Once you get started with Internet Marketing, it seems the bug bites you and you start creating websites left and right. What starts out as one great idea, turns into two and then three...
Before you know it you have a dozen niche websites and/or blogs in varying stages of completion. It's madness!
So why do we do this to ourselves? What is it that tempts us to start another website, before our first is even fully developed and making money?
Don't worry, you're not alone. I know very few people who are immune to this madness of creating multiple websites or several online business models - with none of them reaching a true point of profit...
Is there an addiction to creating websites?
What causes this strange phenomenon among people who desperately want to make money online, yet seem to quit just before the point of profit every single time... only to start the process all over again?
If this is such a common issue, what's the problem exactly?
There's something fun and exciting about the learning, the market research, the development phase of taking an idea and turning it into something tangible.
Wouldn't it also be fun and exciting to see that idea turn into a successful money-making venture? To see it transform into something that excites it's visitors and consistently rewards it's creator with never-ending streams of revenue?
When did you create your very first blog or website? A month ago, a year ago... even longer? And did you abandon it - or is it living up to it's full profit potential?
Poor little website.
Creating Websites... From Start to Profit
If you truly want to make money online, and have a successful internet-based business, you absolutely must continue the process. All the way from start, to profit.
Choose one project - one website, one blog, one niche - and complete the process. Dream it, research it, build it, promote it, tweak it, promote it some more. Live and breathe this one project until it is running at top potential, as automated as possible, with multiple streams of revenue.
Here's the good news: Once you complete the process, your online business will be operating in maintenance mode. All it requires is a little management, some new content and links now and then, a note to your team (because by now you're outsourcing most of the maintenance).
At this point you should be spending no more than 5 hours a week managing your sweet little project... and it's generating a nice little profit for you.
NOW you have time, experience and money to begin a second project. Your experience with the first project makes this second project go up even faster, and operate even smoother. You reach your profit point much quicker. And you are now in maintenance mode with this project as well. And you can start a third...
There's a strategy to it.
Take ONE project all the way.
Only then have you truly learned the process - well enough to duplicate it.
And that, my friends, is the difference between creating websites that cost you money... and creating websites that make you money. 😉
Best,
About Lynn Terry
I have struggled with this a lot. With so many ideas, I get caught up in the buzz and excitement of creating a new blog , but after a few short months it is put on the back burner to make room for a newer, "better" idea...
I put on blinders Sunday night. I'm keeping them on all this week and plan to try to keep them on much longer. My problem isn't "from start to profit," but rather simply being worn out and gorged on just too much data/input/information/ideas/stuff. I think I've got Twitter/Facebook/Google Reader Flu.
My new niche:
12 Step Program Counseling for Niche Site Creation Addicts....
(Help also available for domain name registration addicts)
Our new web sites will be up, as soon as I go register all the related domain names.
😛 LOL
Seriously, I love creating new niche web sites. It's the thrill of a new project and the satisfaction when you see it bringing in profit.
Tracy, there's also the thrill of the hunt - being the first to name and claim a really clever (!) domain name.
EVEN IF I may not build on it for 18 months, at least I own it and not my competition (who ever that is, probably back at their office grinding and gnashing their teeth in dismay).
I am so addicted to starting new niche sites! I used to get an idea and then register a new domain and let it sit for a few months. I've gotten better though. Now, I will actually put up a theme, header, and a few posts. After that, it is then up to some maintenance.
The strategy you talked about is absolutely right. Start one, finish it, and then move onto another one. I only wish I could keep myself to it!
How do you manage to write these posts when I need to read them?
I've been a hardcore self-stopper so long the opposite feels weird and sometimes nearly impossible.
I'm still not swimming in money and so can't break out the trunks with the big dollar signs, but I do keep this one thing firmly in mind:
Learn, Do, Repeat.
Naturally, that comes right after asking yourself, "What do I NEED right now?" Not what's prettiest or shiniest or sends the siren call toward the jagged rocks of disappointment...or words to that effect.
Idea? Research? Domain name? Hosting? Mailing list? Content? Monetization?
You can eat that big elephant with a small fork if you take little bites.
And use lots of ketchup.
