A Model Website Portfolio
Now that I’m making mid four figures each month and approaching a livable salary, many people ask me “what does it take” and “how long does it take.”
What I hope to do in this article is share with you a model portfolio of websites and various ways of attaining this portfolio. You should be able to get there in 6-12 months if you play your cards right. It’ll take a lot of work. But based on my experience, here’s a sure fire way to get started on you way to making a sustainable online income.
To begin, my general policy is to recommend that a new blogger start out by developing 5 to 10 micro-niched blogs as a “base” of passive income, then try your hand at going big on 1 or 2 sites. At least in my experience, the 5-10 micro-niched sites give you leverage that you can then utilize to gain a competitive advantage in a mainstream niche.
The Model Portfolio
The first step is to plan out your portfolio of sites. There’s an ongoing debate about whether to pursue topics that interest you or topics that are known to make money. When first starting out, I’d recommend that you have 1 or 2 sites that naturally interest you, and focus the rest of your energies on sites that will make you money. You’ll find that this results in a nice balance between work and play. Treat the sites you enjoy and love as “play” and the sites that you aren’t all that interested in as “work” - if you pay attention, you may witness your interests change and what was once “work” becomes a new hobby.
1. Poker Niche. I can’t emphasize this enough (unless you have moral qualms). You think poker’s dead? Think again. If you do it right, this could be your cash cow.
2. Casino Niche. See a theme?
3. Money & Finance
4. Real Estate
5. College/MBA
6. Gadget/Electronics
If I were starting from scratch, I’d build 6 sites that fall within those 6 niches, and then a 7th site to pursue any current interests.
How To Get There Fast
You could write all the content yourself. But I’d recommend finding good, affordable writers. They exist. Not every affordable writer is a bad writer. Post an ad on Craigslist stating your terms (example: 30 posts per month for $100 plus 10% site profit). Look for writers who display knowledge of and interest in your topic.
6 sites at $100 each per month ends up being $600/month. After 6 months, you will have spent $3,600. But take heart. You will now have 6 sites that each have 180 posts. If you play your cards right, each one is *currently worth* about $500-$1,000. Always keep this in mind. Equity matters. Let me repeat that: EQUITY MATTERS.
Don’t feel like you’ve just waisted $3,600. Rather, you’ve invested it in building out 6 new websites each of which contain value both in 1) Equity and 2) Ad potential.
Creating Content Is Not Enough
The unfortunate fact is that you can’t just build a website and expect it to succeed. You need to get eyeballs on your site. That’s where web promotion comes in. I highly recommend starting things off by using the tips I give in 5 Steps To Jumpstart Your Website. But even that’s not enough. You’ll need to leverage linkage from the very getgo. Do you know someone who already has a presence on the web who might be able to help you out? If so, get some link love. If not, you’ll have to go Mining for Text Link Ads and while you’re at it, probably get hooked to them like crack.
Want Some Help?
It’s not going to be cheap*, but if you’re really interested….that means for real….and you’ve got some money to throw around, feel free to contact me and I’ll tell you my price for a 6 month plan in setting you up with your own Portfolio of 10 websites, web promotion, etc. Think of it as your one stop shop for jumping into the deep end of being a problogger.
*This is a relative notion. And relative to the cost of a semester at college, it is cheap.
Related Articles:
- Squeezing Money Out Of Your Blog
- The Freemium Business Model: Striking a balance
- The Best Article I Wrote Last Year
- Building a Sustainable Web Business
- Focus on Profit, Not Revenue
Related Ads:
[...] If you take the advice in the Performancing article combined with my “Model Portfolio” article below, you’ll be on your way to a great online career. [...]