OK, you want to set up a website with the aim of making money. Good. The possibilities are endless!

But first, what to put on your site? You can, of course, write about anything you like, but if your aim is to make money then it would be a good idea to write about something people are searching for. And how do people search? Predominantly Google. Google also have tools which will help you with this part.

Open up a browser and go to the Google Keywords tool – here you will find all you need to begin your keyword research (a keyword is just a word or phrase that people are searching for on Google) and the best thing is it’s free.

In the box, enter as many words or phrases as you want (a good place to start is utilising what you know about – are you an expert on personal finance or bricklaying or some other thing people might want to know about?), fill in the Captcha and press ‘Get Keyword Ideas’. Google will then generate a list of keywords relevant to the terms you entered, along with some information about them.

Now, you don’t need all that information – what you need is ‘Global Monthly Search Volume’ and ‘Estimated Average CPC’. Use the ‘Show/Hide Columns’ drop-down to hide irrelevant columns and select the ones you need. Finally, in the ‘Match Type’ drop-down, change that to ‘Exact’. This step is important or you could seriously over-estimate the profit potential for a keyword. The estimated average CPC (Cost Per Click) column shows what companies are paying Google when someone clicks on an ad; as a publisher you get a percentage of this if an ad on your page gets clicked on. Now what we’re looking for here is a phrase or word with great profit potential so that you don’t waste your time producing a website nobody is looking for. What we’ve done so far is only the first step. We need a way to analyse the results to tell us exactly how much money we could make from a keyword. This depends on a number of factors and its best to turn to one of those ‘people in the know’ I spoke about in the introduction. Commercial confidentiality prevents me from revealing their secret formula, but Court and Mark at the excellent Keyword Academy will let you into their money-making secret formula for only $1. The Keyword Academy coaching course normally costs $33 per month, but the first month is only a dollar. Like many people, I joined for one dollar intending to copy everything I could then cancel. It is perfectly OK to do this – you can grab a wealth of information for your dollar and cancelling is easy as you pay via PayPal. However, like most people on there, I found the information available in the forums from regular posters with their own successful sites well worth $33 a month. I’ve been a member for about 6 months now (I’m graeme61 in the forums) and I’ve learned more in those forums than I ever could have imagined. There are also new tools being developed there all the time – just today they’ve added a keyword research tool called Niche Refinery, which is available free to all members. And there’s the backlinking tools, also free to members (even one dollar ones). These guys know what you need and operate the Keyword Academy with integrity and attention to detail. As you can probably tell, I love what those guys are doing and if you’re serious about this business, you will too.

So, there are two steps to finding the perfect keywords. First, the free Google Adwords tool, then applying a formula (or using Niche Refinery).

Other posts in this series:

The biggest mistake people make when starting out on the path to a profitable web presence is to write about subjects that nobody is looking for. Sure, you can start a blog on a topic dear to your heart (and why not? Just go do it) and if you’re very lucky you may find an audience quite quickly. There are many examples out there – Bad Science, Girl With a One-Track Mind, the Policeman’s Blog, Blogging the Underground, Scary Duck to name but a few. These blogs are all successful, informative and have attracted a high level of traffic. All are at least potentially profitable, although not necessarily run for profit.

However, these are the lucky ones. Right place, right time. And all are labours of love – profitability was not a concern in their creation.

As you’re reading this, I’m assuming that profitability IS something you are thinking about. How do I create a website which will bring in a few extra dollars each month? Well, there are tried and tested techniques that can work for you if you’re prepared to put in a bit of effort.

This series of articles will show you how to find a profitable topic, set up a website, promote it and monetize it. Can it be done for free? Well, yes and no. It is, of course, possible to set up a blog hosted on Blogger or WordPress, for example, at no cost – but if you’re serious about this you’ll want to invest a small amount in some kind of coaching course. There are people out there who can help you – they’ve been through it themselves, they make a lot of money and now they make part of their income from teaching what they know to others. The problem is, who to trust? Obviously, there are scam merchants trying to make a quick buck by selling some thinly-researched ebook promising to tell you the secret of How To Make a Bundle Online. I will be recommending people I know you can trust based on my own experience. I will also be recommending free and paid-for products that I use and like – I will never recommend anything I haven’t bought myself. So if you like the idea of bringing in some extra money through your own website, this is the series for you!

Step 2 – Buy a domain, set up a hosting account and set up your site

Step 3 – Write content and decide how to monetize

Step 4 – Promote your site by creating backlinks

Step 5 – Ongoing promotion