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Too Fragmented?
October 21, 2006
Ever since my post about building a sticky site, I've been thinking a lot about all the different ideas I have.
I pulled out my list of "great but still unused" domain names, and realized that I have far more ideas for sticky sites than the three that I mentioned.
And really, when I say "sticky sites", what I'm talking about is building value and community.
(Aha! New blog category!)
So here's the thing. I have a whole boatload of interests. And ever since I got online a couple of years ago, I've basically bought domain names for each and every interest that I have. These are good names, not keyword-rich domain names, not names designed to attract the search engines, but really good domain names. Okay, that's "if I do say so myself".
And now that I have a nice portfolio of affiliate and Adsense sites and blogs, I'm feeling ready to expand. To really think long-term, and build sites that add value and grow community.
The question I'm asking myself, though, is: can I do them all? Will I become too fragmented? Will it be too exhausting to thoroughly explore every single niche I'm interested in, add value and grow community in all these various directions?
Taking a quick look, my first thought is, "Well, no, I won't get fragmented, IF I can do this full-time." (I'm a big believer in my abilities. It's a nice belief to have, and if you don't have it, I really suggest that you cultivate it.)
So, there lies the bug in the ointment. Right now, I can't afford to go online full-time. I make roughly $100 to $120 a day (I've been hovering around there for a while) but offline I pull in five figures a month. That sounds nice, but living where I live, expenses are high and I need to make what I make.
And sticky sites are long-term projects. You're not going to make money with them quickly, although I think the potential is vast in the long run..
So here's my plan. I'm going to start growing my sticky site domains one at a time. I'll probably take you through most of them. They're long-term, very personal endeavours, so it's not like there's any worry about someone taking my ideas and imitating me. First of all, they won't have ME on board. And secondly, these are not secret niches filled with money making potential. These are my personal passions, and while I'm always one to include profit in every endeavour I embark on, in these cases, profit is a long-term objective, and just one of many objectives.
I'm also dedicating myself to truly launching into Adwords. To always have campaigns running. To tweak my ads and build my experience, and hopefully build up several streams of income that will let me move in the full-time direction.
I've decided that the first site I'm going to work on will relate to what I do offline. It's something I've been doing for almost 12 years now, so I'm very comfortable talking about it.
So stay tuned. Watch this category. You're all welcome to join in on this journey with me.
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Posted by BJ at 01:13 PM in Building Value and Community | Permalink
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Comments
This is similar to a concern I've periodically had about a venture I'm about to launch. It's somewhat different in my case. Instead of identifying numerous possible ideas, I've tried to come up with a single core concept from which I believe I could expand in many different directions adding value and building community as I go. The problem? Again will fragmenting be an issue? Not the same kind of fragmenting your talking about where I'm working on too many distinctly different projects, but just being unable to keep up with new features as they're added. The thing I like about the idea is that I can see myself spending the next ten years building it without getting bored. I think that's an important consideration as well.
Posted by: Shawn A. Hessinger | Oct 22, 2006 1:10:14 AM
I like your idea of a core concept that can be developed into a variety of directions, Shawn. And most of all, your point about boredom. Boredom is the thing that seems to get me every time. I know that focus is a big thing, that I need to keep my focus on a project and bring it to completion, but my problem is that I tend to get bored if I don't have a number of different projects to work on.
If I could come up with a core concept, that would be very very nice. It's something to think about - you've definitely given me food for thought.
Posted by: BJ | Oct 22, 2006 11:52:46 AM
Hi BJ,
Can you please please tell us which of your sites or products bring in the most money? What category of products work well? Are they affiliate links for marketing books, Adsense or what not? I am so curious!
Posted by: Vampyra | Oct 23, 2006 9:19:58 AM
Affiliate links work better for me than Adsense. I have become rather frustrated with Adsense lately because my income is so uneven - I can have a fabulous day one day and the next day, it's maybe 75% less even though my traffic and CTR are consistent. But my Adsense income has been better ever since I did some tweaking of my ads to get a better CTR.
I do well with infoproducts and other digital items, but they are in markets where people are accustomed to buying and downloading information. I haven't yet had much success in markets where you have to educate people on the value of an infoproduct or digital download first.
I also have some physical products that perform well for me - I find that the more niche it is, the better. My broader niche sites don't pull in very much at all, even though they actually get more traffic than my tighter niches. That's one reason why I want to start really getting into Adwords - I look at some of my tight niches and they do quite well in terms of conversion but I just can't seem to get the traffic. If Adwords can get me that traffic, I could ramp things up.
Posted by: BJ | Oct 23, 2006 11:48:33 AM
