Consistency.

[Wolf]

Here's a tip that, if you stick with it, will benefit you a great deal. People starting out tend to jump on a lot of bandwagons. They learn about blogging and start ten blogs. Then they decide to start a tgp...or a tube site...or a blog directory...or a free hosted blog service...or xyz. Or all of the above. And because blogs are time intensive they're probably not being updated........of course, nowadays there are plugins that can auto-update blogs but you get what I'm saying. Don't skip from one project to the next.

If you're going to do TGP galleries (just as an example), do galleries. If you like blogging, do blogging. The important thing is don't bite off more than you can chew. The mantra I hear a lot is 'build, build, build' and you need 300 domains to make money these days. Do you?

No, you don't. Sure, it's easier to build 20 blogs and get 50 uniques each, each day than it is to build one blog (just using blogs as an example) that gets 1000 uniques per day. BUT until you learn to build traffic, until you learn to sell, until you learn to convert different kinds of traffic it doesn't matter how many blogs you build. You won't make much money.

If you do learn to build traffic, learn to sell, learn to convert your traffic you can make money with very little traffic. Why? How? Because you're working the traffic you have and because you know how to get the best traffic.

This is what you need to spend your time on, learning how to be a better webmaster. There's no point in building a webmaster empire until you master the basics.

So, let's say you want to blog. Blogging has been the rage for a couple of years because it's a good way to bring in SE or Search Engine traffic. SE traffic converts pretty well especially if you learn how to filter it even more, how to get some kind of result or action from the surfer before he leaves your site.

Here's my advice. Build one blog. (Or SE page, whatever.) You can build a niched blog, it's easier to convert niched content than general porn content. Build your one blog and work on your first goal, getting 100 uniques a day. 100 uniques a day consistently. Work on your sidebar, build a money bar at the bottom, work on your sales text, work on writing good post titles, learn what categories and tags to use. Learn the basics of blogging.

(Obviously, if you are building galleries or free sites you need more than one gallery slash free site but you could stick to one domain and build off of that domain.)

Get trades for your blog. Learn to network. You're probably going to be spending too much time on webmaster forums anyway so get some kind of benefit from it. Ask questions. You're not going to get the greatest trades in the world at first so don't worry about that.

I'd suggest getting your own domain but if you build a free hosted blog that's fine. Once you're getting a steady 100 uniques per day to your blog that gets you a little leverage with getting trades but don't link out to more than 20 other trades in your sidebar. Work on getting sales. When you are getting at least one sale per month for a period of 3-4 months you've reached your first sales goal.......other than getting your first sale, anyway.

If you can't get 100 uniques per day and you're not getting one sale per month you're not ready to build your second blog. If you're getting one sale a month with less than than that amount of traffic consistently then that's fine but you need to learn traffic generation at some point.

I'm using blogs as an example because I know blogs. But the same principle applies to other sites like TGPs, TGP galleries, free sites, tube sites, etc. The numbers are different, that's all. Traffic, sales, conversions, etc.

When you can reach both your first traffic goal and your first sales goal then you have a decision to make. You can build another site or continue to improve your skills and work with one site. Either way at this point you will be able to make money in this business. But you still will be a eternal student, don't forget. I am.

If you are at one year and cannot meet your sales goal and your traffic goal, don't get pissed off or get depressed. Ask for help. Ask for advice. None of us got where we are without asking questions.

Stick to this strategy, don't jump on a new bandwagon every five minutes, and you will be on your way. When you learn the skills to make money with one site nothing can stop you.

Good luck.

- edited to reflect Walrus's point about sales.

[Rofl]

Agreed, or you risk being a "Jack of all trades, master of none"


(like me lol...)

[Wolf]

Admittedly, I am very guilty of not being consistent myself. To this day.........which is why I wanted to write about it.

[Cynode]

Could you elaborate on these a little:

• convert your traffic
• Work on your sidebar
• build a money bar at the bottom

Thanks =)

[Wolf]

Could you elaborate on these a little:

• convert your traffic
• Work on your sidebar
• build a money bar at the bottom

Thanks =)

No problem. Those are topics that are worthy of a thread for each.

[mnrvov]

Damned good post man! One of those I wish I would have seen a couple years ago....

If you like, I can throw something together for sidebars as I really think it is one of my strong points.

[Wolf]

Damned good post man! One of those I wish I would have seen a couple years ago....

If you like, I can throw something together for sidebars as I really think it is one of my strong points.

Sounds good as I admit sidebars are not what I'm best at.

[toker]

The mantra I hear a lot is 'build, build, build' and you need 300 domains to make money these days. Do you?

I fully agree having paid over $800 a year for domains a few years ago myself it just ate into my profit. The realization came when less then a handful were being monetized after nearly four years. Most of the names were not that great for portfolio or future resell for example CaptainCucumber was one i had slated to buy. It would have been a name that was easy to remember and brandable but the potential value for investment was nill. More webmasters are interested in keyword rich names over anything else and think nothing of building a nobile brand for themselves. This is why guys like TheHun, Thumbzilla and Shemp became household legends while everyone else was busy trying to dominate Google.

[Wolf]

Yeah, domains...........this year I would have ended up spending $600+.........which is fine but I finally realized there is an easier way to do things than have a zillion small sites that make a few bucks a month each.

[mnrvov]

Sounds good as I admit sidebars are not what I'm best at.

I will get something together and post it up here in the next few days. I doubt I will ever be as good as flip with the sidebars, I shall try my best....

[whitey]

Quite good advice there Wolf.

Make money with each specific strategy before adding another one.  Over time, each will take less time to execute freeing up more time to diversify if that is ones choosen strategy.

[Walrus]

First time I've really wandered in here and there is some great advice, especially in this thread but they are all mostly gold.

But... ya I've got to rain on everyone's parade... I think the goal of 1 sale a week with 100 uniques a day is a bit optimistic.  The reason I say that is that if you can maintain an average of a 25% CTR (click thru rate), your sales ratio is 1:175.  I think a more realistic goal is 1 sale per month at 100 uniques a day which leaves you with a respectable but reachable sales ratio of 1:750.

Also, I think the build, build, build mantra is completely misunderstood.  Building something does not require a new domain for everything you build.  You should be adding something every day to one of your sites.  Whether it be a new domain or on an existing domain.

That something can be a blog post, a gallery, a freesite, an SEO page, etc. but it's equally important to be able to evaluate how what you built performs.  Why does one blog post work better than another or why did this gallery sell better than that or... you get the point.  But I think that's probably a whole different topic.

[Wolf]

I've got to rain on everyone's parade... I think the goal of 1 sale a week with 100 uniques a day is a bit optimistic.  The reason I say that is that if you can maintain an average of a 25% CTR (click thru rate), your sales ratio is 1:175.  I think a more realistic goal is 1 sale per month at 100 uniques a day which leaves you with a respectable but reachable sales ratio of 1:750.

Yeah, it really depends on your traffic and niche. I do think at 100 uniques a day you should be able to squeeze more than one sale a month from a blog. However, not all kinds of sites can produce that quality of traffic. Plus, as a beginner that might be asking too much. Still, I think even when I started out it was fairly easy to get at least a couple of sales a month from a blog.

Also, I think the build, build, build mantra is completely misunderstood.  Building something does not require a new domain for everything you build.  You should be adding something every day to one of your sites.  Whether it be a new domain or on an existing domain.

Agreed. My point was it's better to build sites that stand on their own than build 300 blogs/splogs and think money is going to rain out of the sky.

- edited typo.