Problems with Production and Focus
I have discovered a serious weakness in myself. Of course, I already knew about it (Perpetual Procrastination, anyone?) but I don’t guess I had actually accepted it.
I’ve had to now. I did a report for myself, of all the sites I’ve created and how many pages of actual content each site has. The answer wasn’t pretty.
I have 51 domains. I have created very little real content for the majority of those domains.
- 30 sites have fewer than 10 pages. 9 actually have 0 pages. Several of these are new. Several of these are not new. ;)
- 9 sites have between 10 and 20 pages.
- 7 sites have between 20 and 50 pages.
- 1 site has a little less than 100 pages.
- 1 site has a little more than 100 pages.
- 2 sites have between 1,000 and 2,000 pages. One of these sites earns $2 a month if I’m lucky and the other generates between $50 to $150 in income each month before expenses.
- 1 site has over 4,000 pages. This site makes about $0 each month. I’ve made exactly $10 off this site in a year.
Now, these last three sites are run on a database, so I haven’t actually created that many "articles" of content. And looking over the rest of the list, I was struck by just how little I had accomplished over the years with these websites. Clearly the hobby attitude isn’t doing me any favors.
It appears from this analysis that I have a serious problem focusing on anything long enough to actually produce anything.
Now, I’m trying really hard to change that. I am setting some goals (probably a waste of time) and practicing some serious self-discipline (counting on this to help) and making a plan. The plan is the thing I feel certain will help the most. The plan is nothing more than telling myself I need to do so many pages for each site before I move on. Some people might call this a goal, but I don’t. It’s a plan.
I’ve decided I’m going to build a real business around these websites of mine and that means getting to work and focusing on producing something. I’ve listed these in a spreadsheet and I’m going to start at the bottom, adding content to each one until I’ve reached a level that I think is useful and has earning potential. There are also a few very specific sites that I’m just going to get rid of when the renewal comes up.
I’ve seen the signs. It’s time to step up and do the work.
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