Tough business we find ourselves in, huh? I still don’t make 5 figures a month. I still don’t put forth the effort that is required for that level of income either. I no longer believe that the latest system or ebook is going to magically print dollars into my bank account. I do my thing. Work hard when I can and want to and hope that each month is better than the last.
I may seem like some maniacal retard that can’t figure out which system to flog on any given day. But this can’t be further from the truth. There was a time a year, now maybe two, that I was doing what many do when they want to achieve something in IM: They search and purchase and try anything and never stick to with one thing long enough to see if it works. Information overload.
These days I am relatively calm in my approach to IM. It’s simple. I made it simple. I got tired of the burnout. I like the money but flogging this shit gets old.
Here is what I do:
Money Sites
Keyword research is 95% of my site planning. I use Nichebot, Google and Traffic Travis to find the best keywords possible. I have determined that the Keyword Crash Course Ebook from Court is about as good a reference as there is to get good keyword phrases. I fully use Nichebot to determine the competition I’m up against and whether to move forward with the site.
I build niche websites using PLRPro articles. I use XSP to build the site. Sometimes I use Wordpress, but not much anymore. I build around two of these “money” sites a month. Some work out OK. Some do not. Life sucks that way.
Keyword research and PLRPro are related. I determine which of the 11 niche article packs are the best for me with keyword research over and beyond what PLRPro provides. I don’t typically sit around and try to come up with something to build a money site around. I use what I pay for and already have. I have a lot of content so I go through and see if I can use other article packs and mash things together to overcome the dreaded duplicate content Google curse. I rewrite stuff quickly, title, top, middle and bottom and move to the next article. I firmly believe that no one does more than skim through a niche article so I don’t try to write the next Pulitzer Prize winning submission.
I promote the sites. I write a couple of articles and post them to EzineArticles. I submit them to Article Marketing Automation as well. Using the “spinner” tool I make sure each article distributed is 100% different than the next.
Using free blog sites, I create blogs around the money site’s topic. I drop these into AMA to collect articles. The articles have to be well written and rewritten around 50% from the original. I don’t do a lot of promoting of these blogs and just let the blog and ping facility do its thing and get indexed by Google. I use these for backlinks to my money site. I put affiliate links and banners on these blogs in case they start getting traffic, which happens. If the site is a Blogger blog and I start getting good traffic then I’ll put Adsense on them.
Sometimes I get ambitious and build a Suidoo lens for the niche.
I use BMD to post my URLs to bookmark sites. Google doesn’t seem to regard these links as heartily as they once did, but a link is a link. And this is about the easiest link you can get. And I love the tool.
I submit my sites to directories using a directory submitter tool. I use PGB’s RSS submitter to submit well performing blogs. The best blogs I will go through my RSS directory list and submit them manually. This has always been worth it if they get accepted.
Maintaining these money sites is a drag. After the initial build and promoting I don’t do much more than freshen up the site with an article once a month or get some more backlinks. The site remains in BMD for link building though. If the site is lifeless after 4-6 months I just let it sit there. Sometimes I let the domain expire. I move forward with new sites and work backwards on those sites that do well. Constantly shuffling between what works and what doesn’t.
Ugly is Beautiful
I allow myself some time to experiment with a new technique or plan. It has to be quick and spammy though. Like the Ebay/Blogger franken-sites I build. And it never connects to my money sites.
Lately I’ve been building uuuugly micro niche Blogger sites and populating them with little used and dispersed EzineArticles. Same plan for getting traffic to them. I want to see if I can throw up a Blogger blog and not post to it past the initial slug and just get a bunch of backlinks to keep it indexed and ranked. I targeted one specific long tail keyword. I would write an intro to the article and create my own title. Ultimately I’d like to drop Adsense on there.