Dan
I really like this article, Lynn. Very good. I'm still in the basics stage of affiliate marketing and find the whole thing a bit of an Everest to climb. But I'll keep at it. Thanks!
Oh my. The mistakes I made (make) the money I blew, especially when first starting out. "Just research niches, throw up websites and blogs, drive traffic"...I still shudder...that was the worst piece of advice ever given to a new marketer.
"Stick with one thing and make it profitable first" came long after I wasted a bunch of money and time, and I'm still recovering from that (and other) mistakes I made first starting out.
- Jeffery
What if you start in a niche and then decide that it might be too big for you?
I recently started a website and spent $1,000+ (which is more than 100% of my IM monthly revenue) on content but Google still thinks that my website is too small to show up for any of the keywords. Obviously, I didn't do well in selecting my keywords, but is this a legitimate reason to pack up and move on? To answer: I won't give up on the site.
However, when you work hard at something, you expect the universe to instantly stop and take notice. But it doesn't work like that. Things take time and more hard work on top of hard work.
You can always re-optimize your site, or add new pages/posts and get new inbound links. That is easy enough to correct. See this post for some live examples: SEO Content.
I totally agree with you Lynn. I too have to keep blinders on. I am totally focusing on my current blog. And trying hard NOT to begin another until I start making some income on this one.
If you've overindulged in creating niche websites do what I did recently. I sold several of my sites to focus on my VA business. I loved creating them but it was a relief and a financial boost when I let them go.
Exact Lyn. I've been preaching this for a long time already. Beginners should start with only ONE site.
Once they start to "get it", it's time to build the second... and so on.
Plus it's crazy but I don't know what people like to "bounce" from niche to niche. It's much better to build several sites in the same niche.
Franck
Great Post.
After creating a website, you need to try achieving the highest potential you can achieve. After your satisfied and happy then you should move on to the next project. We all need to learn from this and try to expand and grow our profit after succesfully setting up one.
Really good post.
I appreciate this advice. I really do. Though honestly, listening to you for the last little while, I've learned to hole off a little until I can get this one up and really running. I have idea files that I've started for the next few website ideas that I have and rather than be tempted to start them now, I remind myself. Be patient learn the ropes with the one you are on. So when I find something and think "oh, that would be great for xyz site" or "I've so got to do with with qrs site" I put a note in the file and go back to work on my current site.
Thanks for the reminder that I've doing the right thing now.
PS. So, Lynn. Is this the start of your series of how to take a website from start to profit that you've been hinting you were going to do? Cause if it is, I am so stoked!
This is a very good point. As a matter of fact, I have unscribed to most of marketers trying to help newbies in the IM world. They do help, but with all the extra ideals it is hard to focus on just one niche and build it and profit from it, especially for someone new.
Wow, Lynn - you've really made it so clear - no wonder you are successful! -- I love the "shiny new toy" and have way too many blogs and websites and Squidoo lenses that I jumped into and now don't keep up to a profitable extent...
Thanks for the great advice!
Diana
I'm the poster child for this. 🙂 I've gone through phases where I get excited about creating a new niche site. While I'm doing that my research often branches out into yet another niche that I get excited about.
FOCUS! That's one of the critical components to success.
OK, so look at all of us who've taken the time to respond, saying we've bought too many IM trainings from the gurus. Duh, do you wonder why the gurus are coming out of the woodwork, we (and thousands like us who are even newer to the game) DO BUY this stuff!
I am trying to end subscriptions that I have never looked at (again, usually mostly videos that I don't have time/patience/bandwidth for) but I faithfully pay my $27 or $47 a month.
New start, right now, painful though it is.
staying focuses is one of the hardest parts! Good to know I'm not the only one. Thanks Lynn - great advice.
What if that first choice is wrong. Is there room to make a wrong niche choice, focus on it for some time and make zeros. I think newbies make so many mistakes before they get that which is best. especially if you did not know anything about the whole game before. I know my first one or two attempts may not be the one big blog that I will have eventually.
Thanks for the advice,
Grace
I'd say that it's hard to know for sure if the choice was wrong or right, without a little experience and/or guidance. This is where forums or mastermind groups can be really helpful, and of course studying methods and doing proper research.
