@AirHammer asked on Twitter: "work from start to profit" @lynnterry I'm thinking it's a business plan rather than one site, due to seo time. Is that right Lynn? 🙂 But the whole time I'm working on taking the niche site with email follow up business plan from start to profit as you suggest. By seo time I mean the time it takes a new site to get solid rankings, so I might also work on the next and compound my efforts, right?
I always recommend that you focus 100% on ONE site or project - all the way from start to profit. And then to maximum profit potential, even.
This is different than what some "experts" will tell you (ie create 10 websites in 10 different niches that each make $100/day). That is NOT how you want to start out. Pick one market and one business model...
and take it ALL the way.
I’ll let you in on a little secret: the “gurus” don’t want you to focus, or work on your one project. They’re actually counting on you to jump from one method to the next, one solution to the next, one idea to another. The more you’re juggling, the less focused you are, the more products you'll buy trying to fix your problem...
Start With SEO, And Then While You Wait...
You start with a topic or a market, and do your keyword research. Create a website or blog, and target every single keyword phrase that is relevant. Create quality content, and optimize each page or post.
Include a call-to-action one every page whether that is a recommended product, a link to the next best page on your site, or to subscribe to your mailing list. You don't even have to worry about monetizing your site just yet. More on that in a minute...
Once you have the site properly optimized, and completed as far as content and keyword targeting, your next step is to get quality backlinks so that it can get indexed and begin ranking in the major search engines.
Your website is not finished until you've targeted every keyword phrase related to your topic, and you have a Top 3 ranking for each of them.
Read that ^ again and ask yourself if you have really achieved that with your primary online business. And if you haven't yet, why not??
Once your blog or website is complete, work on getting backlinks so that each page or post will rank well. And like I said, you're not finished with backlinking until you have achieved a Top 3 ranking in Google for ALL of your keyword phrases.
Building links is something that takes time, and should be done over time. It needs to appear natural for starters, and it's simply a time consuming task. One you may consider outsourcing (cautiously, mind you!) if/when you can afford it. I recommend that you set aside an hour a day for getting quality backlinks, as a minimum, once your site & content is complete.
The Next Step In Your Marketing Plan
At this point you may or may not have your site monetized. It can be difficult to secure affiliate relationships with merchants if your site is brand new - and even more so if it's incomplete.
That's okay! It's also harder to get quality inbound links to a heavily monetized site, so you may be doing yourself a favor by focusing on traffic and list-building to start, and adding in monetization later.
See: Getting Approved At Affiliate Networks for more on that topic.
Focus on creating a high quality site, getting quality backlinks, and converting your visitors into subscribers. This is a *great* starting point. Trust me, merchants and advertisers will be coming to you with offers and opportunities if you set yourself up as a market leader in your niche. 😉
Note: If you haven't already you should set up accounts for your site or business at gmail, facebook, twitter, youtube, linkedin, stumbleupon, digg, etc. Secure your username everywhere you can, even if you're not ready to use those accounts yet.
While you are consistently (< key word) working on your link building plan, you should also start to implement other marketing strategies including:
- Article Marketing
- Guest Blogging
- Social Networking
- Social Bookmarking
- Info Product Marketing
See How To Repurpose Content for some great ideas you can use.
Going from start to profit is great, but ideally you'll take it all the way to max profit potential. Otherwise your online business will cost you time and money, instead of giving you the result you really want: more free time and more income.
There is much more you can do as far as marketing, depending on your online business model, but if you haven't at least done everything mentioned in this post... don't even think about starting your next affiliate site or blog.
Best,
p.s. If you're struggling to take your site to maximum profit potential, or to achieve top rankings and high traffic numbers, see: I'm Ready To Get Serious About Making Money! 😉
About Lynn Terry
Ah, so true. Not easy to hear, but true. We all want a quick fix and easy money, that's human nature.
As someone who got one site rolling and decided to add two more at the same time, I can tell you that is far too much for anyone with a full time career. 🙂 No one WANTS to backlink, but it is imperative. Working on one site at a time is far less mind numbing and discouraging that trying to do 10. One of those new sites is on the back burner, needless to say.
Thanks this is really helpful and it makes so much sense, in the offline world you don't do a little bit of this and a little bit of that, you focus on one career (usually) until you make it a success. For me it is hard to focus with so much out there so focusing on one site helps keep me focused. loved your NAMS5 talk, great job.