I Like to Write
I have Lost Ball, a political blog, two cycling blogs, and five celebrity-type blogs that I enjoy writing. Four of those are self hosted and utilize Wordpress. Lost Ball makes virtually nothing. The political blog makes nothing, but is brand new. One of the cycling blogs makes a little and one of the celebrity sites makes a little as well. The other celebrity blogs are on free blog hosts. Lost Ball has 12 readers. The cycling and political blogs get little traffic. Three of the celebrity sites average 3,000 visitors a day. I even had a day where over 7,000 took a click on one of them. They each are PR3. The reason I maintain them is that I like them and they are fantastic for getting new sites indexed and passing on PR.
Sad But True
I have a TON of Blogger blogs that I am trying to figure out what to do with. They used to get articles from AMA but that option is no more. I have been trying to organize them and figure out which ones are worth salvaging and possibly working more with. Some have gotten hundreds of content posted to them. I’m working my way through each to try to tighten the niche. For instance, if I created a blog for AMA on fitness, I may have articles on yoga, golf fitness, muscle exercises and weight lifting. I’ve been going through and trimming them, based on keyword research, to try to make it a little more niche specific. I also get ideas on building other free hosted blogs based on the number of articles. So if I want to tighten the fitness blog to muscle building but I received 17 yoga articles then it’s time to build a couple of free hosted yoga blogs. And it takes so little time.
Time
I don’t spend as much time building and linking as I should. I’m lazy that way. Burned out even. For me to research and build out a new site might take 6 hours if I just push through it. For each money site. I probably spend an hour, maybe two hours, daily on my vanity blogs. What a time suck. I use BMD two, three times a week. Takes about 15 minutes to set up a new site in it, if you are trying to bookmark all the webpages. You can walk away from it. Rewriting and submitting to EA and AMA takes about an hour for a couple of articles. Creating blogs for a mini-network and getting them installed into AMA takes about an hour for each niche. Going in and adding a link to various sites for backlinks is confusing and a time suck. I need to track this but I don’t want to take the time. I try to make sure not to do weird shit that Google would punish me for.
Closing
Basically all I do is try to find good keywords, write and rewrite articles, build a mini niche site and monetize with affiliate crap and Adsense and get backlinks through white hat and a touch of grey methods. I don’t buy into new systems or programs or any of that shit much anymore. I get curious from time to time and buy something, but mostly I just write, build and link.
I’m sure that there are a lot of cool techniques and methods that folks use that generate tens of thousands of dollars a month. All I know is I’ve tried many of them and watched them get squashed by Google time and again. Building a website, finding keywords that will deliver people to your site, writing articles and promoting your site through various (whitehat) means has always worked. When I stray from that I get frustrated and lose money.
21 responses so far ↓
Marcus // Feb 13, 2009 at 11:25 pm
I’ve started blog farming just to cull through the good ones and use them for link building for my money sites. For a self-hosted blog, I can get a blog set up in 30 mins, not including research. My free hosted sites take 20 mins but I am worried about investing more time in them at all. I think the Blogger ones will be OK with UAW instead of AMA as long as I clean out the garbage posts once a month. Thinking about SLOBs.
Lately I’ve come to decide to build a couple of “power blogs” with content from many sources, and just promote with articles all over the place and RSS and social links and backlinks from my existing blogs. I’d like to get each to throw off $1K/mo between affiliate marketing and ads. Just seems easier to manage. I can spend 20 mins a day for each one and not kill myself.
Andy // Feb 14, 2009 at 12:17 am
Thanks for the great overview. Don’t get discouraged, it sounds like you are on the right road.
Tom // Feb 14, 2009 at 1:49 am
Interesting post.
You like to write and you’re decent at it, that’s a real blessing in this game I think. I mostly hate to write, which can be a big handicap.
You’ll break five figures a month eventually. I’ll be thrilled when I can consistently do four. I’m sure I’ll probably want five shortly thereafter though.
Curt E // Feb 14, 2009 at 5:13 am
My dear depressed friend,
Only 12 readers?
