Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I started my website as a hobby over 6 years ago. I never thought at the time that it would grow into a successful business. Over the first few years the popularity grew in my little niche but I never really received much of an income. I started with no experience using Front Page and to this day still use Front Page To Keep my 20,000 pages organized. When Adsense came along all the many hours and hard work paid off.
I think the largest factors in my success is the constant addition of new content and updating of old content. I think I have done a great job at giving my visitors a reason to come back. I currently receive over 80,000 unique visitors a week. The single largest factor in my success was when I decides to diversify. I constantly add new content related and unrelated to my original Hobby. I actually started with numerous domain names and hosting services, which became quite expensive. So a few years ago I moved all of the content from all of my sites to my original hobby website.
I have read in past posts that a one man website operation could not earn the income that I earn, that I am not a true webmaster by using Front Page and I should not put all of my eggs in one basket. I am very glad that I didn't read these posts until after my website was a success.
So in conclusion my advise is to keep your visitors coming back with an easily navigated and updated website, continuously add new content and diversify. Also listen to what Google recommends because it works. I have always concentrated on meeting Google's requirements for good rankings and did not worry about the other search engines. The funny thing is since I took that approach my Website is equally ranked on all search engines even though 80% of my traffic from search engines is from Google.
Never knew anyone that had a hobby of classified advertising before ;)
I could see how combining a lot of classifieds into a single site would make sense but muddying up a niche hobby site with a variety of topics would seem to put off the users.
I'm suspecting your search engine love came from leveraging the page rank of your main site with additional topics which will sometimes work but can always come back to bite you if handled improperly. Probably safer to roll it into one site than link them all together to appear to be trying to artificially inflate your links.
Share some tips if you can, we're all ears.
I have read in past posts that a one man website operation could not earn the income that I earn
Where did you read that? There are many very successful one-man Adsensers here in the UPS Club and near to it!
that I am not a true webmaster by using Front Page
Whilst it's not the norm there are many using it and if you can cope with having to update every page individually rather than with a single CSS update instruction when a sitewide alteration needs performing, fine, it's your time, not mine.
I should not put all of my eggs in one basket
It may continue working, it may not, ensure you have a survival plan if the eggs start scrambling themselves:-)
By the way, congratulations, it's a great inspiration to the new members of Adsense publishers proving that content is King.
The funny thing is since I took that approach my Website is equally ranked on all search engines even though 80% of my traffic from search engines is from Google.
That's because not all websites rank equally which is why people recommend diversifying your websites because if you drop in Google that other 20% won't pay so well.
Would you rather have 4 websites in Google bringing in 1/4 of that traffic each or just one web site bringing in 100% of that traffic?
Not like I have any room to talk as I'm sitting on a one-hit-wonder website myself but I'm not that dependent on Google.
I am also a FrontPage user, rented server (~$100 per yr) and about the same # of visitors. Don't listen to everything you read :)
I have read in past posts that a one man website operation could not earn the income that I earn
Where did you read that? There are many very successful one-man Adsensers here in the UPS Club and near to it!
I remember seeing the thread on this topic about a month or so ago, but not sure what it was called. One man operation making very high income did come up.
Just curious as some of your other posts hinting at this success have me puzzled in that you said it was a classifieds site and now you're calling it a hobbyist site?
I think that a classified section added to any website is fantastic addition. No matter what your niche is your classifieds can be geared to your niche. Look at what Google is doing with Google Base it seems that many of the major sites have classified sections. If you have a website reviewing widgets why not have a classifieds section for used widgets. I don't think that it would muddy up your website any more than affiliate advertisements. I typically only place one Adsense ad per page.
Where did you read that? There are many very successful one-man Adsensers here in the UPS Club and near to it!
Just read a post not long ago about Adsense millionaires and one man operations.
Whilst it's not the norm there are many using it and if you can cope with having to update every page individually rather than with a single CSS update instruction when a sitewide alteration needs performing, fine, it's your time, not mine.
