Making a Million Online

FF Fashion

Online grave for pets...

Mon, Apr 19, 2010
The Business Times
By Sarith Weerasinghe


IF YOU are full of entrepreneurial energy and don't yet have an idea as to where to begin, here are some ideas worth trying. And none of them are like selling Ferraris to the middle class.

First, let me tell you where the inspiration came from - the million dollar home page. Making money calls for some effort, so I am not going to waste your time, and mine, on something that you could easily find out on Google or Wikipedia. Just search for "Million Dollar Homepage" - it could really be enlightening.


You may ask a very legitimate question - why am I not exploring one of these ideas myself. The answer is simple. Once you get hooked on advertising, sticking to one idea is extremely difficult. It's like an addict trying to stay off drugs - he rarely succeeds.

First, a general point about doing business on the Internet. The trick is to develop a business model which gives potential subscribers something worthwhile to do, absolutely free, such as YouTube and Facebook. Or if it offers a particular benefit to a smaller audience, you could charge a bit - but not too much. Since the Web is an addressable media, targeting could be simple, unlike in traditional business models.

With the vast audience that is constantly on the Web, almost anything becomes possible and one should always aim to develop a concept that has the potential to overcome all kinds of boundaries such as geography, language, etc. Let's say you want to be a millionaire.

Getting a dollar

Chances are, there are several million other people too, who want to be millionaires, just like you. If you could get one dollar from each such wanna-be millionaire, congrats to you, you have made your first million. You may wonder whether this is possible - yes, it is. In fact, someone already has. And that's why I suggested you check the Million Dollar home page.

Without further bragging, here are the ideas.

Start an online grave.

For pets, of course. This is my favourite idea. I don't know whether there are graves for pets, anywhere in the world. If the pet is lucky, it might get a burial site in your garden, while in really crowded cities such as New York or Tokyo, even this isn't a reality.

But I do know two things. One, people really love their pets, and yes, sometimes a little more than they do their own kith and kin.

In the US alone, the pet industry was US$43.2 billion in 2008 and was estimated to increase to US$45.4 billion last year. One of the pet networking sites registered a phenomenal growth of 236 per cent in 2009.

Two, we can ill afford to have pet cemeteries in city vicinities, as we need space for ourselves. So, the pet grave could be nicely branded to invoke loving memories, along with a customised tomb stone and stories like how the pet left a tattoo on your boyfriend's butt.

The site should be able to pick up e-mail addresses of the subscribers' friends lists, to inform them to wish on the birthdays, death anniversaries and other special days.

If you don't like the idea of being the guardian of a grave yard, try being the gate keeper of a palace like the Taj Mahal. Here's the second idea. Build your own Taj Mahal.

A site committed to making affairs more serious. So the modern day Shah Jahan - the Mughal emperor who decreed the building of the Taj - can erect his own version of the Taj Mahal for his very own Mumtaz.

The site will provide the necessary space and tools for him to design and display his structure to the love of his life. Since love is supposedly blind, hopefully he will spend a few bucks for the facility.

If not, even if you can just make lovers frequent the site, there will be a zillion other ways to earn money from such traffic. A spin off from this could be to target aspiring architects to show off their talents. People could vote for the best structure and build a business around it.

Capitalise on efficacy

The third idea capitalises on the efficacy of eBay, given the fact that people have sold air guitars and broken laser pointers for US$15. So, about time somebody launched www.iownit.com - a site that sells online versions of people, places and just about anything that is controversial.

The "I Own It" site will be used to build up these characters by soliciting user comments. The site will release one or two characters daily, for online bidding on eBay.

For example, Hitler, or the White House, could be auctioned off - chances are, you will have people fighting to own it. The winner will be given several incentives - the authority to rechristen the structure as he sees fit - someone could easily rename the White House as the Black House provided he/she is able to outbid everyone else on eBay.

If the site catches on, when someone enters the White House, the "I Own It" site should appear at least as the third or forth site, with the details of the owner. I think it could be cool.

And now, what do I want to own? May be Mariah Carey - if only I could make her stop singing!



The writer is a strategic planner for a multinational corporation based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He maintains a blog: silentdogs.blogspot.com focused on marketing and branding