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Just about everyone has thought at one time or another, “that would be a great idea for a website!” While it may seem like I’m relatively new to running a website and making money online (Young Adult Money is only a little over a year old), I actually have thought of and tried various website ideas over the past five-plus years.
A few years back I read a post about another blogger’s website failures and I really enjoyed it. Today I have a list of my own website failures. Enjoy!
1) iPodLoaders
iPodLoaders was one of my earliest ideas in college. I was reading either Entrepreneurship or Inc. magazine when I came across an article about the digital conversion industry and some people in various parts of the United States who started businesses and were able to make it their full-time job. I thought this was a perfect business for a college student (introverted college student, mind you) since I could convert libraries of CDs while studying or even while just hanging out.
I don’t know if it was the website, lost interest, or simply not knowing where to get my first client that ended this biz, but despite having a website up it just kind of fizzled out.
Good that came out of it: Experience with setting up a website.
2) USA Casino Index
USA Casino Index was by far the biggest project that I’ve ever tackled. My friend and I documented every single casino in the United States. We had hotel information, gaming information (down to what type and how many table games), and much more. This took quite some time to put together, but we had fun doing it and were excited to be working on a website that had potential. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a plan to drive traffic to the site and only ended up making a couple hundred dollars before we stopped working on it. If we were smart we would have made a blog on the site and used the actual database of casino information as a way to keep people on the site (and coming back).
While we eventually got rid of the domain name, the website itself still exists online at my friend’s personal website.
Good that came out of it: This was actually a HUGE win for me. In my second round interview for an internship at a Fortune 25 company I used the websites as an example of my biggest failure. The interviewer said “you sound like me when I was in college.” Since the interview was already going pretty well, I knew as soon as he said that I would be in the third round. It also taught me to have a game plan for monetization before blindly going into building a website.
3) David Carlson Politics
Ah yes, David Carlson Politics, my beloved libertarian-leaning political blog. I’m not sure you can really call this a “business” but I got really into politics around 2008 when I started to look into Ron Paul’s views. I became a pretty huge supporter of his and it kind of spurred me to start the blog. I never took it to the next level, as you can see from the poor theme and lack of marketing, and I certainly could have spent a lot more time and energy on making political writing or my political website a money-making side hustle.
Good that came out of it: You might find it hard to believe, but this blog actually ended up putting me in touch with the owner of DINKs Finance and landed me a nice side gig while I was in school. From managing social media, to SEO, to blog commenting, I landed the perfect side hustle for a college student. It gave me exposure to the personal finance blogosphere as well as strategies of how to make money online. While I love political writing, I’ve really enjoyed personal finance blogging and glad I made the switch when I did.
4) Noisecake
Noisecake was a music blog that I started with three other friends. I think this site had HUGE potential; if it was still active I honestly think we could be bringing in a decent amount of money each month. Unfortunately it fell apart because we weren’t on the same page. I wanted to turn this into a money-generating website and legitimate business that would provide us each with a sizable income each month. Most of the others didn’t really view it this way, at least not nearly as intensely as I did.
Good that came out of it: I learned that you need to be VERY careful who you go into a business partnership with. The more partners the harder it will be. If you aren’t all on the same page commitment-wise and vision-wise it will almost certainly fail. I still own the domain noisecake.com, and I don’t know about you, but I think it’s a great name for a music blog or some sort of music-related website and hopefully I can sell it some day.
5) My Awesome House
My Awesome House was a website I started not too long before starting Young Adult Money. I really liked the idea of an affiliate-driven website, and essentially the idea was to share ways to make your house more “awesome.” I think it had (and still has) potential, but I dropped the project to start Young Adult Money and it’s taken up all my time ever since. I do like the idea of a house/home/remodel/design-related blog because there is so much potential content and people are always looking for ideas or “how-to’s” about various home-related topics.
Good that came out of it: I dropped this project pretty quick so there wasn’t too much good that came out of it. Heck, I didn’t even get around to getting a logo for the site. I’d say the main positive that came out of it is that I learned more about Amazon’s affiliate programs and other affiliate programs out there.