Thank you Bridget 😀
You made a great point with your comparison to an offline business. My first business was an electronic shop in partnership with my husband. Instead of starting 5 different shops doing different things, we took that one shop ALL the way. And that's exactly how an online business should be operated as well.
Thank you! I'm working on my one site now, and I'm feeling the distraction of starting this one, or that one too. Backburners for all except my main site. How do you know what to say when I need it most?
It's pure coincidence. I promise I'm not stalking your thoughts. 😉 lol
Great title! The problem as I see it is that if one did make the mistake of creating multiple sites before they were at full profit potential, it then feels like they're letting the site die if they cease operations.
So if one did make the mistake of creating multiple sites, and they're not all at profit potential but chugging along. Does one just drop activity on all but one?
Won't this make the other sites suffer, if they just sit there. While you take one to profit potential.
They won't suffer, they will just age and wait. But one thing you can do is set aside ONE hour a day to work on your "backburner projects" and otherwise focus on your primary project. It takes a timer, and self-discipline, but it can be done that way...
I think this is one of those posts that I'm going to save in my bookmarks, so I can return to it again and again when I find myself sitting at my desk and trying to figure out what I should be doing next.
Content I've got, but the rest seems to get lost in a whirlwind of options, none of which are fully implemented. I think I need a checklist of things to do every day.
I'm parking myself here because I am exactly the same. When I read the following Lynn's post
---> "Your website is not finished until you’ve targeted every keyword phrase related to your topic, and you have a Top 3 ranking for each of them."
I felt like a huge lightbulb just went off in my head. I think I too will bookmark this post and keep referring back to it. I need to focus now on obtaining backlinks and turning my visitors into subscribers!
Hi Lynn
I had already decided to take this route that you have mentioned above but seeing it so concise and simply laid out with the steps has reinforced for me yeah I'm doing it the right way,Lynn you are so Clever!
Thank you
Ian UK
Wow! Every single keyword in the top 3? That could take years. In today's world is that even possible?
think she means for a few targeted keywords that have reasonable traffic and moderate competition...
Ed Dale explains this well in his free Challenge course. The Market Samurai guys also do it well in their tutorials.
Mtn Jim
Right. The point is that you just continue to grow your one business, instead of starting multiple projects you never really complete - certainly never turn into an actual "business". But yes, I would keep working until you achieve the absolute highest potential you can for your business...
You can count me as being guilty of this as well. It's easy to get enthralled with new ideas and neglect your current projects. In fact, I suspect this is why many people never "make it" on the web. It isn't that their idea is bad, they just start chasing something new and never follow through with what they set out to do.
One minor disagreement, and I think this ties in to the comment by Missy, I sometimes accept that ranking in the top 3 is pretty much impossible. On certain keywords, for instance, you stand zero chance of outranking Wikipedia and, depending on your product, the manufacturer. But with some research you should determine the top spot that you can realistically hope to achieve in the search rankings. Most of the time that is in the top 3, but in some circumstances it is not.
I would agree with that. Though I have outranked a double listing by Amazon.com on occasion with the right keyword phrase. 😉
This is great Lynn! Now I fully understand what you mean by taking it from Start to Profit and have a better road map for doing it.
Indeed, focus is lacking in so many people today when it comes to bringing their online business to the max level. 🙂 Dominate the market as much as you can!
For people who are wondering about the competitiveness of keywords, I would advise that you target long-tail and easy to rank for keywords first, and it will become easier for you to rank for harder keywords in the future as your site grows.
Another reason why you will want to focus on only one site is because that will allow you to build authority, and that authority accumulates into a snowball, rolling down and breaking through every keyword in the search engines. You would not be able to do this easily if you had a ton of different sites.
Cheers,
Allen
I agree on both points - great addition, Allen!
This approach requires so much work that I can't imagine it becoming very popular in near future. 🙂
If you have affiliate blogging as your business model, doesn't that mean you never get a break, because there is no end to content creation? It just goes on and on..
Hey, Satu:
I would have to slightly disagree. By definition net marketing is content creation, the web revolves around it. But this doesnt mean you have to be a slave to content. Once you've got a site under your belt which is making passive income and is good to go, updating it will not seem like a chore but an exciting and pleasurable activity.
In the beginning though it can be hard and laborious, it requires work. Net marketing and affiliate marketing require work. Blogging requires work. It's not easy or an overnight type of thing.
I mention this because many who dont know the field, which is pretty much anyone outside the field. lol. Thinks it's easy, but it's not. They think we're on Facebook all day playing games.
But to make a site successful, regardless of the business model or marketing methods used - is hard work. Plain and simple.
