How To Make An Adoptable Website?

How do I make my website, www.planetstompers.net, pay?

• 1. I want to make a modest income for me and my brother say $400-$500 a week each. Which we would fully intend to use for Travelling. While this small income would be enough for some small trips were I could test my feet so to speak and help me recognize my abilities and limitations, in the long run I might consider a Kickstarter campaign to help us towards a Mobility Scooter for me with modifications and the big trip that would take us on the Trans Siberia Express and out to our old stomping ground South East Asia. Bearing in mind of course that said modest income would probably be more than enough for us to survive on once we were out there. 2. Here's my idea for my website: I began with an idea for this website about 6 years ago, just shortly after I starting using computers and me and a friend named Erik, who unfortunately died about 5 years ago in a road accident, thought it was a great idea for getting me and my brother back on the road. Erik was great with the technical side but I don't think he knew how to make it pay either. Our general idea was to create a website firstly for me and Noel, my brother, aka Dang and Blast, to get us back out there, we would create stories with pics which would include travel tips and observations from my disabled point of view, a daily blog too and there would be a place for 'Our Heroes' who would be by mentioning 'Honorary Planet Stompers', this can be anyone from Albert Einstein to a friend who inspired us on our travels, but the long term goal would be in say 5 years to pay a small sum to other travellers, on a per story basis, for their contributions and in time build up a repository of travellers knowledge. As a side note if enough money was being raised beyond me and Noel's needs we would consider starting some charity projects. 3. The ultimate goal is to get us back to our journey, if anybody reads the website as it is now they'll understand that we are pure travellers with 10 years of hard wrought travelling experience and if we could get started again there's no telling where it could take us and we are prepared to give everything up to reach that end.   4. I'm disabled but I want to get back to Travelling like we used too, I know it'll be different and I'll probably need a Mobility Scooter but I can see myself skipping through South East Asia, figuratively speaking of course, that's a disabled joke, me on my Scooter, in say Bejing, with a small trailer attached and my brother by my side. I feel I could do it and be a voice for the disabled too. 5. I'm not only looking for suggestions on how do make it pay, I'm also looking for someone who would physically like to help guide this project.                      ########## As an update I thought it was worth mentioning that I've been looking into lots of stuff. I don't know that I'm going to do the Kickstarter Campaign mostly because we've got a little savings going at the moment and I think with a little more time we could be ready to go. On the outside about a year on the inside 3 to 6 months but that depends on me checking and confirming some stuff about my health. In my research I've found information about 2 things, one I already know about and one that really excites me. Me and my brother have worked as TV and Movie Extras before and it's still a really good way to makes ends meet while travelling but the one that really excites me is: Selling local products on EBay, for example in Thailand there's Silver Jewellery and Thai Silk Clothing. This sounds like a really good idea for any traveller and hopefully it would give us time to work on our website too. I have an EBay account but I've never sold anything yet so I guess it's time to get reading up and test the selling side too. Wish me luck! PS Unfortunately I don't think I'll be getting a Mobility Scooter before I go but you never know I might be able to get one while on my travels. PPS Any advice on EBay would be greatly appreciated.                       ########## Another update: Our savings are growing nicely and my research into eBay is coming along in leaps and bounds although I haven't sold anything yet mostly because I've had some problems with my neck and back, I had six injections in my neck which gave me very little relief so I'm going to see a Neurosurgeon at the end of this month. I have hopes of gaining some mobility. Fingers crossed!                    ############## I just wanted to update evryone, my adventure started on 10th February with Hong Kong, it's been over 20 years since I was last here, and I'm having a great time. I'm still in Hong Kong now but next Tuesday I'm off to Hanoi. Wish me luck! And to see what's happening check out the website, no new posts yet but soon, twitter: @Blasttastic and facebook: http://facebook.com/stevenadams25

• Answer:

  Kickstarter seems to be a bit of a crapshoot. I've seen nonsensical projects rack up tens of thousands of dollars and legitimate projects ending up with only a few hundred dollars in funding. Still, it's worth a shot. And you might be able to raise a years worth of income in a few weeks. One advantage is that it might help provide an initial hit of publicity. I could be wrong, but you'll need serious publicity to make your project work. The question is, can you do it yourself or will you need a publicist? A few years ago I went to a weekend seminar and learned something that might help you.  In the digital age corporations are desperately searching for new / unique approaches to reach potential customers. A few of the presenters at the event claimed to have sold thousands of books (that's tens of thousands of dollars) directly to corporations that also also paid them sizable speaking fees for addressing shareholder, sales, and employee events. If you can attract large numbers of followers who are interested in what you’re doing it's possible to find a sponsor or sponsors willing to pay serious money for the exposure.  The challenge is to find a way to tie-in your project with potential sponsors. This takes a little ingenuity, but it's possible. For example, a guy who was writing a book on hip-hop told me he was working on a proposal to get a car manufacturer, Scion, to provide him with a vehicle because Scion was trying to reach the same niche market as he was. Tourist bureaus interested in publicity might be willing to put up some money. Then there are the travel sites (Expedia, Priceline, etc.). What about the manufacturer of the Mobility Scooter? Think of yourselves as goodwill ambassadors.   Sit your friends down and start cranking out ideas and then set up a game plan to execute the ideas. Remember: "Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone."                 —Robert G. Allen