1 Month on - So how's it all going?

[Aitch]

Okay guys here's a progress report as promised regarding my AIS sites. Well actually, they're not really AIS as they'll always need a bit of maintenance and updating even when they've lots of popular pages and traffic. But obviously they will need less updating and optimising over time, that’s for sure

Anyway, it has been, and continues to be, a bit of a hard slog but we're getting there eventually.

I started off with the usual confusion and getting stuck on the details etc, but I kept plodding on regardless (this is important!). I’m one of these people that find by writing something down helps a lot, and that often means rewriting someone else’s instructions into my own baby language.

I’ve done nothing new here and have simply followed suggestions to the best of my ability. I’ve been a member of Article Underground about a month now and have 10 tailor made home pages online. Below, is a simple breakdown of what I did in what order and the status of things at the time of writing:

DOMAINS AND HOSTING

1. It was suggested to get some domain names right away. It was advised to use dot com’s and without dashes wherever possible. I managed to secure 10 dot com domains (none are too long) and without the dashes.

2. I then pointed all 10 of these domain names to different hosting companies. So that’s 10 domains across 10 different hosts. I’m quite interested in building a mini net which is why I have diversified my accounts.

3. I uploaded all sites using FlashFXP and waited for them to get propagated (bit of a hassle with some it has to be said!). Propagation took around 24 hours or less with most, but over a week with a couple. Anyway, I eventually got all 10 dot com domains live.

THE HOME PAGES

Although it was suggested not to do to much to the home pages until they are indexed, I had nothing else to do while waiting and needed the practice, so got stuck in right away.

* I knocked up 10 unique and quite different looking home pages for all 10 domains using Dreamweaver. I now had real looking websites (well, home pages anyway) which all included Google AdSense slots, image headers, side bars, footers, and other useful areas for content manipulation were included in the designs.

* Articles were then added to the pages and most were altered, whereas a few were completely rewritten. Additional keywords and phrases were worked into the pages as suggested using external links to articles, disclaimers, newsy bits etc. I used available keyword lists and a tool called Keyword Explosion as resources for these additional keywords and phrases.

* I also made sure the sites looked good in both IE and Firefox browsers as I went along, and kept both browsers open while creating these pages.

* Once happy with the design and layout, a link exchange was done for each site with Smarty Links and Link Pimps.

* I then ran each Home Page through the Keyword Density Analyser Tool to check that I had enough density (at least 1%) and not too much density (over 3%) on my major keywords and phrases. Although many folk don’t rage about the Meta Tags, I decided to include them with the pages anyway. Using the Keyword Density Analyser Tool I made sure my 3 Meta Tags (Title / Description / Keyword) showed as either Very Good or excellent (usually excellent now that I’ve got the hang of it) For the sake of simplicity I used an online Meta-Tags Generator for this.

* Once I'm happy with my page design, layout, and optimisation, I then post and promote all home page articles to the Article Underground Blog Network in as many related categories across as many blogs as possible. For each blog I post to, I always make sure the headers read differently and that the body text is extracted from different parts of the articles to avoid duplication.

UPDATE

Well, at the time of writing, I have 5 out of the 10 sites indexed by Google. Funny thing is, my oldest site is still not indexed and one of the last sites to get back links is! The 5 that are indexed had their second article pages added a couple of days ago using the same procedure as above, but without having to completely redesign the web page and there’s no link exchange done with Smarty or Link Pimps.

SO WHAT’S NEXT?

I am going to completely rewrite some selected articles and submit them to the Ezine Articles including link-backs to the sites I want the articles to point to.

Obviously, I’ll continue to add content pages to the indexed sites and once I get into the swing of things, maybe I’ll even add a few more websites to my little web empire, but I want to see if it’s all going to work out first.

I will also be looking more into getting back links and shall have a read of the Link Vault system, although it does seem a little complicated as even a couple of techies seem to find it awkward. There are also additional announcement blogs to post to.

COST SO FAR

Recurring

Article Underground $97 /Mo.
10 hosting accounts: $37 /Mo.

Total = $134 /Mo.

One-off Costs

10 Domains $66.32 (Average cost = $6.63 per Domain)
FlashFXP $25
Extra 400 Articles $39.95
Keyword Explosion: $231.48 (inc tax)

Total = $362.75

GOALS:

I look forward to steady progression now and hope to be reporting great things along the way. Article Underground seems to offer the best support and prospects for the type of marketing I’m personally interested in, but only time will truly tell how it's all going to pan out.