That said, the risk is generally very low - and some "mistakes" can even be easily corrected. And most people ultimately end up with something completely different than what they started with... so a few practice runs is no big loss.
Excellent post. I've had a whole lot of false starts and I confess to being very easily distracted. I have a question though. I am interested in your statement "At this point you should be spending no more than 5 hours a week managing your sweet little project… and it’s generating a nice little profit for you." How many hours a week would you say you put in until you reach that point?
A LOT. I have confessed plenty of times in the past that I worked up to 18 hours a day, 7 days a week back in the beginning. I have heard other successful marketers say the same - Rosalind Gardner on our recent webinar with her, for example.
Of course, the amount of time you invest is relative to how fast you want or need to succeed...
This article is great, Lynn. I really needed this. Trying to find my blinders right now... 😉
My first Web site took me nine months to build (I had no clue) and launched because someone requested free trial, then bought a subscription! Egads, forced to finish. LOL. Every subsequent site leads to another and another. It's fun but staying focused is obviously a problem as there's always something interesting around the next link.
Lynn, your advice is spot-on! Pick a project and work it through to completion. What a concept 🙂
Seems to me there are a lot of comments here from people who build sites and move on to building another one. If you enjoy doing that, your solution seems simple to me... build sites and then sell them. You get to do what you love - building sites, AND you make money. 😉
I get your point, I really do. We shouldn't give up just before the tipping point. However, we should also know when it's time to give up. Not all websites/projects/niches succeed, no matter how much market and keyword research you do.
The other thing is you might find that you don't enjoy doing your first business idea at all, and you might have strengths elsewhere. Just as you should have the willpower to continue, you should also know when to pull out.
My first big niche was a highly technical one in the enterprise computer networking field and after 3 months, I really hated writing technical articles, and it's expensive to outsource something so specialized. I slapped some adsense on the site and it's now making me a small amount everyday.
Along the way, through my "failure", I learnt that I should play to my strengths and interests I'm now headed in that direction.
Excellent points Lynn. This article is very timely, especially for me. I just posted a niche affiliate website up on Flippa because I made the determination in my head that it wasn't going to work. I didn't see it through to profit, I just did some initial SEO and didn't see the traffic/profit start rolling in.
I'm going to check the Flippa auction and see if there are any bids yet. If not I'm going to take it down and drive the site to profit!
Thanks for the motivation Lynn!
John
Hi Lynn,
I just came back to check the date on my comment. I started turning one of my affiliate sites to profit (linked with my name) the day I posted that.
I'm happy to say after MUCH feet dragging today it finally hit a profit. The sad news is I could have done it much faster if I would have just gotten off my butt and made it happen.
Oh, and the fist sale came in less than 12 hours after the first email with an aff link was added to the autoresponder series 🙂
Thanks again for the motivation!!
John
I had the same problem when I started blogging and just had all sorts of crazy ideas and wanted to start up all sorts of sites (I did start up a few) but this was something that became a bit too much for me and a lot of them died off as time went by. I gave myself a good talking to and thought about what I really wanted to concentrate on and I have narrowed it down to three sites which I am able to update and work and update on a somewhat regular basis. I will no longer just start something up unless I am sure that I can really follow through with it. By the way, I like what you have going on here. I found you via your interview with Murray.
Thank you Gerri 😀 I have an interview with Murray that I'll be publishing here later this week as well. He's been a fun new meet!
Thanks for all the great comments & feedback! I have published a follow-up post here:
Staying on Track - Start to Profit
I also have way too many sites, but i now try to focus on my niche.
Means not exploring too many niches, but starting to compete with myself in one niche. So my mainsite is 8 years old now and ranks quite good in the SERPs and is monetized, I developed additional sites that have content on a niche topic of my main site. This results in me having sometimes 2 or 3 of my sites in the top 10/top 20 and therefore gettinghigher exposure. Also these supplemental sites bring in traffic, newsletter-subscribers and money.
