Guest Blog 3: Failed Business Idea

Failed Business Idea: Porn Addiction Advice
(howtomakeadollar appreciates all reader interest and activity.  Unfortunately... some of our readers cannot read directions.  Our guest blogger blog off competition is on who can come up with the best idea on how to make a dollar... not ways at which you have failed to make a dollar.  At howtomakeadollar we do not discriminate based on one's ability to follow directions* so we will allow this blog to proceed.  Howtomakeadollar does however discriminate based only on age, gender, ethnicity and left handed people. Especially age and gender)

A few years ago I came up with what I thought would be a good idea. There are a lot of people on the Internet who use it to look at porn. I imagine that most of these people feel guilty about it and wish they didn't do it. Even if most of them don't feel guilty about it, I imagine that some of them do, and the industry is so big that even if just one percent of the people involved want to quit, you can do pretty well.  Additionally, there are those people who have been caught looking and are in trouble with their spouse.

I figured that a good way to make money would be to create a website that provided advice to porn addicts. My website had a text window on its front page that allowed users to describe their problem and ask for help. Then it took them to a paypal link and charged them $10.

The plan was that once they described their addiction and paid, I would reply with a bunch of advice on how to quit. I would suggest things like moving their computer to a more trafficked room in the house, involvement at a nearby church (lots of churches have porn counseling programs), confidential conversations with trusted friends, and incremental goal setting.

That was the plan

I advertised my website on google, and checked everyday to see how many people were clicking my ads. Unfortunately, the cost per click is very high on google when you use the word "porn." I wound up paying about $80 in advertising without making a single sale. Then I quit.

I had spent about $20 on the domain name "thehelpfulsite.com," and another $150 on hosting. Then I paid a guy $250 to build the website. Then I paid $80 in advertising, and I never made a single sale. The page is still there, sitting empty on the Internet, but it is inactive.

Lessons learned:
1. People like porn
2. People who search for porn expect to find it, not some anti-porn website
3. Some ideas sound good, but aren't
4. You can't help someone overcome porn if they do not want to.