But once you've reached a certain level, it's just plain fun!
I smell dry humor and sarcasm 🙂 Made me chuckle -haha
Blogging is definitely an active business model. That said, you can sit down and whip out a post in under an hour every day (once you get in a routine). You can also hire ghost writers, use guest bloggers, etc. It doesn't have to consume your life.
"The more you’re juggling, the less focused you are"
I totally agree. It's difficult to get 2 planes into the air at the same time.
Hey Lynn,
Thank you so much for answering my question, this post is great.
I do have a couple more follow up questions if I may.
1. Do you try and get every keyword in the niche or just ones that get say at least 80 searches per day?
2. What if the niche you pick does not buy enough and you focus all your time doing something that does not make a profit?
I have found that if you focus on something that you enjoy it's easier to turn up everyday and provide content, so even if they do not buy as much you can monetize somehow.
Thanks again,
AirHammer
Hi Airhammer,
Thank you for the great question that inspired this post! 😀
To answer your first question, I'll point you to a detailed walk-through of how I write SEO Content: http://www.clicknewz.com/2077/seo-content-choosing-keywords-phrases/
For your second question, if you can build a huge readership then you can profit from it. Even if you are not directly selling them products. As long as it is related to a commercial market in some way. You should be able to secure sponsors and/or advertisers, if not affiliate relationships. This is assuming you have a large enough market and can build a responsive community, which is what will attract those companies.
There are 5 primary things that people spend their money on... http://www.clicknewz.com/1094/5-things-people-spend-money-on/
As someone who once intended to work that whole "10 to 20 sites that make $100" plan and had the 35 domain names to go with it, I have to say it was not great, it was not fun, and it was just a hot mess. I ditched that plan and started over, from start to profit.
While I will be the first to admit that I have "Website Creation ADD" I know that being scattered is just a distraction right now and I need to focus and get one thing done before I move on to the next thing.
Hi Lynn,
Thanks for this post.
I was thinking to create multiple websites, but after this post I will concentrate my efforts in my main niche website.
Either way, could you manage to give us an idea how long it takes to build a good business with a good income.
At the moment I did all the tips twitter, posting regulary, SEO, adsense, ezine articles, blog directories, comment in other blogs or forums, etc, etc ... but I am not getting the traffic that I expected ... the only thing that I got improvement is my score in ALEXA ... from 4,000,000 to less than 1,000,000.
Any other advice ??? I really will appreciate it.
Hi Carlos,
"Either way, could you manage to give us an idea how long it takes to build a good business with a good income."
There are so many variables that I cannot give you a definite answer. Those variables include your market, market depth, technical skills, your personal learning curve, product type, etc, etc, etc. It's going to be different for everyone, depending on them as a person - as well as their market and unique business model.
The more you work, and the smarter you work, the faster you'll reach your goals. That's about as close as I can get to a definitive answer 😉
Another great post, Lynn! I've had the experience with the build not only 10 but as many as 100, going through the steps you outlined roughly and then they think it's just a numbers game. I believe like you do if you work one site at a time the focus is better and you're less likely to leave stuff out. I also agree that building 100 sites is an AWFUL place for anybody starting out to shoot for.
Absolutely spot on, all about focus and taking direct action. Ive been there before working on n umerous projects at the same time and not only does it do your head in but your achievement levels fall through the floor. Focus & work smart I reckon
I see now (after reading this post) that I've failed at converting your visitors into subscribers. Does anyone have tips on how to do that more effeciently? Should I be adding a [sign up for our newsletter] link in each post? I also try to link to an affiliate products or my own product on each page of my website and I thought that providing them with too many links was a bad thing. Perhaps I am wrong.
The best way to convert visitors to subscribers is to offer an incentive. I am not currently doing that here on ClickNewz so I'm missing out, but I do have one in progress that I am adding soon. Offer a checklist, a report, a coupon code - whatever is relevant to your market and of most interest to your visitors.
Hey! Awesome article!
Also guilty as charged for having too many projects on the go in 2010 😉 But with the New Year rolled out, I am solely focused on continuing to be the #1 market leader for Virtual Assistants and increasing my reach in that market.
And it's true what you said Lynn, "merchants and advertisers will be coming to you with offers and opportunities if you set yourself up as a market leader in your niche". I've had emails sitting in my inbox of offers, JVs, etc. that I've not even taken the time to look at. Why? Because all my other projects (unrelated to VAs) are utilizing my time and I never get around to reading them.