I try to keep each of my pages as distinctive as possible. I was once hit with a duplicate penalty lasting a number of months. I believe that keeping my pages individually distinctive is why my site is successful. I may be wrong but why mess with something that has worked for years. Sitewide alterations are a problem that I am willing to live with. If I have to put in a 4 hour day I can live with that also.
It may continue working, it may not, ensure you have a survival plan if the eggs start scrambling themselves:-)
I have already earned more than I ever thought I would. If some day my eggs are scrambled I will have made enough to where it doesn't matter. Why worry about making a decent living over the next 20 years when you can make the same amount in a few years.
Not like I have any room to talk as I'm sitting on a one-hit-wonder website myself but I'm not that dependent on Google.
I would guess most of the large successful sites are one-hit-wonders. I have been dependent on employers my whole life for 1/4 of what I am dependent on Google for. I think I have made a good swap. If you had the opportunity to quit your job (which you are dependent on) for a higher paying job your still dependent on someone.
I should not put all of my eggs in one basket
Maybe a better saying is "if you want to sleep well at night, either be dumb and happy, or else do some risk analysis."
Risk analysis doesn't say "everybody who puts all their content in one topic area, or gets all their income from Google is going to be sorry". Risk analysis says "here is what has to go wrong to wipe out your business -- do you care to live with that?"
Risk analysis is what wasn't done when you see posts of the form "Google has canceled my AdSense and stoled my last three months $10,000, and now my life is teh ruined."
You might get away without the concept of risk analysis just fine, just as you might get away without paying your taxes, without buying car insurance, without having health insurance, with driving down the road at 80MPH on a hot day on those balding tires you don't feel like replacing, etc.
Question. How does one manage that many pages using Front Page or any other WYSIWYG program?
I've never used Front Page but have been using NetObjects Fusion since version 4 (it's now up to version 9). I ran into problems at around 400 pages. I ended up switching that site to Joomla for the its ease of using a database. I know that NOF can now work with a database, but I have yet to figure out how to implement it. I just started reading their online manual a couple of days ago.
Congrats, that's inspiring, as I'm a one-person operation too and have steadily seen my earnings increase over the last few months (just reached the $1,500/mo mark). My site started out as just a hobby site too (I never thought I'd make money with it!).
But how does one person write 20,000 pages? I have about 400 (I use Dreamweaver). I am also a full-time student which means I have little time to write; maybe you have more time? Or do you pay people to write articles?
Question. How does one manage that many pages using Front Page or any other WYSIWYG program?
I have been gradually developing the site for over 6 years, so for me it is not that difficult to manage the 20,000 pages. I probably have every page memorized by now. It would not be so easy for someone else if they took over my site. Up until 2 years ago I ran my site along with another home based business plus I had a full time career in management. All of the hard work paid off and I no longer am working for anyone but myself. I typically work anywhere from 4-8 hours a day, but take a lot of days off and vacations.
But how does one person write 20,000 pages?
For me its more of a data entry and management job. Because of the nice little niche that I am in most of the content is supplied by others. Don't get me wrong, I still write a lot of content myself but never 20,000 pages.
Because of the nice little niche that I am in most of the content is supplied by others.
Do you pay for the content?
Do you pay for the content?
The content is not paid for. My users supply most of my content. I post as a free service.
(O/T ..but I just read that MS is actually stopping development on FrontPage with the next release of office)
(O/T ..but I just read that MS is actually stopping development on FrontPage with the next release of office)
Yes and no. FrontPage itself will eventually go away (I think they're supporting it through 2008), but two next-generation products will take its place: one for the professional Web market and the other for the mom-and-pop/general business market.
It is more than what I can handle with FP. My site has just reached 1000 pages in three years.
It is more than what I can handle with FP. My site has just reached 1000 pages in three years.
I manage a site of more than 5,000 pages in FrontPage.
The secret is to break the site into subwebs (preferably of less than 500-1,000 pages each), which makes saves and publishing faster.
