. You can apply these same principles to any other popular or trending topic.
Idea: The debate on the new constitution and the upcoming referendum are only just getting started. By the time we’re getting to vote, they will probably be the only news in town. Why not set up a simple website in anticipation of this? Think about it. Nickel Pro could help you if you need help or advice. 🙂
What else could be popular online? Can you capitalize on it?
Cheers, and good luck.
I agree, like i think all this mobile payment phase will go soon
@Paul – mobile payment phase?
Kelvin.
Yours is an interesting idea, but it sort of strikes me as a short-termism smash and grab strategy.
I know for sure that I’d never click on a Google Adsense ad on a news story, let alone on any average website and my sense is that it’s somewhat simplistic to assume that monetizing a site that spikes with perishable news for even with time, Arunga’s madness will be superceded by another nutter.
I meant to say monetizing a site with perishable news is not likely to yield a substantive result. I’d hazard a guess that you’d struggle to even make some beer money.
Fully agree with u here. Ths strategy wnt work so much on ‘newsy’ trends bt does work well on other things.
E.g. Starcraft 2 (the game) is about to be released – it is in beta – yet there already are tens of Starcraft 2 sites. They are all trying to build online sc2 communities over the long haul. If any manages to do this then they’ve got a business, dont they?
Perhaps what would work better than a site about Arunga is a site about something like the xyz show, you know? Something not so newsy and perishable. Who knows, maybe u can make money selling Tshirts badala ya Adsense 🙂