If I was starting from scratch today, I would spend nothing. I really believe that everyone should start with a free Blogger blog and learn what works/ doesn't work first. Then, if you are successful, start spending some bucks on a domain, hosts, etc. Then again, I sure had fun learning the way I did.
Well said, No one is going to hold our hand in making $**** at least. I know a guy who is trying to do something good for novice bloggers. jimkarter.com/2008-03-10-case-study-making-money-long-term.html
Yeah, I enjoy reading him too. Whether he is trying to do anyone any good or not, I don't know. I haven't read anyone that really wants to help. I mean REALLY help. Here is a great example: http://hustlersblog.com/. He talks about making good money with adsense all of a sudden. But he will answer NO real questions, and he only gives enough info to keep you reading. A friend here told me something like this about some black hat methods, "The guys that have the real knowledge will not sell it for $100,000. They are banking on it. After they have made every penny out of it, they will start selling e-books on their system to all the suckers." Why do people read Shoe, John. or other $$ maker blogs? Because they talk about how much money that are making. Many (99% +) of us will never make 1% of what they are making online, but we want to so badly. We cling to their words thinking that they will tell us how, but they don't. And they won't. And I don't blame them.
I think worth it.. Maybe a few month later you can increase your earning because of your experience "First $100"!.. And I just sign up with this forum only to reply to your thread. LoL
LOL, I loved this post. It's funny how many of us take this stuff so seriously, (Too Seriously), and really liked the fact that you had fun with it instead. Thanks for posting this was a good read!
100$ in 2 months is really good for beginner, I really mean it!! How did you managed to get 8 000 backlinks in such short time, that's impossible! ( it isn't but...) I stopped reading Shoe and John half a year ago, it's totally useless. Even, Problogger, he's repeating himself now. If you continue to build that many small sites in different niches you won't succeed. It leads nowhere... Really, start SLOWLY building one site, from the start make sure it's search engine optimized, good design, nice navigation, quality content and network with other people in your niche - believe me, it's essential! At least, that's how I'm doing. You need to be expert in your niche. TechCrunch is popular because they are really good in what about they are writing, not because they love it, or interested about it - like you say. For example, look at Problogger - he writes about Digital Cameras. He maybe won't tell you everything about his success, but try to look at his sites and analyze it - how he monetize it, how good are his sites, how old, SEO rankings, visitors.. everything! Then do the same with JohnChows and Shoe's sites, that's how you will learn. http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/ ( + forum) http://www.livingroom.org.au/photolog/ http://www.livingroom.org.au/cameraphone/ You see, close niches - be an expert in your niche. No one want to read from newbie.
I paid my blog hosting for two years $160 and paid some others $40 total $200. Started amazon associate first and made $96. Adsense ten days ago made $23. My traffic is ca 300 visitors a day, half of them from google search with a visiting time of 2 min.
It really has been a blast. Probably the most fun I have had in a long time. Somebody signed up for DP to reply here? Cool! I remember why I first signed up here. It was to bug people. lol Yes, making one super/ very good site is smart. For me though, it was a process. Each site taught me more, and I was having fun trying it. I already have my next two sites figured out. I got 8k backlinks in a few weeks by leaving A LOT of comments in blogs.
i have been blogging for 3 months now and im only earning $66. the lucky thing is i still have my job and the other beauty is i update my blog when im at work. lastly i dont pay for any single cents so at least my loss margin is not so bad afterall. just need to spend so many freaking time online
I really appreciate your cost analysis. What is exciting is, that in the months ahead, your initial investment in time and money will continue to pay dividends. That first page and that first site you created will get visitors for as long as the content is relevant to the world.
Personally, I think your "kids are expensive" site has the most potential. Keep in mind that if you have only been doing this for 2 months, none of your sites have gotten out of the Google sandbox yet. In another 1 to 2 months your earnings should increase quite dramatically as each of your sites leaves the sandbox. (Except for the dui one, I expect that won't get out for 9 months or more). $100 for your first two months is quite good.
That was the first site I made after I got Dreamweaver. Probably closer to 3+ months ago. I didn't start adsense until about 2 months ago, but I decided to make a site about 4 months ago. I thought the Kids one would run too. It didn't. Now I know why. It has so many seo/ content flaws. I need to go back and fix that one from the ground up. The Cajun site has been the winner so far. It gets 100-200 uniques per day from G. I need to redo it with a better theme and really focus on it. It could easily get 5k per day from G with the right attention. I wish I was in the 1%. Thanks for the congrats all. It does feel good to finally break $100.
Hahaha, why don't you see how many hours you've wasted sleeping too! That must be millions of dollars Dude you know it's worth it.
Expenses are a must, like dreamweaver (you will buy it sooner or later), hosting, domains and so on. But 240 hours was way too much amount for that money. But it's a start I think.