Dan Cruz posted a comment on my methodology post. As usual my response got long winded so I decided to simply use it as a post. Being lazy, it’s better than coming up with something original.

So my site building is really not as frantic as you think. The thing that saves me is I can write. When I get motivated to do something I just hammer it out.

I try to update the Wordpress blogs at least 5 times a week. It’s something that I like to do and Wordpress.com makes it stupid easy. 20 minutes a pop for all.

Blogger blogs/Squidoo - I build one, maybe two, a week, when I’m motivated. Some weeks I just blow it off.

XSP - I’m not building any right now. I either do XSP or Blogger. Not both.

RSS2B4 is a time saver. I load it up and press execute. It auto posts to the blogs. I follow behind and clean it up. I might spend an hour a week on that. I use Utility Poster and Frank’s tool to add additional content.

Commenting/Dir Submission - I submit a few a day on sites that seem to work. I have all the meta data in text files so it’s just a copy and paste, if Firefox doesn’t autofill. I might spend 30 minutes at home on this. I might also steal sometime at work and add a few links to directories.

Let’s say I’m building a Blogger blog with articles and Ebay widget. I’ll do the keyword research. I’ll figure out in 10 minutes if my idea is worthwhile. Blogger takes nothing to build. I use a template that’s working and change some settings. 5 minutes. I take three-four articles and do a quick rewrite and addition. Mix and match. Post them up adding Utility Posts. 15 minutes. I rewrite an article for real for EA and GoArticles. 20 minutes. Build a Squidoo lens with article 30-45 minutes. Pop open Fast Blog Finder and comment on a few blogs. Add a few links to a few directories to get it cranked off. Add a link to one of my Wordpress blogs. Maybe 30 minutes for initial promotion? So I’d say I have a niche site built and ready to be indexed in what 2 hours? That’s probably a little low but I don’t think I spend a ton of time building out a site. And I don’t build 10-15-20 a week.

The problem is going back and maintaining what’s built. I have a theory that Google expects blogs to be blogged. My XSP sites do better just sitting around not being changed than blogs. But they are harder to get indexed and ranked. Google loves blogs I just think they reward them being blogged.

So maintaining them is a pain. If the site was easily indexed and is bouncing in the ranking and finding a nice position then I will continue to get links for it. If it begins to make money then I really work it.

But you know, some sites it doesn’t matter what the hell you do, you just can’t seem to get it to go anywhere. I’ll let them just sit there and move on. But keeping blogs fresh is the biggest time consuming thing I do.

I think it’s better to have fewer sites. The fewer sites you have that make tons of money the better. But you have to find the ones that you like and that can make money. I don’t think you can just take this week’s PLR and expect to do great thing with it. If you are riding the niche cycle you really have to keep throwing stuff out on the web and see what works.

Maybe it’s worthwhile to eventually have say 20 that makes $5/day. Then concentrate on the ones that make $10/day. Then concentrate on the ones that are making $50/day until you have 2-3 true winners making $100/day. Adjust to whatever your goal is of course. I’m at the point of still finding 20-25 consistent winners in niches I can tolerate. Make sense?