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So How Did I Do In April?
May 04, 2005
I've been busy these past couple of days with some offline deadlines, but during a break (not frequent enough - I really need to get that kitchen timer) I started thinking about how April went.
This was a good thing, because I usually tend to be too focused on all the things I need to get done. And when I have other time commitments and am feeling so contrained because I can't do as much with my web stuff as I'd like, all those things on my to-do list just seem to grow.
$100/Day Challenge News
Thanks to the $100/day challenge, I actually started a site that I probably wouldn't have started until later this year. The nice thing is that it's been making money the past week, through Adsense. Not much, but there's definitely potential.
I also have a ton of notes and an extensive keyword list for another Challenge site that keeps getting pushed back on my list.
Being a challenge participant also motivated me to try to monetize a "fun" site I had launched a couple of months ago. I added Adsense (let's put it this way - this site isn't going to be my Adsense-killer site, that's for sure) and also started up a weekly newsletter. The newsletter signups have been fairly steady, and I'm now starting to see the potential in "having a list".
The whole list thing is definitely a long-term strategy, though. But you know, if I hadn't been a Challenge participant, it wouldn't have occurred to me to start up a list on my fun site in the first place.
That old site of mine that Yahoo all of a sudden loves is doing well. I've been working on getting the site transferred over to a new host but my new Adsense placement has been going okay so that huge sense of urgency I felt a few weeks ago when I saw all those hits coming from Yahoo has died down.
(In other words, the site's still not transferred yet, despite the fact that I have had Teli's wonderfully designed template in my hot little hands for over a week. I would use the word "procrastinate", only I decided a while ago to erase that word from my vocabulary. As you can see, it hasn't helped much.)
Overall average per day for April? < $2 (taking the entire month of April into consideration)
Current daily average? Roughly $3. Hey, it pays for my morning coffee. With a little bit left over. (Not much, though - I have a fondness for the expensive java.)
Hmmm. Okay. That leaves me with only about $97 to go. The way I look at it, it's $3 more per day than I had before I started the Challenge, right?
Non-Challenge Sites
In non-$100-challenge news, I now have 8 new sites aimed for the Christmas rush. With these sites I'm going against conventional wisdom and instead of waiting until they are full-blown sites, I'm planning to add a bit of content every day. My hope is that they will pop out of the sandbox by September. I'm relying on low-KEI keywords, so I'm not going to pursue a lot of backlinks, other than possibly submitting articles to directories. (If there's one thing I hate about SEO, it's trying to get backlinks. In my perfect world, everyone who visits any of my sites would fall in love with my content and link back, naturally and without me having to send any emails.)
One of my informational sites is set to go - I just have to work on the header for my template.
I also launched another fun site. (I'm way too fond of these.) And then came up with a great plan to link my fun sites into an identifiable "sector" of my "virtual real estate empire". (Well, I've convinced myself it's a great plan, anyway.)
I am also teaching myself PHP and MySQL, in the hopes that I can build database sites and tackle datafeeds online rather than from my desktop with Webmerge, which, by the way, is a great program (and that's an affiliate link). To my relief, this is not as hard as I had been thinking it would be.
But the best thing I did this past month was to sit down and come up with a very comprehensive gameplan. It's quite long so I have to be very careful not to let myself get overwhelmed. But this is the first time I've actually sat down and gone into such detail about my plans, and it's definitely made the road forward a whole lot clearer. (And yes, I did include my fun sites in my gameplan).
So all in all, April was a pretty good month. I'm busier in May with my offline deadlines, but so far I've managed to do at least a page a day on several sites, and if I can keep that up, May should be pretty good, too.
[Edited: I had written "overall total per day" but I was talking about my current daily average, not the daily average for April.]]
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Posted by BJ at 01:19 AM in $100/Day Challenge, Website Design | Permalink
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Comments
Wow, I have made coming here a daily habit. I find your blog to be so refreshing and it makes me feel not so alone in this big internet world!
Posted by: rent games | May 5, 2005 12:39:02 AM
BJ,
I, too, find your blog a wonderful source of inspiration! Your writing style is conversational and engaging, and it is so encouraging to read about your progress. Keep up the great work!
--Mindy
Posted by: Let's Learn Italian :: Impariamo L'Italiano | May 5, 2005 11:36:10 AM
Thanks so much! I just pulled up my site and read my post online. I didn't realize it was so long! Honest. So I'm very thankful you both actually read through it all :)
One of the best things about this blog is the number of wonderful people I've been meeting who are pursuing the same dream as I am. I know they say that Internet marketing is a dog eat dog world, but they must be talking about the guru level (or not. I've met "gurus" who are extremely nice, too.)
Posted by: BJ | May 5, 2005 3:30:21 PM
Well you know I have been a fan for awhile now ;) I don't think your post was too long at all - inspiring infact.
My plan seems to be coming along just about the same. I am not making the money I want too yet but accomplishing my goals is huge for me ;) Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Chrissie | May 6, 2005 2:53:27 PM
Thanks, Chrissie. Accomplishing my goals is huge on my priority list, too. (Making the money I want to is also way up there!)
Is your new net marketing-related blog still on your to-do list ...? hint hint ;)
Posted by: BJ | May 7, 2005 12:38:27 AM
Hey BJ - working on it, something keeps coming up and getting in the way, blah.
My kids are so sweet, for an early Mothers day gift they gave me a stomach virus (haha).
I promise you will be the first to know, I am working on it.. honest ;)
Posted by: Chrissie | May 7, 2005 3:16:23 AM
Ouch. Stomach flu is definitely not a nice thing - whatever happened to breakfast in bed? :)
As for me, I keep thinking I should do a personal blog, but all the great blog names have been taken (like Internet Insomniac) ;)
Posted by: BJ | May 7, 2005 11:25:15 PM
