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.

Problems with Production and Focus - Read more posts like this at Perpetualized

Considering today is the first time I’ve submitted any new articles promoting any of my current websites since mid-March and that I haven’t added any new websites to my empire since then either (and only 1 site at that), I am optimistic.

I’d like to see my income increase without adding any additional sites if at all possible. The reason for that is because I would really rather make at least $1 to $2 per day for each site. I’ve put a lot more work into proper research for most of the new sites I’ve created and I’d love to see that pay off.

Currently, none of my sites are closer than the 2nd page for their keywords in the search engines. I will be adding some new content to the sites that appear to be on their way up in earnings, because it means the new content will have the best chance of making a difference.

Traditionally, my method was this: I’d brainstorm interesting domain names for topics I found interesting. Research? Nah. I preferred catchy domain names. ;) I have since learned that this doesn’t work well when you want a website to actually be financially self-sustaining. You need a site that is at a minimum going to earn back its domain cost and its share of hosting expenses. So, lesson learned.

Now, I find a keyword in a topic of interest to me (see how I still just do sites I find interesting?) and then I find a good domain name to go with it. This lets me get the best of both worlds. I get a site that I’m not going to be bored with (I hope) and a domain that makes it more likely my site will actually get traffic and be able to earn enough to stay online.

I am done with hanging on to domains that can’t even pay for their renewal costs. This is a drain on my energy and drain on my finances.

To summarize, I have 8 articles linking to 9 websites.

(Technically I have 11 websites I’ve created since January, but 1 of those was a personal political statement about healthcare reform, and the other was another personal site – no keyword research involved in the creation of either site.)

My goals for the coming weeks are to finish some sites I have in limbo. I bought a few domains that I haven’t built sites for yet. When those are complete, I will be focusing on promotional activities for a short while. I need to test some things and make some effort to get as many of my sites on page 1 as possible and as close to number 1 as possible.

From my work on an older site I have that is number 1 for several competitive terms, I realize you can’t rush rankings. So I will alternate between building new sites and working to grow and promote my existing sites. This way I can learn as I go.

And finally, I will be working to use my new knowledge about research to my advantage on a few older sites I have. They’ve been around for years and are ranked for several okay terms.

One site specifically is ranked #3 in Google for a term that has about 1,600 exact searches a month and about 1,070,000 results in quotes for the term. The site is nicely aged at about 5 years old and positioned well to branch into some other keyword phrases that get considerably more searches but have considerably fewer competing sites. I’m going to try my hand at spiffing up that site and see where it leads me.

Although I’m willing to create many sites to generate the income I would need to make this my full-time career/job, of course I would rather improve fewer properties to make more money per property if at all possible!

Now, I just have to get to work!

Website Empire Per Day Income Inching Up - Read more posts like this at Perpetualized

Here’s the breakdown.

Yes, I think the material in the Google Sniper is worth the $67.

Yes, I got my refund for the upsell product that I decided wasn’t something I could use. :) That made me happy. The refund was prompt and without question. I really appreciated that.

The manual (possibly) makes a few inflated claims but I really think the underlying methods make very good sense. I do expect to make some money from these sites. Now, whether that’s the $200+ per month the Google Sniper sales page claims, or the $50+ per month I’m hoping for, or the $5 per month that would mean the sites are “profitable” albeit along the lines of a below minimum wage job—now that’s another question that I don’t yet have an answer for!

That said, I’m not lowering my criteria. I’m following along with the manual as closely as possible.

There is one small issue I take with the Google Sniper course and that’s the suggestion that I create a character to go along with my website if it’s a market that I don’t fit into. I take exception to that, on an ethical/moral basis, and I have decided that anything like that will be off limits for me. That’s my line, and it’s one I don’t want to cross.

Let me note that I’m not talking about the simple process of taking on a pseudonym. I’ve done that many times—I’ve been writing fiction for years and I do not use “Lynn” as either of my author names. Pseudonyms are useful for protecting your privacy, and frankly, I suggest you use one whenever you put yourself “out there”. The world really is full of crazy people. BUT I do not think that gives anyone the moral right to lie to others just to make a sale. Pseudonyms are just names. They do not determine who you are inside.

The thing is, I’m willing to give it a test of 20 sites. Heck, I’ve still got 22 sites of my own and 3 that I built with a friend (and that’s not counting the freebie sites I built back when I first started building websites—think geocities/weebly). What’s 20 more? ;) The good news is that the other 22 + 3 make enough money to pay for their domains, my hosting package, and the new 20 domains I’ll be testing. Not much will be left over, but anything worth doing has a little risk associated with it!

I’m thinking about starting a section where I keep a log of income from the Sniper sites. I haven’t decided yet, but I’ve probably got a few days. :) (Yes, that was a touch of sarcasm. I don’t expect miracles here.)

Here’s what I think will happen.

These are my numbers vs. the numbers in the Google Sniper book, which I’m not bothering to show here because I’m just not confident that they’re really accurate—at least not in my experience—yet. ;)

This is what I expect* will happen. This isn’t what I’m hoping for or working toward, by any means.

$5 Affiliate Commission x 10 Sales per Month = $50 per Site/Month

20 Sniper Sites x 50% Failure Rate = 10 Profitable Sniper Sites

10 Sites x $50 = $500 Total Monthly (from 20 initial sites)

The truth is, this isn’t a lot of money from a pretty large time investment. Despite the claims of 2 hour sites, these sites take a minimum of 4 – 6 hours each when you add in all the details.

Also, that doesn’t include the time it takes to become really familiar with the market and topic.

All said, I don’t think most people could put up a quality site, complete, in less than one day of solid work, and you can’t do it all in one go. Your content is very important to the Google Sniper system, and there are certain things that you have to spread out over time, so when it’s all said and done, the really devoted Sniper could spend a week developing 5 sites, starting on Monday and tying up all the loose ends on Friday. Heck, I might even give it a go myself in a few weeks just to see if it’s possible.

Let me reiterate though, this would be a lot of work and it’s unlikely anyone could do 5 sites a week working only in the evenings, unless you just don’t have a normal life to lead!

If my numbers work out as expected, the Google Sniper method might not be a viable way to earn an income online. However, if my numbers do turn out to be conservative (and here’s to hoping they do), then things might look a whole lot better than they appear here. Only time (and lots of work) will tell.

*There’s good research out there that identifies expectations with unhappiness. Expecting things leads to disappointment. Hoping for things doesn’t. So I don’t expect too much, but I hope for everything!

Google Sniper Update - Read more posts like this at Perpetualized