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Considering how much time and mental energy I’ve given to websites, making money online, etc. I’m personally a bit surprised that Young Adult Money was really my first real success. Then again, I learned a lot in the process and had a lot of good things come out of each failure. I think it’s never a bad idea to constantly re-evaluate whether a project is worth your time or not. I think people tend to give up on ideas faster than they should, but at the same time some of us need to be willing to cut our losses, learn from our experiences, and move on to the next project.
Have you ever started a website that ended in failure? Have you ever wanted to start a website but never got around to starting it?
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I think you need those earlier websites before you know enough about what you are doing. I’ll bet that each site taught you something new and without each one YAM wouldn’t be what it is today.
Your story actually sounds very similar to my own. My friend and I actually setup a robot shop about 5 years ago but came unstuck with drop shipping out of Japan. I then had about 4-5 other follow up websites, but it was MPB which is the one that I have stuck with for the longest and the one that has had the most success.
MonsterPiggyBank Yeah it does sound really similar to my story. This has been a site that has “stuck” as well and I don’t foresee it stopping. I would love to start a second site at some point but want to keep improving this one, increasing revenue, and ultimately having more writers working on the site.
I have started quite a few websites!! Single Moms Income is probably my seventh but definitely my most successful. I am still interested in starting more websites but I do want to have this one where it needs to be first. It takes a lot of time to work on blogs. Maybe if I end up quitting my day job I’ll start another. I think you had some pretty amazing ideas though!
SingleMomIncome I also would like to start a second one but need to keep working at this one for now. That’s great you have started so many, it’s such good experience.
I had a website for my round the world trip back in 2003 but uploading it all via FTP and using dreamweaver was a pain, thank goodness for WP!
RFIndependence Some people I know STILL build sites on Dreamweaver. I don’t see any reason to not use WordPress. It’s such an ideal platform for just about any website.
Digital Spikes is my third website and is doing pretty good compared to other two. Yes each failure teaches a new lesson. We need to learn what works best for us and implement in next venture
Samgill I definitely have learned a lot over the past few years. I’m amazed at how far I’ve come!
Ha! That’s awesome! I had no idea that you started all of those!
Greg had a grief support/funeral information related website at one point!
Holly at ClubThrifty You gotta start somewhere : ) I think Greg should restart that site ;)
DC, I’m impressed that you were doing these types of things at such a young age! Most 21 year olds are just hanging out at the bar. In my opinion, they were all successes!
Laurie TheFrugalFarmer Haha thanks Laurie : ) Yeah over the past six years (basically 19-25) I’ve spent a decent amount of time on this stuff over the past few years. I’m definitely happy to have a site that has “stuck”!
This is so awesome. I had no idea that you have tried so many websites. You are definitely destined to do very well with that entrepreneurial spirit! By the way, “myawesomehouse.com” is a killer url. I think that one should come back. :)
BudgetBlonde Thanks Cat! I do love that URL and should really consider doing something with it.
Ha, I’ve had a few online side-ventures myself that didn’t get off the ground. But, like you, I learned something from each one. If you keep trying you might just succeed one day!
fipilgrim Definitely. I would say YAM has been a big success, at least for me personally and I’m so glad I started it and stuck with it.
I had no idea you had created those other sites and think it’s cool how you were able to draw on many of the lessons you learned to make YAM such a success. Having those lessons is so vital in life to be able to build success.
Frugal Rules is my first site and little did I know the amount of time it’d take. ;) My wife had created a couple of very simple blogs on her own, but they’re mainly just digital journals for her.
FrugalRules I feel like I’m one of the few who DID know what a time commitment it was. That’s why I waited over a year before finally starting YAM because I didn’t want to start and then quit right away because of the time commitment. I wanted to be all in!
You and I are alike DC. I have started and ended many websites. I have learned a lot from them as well. It is the failures that lead you to successes.
DebtRoundUp I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t started (and ended) multiple sites.
I have started other websites and blogs which have not succeeded but it is always a good learning experience.
BorrowedCents Definitely!
It sounds like you were able to learn some good things from your “failures.” That is what is important. Glad you were able to get some website experience. Thats always helpful.
DebtandtheGirl Yep, I definitely learned a lot from the various sites and projects I started and shut down.
I love both noisecake and myawesomehouse. Those are great domain names, that if you ever have the time, you could probably do a lot with those sites.
