Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Through 2 years of participating here, I now have the original site, "blue birds", in the top 1-10 for almost all the top keywords in the field. I have recently replicated this site and modified the content to have sites which offer "red birds" and "purple birds" etc. These sites, while only a few weeks old, are starting to climb above top 20 for their main keywords.
The sites, overall, receive currently about 1000 unique visitors a day, and I am rapidly expanding the number of sites. Each site only has 5-10 individual pages.
I basically had been doing all this for fun, until about 2 months ago when I added Adsense to the sites.
Wow.
My Adsense CTR averages above xx%, with a EPC averaging over $1. You can quickly figure out that I'm seeing some decent earnings - I've even just received my first check yesterday!
So, my question is, now what?
From reading posts here, I've got some ideas:
1) I'm trying to quickly expand the number of "bird" sites I offer
2) I'm experimenting with different positionings, ad formats, etc to see what works best on my sites.
3) I'm trying to expand the revenue sources - but this is my problem:
- do I go the affiliate route?
- banner advertising?
- try to sell the business?
- just chill and smile as I take the monthly check to the bank?
I should point out that
a) I don't actually sell birds on my site - I just offer information about them.
b) I don't want the hassle of actually selling birds myself
c) I have a full-time job that pays well (and allows me time to be a part-time webmaster)
Any thoughts on how to (or if even to) expand into more diversity in revenue possibilities?
[edited by: Jenstar at 1:55 pm (utc) on July 4, 2004]
[edit reason] as per member [/edit]
My Adsense CTR averages above xx%, with a EPC averaging over $1. You can quickly figure out that I'm seeing some decent earningsActually, we can't, since ctr is based on ad impressions and you haven't given us that information, only uniques. We would need to know average number of pages with Adsense code viewed per visitor. Given a stickiness of three and the assumption you have the code on all pages, that would be over $300/day or over $110,000/year. Given that, you should very carefully consider this from the Adsense Terms and Conditions:
You agree not to disclose Google Confidential Information without Google's prior written consent. "Google Confidential Information" includes without limitation: (a) all Google software, technology, programming, specifications, materials, guidelines and documentation relating to the Program; (b) click-through rates or other statistics relating to Site performance in the Program provided to You by Googlebecause you have a lot to lose.
But to your point.
1. Use channels to determine what works best as far as layout as well as which pages are top performers regardless of layout. From what you have described it sounds as though you could put a different channel on every page at this point.
2. Work in some affiliate advertising. Typically, if your site is in a high dollar category for adsense and converts well, you will also at least have the potential for strong affiliate earnings.
3. Personally, I would not sell the sites at this point. I wouldn't buy them without some sort of non competition clause, which would eliminate 'birds' as a revenue stream for you.
4. Send the advertisers that appear on your pages a nice gift in the name of Adsense so they don't leave the program.;)
[edited by: Jenstar at 4:58 pm (utc) on July 4, 2004]
[edit reason] At member's request [/edit]
Other than that, I'd say: diversify. Develop other sites (about things that don't fly), preferrably with other sources of revenue.
Other than that, I'd say: diversify.
Follow this advice. It's the best way to survive online in the long run.
On this board it seems many people are so afraid their account will get cancelled they are afraid to rely on it. Forget that.
If you're doing well with adsense...quit your day job, and focus your efforts on this 100%. Doing anything other than that is shooting yourself in the foot.
I quit my day job in January and decided to focus strictly on Adsense. I was making mid $--- per day at the time. Now I am making mid $-,--- per day because I've been able to devote so much time to improving my site.
Maximise what you have. Don't live in fear that one day you'll lose your income....if it happens, deal with it then.
1000 pages on a similar themed subject will rake in even more. A site with 5-10 pages is not my first choice of sites when looking for anything online. A good site with a solid number of pages, GOOD PAGES with good content will be good for you. Don't make 100 sites with 5 pages, make 5 sites with 100 pages. Save yourself the time and money of domain names and all that crap and put it twords new content for well preforming sites.
Where does most of your traffic come from? Links? Search Engines? If you get 1000 uniques a day, you probubly already have some decent links, so more pages would get crawled quickly and in the search engines (most likley more people). If this exisiting traffic is from search engines already, than make more pages, have a good site map to make it easy for gbot to crawl and you can have more good placed pages.
Content is king, as we all know. Work on content, write articles, do whatever and you will see good growth my friend.
Mathematically, if you diversify you are guaranteeing you'll never make more than average return on your money
Half true. In finance, earning average returns is great if you can do it at below-average risk. Proper diversification can decrease your risk/reward ratio.
