What is your business? When did you start it?
I run a digital media agency that runs a growing network of sites in the education, finance and gaming niche. Examples include StudentMoney.co.uk, BinaryOptions.com and Investing.co.uk.
I started my business by chance during my final year of University. During the summer holidays in 2nd year, I was writing content for a few websites in the gaming niche. At one point, one of clients I was writing content for encouraged me to start my own website, and I just took it from there.
I spent the first couple of years working in the gaming niche (sports, casino and bingo) before diversifying into the finance and education niche. By the end of University in 2010, I was making around $500-$1,000 per month in affiliate marketing, so I chose to take a gap year to work on my business some more.
By the end of those 12 months, I was making around $5,000 per month and decided to keep going for another year and here we are now.
In May 2012, I also wanted to diversify my income and experience on my CV and set up an Internet marketing consultancy at Searchable.co.uk, which offers SEO, PPC and other inbound marketing services for start-ups.
I finally incorporated my entire operations, ARG Media Ltd, in October 2012.
Why did you decide to start?
I’ve always wanted to run my own business (I used to sell DVDs on eBay when I was 17) but this particular business all started by chance really. I really think luck plays a big part in running your own business – you need to be in the right position at the right time.
The great thing about what I do is that I now have the skills to pick and choose whatever project or industry I want to work in. For example, if I come up with an idea for a new brand then I can launch a website, outsource the content and begin marketing it all in a flash, without having to run ideas past a boss or in a bureaucracy.
If you have the knowledge, experience, investments and contacts for developing new brands and marketing them online than you can do anything really. This includes starting a consultancy, a student discounts site, a financial comparison site, e-commerce, online gaming, developing your own mobile apps and more. Recently I’ve also been trying to move away from affiliate marketing towards CPM advertising (which is better for brands with a high percentage of return visitors).
How much money did you start with? How did you spend it?
By the time I launched my first website in 3rd year, I’d already made around $2,000 over the summer holidays writing content (by the way I still know lots of young people making a ton of money at University by writing content on Elance.com etc. One of my friends even runs his own content writing business with an annual turnover of £xxx,xxx).
I didn’t spend much money to begin with, since I wrote all of the content myself and you can launch a nice website with hosting for only around £50 per year. I did however manage to sell one of my bigger sites for £xxx,xxx last October which has helped fund some new ventures and taken a little pressure off my back.
Honestly, I think when it comes to websites you can start a business from nothing as long as you’re willing to write content yourself and learn how to market your site from scratch.
What do you hope to achieve with your business?
Ideally, I’d like to create authority sites in each of the niches I’m working in, so that when someone sees one of my sites they’ll already recognize it. That would be cool.
For example, I’m developing StudentMoney.co.uk as a comparison and savings site in the student niche, Investing.co.uk in the financial comparison market and Graduates.co.uk for graduate careers advice, jobs and gap years.
It would also be nice for my consultancy business to take off with some higher paying clients!
What problems have you overcome so far?
Tons of problems – I understand why so many startups fail now and I have sympathy for them all.
Starting from the top down, my biggest problems have been in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), where a sudden algorithm update can wipe out segments of traffic and website rankings (don’t laugh, search engine traffic usually makes up a huge amount of UK website traffic). Other issues when I first started out include pressure from parents to get a job, finding an office to work in, and spending time working on projects that had a longer ROI than I anticipated.
Getting my websites hacked or plagiarized, in addition to being banned by Google Adwords, can also be added to the list.
What are your top 3 business tips you’d offer to students?
I’d say University is the perfect time to start a business. You have tons of spare time on your hands, very little financial pressure, and all of the resources you need. There are very little barriers to entry for starting a website, and tons of new opportunities such as new social networks to take advantage of. If you have even a semi-developed business by the time you graduate than it’s a lot easier than having starting from scratch at the same age. Luckily, I was at a point where I could just about justify taking a gap year to work on my own projects.
Another tip is that running a successful business doesn’t happen overnight. You have to work hard at it and grind away for 6-12 months until you see results. Too many people think they can just come up with an idea and make a ton of money within the first few months. In my experience it takes 1-2 years before you really see the rewards of starting a business as everyone else gives up.
Finally, I think networking and making the right contacts plays a huge part in running a successful business. For example, I have contacts in the PR, SEO and journalism industry, which are priceless, as well as some really great coders and writers who I use. In many ways, I consider my contacts an asset since they give me a big advantage that my competitors might not have. For example, if you want to develop an iPhone app, do you know anyone who can do it cheaply? Do you know someone with experience in what you’re trying to achieve? That’s the sort of thing I’m talking about.