I hope this post may have been of some use to the newcomers out there.

That’s it for this now. All the best.

Aitch

[Tylor]

hey great forum here

aitch very interesting post but domains are not one off costs they are usually being purchased per year or two never indefinitely at least as far as i know

so if you purchased them for one year just divide the cost by 12 and add it to the monthly cost

why did you buy flashfxp why not use free soft

by the way how many months so far and how much did you spend

good luck to all

tylor

[Tylor]

oh yes and what is your projection for revenues

i mean in how many months from now you expect to break even and what profit you expect say a year from breaking even

sorry to ask so many questions i find this very interesting topic

tylor

[Aitch]

Hi Tylor.

Domains are not one off costs they are usually being purchased per year or two never indefinitely at least as far as I know

Ha ha! Lol! But you're quite right, usually they are. I've purchased them as a one-offs because at this moment in time I cannot predict whether I’ll be renewing them or not. It all depends on the success of the site in question, so for now, as far as I’m concerned, I’ve bought them as a one-off and will review their renewal nearer the time.

Why did you buy FlashFXP why not use free software?

Because it's cheap at $25 and comes highly recommended by some techies I know. Yes there are cheap and free options available, but I’m a firm believe in getting what you pay for in the long run, plus it's mine. I could have used DW or a various FTP SW that comes with the different hosting, but I like uniformity and ease in what I do. I'm sure a lot of folk go for other options but at $25 I have no complaints and I know it’s a good product.

By the way how many months so far and how much did you spend.Â* Oh yes and what is your projection for revenues

This new project is just over 1 month old and the costs are above. As far as projection for revenues are concerned, I’ll let the forum know at the next update as I’m still piecing stuff together.

Cheers

Aitch

[Tylor]

Originally posted by Aitch@Apr 21 2006, 12:53 AM
This new project is just over 1 month old and the costs are above.Â* As far as projection for revenues are concerned, I’ll let the forum know at the next update as I’m still piecing stuff together.

and what are the revenues so far if it is ok to ask?

[Aitch]

Originally posted by Tylor@Apr 25 2006, 11:46 AM
and what are the revenues so far if it is ok to ask?

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$0.00 Tylor. If I was raking it in after only a month I’d be onto a right winner.

Websites are like good wines. They need to age before they're any good. This project of mine will gain momentum as time goes by, of that I’m certain.

Actually, the above figure of $0.00 is not quite true. I've noticed that 4 out of the 10 sites have started to get a couple of paid clicks here and there already which has brought in a few dollars but nothing to party about.

The traffic is coming mainly from MSN and a couple from Yahoo. Nothing from Google yet but that's to be expected.

I'm very happy with a few clicks in such as small space of time. It can only get better.

Cheers

Aitch

[Tylor]

Originally posted by Aitch@Apr 25 2006, 10:43 PM
Websites are like good wines. They need to age before they're any good. This project of mine will gain momentum as time goes by, of that I’m certain.

yes but if you have monthly expenses those need to be covered at some point

Actually, the above figure of $0.00 is not quite true. I've noticed that 4 out of the 10 sites have started to get a couple of paid clicks here and there

thats what im talking about man if you get at least a few bucks a month thats a good start good luck and keep us posted

[burty]

Originally posted by Aitch@Apr 25 2006, 12:43 PM
If I was raking it in after only a month I’d be onto a right winner.

Websites are like good wines.Â* They need to age before they're any good.Â*

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Hint for anyone interested in such sites: Set up AIS sites that sell digital products you own the rights to (by this I mean products you've created or hd created for you). This way. it's easy to make $5k within a month.

[Blaine Moore]

Originally posted by burty@Apr 25 2006, 12:50 PM
Hint for anyone interested in such sites:Â* Set up AIS sites that sell digital products you own the rights to (by this I mean products you've created or hd created for you).Â* This way. it's easy to make $5k within a month.

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That's the model that I am going to be following.

[Tylor]

Originally posted by burty@Apr 26 2006, 02:50 AM
Hint for anyone interested in such sites:Â* Set up AIS sites that sell digital products you own the rights to (by this I mean products you've created or hd created for you).Â* This way. it's easy to make $5k within a month.

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$5K within a month? is that 5,000 usd in the first month??? is this for real?