I haven’t really been working on anything new lately. I’ve been letting a lot of domain names go - if I’ve not worked on them in a year… they’re gone. I just don’t think there is enough time in the day currently to build and build and build - and then not put in enough time developing the SEO part of it to see these sites achieve some traffic and momentum to make me a couple of dollars. No matter if the domains are a couple years old. I can’t hang on to them.
It’s just feeling like a money pit.
I’ve been working on my fan site on and off and I’ve just realized that I’m not completely in the sandbox. I’ve been bouncing all over the place with the numbers this past week - and for the past couple of days *knock on wood* my numbers have steadily increased in both keyword positions and traffic to the site. Almost 100 visits for the past 2 days. Not bad for being just shy of a month old. So I’m not sure I ever hit the sandbox… but damn that was depressing! I love the site, and even though I did mention a while back that I might eventually sell it… at this point, I’m leaving things the way they are. I’ve been tweaking the index page to make it a bit more interactive and interesting… I’ve got a ways to go - but it’s getting there.
I now have to kick it up a knotch with my music site. Project #2 on the list of things I need to do. 
It’s making me money at the moment - I’ve gone such a long time where it was so hard to monetize. I’m still not sure how to do it… but I’ve lucked out so far with Text Link Ads - they’ve been an awesome revenue generator for me. For June I’m going to be making over $100 with them for the first time WHOOO HOOO! So I’m thinking I need to start pushing more content through my music site… and keep people interested in advertising there.
I’m still thinking of what to do next - do I buy an existing site… develop a domain that I’ve had floating around for a while… do I start a brand spanking new site? Oohhhh the possibilities. (Also just how much work do I want to put into my next project… LOL.)
Keep you posted!
Popularity: 8% [?]
June 4th, 2007 at 10:12 am
that’s awesome you are over $100 per month with tla
how are paid posts treating you?
June 4th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Well, the paid posts are random. At Best. I’m not sure if it’s the type of site I’ve got - but I’ve signed up for 7 reviews at Sponsored Review, and so far only one has taken me up on the offer. Waiting on the rest. As far as ReviewMe has gone… it hasn’t. I did a couple, turned down one and now I’ve had nada for a couple of months. Which makes me think I’ve got to kick it up a knotch to entice reviews here. I think there are more blogs picking up on the reviews - giving advertisers more choice and leaving some of us in the dust.
Of course we could do more like John Chow and promote, promote and promote. Which I think you’re doing a good job of on your site. Get it out there that you’re more than willing to do reviews. Maybe more will bite?
Just signed up at Smorty.com as well - you found it - and I’m going to try it out and see if I can get more people to bite. If I find others out there - I’ll send them your way. The more review sites the better, for results I should think.
June 4th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Glad to hear the fan site’s picked up traffic again
And congrats on the TLA $100 mark 
June 4th, 2007 at 11:37 am
cool, I can’t figure out the paid posts thing yet, but some person named opal commented on my blog they are making $400 per month which sounds good to me
June 4th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Adam - thanks!
Mark - I’d be curious to check out how she does it. Is it the site’s content? It would be very nice to have that sort of money coming in for doing reviews.
June 4th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
So how’s Text Link Ads comparing to LinkWorth for you?
June 4th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Sapphire - I can tell you that LinkWorth was making more for me than Text Link Ads until this month - now they’re pretty comparable. It took Linkworth some time before it started to work on this site, but when it did, it took off.
Since using both - Linkworth brought in a bit more. This month Text Link ads has pulled ahead slightly.
How are you finding things?
June 5th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
My TLA is going down while my LW is staying steady. Currently, TLA is still way ahead, as some of my TLA sites aren’t selling anything with LW.
But when LW sells my links, it’s for a good bit more than TLA charges, and that has the appeal of less outbounds for the same money.
I’m also testing that WP plugin that lets you sell them yourself. It’ll probably be a while before I sell any on that one, though.
June 5th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Sapphire - you’ll have to keep me posted on the WP plugin, is that with TLA or LW? I’ve just signed up to offer articles through LW on this site. I’m curious to see if anyone takes a nibble for it - I’ve got it listed at $45 a review… wouldn’t be bad for something suplimental to the whole links part they offer.
From what I looked at - they’ve got quite a few different options to try out with LW. Have you tried any of their new products?