What a shame. I like your writing so much I always go back to read again. That should make it 13, sometimes 14.
I’m starting a make money blog this weekend and you’ll get the first backlink. Unless you think a link from a Swedish nobody could get you sandboxed. Let me know.
Denise // Feb 14, 2009 at 10:24 am
I am going back to basics also! Hopefully now that I have a better understanding of how to find the right keywords and how to really use Squidoo, I am feeling more positive. I used to use Squidoo like a blog instead of a one page site. I now know to make these a one long tail keyword page.
Someday maybe I will get it all together?
Alex // Feb 14, 2009 at 11:10 am
Hi,
Only just discovered this blog but that was a great read, going to go back over your older posts in minute.
I’ve been going through the exact same stage you did – buying every new product and not sticking at things. I’ve finally found something I quite enjoy doing though that’s very similar to your method, and while it hasn’t been long enough to see real results, I’m finding myself less and less tempted by new IM products.
I look forward to reading you’re future posts!
Alex
Parminder N // Feb 15, 2009 at 1:16 am
It is becoming increasingly more difficult these days to utilize black hat methods. Do you make all you income via the web–full time income? peace.
Splork // Feb 15, 2009 at 8:20 am
Parminder-I don’t do this, nor plan to, unless I get laid off, to do this full time. I would have to be far more motivated and put more work in to make this full time.
Alex-Thanks for reading
Denise- Yep, that’s the way to use Squidoo. I have quite a few of those lens making a few bucks a month. I’ve often wondered if I could do much better with Squidoo and sometimes get motivated to ramp up lens production but typically I’ll just write a couple a month. To be successful with Squidoo I think you really have to build a lot of lens per niche.
Curt- Thanks for reading. I’d be happy to have a link from your blog.
Tom- Seems like you always want more than you have. I remember thinking how exciting it would be to make over a hundred dollars.
Andy- thanks
Marcus-that sounds like a good plan. I’d love to develop an authority site that could generate the 4 figure income a month but I just haven’t cracked that nut yet. I have to go thespray and pray route.
Dinheiro // Feb 15, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Just don’t stop Splork, the game it’s still the same, ugly, big quantities and thousands of links (and of course a niche where you can sell something or get good clicks). There’re no more secrets, only hard work. The “last” secret is to automate everything you can automate, give a look at iMacros for firefox, you’ll be surprised how iMacros can help you automate many things to make money online!!
Splork // Feb 15, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Hey Dinheiro. Thanks for the tip. I don’t plan on stopping unless I win the lottery or receive a coll million from a generous relative
Shaun Taylor // Feb 16, 2009 at 8:16 am
Hey Splork, you definitely have more than 12 readers. It’s funny, I like your blog so much that I bookmarked it and come back and lurk frequently. But I don’t subscribe to the RSS feed. Mainly because I like coming here and catching up on all you’ve been up to. I’m sure there are others like me.
And, FYI, I once tried to order a ton of PLR that you had advertised in your sidebar as a form of patronage, but the coupon code you had listed kept getting rejected. But I will always buy through links of people who I trust. So I do think Lost Ball is monetizable and you have an honest perspective to share; and really, how many of those are out there??
Keep on keepin’ on.
Shaun
Splork // Feb 16, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Hey Shaun. Sorry about the coupon code. I let it linger too long on the site.
Thanks for reading.
Susan // Feb 17, 2009 at 11:23 am
Hey Splork,
Longtime reader, first-time poster here.
I just had to post today because you wrote: “Lost Ball has 12 readers.” What was so amusing is that at the moment I was reading, each of the three posts on page one had exactly 12 comments.
Ok, I realize some of the comments were replies from you, but I just got a chuckle out of it.
So I had to make this comment # 13 on at least one post.
Anyway, hope all is well. I stop by from time-to-time (especially when there has just been a big IM launch), to see what you have to say. Always a pleasure.