As you said, you learned something new with every experience and that is really one of the most important things. Everyone thinks the most important thing is to make money right away, but building your experience, esp as young as you are, has allowed you to do very well with this blog, but I think this is just the beginning of your online empire DC :-)
TacklingOurDebt Haha thanks Sicorra! I sure hope you are right about that. It’s crazy how many people start a blog (their first) and get upset about the lack of money and the time commitment. Not sure what they expected – it takes time and experience to learn how to make money online.
The casino index sounds so good on paper.
Too bad about that one.
No Accouting For Waste It really does, and I still question whether it could work. I actually started one just for the state of Minnesota but ended that as well. I think you need a lot of great content on a blog to go with the index to make it a truly successful site. Might get a lot of money from casino advertising if you can drive traffic.
I didn’t know that you had so many! I recently started a travel blog but I’m having trouble with it since I’m not doing much traveling. Need to change that soon :)
SenseofCents Haha I hear you, and that’s one of the problems with travel blogs is that it seems like you need to take at minimum 6+ trips a year (and that’s a minimum) to get the truly original content. And yes, I’ve been around a while just not on my own pf site : )
These are some fascinating ideas…I guess I never really kept a close eye on what all you were up to back then but I vaguely remember you talking about each of them at various points in time. Always loved the idea of doing this kind of stuff–I think I’ve got a small itch for entrepreneurial work but just never sat down to evaluate what I’m good at and what kind of “need” is out there that I could fill. That being said, I’ve had a few blog ideas that I simply haven’t stayed dedicated to because, as I’m sure you know better than I, successful blogs require a form of disciple and dedication that one would typically associate with an actual job…and if you haven’t tried to monetize the blog, the reward vs. the effort seems out of balance. :)
JonathanAlstad You are right – it does take a ton of time. I get up 1/2 hour earlier every single week day to comment on sites, work during lunch on it, and then evenings and weekends. You also have to stick it out because I didn’t make a dime in profit the first six months. But anyway, I did work on a lot of other things so I had some decent experience leading up to starting this site as well as some great contacts that I could bug with questions.
The Heavy Purse is my first website and I’m learning new stuff every day. A lot of this stuff I wish I knew when I launched. :) But I think until we actually have some experience under our belt, it’s a lot harder to hit the ground running. It sounds like every website helped you build Young Adult Money, and honestly a couple of them still sound like they have great potential when and if you choose to go back to them.
TheHeavyPurseImpressive that your first site is such a success! I do think some of the other ideas had potential (and still do), but it’s a matter of prioritizing my time. I held on to a couple of the better domain names ;)
DC @ Young Adult Money TheHeavyPurse I do think a few of them have potential and it is a matter of allocating the time to make them happen. Noise cake for example could have been a lyrical song website like RapGenius who raised a venture capital round of $13 million to annotate rap songs.
Love this post. I can relate to the learning curve on each of these. I have had about 6-7 biz ideas that failed, some of which I am not real proud of…
KyleJames1 I’d be really curious to hear about some of your past ventures, and I’ve been meaning to ask you more about Rather-Be-Shopping and hopefully will get around to it sometime soon here…and hopefully you are interested in discussing some of your experiences.
I just wrote something similar for a future post on debt and the girl, but more about my successes and failures in life in general and that you need to take risks in order to grow and learn. I think it’s great you took so many chances with these websites. You have a real creative spark and even if they weren’t successful, they teach you so much. I did have a lot of former blogs that NO ONE ever read until BATB came along. Sometimes I have no idea why that one in particular took off, but I’m glad it did. :)
BeachbudgetI’m glad it did as well! It’s a great site and one of my daily visits. I appreciate the kind words and I look forward to your post on this topic as well!
Its a great feeling when you finally get a great idea, stick with it, and watch it grow. I’ve been through so many business ideas. I tried personal training in highschool, eventplanning in college, and a few others. Now I’m blogging and hoping to open an online store soon. I have an idea for a website that I want to try out and i’ll probably do it soon. I’m not afraid of felling because I know one day I’ll get it right. Thanks for sharing your failures. I think failing is nothing to be ashamed about and this post is very inspirational.
MonaSezWow thanks so much for the kind words! Yeah it’s fun to look back and I’m not ashamed of any of it, just really grateful for having those experiences and learning from them. I look forward to seeing what the site is you have in mind, let me know if I can help in any way.
