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Recently though, I have toned it down and have narrowed down my ideas to a few small to mid-sized sites and am wondering how some of you handle multiple sites especially if they are in different niches?
And finally, if my goal for additional revenue is $2000/m, would you suggest trying to focus on one idea and focus 100% of your energy on it….or run 4 sites that earn about $500/m each?
Regards,
freshfish
MLHmptn
I have so many good ideas and would love to see them all come to fruition
If that's the way you feel, then you owe it to yourself to give each idea the attention it deserves - and requires - to be successful. Take it one at a time so you can dedicate all of your resources to getting one site up and running and bringing in a few bucks. It's time to start the next site when you get to the point that the first site doesn't seem to be growing and isn't taking up as much of your time.
$2,000 is not a lot of money, I can't think of any reason you wouldn't be able to do that with one site anyway, so you may not need four to reach your goal. It's also easier to get traffic going to a single site, and when you do get a steady stream of visitors now you have a powerful site to use to link to your other sites if you decide to get them going.
So, do you feel that $2k/m is an attainable goal (while maintaining a full time job)?
So, do you feel that $2k/m is an attainable goal (while maintaining a full time job)?
Without knowing what type of sites you plan on running, or how much time you have to dedicate to it, I can't really answer that. Like I said, $2,000 isn't a lot of money, but how easy it is to obtain depends on how you plan on making a living from your sites. If you're selling a product or service, $2k is chump change. If you're thinking you're just going to throw some content up and make your money off of AdSense or something like it though, then you should definiately think about only doing one site at a time - it's a lot easier to focus on getting a bunch of traffic to one new site than getting a bunch of traffic to many of them.
You hear about a lot of people who struggle with their sites because the majority of people fall into two categories (1) Those who are lazy, and (2) Those who do too much. Sometimes when you have a lot to do you need to do it, and other times when you have a lot to do you need to take a break. The successful people are the ones who know which is which :)
Honestly if you're just doing it as a side thing, I wouldn't set any financial goal. Financial goals are for people who have to meet investor criteria, want a return on their investment, or have bills to pay. If you've already got a job that pays the bills, then don't set any dollar figure, just do what you do and don't worry about the money. It's a great thing not to have to worry about money - why would you want to when you don't have to? :) You have a real advantage over people who are starting a business and know that if they don't make a certain amount they're going to have to go back to a regular job.
Diversification is something most businesses leave until it hurts and many don't survive the pain.
While sometimes this is true, remember that most businesses in diverse markets got that way through acquisitions, not by starting multiple companies. There are 3 different stages in this arena, and there are successful businesses in all of them.
(1) McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, etc. These are successful businesses with no diversification what so ever. You'll never be able to drive up to McDonalds and order a burger and curtains.
(2) FedEx/UPS/Microsoft - These guys are sort of in the middle to end stages of diversification. For years FedEx and UPS did nothing but deliver packages. Now you're starting to see "The UPS Store" and FedEx acquired Kinkos. Microsoft did nothing but make software, and now they have MSN and X-Box, as well as a number of other small interests. This form of diversification was done to do more business not to meet existing goals.
(3) Phillip Morris - Probably the king of diversification, having their hands in everything from Cigarettes to food. Doesn't get any more diverse than these guys :)
One thing you'll notice though - all of these diverse businesses are separate companies. If Marlboro goes out of business, it's not going to hurt Kraft's bottom line. Diversification is something that takes a lot of organization, and the most successful diverse companies didn't start 10 companies all at once - they became that diverse starting one business and acquiring other companies or starting new side ventures after their core business was already successful. Most of the people who try to diversify in the beginning end up failing miserably because it's too much to handle. Get one thing going first, then you'll have the money and the time to take on the next project.
Its much more dangerous to small businesses because one hit can bankrupt many of them. Say in the UK a lot of small businesses would be technically bankrupt if they won't get paid for their services within 60 days (usual time is 30+).
In websites case where search engines can play huge role in growth they also represent big threat as what if your business get removed for whatever reason? Personally I'd rather have 3 diverse revenues streams of $500 each rather than 1 stream of $2,000. With few websites running its also better chance to understand which of them can potentially turn big - in a way you don't commit yourself to one area.
The sites are too many to list. I have a project list of about 100+ and alot of them are fairly viable. Some a little more off the wall than others and some are simply experiements that will either bust or take off.
Being a side project, I don't have to worry how much it brings in. But setting financial goals will let me know if I am being succesful.
setting financial goals will let me know if I am being succesful
Success isn't a dollar figure - success is when you don't have to think about money to do the crap you want to do in life :)
digitalv : "Success isn't a dollar figure - success is when you don't have to think about money to do the crap you want to do in life" :)
Oh how true that statement is digitalv!
freshfish :
Bottom line is this...if you take on 4-5 sites do you have the time and if your married is your wife willing to let you work into the wee hours of the night? If your new to building a website the best thing would quite honestly be to start with 1 website and just experience the burden it will put on you. I would bet money that within 6 months if you give it all you got you will easily make $2000/mo if not quadruple that amount per month. Having a website quite simply devours your free time and it is something that you need to be fully aware of. I quite honestly don't know how anybody can start a website and maintain it with a full-time job elsewhere. Somebody needs to be there to answer the phone when a customer calls or else your customer will be wondering who they are dealing with and word of mouth will spread quite fast on the internet if you build a reputation of dis-service. Personally I easily spend a good 6-8 hours per day building and maintaining content on my sites. I work until about 2 am every single night and wake up at 8 am to answer calls. By the time Saturday rolls around my ass is kicked! My wife and I have had many squabbles about spending time together and how my websites have affected our relationship and it is something that if your married you will have to take into consideration. My wife is fully understanding of the obstacles ahead of me and the time it takes to maintain my sites day in and day out but it is for this reason that I say you should take everything into consideration. Simply building a site isn't a money tree. :>~
MLHmptn
As for running sites, I have extensive experience in the online world. Unfortunately, I had worked for someone else and did a great job. I do freelance design, have good grasp of maintianing servers, enough of php,perl and mysql to configure and tweak scripts. I am also very well read on the various aspects that make sites succesful...my problem is/was
>> fear of committing to one project and always wondering what if I had ran site X, Y or Z
>> too creative (I have so many fairly decent ideas and more developing in my head all the time)
I think what I will do is try to run 2 to start with and add one every three months and see what happens 12 months from now when I would have 5 sites...the oldes two being 12 months old. I would be able to guagae which ones deserve more of time.
You guys rock!
