how many sites do you run? what's your strategy?

AffiliateNewbie · 10-12-03

Hey People!

This is my first post, I already feel at home here after reading through some threads.

Questions:

#1
How many sites do you run, and what is the avg. time period you really work on them (initial content loading period etc)?

#2
As a beginner, should I try and create many domains (say 50+) that say bring in $50-300/month or should I focus on bigger sites but ofcourse a smaller #?

morleymouse · 10-12-03

Hi! Welcome, and good day.

When I first started I had one site, one domain. Work on it, worked on it, and then I started being paid! once you get one site running nicely you begin to realise what works and what doesn't.

Id say try one site at first and then once you get the hang of it start throwing sites up everywhere.

Unless your a bored millionaire with nothing else to do, then just buy up everything you can.

scifind · 10-12-03

Sound advice.

I run one main site but this year I launched a second which has overtaken my original in popularity. My first is my favourite and I am looking into developing it into something greater in the new year.

I have run several other sites but they are not much to talkabout, real playing with ideas - usually on free hosting

As for time. Site 1 - scifind was developed in a gap between university and work, after 18 months I redesigned from scratch, and tinkered in the evenings, then in a gap between jobs I redeveloped completly form scratch again and now just spend time on updates. - a few hours a week

AffiliateNewbie · 10-12-03

In terms of timings and payout, what would you suggest is a good return after some work on a site?

Scifi, it seems your are a amazon focussed affiliate...what would you say my approach should be?

I am a web developer by trade, and I already own a dedicated server. I know how to create database backed sites no problem.

I am designing a general site template right now, so that I can simply add content to the database and viola, my site can go live.

WIth this in mind, what should be a reasonable GOAL for me?

The most I have heard of making of amazon is like $200-300/month (or was it quarter), but after reading some affiliate boards I have heard of $5000/quarter!

Freebie · 10-12-03

Quote:

As a beginner, should I try and create many domains (say 50+) that say bring in $50-300/month or should I focus on bigger sites but ofcourse a smaller #?

Keep your eggs in as many different baskets as you can. It's easy to drop one basket, and if all your eggs are in there......

AffiliateNewbie · 10-12-03

true that makes sense.

But that also implies ofcourse all the multiple sites are not using the same merchants ehehe .

AffiliateNewbie · 10-12-03

Is there anyone out there who has tons of sites that make moderate money ($50-300 or so / month)?

I'm curious, how many sites can 1 person handle....is there anyone with over 100?

100x50=5000 not bad!

The problem with me is that I need to ask 1 BILLION questions before I start something, I guess its a lack of confidence huh? ho hum...

Azam.net · 10-12-03

I wouldn't advise running 100+ sites. We must have over 50 targetting different demographics and the admin. has become a nightmare. It's not just a matter of setting up the sites, as I originally thought, and then just seeing the money roll in.

Each site has to be promoted, updated, and affiliate links removed when programs reduce commission, close down or don't convert. Updating is time-consuming, but essential. Why would somebody visit your or my site which is not updated frequently with fresh, original content, when major portals run sites staffed by full-time employees updating them 10 times a day?

Might be easy to draw in free/cheap traffic from Google at the moment, but when they IPO, they will get greedier and greedier and won't be as simple to bring visitors to poor-looking sites/doorway pages.

I now wish we'd concentrated on creating two or three state-of-the-art portals rather than using the 'scatter gun' approach. It's like with the TV: there might be 400 channels nowadays, but 98% of people watch the main 7 or 8. Better to have a major site, or two or three, with a good brand.

Good luck

AffiliateNewbie · 10-12-03

yeah that makes sense Nadeem.

My initial goal I set for myself is to make $2000-3000 / month USD within the next 12 months or so, maybe 18 months.

I know I could somehow drum up $50-300 from a site, but making the leap to higher payouts is another story.

I guess i'll keep reading these forums....

thanks for all your tips!

999gi · 10-12-03

I have about a 20 active sites in various stages of maturity. They fall into 2 categories Proper Sites and Mini Sites.

Proper sites start off as relatively small low quality sites (Phase 1) to "prove the concept". If it shows reasable promise then the site gets developed to a second level (Phase 2) where its a decent stab at being a good site. Thereafter it gets changed to meet user needs, improve conversion, do beter in search engines, make easier to maintain etc until it becomes the "finished article" (Phase 3).

However the finished articles are never really finished and they are a lot of work to update sometimes (building a site thats easy to maintain is always helpful). Also as the market changes, competition changes etc. some sites do better, some worse. and I have to take a view as to whether to upgrade/reinvent to try to keep the site at Phase 3 or retire a site (Phase 4) which involves either just stopping all work on it, or potentially trying to sell it (although this has never happened).

At the moment I have three sites in Phase 4, three in Phase 3, another three in Phase 2, five in Phase 1, and two new ideas Im workign on.

I also have about 10 mini sites which are built purely to capture a certain market. These are generally moderate quality sites at best that I spend little time on, but bring in a small contribution. They are kind of like phase 1 sites but with little expectation of there being a phase 2 or 3 unless they really take off.

My main advice
1. Only do sites on subjects you are interested in. Im an avid gambler but even working on my betting site seems tedious at times, so you can imagine what working on sites about stuff that bores me is like.
2. Always test the concept first with a test site before you invest too much time in developing it
3. Time upfront just thinking is often well spent

All a bit sad really, but thats how I approach it.

ianm · 11-12-03

Quote:

The most I have heard of making of amazon is like $200-300/month (or was it quarter), but after reading some affiliate boards I have heard of $5000/quarter!

It is possible to make good money out of Amazon - Replace the $ with a £ in your highest figure and that is what we are hoping to earn this quarter (including all the bonuses).

The more Amazon expand into other product areas - the more potential there is for greater earnings. They've got a good branding and convert well - we're achieving 25%+ conversion rates from some of our sites.