9 Wacky But Successful Website Ideas

A lot of people play it safe, when trying to make money online. Ebay, Adsense, affiliate marketing, consulting or something along those lines. And, more often than not, these conventional ideas fail. Here is a list of nine people who weren't afraid to try crazy ideas online and made a lot of money at it.

A Homepage Worth Millions
Who would ever think that you can be rich out of being desperate? Well, Alex Tew can give you a lot of answers for that. When he was 21 years old, he decided to earn more cash for college by selling $1 pixels on his website. Talk about crazy, but he got his million in half a year’s time, and even major television stations wanted to interview the kid. He got so famous that hackers attacked his site, and many imitated his ideas so much that Alex’s latest projects dwindled in the end. Still, he made hi s millions, all because he needed to pay his tuition and books—and look where he’d gone from that.

ShitMyDadSays
This is another site that can raise many eyebrows. Justin Halpern, an unemployed writer, had to move back to his parents’ house. As if this wasn’t mortifying enough, he had to live with his father’s constant jokes all throughout his stay. So what did he do? He created a Twitter account just for his father’s jokes. It was a huge hit; and in less than a month, the Daily Show was knocking at his door for an interview. What’s more, there were sitcoms and book deal offers that followed as well. This gives you one lesson in life: record your parent’s nagging from time to time. Who knows where it can take you, right?

PickyDomains.com
Do you have trouble naming things? Well, Dmitry Daydov doesn’t. In fact, he likes it so much he decided to make a career out of it. So what did he do? He approached people who had trouble com ing up with a domain name and offered them a great deal: if he could come up with a cool domain name, then they would pay him $50; if he didn’t, he would get nothing—as in “zero” nothing. This idea became an instant hit, and soon, he had trouble completing all the orders by himself. It became so popular that San Francisco wrote a story about him—and others joined too. (As a side note, you can check out a list of blog name generators on our list if you are coming up with a blog name for your site)

BugMeNot.com
Ever feel irritated with those annoying websites that require users to register to get full access of their site? Well, Guy King feels for you. In fact, he feels for you so much, he decided to create a website that provided logins and passwords to people who didn’t like to give their email addresses during registration. His site became a success in 2004, and even caused the wrath of Wired magazine (who reportedly made an effort to shut his si te down). Today, BugMeNot has branched out in other similar niches, like RetailMeNot.com.

Doggles.com
It must be fun being a dog--especially if your owners are Ken and Roni di Lullo. Not only do you get a tasty bone, but you also get to try out their invention--a Doggle sunglass. Yup, it sounds a bit cuckoo, but you'll be surprised that their Doggles products are now sold in 4,500 different outlets in 16 countries. How did they do it? By marketing these sunglasses as a protective eyepiece that shields harmful UV radiation from a dog's eyes. Many people think it's the most "uncool" invention ever, but you've got to admit that even a man's furry bestfriend looks cool in Doggles.

GeesePoliceInc.com
Can you make $2 million dollars just by chasing geese away? Well,David Marcks can. He created GeesePoliceInc.com to prove his point—that there is money in anything. Apparently, he worked at a golf course that had many wild geese in it; and he decided to get rid of them by offering the services of his good, old, trusty Border Collie. And what did his dog do? He chased all the geese out of from the golf course. Today, he uses 27 trucks and 32 dogs to chase those poor, hapless geese away from municipal parks, golf courses, and land owners.

FindAGrave.com
Do you like visiting graves of famous people? Then you should talk to Jim Tipton. He liked locating dead celebrities so much he even turned it into a profitable business. No, they’re not all famous, but that person has a grave—and if he has one, then most likely David will find it for you. His business became so famous that there is even a term created for it: “Tombstone Tourism”.

ShoppingCartAbuse.com
It’s difficult to explain what this site does, so we’ll let the site do the talking: “The Center for Prevention of Shopping Cart Abuse is an organization dedicated to preventing the pervasiveness of Shopping Cart abuse”. Yes, it is a business—and yes, it is a successful commercial project as well. For other questions—go ask them.

WheresGeorge.com
Ever wonder where the money you spent is right now? Yes, we’re talking about the actual money itself—you know, the one with the dead presidents? Well, the site works by getting the serial number of your money and tracking where it is right now. Don’t think it’s a joke; as of today, Where’s George is tracking around 190,623,138 bills, which has a whopping total of around USD$1,028,594,634.