Really interesting read DC. I had no idea that you had been around the interwebs for so long. I thought you were just naturally gifted. ;)
ayoungproHaha thanks for the kind words. I have been around for a while just never really had much success :)
Interesting post! I didn’t start that many, but my friend and I tried a few years back (2006). After it failed, we never really tried again. Actually one of the reasons why I decided to give it a go again was because we had some google adsense money that wouldn’t payout (below the minimum). But after so many years they just closed the account and sent the money…it was like $24 or something.
Andrew LivingRichCheaplyHaha sounds just like USA Casino Index. It made a couple hundred bucks but considering the time it took to put the site together the money really didn’t amount to anything.
My blog is the first website I’ve ever worked on. Not sure I’d call it a business yet, but maybe soon if/when it starts to bring in some money. It’s funny though…now that I’ve started my blog, I am thinking about other sites I could potentially do, none of which ever occurred to me before. I guess getting involved in new ventures helps stimulate the mind.
Brian @ Luke1428I think once you start understanding the ins and outs of having a website you definitely start thinking of more and more ideas! I have a few that I would love to give a go if I ever make the time for them.
really cool to read DC! I didn’t realize you had all that experience under your belt. How did you learn so much about using affiliate funding?
Tara Zee I actually would say affiliate income is something I really lack right now. I think with that it’s more trial and error, and I haven’t had a ton of time to figure out a game plan. But yeah the experiences were all great even if they made pretty much no money.
When I think about it, I’ve done something similar over the years, starting quite a few sites and small businesses that haven’t taken off – but always learning things in the process.
One of my first ventures was back in the day when eBay was really popular and just taking off. The idea was to take things other people wanted to list on eBay – and list it for them. I would take pictures, write up a nice listing, research pricing/etc and then take a cut of whatever the final sale price was, plus a small listing fee. I actually put together a website for that one and provided listing services for a few people. I think the idea was a decent one, and a short while later several franchises sprang up with people doing the same thing. I gave up on the idea a while later as being too work intensive though – as well as having too much competition from other franchises.
I also had another idea where I was going to start up several websites in different niches selling items from cooking supplies, to home goods, etc. We were going to be drop shipping items and making a cut of the sales price. That idea fizzled too as there was too much saturation at the time, and the amount you could make wasn’t as much as we had hoped.
I have another website where I sell my design services. That one is still going, and makes a bit of money every month – enough to make it worth my while.
The I discovered blogging back in the mid 2000s. I started a couple of blogs back then – a political one like you – and a couple of other ones – until finally in 2008 I started my personal finance blog. That one has done well for me. I started several other blogs trying to duplicate the success, but for the most part those other sites have made some money – but not nearly as much.
Every endeavor I’ve involved myself in has been a learning experience and has helped me as I attempt to launch others.. I think it also becomes a bit of an addiction, coming up with new ideas, figuring out ways to implement them, and then figuring out how to monetize your hard work.
moneymatters I actually met you originally through that design website! I also have become pretty addicted to thinking of ideas. It’s nice to have one site that is making money so that I have a sort of “launching pad” for any future projects.
I’m still on my first website, so ask me in a year if it’s a success or not! I have had many business ideas that fizzled and failed through the years. The worst one that comes to mind is trying to do vision therapy half way out of our office. You either invest and do it right or don’t do it. I think you learn from everything that doesn’t go right and it makes you appreciate the things that do go like you planned.
Eyesonthedollar I definitely had a lot of fun writing this post and looking back at all the things I’ve done and learned from. I hope I have many more projects…but successful ones!
So far my current blog is the only website I started and I’ve definitely made a bunch of mistakes and it’s been a learning process. But that’s the cool thing too, after a while you can look back and see how you got to where you are now, plus the best way to learn is to try different things and see what works.
momoneymohouses I agree, it’s all about learning and adjusting your strategy.
I’m still working with my first website. I picked the name to help decrease the chances that I would have to start a new one if my focus shifts to a different area. I have had a brief stint trying to create a side hustle with android apps. While I didn’t mind sitting and learning the coding, I ultimately lost track of it because I just have a horrible eye for creating an attractive interface. I would try to pick it back up but between school, work, and the blog, I want to still have time to myself.