2011 is my year of FOCUS and I challenge the rest of you to join in with me! 😉
Awesome, Tawnya! *cheers* 😀
Hey Lynn thanks for this great information! I have actually been working on two different projects and feel a little burned out because of it!
I think your advice is sound and it is something I am going to follow to a T. Too many projects (even 2) going on at the same time can really get you feeling overwhelmed. I think that if your focus is always split, you will ultimately fail. Thanks again!
I think the focus on one site makes sense. I just work on my blog and right now it has several sub-topics in the blog, i.e. [Spiritual, Health, Business, Technology, Creative], I am trying to develop a blog directory, or a wisdom base if you will, and I just finished reading the recommended SEO fast start and some of your wonderful articles Lynn and I really do believe in it's better to do one thing well, then ten things poorly.
Thanks again for all the wisdom.
That is great information. I completely agree that you need to make one website work before trying to do others. You don't want to be doing the wrong thing over and over again.
Exactly. And this is a point that many people miss when they continue starting one project after another - but never really completing one. The question I ask is: "How do you know that you can make the next one successful, if you have never been all the way to the finish line with any of the others?" Seems like such a waste of valuable time and energy to me!
Very nicely written, Terry, and man, I really need to get better control on this one. Like many other people, I just need more time and focus. But this was great, so of course I had to Tweet it out!
Hi Lynn
Thank you for sharing start to profit which has open up a new window in myself. A lot of great information that I knew but due to resistance without consistence unable to achieve. Thank you Lynn for this opportunity
Hi Lynn
Excellent advice (as always)!
I've found I needed to make a tiny tweak to this due to the nature of my business model. (I run a service business). My main hub site is both a credibility statement for potential clients and a way for new clients to find me.
However, focusing on writing ONLY about topics related to my "day job" gets tedious after awhile. I've found that the best way for me (personally) to stay motivated for the long term is to have "passion projects" on topics that really inspire me - (but thanks to your recent NAMS session, I have committed to narrowing that focus down to just ONE passion project beyond my day job stuff). 🙂
Working on it has become my reward for getting the "day job" stuff done. 🙂
What are your thoughts for those of us who maintain a site that feeds our service business? I struggle with balancing more than one site, but would quickly burn out if I put 100% into a topic that I am also executing for clients.
I am guessing many of us would like to replace trading-hours-for-dollars income with more passive options.
Thanks!
I think this qualifies as horrbly good advice! It is good advice that you don't want to hear.
It is so tempting to spot a rising trend or a product and promote it...
The only problem or possible downside really is that it puts all the burden on picking a very good niche on someone who is probably not very good at so doing.
Hi Lynn
I came to read this post as a followup to what I learned from you at NAMS 5. You have pointed me in a total new direction with my business. I am now working to build a site in a niche that I know and love and that will be my focus until I have every keyword on the top three of google as you teach.
I would also like to compliment you on your speaking and communication ability. Your voice and tone are very easy to listen to. I must admit I could have listened to you for several more hours that day. You were the perfect speaker to kick off NAMS 5.
Thank you so much for sharing. I am looking forward to hearing more from you and hopefully I will run into you in Atlanta next summer.
Thomas
Thank you for outlining your process. My main website mixed content and affiliate sales in one step. While I do make $$ this way I am realizing it doesn't convert very well. So now for my new ebook (on a new site) I am following your plan by first writing an article on every keyword in my list and posting them in ezinesarticles (I find they rank faster then anything on a new website.)
Thank you for the reminder that I am on the right path this time around.
Debbie
Dear Lynn, Thank you for writing this blog post just for me. I guess you knew I was an avid fan of yours. I'm now going to tattoo everything you wrote onto my left forearm so I'll be able to refer to it at all times.
I bought a second domain name a while back, got it set up recently, but haven't touched it because it just didn't seem right. Then, Blog Tyrant advised me to stick with original 5mo old blog and now you reinforce what he said, adding tons of good reasons to settle down and concentrate on one blog.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for being so generous with your expertise and experience.
I can't tell you how many times I started to concentrate on doing one thing, only to knock myself off course by moving my focus onto something else. Something a bit more shinier or a bit newer which seemd to be so much more interesting than my other project.
Of course, all that really happened was I wound up with a bunch of domain names and nothing else.
But not anymore. I am greatful to read this post becasue this is what I resolved to do this new year.
Thank you, Lynn, for sharing your insights.
PS. Sorry for ommission above. I'm ebaby. The other guy sells furniture.
