How many sites can one webmaster master?

[webwoman]

I am currently webmastering, seo-ing 10 websites, with 3 waiting to be designed. Some are several hundred pages, some only 30 or 40. I track 10 - 20 keywords for each, and provide monthly reports on these words. I run ppc campaigns for 3 of these. Add pages regularly, copywrite for all but one of these sites. I am starting to feel a ceiling on what I can take on.

I am wondering how many sites most of you pros out there are managing? At what point did you start taking on additional staff?

I've been wanting to get into some affiliate websiting, but have no time to do the research. My own website has been sitting neglected for months now (half completed)- my clients all laugh at me, saying "the cobbler's children have no shoes!" when they try to visit my website. All my work comes from referrals, so I haven't given it much attention.

Anyway, just wanted to know what is the quantity most of you are juggling?

[Paul in South Africa]

"the cobbler's children have no shoes!"

LOL I've got exactly the same problem. At the moment I have 33 sites for clients and it is to many, particularly as some of them include integration with offline applications as well.

[webwoman]

So you maintain 33 sites by yourself! How do you do it?

[webdevsf]

I've got one. I can't handle any more. :)

[peewhy]

I have 250 that I host and SEO. My days are long, I enjoy it and the pay is good. I wouldn't want to do anything else?

[Undead Hunter]

I took on a full-timer in my third year - it wasn't the amount of sites I considered, it was the amount of money we were making, and the amount we could make more.

10 with all that work + 3 more sounds like a lot. It just depends on how much time each one takes, how often your clients call you, what your response time is.

One thing I did before I hired full-time - I bought in a co-op student for several weeks. The student would come 3 times a week, 3 hours at a time, no charge. I think it was for 8 - 12 weeks. They received a credit for it - they were in their last year of high school.

That not only helped them see what it was like to work in an office, it showed me what I have to do to adjust, too. I taught them some basic stuff, to take the grunt work out of some of what I did. Made the transition to having a full-timer here easier.

Remember, if you DO hire an employee - full OR part-time, they have to make YOU at least 3x their salary. So, look at your current revenue - and don't ask, "Can I support a part-time person at $X per month" ask, "If I hire a person at $X per month, can I see an increase of 3x that amount if they join up?" If *not*, then you need to *turn down work* instead. Especially the low-paying stuff. Fire 10% of your lowest clients - nicely, tell them you just don't have time anymore, maybe even help them find someone new. We shut the doors down here for six months - took no new clients - and while it was tougher after that getting going again, it was the only reasonable solution at the time. Now we're expanding again, and I see ways around that for the future...

Don't worry about not having a website yourself. If your clients are happy and you're still getting work, you'll be fine. It's future NEW clients you're not getting right now through it...

[Filipe]

I won't divulge my own numbers, but I ran into this problem recently. I just took into account the old rules of supply and demand.

Now I charge more - I have fewer clients, but more money. Funny how that works out.