Susan
Splork // Feb 17, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Hey Susan. Thanks for dropping by.
Karl Bradley // Feb 22, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Hi Splork,
Thanks for this post. I’ve enjoyed your stuff ever since I started reading (over a year ago, but less than two–I think). This one’s especially helpful. And you’re more than just a “decent” writer. I enjoy your writing as much as anyone’s (and better than most) online.
Question: do you still recommend InfoGoRound? I THINK I first read about it on this site (although maybe it was Court’s?) and may go and join it. Is it still worth checking out these days?
Splork // Feb 22, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Hey Karl. Thanks for reading.
I stopped subscribing to IGR about a year ago. I never paid a dime for it as I simply wrote an article each month. They have an neat deal where if you write an article and it gets accepted they will reimburse your monthly fee.
I thought the quality was pretty good and they have that database of extra articles that you can draw from as well that is fairly well. I just have so much content and decided that PLRPro was more useful that I just got tired of *having* to come up with an original article each month. Which is kind of funny because I write a ton of stuff each week. It was just maintenance and content overload.
But if you need PLR it’s not bad. If you’re strapped for cash you definitely want to check it out as you can write an article and get your membership free. Unless they changed that policy.
Hope that helps.
Karl Bradley // Feb 22, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Thanks for taking the time for such a detailed answer. I didn’t know if you quit mentioning them b/c maybe the quality went down or something. I’ll definitely check them out, b/c I am in fact pretty broke lately. Thanks!
eBookGuy // Feb 24, 2009 at 4:48 am
Great blog
Do you rewrite PLR articles or how do you overcome duplicate content problems.
Thanks
Splork // Feb 24, 2009 at 8:13 am
eBookGuy, I do a lot of rewriting. If I build an XSP niche site it is almost all rewritten content. If I build a blog, it depends. If it’s a Wordpress blog I might use some of my own content that I’ve rewritten to get it started with the hopes that I can put it into the Article Marketing Automation system and start pulling on-topic articles. I control the articles so they have to be rewritten and pretty well done.
Sometimes I discover a keyword I’m interested but have no interest in writing about it so I’ll grab some articles from Ezine Articles. I may write a short intro. I may use Frank’s LinkLuv builder to add something different.
Mostly I’ve discovered that backlinks are the most important.
Thanks for reading.
Mike // Feb 25, 2009 at 9:31 am
Hi Splork, read your blog after finding it a while back, then returned here again after seeing one of your forum posts (seems we are involved in a couple of the same things).
I’m now doing IM full time after getting over going on the merry go round of courses, memberships etc (well almost), making a bit of money but not where i want to be yet. I expected to take about a year to get a decent income from niche websites.
What you do in this post seems to be what is currently in PGB, just wondered if you are doing this full time and making a reasonable living out of it (inspiration). I’ve only got a couple of sites at the moment but hear of people with a lot of sites not making much and there seems to be a endless variety of ways to make money online but i seem to have settled on the same as in your post,
Thanks
Splork // Feb 25, 2009 at 10:56 am
I do not, and have no plans to, do this full time. I make enough to satisfy my goals. Unless you plan on having a flagship ship site that will make hundreds of dollars a day in advertising or Adsense, you will have to build a shitload of sites. That’s just the way it goes. Follow the blueprint from PLRPro for making $2-6K a month. Read Griz’s site. Link is on the sidebar. Those are viable and honest methods for making the kind of money you need to for full-time IM with niche site marketing.
There are tons of methods. But the simple shit still work. Find the keywords that you don’t have to compete hard for. Go to Court’s site (sidebar) and get his keyword report. Build a blog with some posts wrapped around that keyword. Promote the site. Rinse and repeat. It will be boring and mind numbing. In a few months the first of your blogs will start pulling visitors and clicks. I have Blogger blogs that took/take 6 months before they do anything. I build, promote and move to the next. Some work out. Most do not. Those that do I circle back and add more content or backlinks.
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