Also, he may diversify into an even more profitable area, so the "average return" could increase.
Problem with diversification is lack of focus. Either way, quitting your day job and netting 4 digits a day is commendable.
"In finance, earning average returns is great if you can do it at below-average risk. Proper diversification can decrease your risk/reward ratio."
Yes it can but the greater the risk the greater reward and vice versa! It is all about how much you are willing to loose.
"Also, he may diversify into an even more profitable area, so the "average return" could increase."
But still average.
It really depends on the factor of how much you have to invest of your own money in your venture to turn a profit. If it is self supportive then the risk is reduced. If it goes under then you aren't out anything. Another factor is how reliant are you on it's income? If you need it to support your family the your risk goes up especially if there isn't another source of income through other means (job, investments, or whatever) to revert to immediately if needed where diversification is much needed for protection.
When you do diversify, do it through different industries, traffic sources, and advertising medium (affiliates and whatnot). Be sure to do it under different domain names and if possible company name.
If you create other sites (under different company names) with adsense compatable sources of revenue, you may be able to get a seperate adsense account with a good possibility that it will remain if you loose your other account. This way you can make extra money (be sure to never rely on this money) in the meantime. If a seperate company/account isn't possible then you still can supply ads from your original account. Again wait until affiliates are a sure fire thing and never rely on any adsense revenue from this site.
Be sure to capture different streams of traffic if you can. Don't rely on one traffic source or one search engine.
Keep your job for a few more years and make sure your current lifestyle will be supported by this job. (Unless your job is temporary or at risk for layoff, firing, dismissal, or whatever.) Take all net revenue from your websites and put it to work for you. Invest again through diverse offline means. Take that money and put it into stocks, bonds, money markets, mutual funds, real estate, or whatever. Take the revenue (sell of stock, bonds, dividends, rental income) from these sources and invest again. Keep repeating it the process.
In a few short years you will have more revenue sources from a diverse set of websites and offline means than you know what to do with. None of which your current lifestyle would rely on. All of these source keep making you more and more and more money growing bigger and bigger even if all of your websites go under.
BTW - Be sure to expand your content on each website. It is an easy way to boost your revenue at almost any time.
You are building more pages and you are asking the right questions, I believe you will succeed. Just keep it up.
Also, he may diversify into an even more profitable area, so the "average return" could increase.
If he finds a more profitable area than he should focus everything on that. True, your average return can increase, but by disversifying you'll never make the maximum amount possible.
It's ok to have a plan B, but don't use it until you need to.
Now let's say my Adsense CTR on page 1 is 30%, on page 2 is 20% and on page 3 is 10%, etc.
It doesn't seem efficient to create other pages, because I assume that user that has made it to page 6 has already ignored 5 pages with Adsense on it, and probably will keep ignoring Adsense.
This leads me to believe I should create new sites around new topics, rather than new pages around existing topics.
This may not be true on a lot of folks' sites, but I think it's fact on mine.
It doesn't seem efficient to create other pages, because I assume that user that has made it to page 6 has already ignored 5 pages with Adsense on it, and probably will keep ignoring Adsense.
What about people who arrive at your site and land directly on newpage38.html?
What about changing the colors / placement of adsense on different pages?
[edited by: PatrickDeese at 6:38 pm (utc) on July 5, 2004]
Anyway the point is that every page should have useful unique content on it that can be picked up by the search engines. That way there really is no "page 1".
Its the way I would do it.... but its your site
Pagrank and incoming links happen almost naturally with the more high quality information you have. You will start to become an authority in which others in your industry respect and will even support your site through linking, cross promotion, supplying more information to your site, or whatever. You will become a more stable entity.
Layers:
I usually stick with 5 layers because of the amount of information I handle as well as how diverse my website is. 4 Layers for a medium amount of information (I stayed at this level for a long time and it worked wonders for me). 3 layers if you only have a small amount of information. Also it is usability of each structure for your visitors.
Creating a structure like these can possibly increase impressions but that dosen't matter. It is the CTR of unique visitors that matters most.
My diversification example:
I too am a no guts no glory the bigger the risk the bigger reward type a guy. Although I make more revenue than I spend on building my website, I take that money and put it to work in outside investments. Not saying any of these are not high risk. When it comes to money everything is at risk even a savings account.
oldskool79 riminded me of the 80-20 rule. 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of you website. Focus 80% of your resources (time, energy...) into the that top 20%.
PostmanPat
