Taking a Risk

Last night, after several weeks of consideration, we made changes to one of our biggest earning sites...a new layout, a couple of new plugins, and less advertising on the site.  Granted, our hope is that this actually improves the site, but since it's our biggest earner, we're also a little nervous....in fact, we were hesitant to even change anything for fear it would lose it's ranking, lose revenue, etc.  But, and here's the key point, the old format was no longer working for us.  The site has grown so much over the past year that it appeared jumbled, confusing, and less professional looking...so we're taking a risk. 

Do you take risks in your business?  If not, you may be missing opportunities to grow your business, increase your earnings, and build a better business.  While you should always be conservative in business, there are also times you just have to try something...if it doesn't work, then you can undo it, drop it, or whatever.  But, sometimes you just gotta go for it.

Our site:  http://www.bestereaders.net/

We'll update you on the site in a few weeks to let you know how our risk is working out.  

A Quick Update

Just a quick update...I have about 30 of my credit card sites updated now.  Just waiting for Google to decide where they belong in the new Caffiene index.  And, trying to build and add to them so that they rank a bit better in the long run.

That's one thing anyone who is trying to make a living online needs to learn - plan your business for the long term.  Especially if you're working with organic SEO, long term pays off much slower, but also pays much longer.  Spammy sites, gimmicky products, and the like....you'll make a little money short term, but you'll have to keep making the same sites, products, etc., over and over.

Building a quality site takes longer.  Finding the right products takes longer.  But it's worth it.

Credit Card Sites are UP!

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a few credit card offer sites, and have been working like crazy to get them up and live!  They're done.  Now, to just build on them.  That brings us to a total of, are you ready for this, 37 credit card offer sites.

While I was devoting so much time to bringing the new sites online...the old ones continue to earn.  Soon, all 214 sites will be live...oh, well, by the end of the year at least.

If you're looking for a great start to earning online, I read this book a year ago, and it's one of the few that I actually learned from.  It's not all hype - there is some real, practical information inside, and I encourage you to make this type of reading the norm while you're building your business. 

Away for Awhile

Well.  It's been a while since we posted.  We've been updating some sites that we haven't touched since early 2009...they were just sitting there, and they suddenly started appearing again in January, so, like most good marketers, we paid attention to the trend, and have spent the last few weeks reformatting the sites, building a few new ones, and checking all the links.

We've also been testing a new site building strategy and it appears to be working!  You might remember that earlier this year, we refocused our efforts, pared down our affiliations, and have totally concentrated on four areas of the business.  Well, a portion of those four areas involves rebuilding a number of sites, and for once, those tendencies to be extremely anal about things has paid off...in the form of a near perfect checklist for building/updating websites.  So far, we've built or rebuilt about 12 sites, and those sites come back very strong in the search engines!  And, you know what that means...or what it should mean, anyways.  They should also come back strong in earning power.

Another Site Updated

This past week, I have been evaluating my sites using the Website Grader tool at www.websitegrader.com, and as much as I have read that you should "read the report and ignore the results" on several forums, I have to disagree. So far, I have run the reports on my sites, and compared them with the results I see, and the truth is - the higher the grade the site receives, the more income I am seeing from the site. Therefore, I am using the results to redesign, upgrade, and fix any problems Website Grader finds with any of my sites.

The first one, www.AdaptiveMotionTrainer.com, underwent a complete renovation, and my score improved 20 points. Now, we watch to see if the SEO ranking, and the income improves, as well.

Working Today for Tomorrow

One of the most interesting things about owning an online business, and also the most challenging, is the notion that what you do today may have no effect for weeks or, in some cases, even months!

In most occupations, you work today, and at the end of every week, you get a check for the work that you did the prior week. Therefore, it's a regular "reward" for your efforts.

In an online business, the work that you do today may not pay off for some time...for example, this week, I have built 446 back links to my websites. Will I see increased traffic immediately? No. That will not come until the back links are indexed and found by the search engines, and in many cases, that will literally take months! Talk about waiting a long time for the "reward" for your efforts!

Unless you know this up front, and expect it up front, it can be a problem motivationally, because your efforts will feel as if they are for naught. That is why, especially in an online business, you should know UP FRONT that you will not see a quick return on your investment of time and money. And you must plan accordingly. Otherwise, you could become like one of the many millions of people who start in this business every year, only to give up and quit before their efforts pay off.

The Credit Card Connection

Another one updated! The Credit Card Connection is now converted to a Javascripted site!

And, the site we converted the other day is back up in the search engines....adding more content and links to both over the next few days!