David Deprice is a blogger at MadConomist.com. He is currently involved with two startups, Bloove.com and MyClasses.org

Six Ways To Make Money Online Without Really Trying

Chances are, you know that there are many ways to make money online. Blogging, freelancing, becoming a virtual assistant, affiliate marketing and so on. But all these take quite a bit of time, effort and sometimes expertese. Truth is, there are other, much easier, ways to make a few buck online. Obviously, because these are easier, the pay is quite a bit lower (you won't be able to retire on the Bahamas). Still, if you are short on cash and pressed for time, you might want to consider them.


1. Ejury.com

Have you ever wondered what lawyers are looking for when they select a jury? Ejury.com provides attorneys with simulated jurors for mock trials. This helps them to figure out how a jury might react to their evidence and arguments in a real trial. You can earn between $5 and $15 just for filling out their questionnaires. Ejury.com selects their “jurors” by using criteria such as your geographic location and other demographic information. If you meet their criteria for a certain trial, you may be asked to fill out their survey.

2. Microworkers.com

If your friends say you spend way too much time on Facebook, now you can tell them y ou are actually earning money! We all have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube. Now you can earn money just by doing what we all do every day on these social networking sites. You probably won’t pay the rent with your Microworkers.com earnings but, why not get paid for being online? They offer anywhere from .10 cents to $1 just for following someone on Twitter, joining a Facebook circle or just voting for YouTube videos.

3. PickyDomains.com

If you are good at brainstorming names and phrases then PickyDomains.com is for you! This outsourcing service provides a think tank of people like you to help others choose a domain name or catch phrase. PickyDomains offers you the opportunity to earn $25-$50 just to suggest some ideas. All you have to do is log in, check the current orders and make some suggestions. If your idea is chosen by a client, then you get paid. In addition, if you own a blog you can make $30 just by reviewing the Pic kyDomains service.

4. Prizes.Org

This Google/Slide subsidiary pays you to help other people with small tasks. You could actually earn some money by helping someone with a toast at a wedding, or to write a eulogy. Similar to Google Answers, it won’t pay a lot, but you could earn $10 for a wide variety of assignments. Why not earn some money and feel good about helping someone?

5. Istockphoto.com

Why not turn your photography hobby into some real cash? Bloggers and writers on the web are always looking for original images and they are becoming increasingly hard to find. You upload your original photos to iStockPhoto.com and they could pay you anywhere between $5 and $20 if someone uses it. Many webmasters are starting to use this royalty free image bank, so the odds are good that your photo might get used.

6. Buxr.com

Buxr is a social coupon site, where users submit best deals they find online. This is how it works. People search online for coupons, post them online and then others vote if they like the coupon or not. Deals that get a lot of votes are rewarded with cash payments sent to whoever found and posted them. So if you frequest coupon sites, might as well get some cash out of this activity.

Dmitry Davydov is a blogger at MadConomist.com. He is currently involved with two startups, Bloove.com and MyClasses.org

10 Cool Little Known Outsourcing Services (Some Of Which Are Free).

10 Cool Little Known Outsourcing Services (Some Of Which Are Free).

1. Branding – PickyDomains.com
As simple as it may sound, coming up with a name can be one of the most daunting tasks especially if you intend to use the name as a domain online. Coming up with the kind of domain name that will be on everybody's lips is not an easy job and luckily you don't have to do it by yourself. PickDomains.com is a naming service that is completely risk free and all you need to do is put down a deposit of $50. You will get suggestions from other people and if you find a suggestion that you like, the person who came up with the name will get paid part of the money. If no suggestion appeals to you then you will get back your money and its that simple. As of now, over 1500 domains have been provided by PickDomains.com.

2. Software Translation – Transifex.com
In order to take advantage of various opportunities software developers need to translate their programs into several languages. This is especially the case whenever they are trying to sell these products in Europe. Instead of hiring individual translators for every language a simple solution would be to make use of Transifex. Transifex crowdsources translation services for any application that you have made and it has been used on many open source projects such as Firefox, GNOME and others. Commercial developers are now also able to take advantage of this opportunity and it would only cost them 30 euros for each month. Quality is always high and so is the speed compared to many other services.