Oh Lynn, you rock!
Question -- when I think of ranking in the top three for EVERY possible keyword phrase, I will never finish this site! There are literally thousands... should I really be attempting to rank in the top three for all 1000-plus phrases?
Focus and focus.
When we focus on one thing we will be expert about it, and I believe on it.
So if just one site and we focus it, I believe it will work more than 100 sites.
An hour a day for link building may not seem like a lot, but it's quite a bit to ask for. Unfortunately, it's just something that has to be done (if you don't have the resources to hire a professional link building company).
Getting yourself noticed and respected in any industry takes a lot of work, and a fair amount of luck. You can't just create content, and you can't just get links. You have to find the optimal balance, and stay disciplined. It's all about how much you want it.
My question is about news bloggers. How should they target any keyword? Except for broad keywors, the long tail keywords are changing for them every hour. Not only that, even after the strongest SEO possible, it is still hard to compete with those news giants of the industry, there are many. So what is your suggestion for the news bloggers?
SPend 20 hours getting to know the niche you are interested in. 10 hours just on keywords alone. And be honest if the top 5 results in the SE are too hard to beat...(wikipedia, amazong, ebay, . gov. . edu)
Start learning from the best. I learned from Aaron Wall. And paid for it. Money that I didn;t have. BUt it paid off handomely. Get a good "teacher" and follow system. STart soemthing. Track results or the lack of it.
I had the mindset it was better to work on several sites/projects at one time so they could rise in the search engines over time. But I'm definitely discovering the merit to focus on one site. I don't why I resist this sage advice. Reading this post cements it for me to dig in and focus on one site and make it an outstanding site rather than creating a series of mediocre websites.
I like the offline business analogy. That makes sense. It's time for me to dig in and focus on one project to MAXIMUM profitability.
Lynn,
I disagree. And I'll tell you why. [I didn't want to reply, but this well written (and intended) article stuck in my mind since Tuesday.]
I think this post, however good intentioned, is very dangerous for a newbie who reads it. It's only half of the story.
Ask any experienced SEO (who deliver consistent results) and they will tell you that Google sees domain authority (how old the site is) as one of the PRIMARY factors of ranking.
Yes, FOCUS ON ONE SITE, put 80% of your effort in it, BUT start aging some sites/ideas that have a good chance of winning. DO NOT wait until a site has reached MAXIMUM profit potential.
First of all, experienced webmasters will tell you profit potential is not reached until at least 2-3+ years of a site when, many times, you "stumble upon your business model", things that weren't in the plan in the first place.
Now, if you wait until you reach that profit potential, (mind you you're not even sure if you're going to reach it) if let's say the plan is just "half-successful" then you're already THREE YEARS DEEP AGAINST COMPETITION! That simply is too big of a head start and with their site 3+ years old, their links 3+ years old, your GREAT idea of a website needs to work 3 times as hard to even be at par with competition.
Assuming you eventually beat competition, you are already 6 years into this business model. All the wile you could've saved yourself 3 years if only you started a basic 4 page, WordPress, Basic Custom designed them with 10 quality directory links.
The best way to finance those "seed sites" are a small cut from your main website. RE-Invest. Re-invest profits.
Rinse and Repeat.
In summary:
focus on one site, put 80% of your effort in it until it gains traction. Start planting seed sites that you are knowledgeable in, possible related sites from your main business model/topic. Calculate risk. DO NOT start a site a Strawberry Case Recipes site if you're forte is Car Engineering (just because stupid recipe gets 2,000 exact match searches per day).
One of my biggest affiliate commission ($15,000) came from an 8 month old site that I started mid last year. Good, clear basic design, ok content, wordpress. It caught a big fish, bigger than any fish caught in my thick, 3 yr old, well managed MAIN site. And that commission is what I am using to booster my other 7 sites (it's in the same niche. BUt not against each other.)
Hope that helps...
Hi Lynn,
You've posted some great tips there. Personally, I don't have niche/micro sites so I'd like to add a little more to your keyword observations/comments:
if you have, or are building, a big site that covers multiple niches then start siloing your research around your categories/topics. So, if you have a fairly generic electronics review site and one of your categories covers something like lcd tvs then you should be aiming to dig out the money phrases for models, manufacturers etc. Once you rank, move on to the next category on your site.
(Just thought I'd add my two pence worth 🙂 )
“The more you’re juggling, the less focused you are”
This is so true, the number of times I've witnessed people running many projects and wondering why none of them get off the ground is staggering.
Focus on one.