That seems a trifle harsh. Without knowing anything about his niche I don't see how you feel qualified to make such a blanket statement. Old saying "Don't should on your friends." He may have picked a niche that will never get that many visits. That doesn't mean it hasn't been successful in teaching him how to build and manage a site. It doesn't mean he won't be able to make a nice income from it etc. etc. The whole internet game is to new for such sweeping generalizations.
I'm guessing there is an audience for his market, as there seems to be a lot of sites dedicated to "koi fish". I would need to know the URL of his site to really see how his site stacks up in Google's index, but if he hasn't made it to the front pages, that means there are a lot of other sites, which translates into having a good sized audience. And if he's not getting his share of that audience (and from the numbers he's quoted, this would appear to be teh case), then he needs to work on his SEO to get his site out there. With a one month old site in a medium to popular niche, there is really no reason why you can't get more traffic than what he's currently quoting. The good news is that there is no reason for him to give up, as I mentioned, his market is not DOA. But to help him more, I would need to know a lot about his site -- URL, type, age, what SEO he's done, etc. Right now we're just throwing out guesses, but really, it's all generic without specifics.
Your throwing out information which is unfactual and disheartening, that's the difference. Jack, you of all people know Google doesn't like new sites. When you start talking 500 uniques/day your are going to need some Google love, which ain't going to happen in the first month of a website launch.
Maybe you should have read the rest of the thread before replying. He already said his niche is in "koi fish". Take a look in Google under Koi Fish and you'll find plenty of sites (all ahead of him, I'm guessing). If there are a lot of sites, there is an audience, and if there is an audience, he needs to work on ways to get his share, and if he can get his share, he can make a good income from it. Is that enough of a "sweeping generalization" for ya?
Dude, listen, and I'm not going to argue with you or anyone else anymore about some other guy's site, but here's the bottom line: If you can't get 500 uniques with a month-old site in a niche that has a healthy audience after doing every SEO trick in the book, then you DON'T KNOW ENOUGH. How do I know? Because I DO IT ALL THE TIME and I know others who DO THE SAME THING. If all of the above sounds impossible to you, it just means you don't know enough, and need to keep on learning. Telling him he should be satisfied with $5/day with a site he slaves on 15 hours a week is lame. And that is my final word on this thread.
500 visits a day really isn't much, and burton's right. You know how many sites I've seen, or affiliation requests from other sites I've seen that seem promising but they just don't focus on the correct things? Tons of them, and many of them hardly break 50-100 visits a day. Giving up a site is not the way to go because having a website is like having a business, it's completely unexpected. The people you influence and the little/lot of money you can get from the site far outweigh the little risk of hosting/time you put into it. We all have to start from the bottom. If it was easier then everyone would just quit their jobs and become Google Adsense employees, right? LOL
Dude, I am not saying he should be content with making that much a day. But to make such a general statement like that is just pure BS. The logic in that there are plenty of other sites on the topic makes it a healthy audience and a certainty to get 500 visitors/day in one month is just absurd, sorry.
Interesting thread ! As mentioned 500 uniques after a month is possible, but only with a lot of hard work & some years of experience I doubt if many people arrive at 500 uniques a day within a month on the first few sites they built. As to income from a site its all relevant if you have to spend 10 hours aweek on a site obviously $5 a week wont cut it, Better off working in a resto a few nights if your in this just for the money. On the other hand though if you can throw up a site in a few hours even 10 and you only have to spend a few minutes a month on the site afterwards $5 a week sounds like a solid investment longterm when looking at the big picture.
I would make more money getting another job but hey its a fun hobby that i get some money for doing. So I dont complain.
no need to be defensive I dont mind people talking blunt and I think Jack may have a good point. The url is www.cheapkoi.co.uk its #1 on google for "cheap koi" (in the UK second everywhere else I think). All advice is welcome as yes Im not experienced as you guys (thats why Im here, to learn). So far I have been posting a lot on koi related forums (about 150 posts on the main one so far) with my site in the sig, writing lots of articles as you can see on the site. Put links in fish koi related directorys, even put a vid on one of the blog type pages then put it up on things like digg and stumble (not really targeting my audience but it got me a few more hits). Originally I had the big square adsense part below the articles and the small banner above but I moved them around today, this has increased the amount they are clicked but is a bit unsightly which worries me as before I had around a 70% return rate but ill see if that goes up or down. Keep the comments and suggestions coming Im learning a lot from what has already been said.
Dude stick with it. Honestly this website game, especially if you are inexperienced, isn't a short term game. So many people get disheartened by the $3/day for 3 hours/day of work they have to put in to get that $3, but the thing about websites is that they are like property they will constant maintenance they will appreciate with value over time. Not just that but you are also building a wonderful asset that not many people consider. That is your human capital. I often think how just how much I learn over the space of each passing week and how much that that knowledge will potentially aid me in the future. I'm lucky enough to have spent the last 2 years slowly building my sites and developing them as well as working on models of earning money via AdSense to the point where I'm making $25-30/day in recent days but that is a culmination of the past two years. To be completely honest I think that in the last month or so I have developed a model that I feel really puts me in a position of the amount of income I can earn form AdSense is now boundless and I'll be quite surprised if I'm not earning $1XX/day before the year is out, but that is a result of time and learning, success and learning from failures. Not only that but only a month ago I had someone approach me and offer to buy one of my 5 - 6 sites off me for $15,000, I actually turned him down because I believe in the future of that site is more valuable than the price he offered. Not to mention that with the way that Google is trending these days having an established site is truly quite a valuable asset, and I don't think people genuinely appreciate this enough. For every extra dollar you earn in a month makes your site $25 more valuable, so for every extra dollar you earn a day your site is $700 more value. People should be as focused on that as much as anything. So stick with it and actively seek to learn new ways to develop and promote your site - you may not be able to see the returns now but they will be there in the future. So if you are going to get in this game make sure that you aren't playing it to see the returns tomorrow.
Its strange cause in not really new to the web game having a lot of experience in the flash and design game for around 4 years but this is a whole new ball game learning about seo seems so much more complicated. Where as I used to make things look pretty and people would post a link to the site everywhere saying check this out and I'd get a lot of hits but no where in google. Also done beta testing for 3d web software etc, hopefully if I could learn all that my brain will soak all this seo stuff in
Nice thread. I was just surfing the forums this evening because I was feeling depressed about my progress. Jack, I appreciate the kick in the butt, even if it wasn't aimed this way, and I appreciate your drawing a line in the sand and saying what should be achievable. I've recently started hanging out in the SEO threads and it looks like that is exactly where I need to be... because I'm not getting any SERP love from any of the engines at all. So, for the next month I guess I'll be working on the concepts of identifying a niche and simultaneously working on SEO issues. Now, if only I was in a better mood and felt like working on these things right away...
Indeed, the ironical part is when you make the site for money, money comes in "unsatisfactory". But if you find satisfaction in making the website/blog with personalized valuable content, that's when the money flows in. Then with the money that flows in, there's motivation to make good site which ... you know the story
sp, do you focus on just that one site? If you have time you may want to focus on two or three sites.