3. Legal – BatesExpress.com
It is always the tiny aspects of paperwork that make it so tedious. In law, the bates numbering system is one of these things. All legal paperwork must have manually stamped Bates numbers to make the documents acceptable in courts. The good news is that you don't have to struggle with this anymore. Bates Express has a system that applies the Bates Stamps automatically to the documents that you choose including e-mails, HTML pages, PDF documents and many more. There is a paid version of the service as well as a free version.

4. Invoicing/Business Processes – SideJobTrack.com
Keeping track of invoices and other business processes is always easy when the job is being done regularly but for part time jobs it's a whole other issue. SideJobTrack.com is an online invoicing service that is meant for people doing part time jobs and those working on a not so regular basis. The service is free yet it will allow you to do almost anything that you would be able to do on the paid services. This fast and simple service will allow you to create templates for your invoices and custom estimates without breaking a sweat or spending a dime.

5. Web Design – 99Designs.com
You wish to create a logo, an icon or a template but there is just one problem; you have no skills to speak of that would allow you to do this kind of thing by yourself. No problem, 99Designs.com is here to rescue you. 99Designs.com crowdsources all sorts of graphics from many web designers all around the world. This Webby award winning service is not just convenient but low cost as well. You could get a logo for as little as $99 when it could cost you as much as $250 elsewhere.

6. SEO/PPC – iSpionage.com
iSpionage is the kind of tool that will enable you to have your eye on your competitors online at all times. ISpionage allows you to enter URLs that belong to your competitors so you can easy check to see whether or not they are making use of pay per click ads or not. This is quite important if you wish to do the same thing on Google. You can use this service to check everything about the competition including the keywords that they bid on, the text that they use on Adwords adverts, the amount that they spend on PPC and even the traffic that they get from the organic search engine optimization. You can search a maximum of 10 domains or keywords everyday if you are using the service for free. If you want full access then it may cost you between $59 and $129.

7. Intranets – BitrixSoft.com
Setting up a corporate intranet requires that you take a few things into consideration. For starters, the intranet must have certain features such employee pages, messaging, video conferencing, e-mails and the like. Next, the intranet must also be able to be up and running in as little time as possible because after all time is money. Last but not least you need a service that is dependable. In this regard, the Intranet 10 from Bitrix is exactly what you are looking for. Bitrix is a CMS maker from Russia that is the most widely used CMS maker in that country. Although it's not well known outside the Russian borders this Intranet service demands will get you all that you want in no more than two days. The pricing will depend on the size of the intranet you wish to have.

8. Marketing – oDesk.com

Outsourcing is not just the cheapest way to do things anymore but probably the simplest especially if you are working with a service such as oDesk. Using oDesk.com you can make use of many competent writers from all over the world who will be able to get the job done without demanding any more than you are willing to pay for. There is almost no limit to the kind of job that you can outsource through oDesk and you can get anyone from a technical writer to a web developer or a designer.

9. Social Networks – Microworkers
Adding fans to a corporate page in a social networking site is a big job since few people attach any sentimental value to corporate companies. However, instead of spending months trying to get a few hundred people to like your Facebook page or to follow you on twitter, it would be much simpler to just pay and get several thousand fans in a matter of days. Microworkers.com allows you to do that. For around 10 to 15 cents per follower, you can buy as many likes and followers as you wish. If that's not enough then you can also count on the avalanche effect to add the numbers after you have made your initial purchase.

10. Scheduling/To-Do – RememberTheMilk.com
Sticking to the schedule is the hardest bit of scheduling and that's why anyone will appreciate the services of RememberTheMilk.com. This is an online task management service that allows you to plan the things that you are going to do and makes it not just possible but easy to stick to the schedule and remember everything that you are supposed to. This website is not just integrated with computers but with most handheld devices including iPhones, PDAs, Android phones, Gmail and many other things. The best thing about this service is that it is absolutely free unless you need one or two advanced features such as being able to sync the service with devices using Windows Mobile

Dmitry Davydov is a blogger at MadConomist.com. He is currently involved with two startups, Bloove.com and MyClasses.org