That's a great strategy once you get your primary site established 😉
another aspect of competing with yourself is that you already know how to get backlinks. With your new sites you can start on getting backlinks from the same sites (most often no ne recognizes that as you apply for a link with a different personality/url combination). It is not only about the backlinks, but also about real traffic, e.g. someone goes to a directory site and clicks on the link to your main site, returns to the directory and then clicks on the link to your second site. You are always in front of your target group, if not in the SERPs, then it is in directories
Hey Lynn,
This post couldn't have come at a better time. I have found myself working on 4 to 5 websites right now and feeling totally overwhelmed as I try to do this in the evenings from 6 to midnight.
There just isn't enough time! After reading your post, I have decided to put all but one of my sites on the backburner and focus on the one right now, until I get it going strong.
This post reminded me of what a friend use to tell me, "you can do ok at a lot of things, or you can do great at a few." This is so true in my case. I have been spread thin and I am not getting the results I had hoped for yet. Problem being, to many irons in the fire.
So I am going to take this great wisdom here and apply it to my work. My focus is now on one site until I get it to it's potential. Thank you so much for getting me back on track!
Smart move! You'll achieve a lot more, and a lot faster, if you put all your focus into ONE and then work strategically from there. The rest of your sites will go up much faster & easier after you get that experience under your belt because you can just follow the steps you've learned. 😉
I may be a bit of a geek - but to me maintaining and improving the site is the best part of owning a website. Seriously, google analytics is the coolest tool I've ever used. I could spend hours looking at it - and this, ultimately, makes me more successful.
In addition, one website that is constantly updated is so much more powerful than 4 websites that are updated once and a while. If you want to attract people to your site, and show a search engine you are the most relevant to your topic, then you need to be constantly improving your site. Improvements can be as little as changing a few keywords or as big as doing some AB testing with your homepage - but you have to do them. And if you are trying to do that with four websites, successfully? Well.. good luck 🙂
Thanks Lynn, Your advice is always priceless. I have put all my projects but one on hold and it didn't hurt a bit. In fact it's a relief not to be chasing a dozen different things at one time.
I have promised myself to stay focused until I see a profit. Thanks so much for your words of wisdom.
Oh my.
I am waaaayyyy off base! 😉 I have so many domain names lying around that I installed wordpress on them and posted a few blog posts. Now I have too many sites and I can't keep up with them all.
This is such good advice. And the other thing I like about this site is that you don't just "spout" good advice - you back it up with action and example in your forum. Thanks for that! I appreciate all you do, Lynn!
You can leave them up, point a couple of links to each, and let them begin aging while you work on one at a time. List them out, prioritize them in order of passion/profit potential, and choose one to start with - then take it all the way to profit. 😀
Love this article, Lynn. Oddly enough, I'm actually just considering getting a few more niche sites up and running. I have two sites that are creating income ... but I think I can optimize that income and boost it if I "feed" those sites with traffic from corresponding niches.
Because I don't do things half-way, I just bought about five domain names this weekend. Obviously, there's a good reason I read your article today ... one at a time!!!
Thanks,
Andrea
I have multiple websites/blogs in a variety of niches. There's a strategy to it - just stay organized, keep tasks prioritized, work through it strategically... and outsource! 😀
I can pretty much relate to that one. I've been in that phase for a very long time I can't even imagine. It's really very easy to get sidetracked with building project after project especially when you are a member of a couple of PLR sites where you get lots of "businesses-in-a-box" that you can set up. Focus is really the key.
It is addictive. As your building one, you come up with another idea, or you learn something new that you want to implement in a new site. Its almost like a tattoo...you cant just stop at one.
Thanks for the post. Cheers
Great post Lynn and thanks for writing it! So many of us are idea people which isn't a bad thing until our ideas start to overwhelm the whole part of making money with our ideas LOL! I have an idea book and write all my ideas into them as I come up with them. I only allow myself 5 main idea projects at one time to take them from start to finish. When a slot opens up for a new idea, I check out my idea book (at which time some of my great ideas may not be as great as first thought HA!) and choose a new idea to take from start to finish. This way works for me and doesn't get me into an overwhelming state 😉
You too, huh? I *love* my idea journal. Not only does it keep me on track and focused, it keeps me from forgetting all of my great ideas. And like you, I often find the idea doesn't always sit right after it's had time to age a bit, so it's a great incubator!