MicrosMissions You want to have a side hustle but still have time for yourself?!? Haha just kidding, it is possible but I think it’s very difficult.
DC @ Young Adult Money I basically just don’t want to get tunnel vision where I put so much effort and energy into making money that I forget to enjoy life.
MicrosMissions That’s a good goal for sure.
I’ve started and stopped with a thousand different websites, it seems. I am not sure exactly why I landed in the niche of personal finance but for whatever reason it was it has been successful. I’ll continue creating and growing websites.
Wow, you were quite the creative/busy college student! It’s neat to see your progression to YAM. I also really like the name noisecake. That’s a shame the others didn’t share your vision. My Awesome House also seems like a cool idea. I had a really lame tiny website dedicated to one of the boy bands I used to like back when I was 13, haha! It wasn’t too bad except for the fact I had NO idea you could monetize a website. I was just doing it for fun. My dad was a computer person and was already designing his own websites, and since I was interested, he let me make one on his domain. I’ve made other personal websites, but the goal was never business oriented. It will be interesting to see what you come up with next!
Wow, you’re quite the entrepreneur. This is the first website I’ve ever started and I definitely didn’t think of it as a business when I got going. I’m starting to look at it that way more now, though I still have a lot to learn. I think the lesson here is great though. You have to fail before you succeed, and the smart people are the ones how can learn from those failures to be better next time.
DC, your path is a perfect example of how “failures” can be used as stepping stones to achieve ultimate success. It’s got me a bit unnerved though since I’m essentially still on my first online/side hustle venture!
You definitely learn so much from your failures sometimes. Many of my best life lessons have stemmed from “mistakes” that I’ve made and/or “failures” that I’ve had. I appreciate you sharing your failures with us. It’s nice to see that success takes hard work and isn’t guaranteed. I think a lot of people think running a successful blog is easy, it’s clearly not.
This is going to sound horrible probably, but loved reading your failures.
I love seeing and learning how people failed so that I don’t make similar mistakes. I’ve made plenty of mistakes so you are not alone.
Thanks for giving a little insight into your failures.
The Warrior
NetWorthWarrior.com
NetWorthWarrior Haha it doesn’t sound horrible and I’m glad others can learn from my failures. It’s encouraging to read about other people’s failures because it reminds you that even if you don’t get it right the first time you can still learn and grow from the experience.
I’ve had many ideas and Phroogal is the first one I’ve dedicated 100% of my time. Like you I am an idea man and have hundreds of them but I typically write them down in my moleskin and when an opportunity arises start to execute on them. I was fortunate to have an executive role in companies so my entrepreneurial ideas had dollars and staff to make them reality.
Today, I’m working on a passion project to help people discover financial resources and tools. I really believe that when you begin to do things that you are passionate about you’ll do what it takes to make it a success. Someone had mentioned failures is a good thing. I agree because it makes us realize that when something does fail and we walk away from it, it usually means we’ve taken that passion and it’s run its course. Time to move onto another or a new one you’ve just discovered.
Wow! I’m impressed with all of the ideas you’ve had and executed on! ….I haven’t really got many of my ideas going, ever. I’m trying to get two more going this year… *fingerscrossed!*
Ugifter Well you definitely got one great idea going (your Unique Gifter website). That’s more than most people can say.
I loved this article, and I’m bummed I didn’t find it when it was first published!
It’s really inspiring to read about your failures, because I definitely have had two blogs I ‘failed’ at: one started right after I graduated high school, which I just left behind because I got caught up in college. My second I started during grad school, to be a food blog, but I discovered that… I’m actually a terrible cook. Which doesn’t bode well for a food blog ;)
Thanks for sharing your failures, and for putting a positive spin on it in the form of what you learned!
sunburntsaver Hey better late than never to find the post, right? I’ve found it to be more motivating (and interesting) to hear about business failures than to hear about business successes. We only seem to hear about the success people experience, but what about all the failures before getting there?
If you never try, you never win. Failures teach more than successes, you just have to know when to pull the plug before too much capital is drained.
No Nonsense Landlord I agree, and I definitely learned from each of these failures. I think failing is essential if you ever hope to be a success.