Originally posted by bidawinner RealNames is in a position MOST webmasters are..they simply do not have the traffic because ..
A: the TRUE type-in domains that could generate 5,000 hits a day are long gon.
B: Most(I lead that category) dont have the time ,energy or talents to generate a content rich site that would generate that much traffic from links or word of mouth..and Pay for posiition is not cost effictive for PPC programs(usually..there are exceptions)
I was in the similiar position a few years ago and realized trying to get there at 1/4 penny a click just wasnt going to cut it..and started concentrating on actually selling PRODUCT..a few dollars per sale and you can actually see progress when you are only getting 20 hits a day.
20 hits a day and you can be making $40 or more per web site per month..
That is the path I took .. alot of small web sites .nothing complicated..you dont need a lot of talent..just the ability to build a basic web site X 10 X 20 X 100 or more .. the most inexpensive hosting you can find and thats really it..
I sell Posters but the product dosent matter.. I stay away from high ticket items because peple are still hesitant about sending large sums over the internet..(which is rather amusing actually..if you are sending $20 for a poster or $200 for a watch dosent matter...they arent grabbing that money..they would be grabbing the CC #'s)
It is really simply about finding a product that you want sell, that there is a demand for , that you can get good keyword domains for cheap and of course that their are high commissions on sales.
But most imporatant IMO.is a product that has a wide range of possible keyword possibilites..
snoopy's idscellular.com may be an excellent program but just imagine trying to compete for position in the SE's over basically a few keywords for "cell phones"..
Think about that for a second.. lets say conservatively you have 1000 small time (and some big boys) all competing for position for cell phones..what page do you think you can get on ? 5th 20th ..well you already know that unless you are on page 1 possibly page 2 ..you simply wont get any traffic...can you break "cell phones" down and still get targeted traffic?
With my posters sales for example..
If all I did was try and sell "Posters" I'd be up the creek without a paddle as they say..
there are literally thousands of webmasters competing for "Posters" (position on the se's) remember thats what this discussion is all about..you DONT have a domain that gets 5000 hits a day..your only real choice is SE placement..meaning no further down than page 2..
Ok, so maybe I dont place well for "posters" (yet, anyways)
thats fine because I can break that product line down to specific targets within the overall market..
Baseball Posters
Golf Posters
Basketball Posters
Vintage Posters
Music Posters
Movie Posters
Hockey Posters
Shaq Posters
Iverson Posters (Ummmm wanted posters ! lol)
Wanted Posters
Greenbay Packers Posters
Britney Spears posters etc....
I can and do place well in most of these.
You dont need 5000 hits ..you need 20 TARGETED hits..
You say ..hey thats fine and all but you cant afford 20 hosting plans..sure you can.I never pay more than $2 a month for hosting(in fact I use Free hosting on about 1/3 of my sites) .. EVERY one of my sites is profitable..
So my advise to realnames (he has heard this before) or anyone in a similiar position ... concentrate on products that can be broken up into smaller units--err specif targets that you dont necessairly need thousands of hits.. still do very well ..
Product line examples..
Watches
mens watches
womens watches
kids watches
pocket watches
sport watches
Rolex Watches
Swiss Watches etc..
I prefer to make each line it's own web site..
but you can simply start by adding pages
I have had excellent results using sub-domains also.
like for example..(not spamming..no one here cares about buying posters from me ..just to show what you can do with small amounts of traffic)
nascar.posters-posters.com/
wrestlingposters.posters-posters.com
spiderman.posters-posters.com
safesys said "Nobody said getting traffic was easy, as with anything in domains - you get revenue for the work you put in."
I agree a thousand percent..you have to really put forth the effort or you're simply just spinning your wheels..Type-in traffic simply makes the job easier..thats all.. BID
A superb post on this subject Bid, thanks for all your knowledge and feedback. I agree about even 20 TARGETED hits/day may be profitable selling a product, not affiliate or PPC programs.
In fact, I have some sites with only 5 to 10 uniques a day I think could make profits with items for sale. My main problem is finding products/services to offer.
Can you imagine the potential if you have say 500 small developed sites averaging 20/hits day and generating say $40-month per site? That's $20,000 month revenue. 1,000 small developed sites could generate almost half-million dollars/year!
The cost of running the sites can be relatively minor if you do your own webpage development and webhosting. For example, my hosting cost right now is less than $1-mo per site and will drop even more as I put more sites online as my monthly cost is a flat fee.
Again, the problem is having targeted profits/services to sell to the targeted visitors. Anyone here got any ideas on that? It's neccessary to have keyword rich domains to help search engine returns and also get some type-ins too. Even a low traffic site with 20 well targeted hits a day may have as much impact and revenue potential as thousands of non-targeted hits.
P.S. To Bid, if you recall you OK'd my reprinting of some of your great posts on Afternic (with credit to you). They shut down the forums before I could do so. Would it be OK if I did that on this post too?