In total, I make roughly $9,000/m (but that is before taxes, which is important to remember). I say roughly because some have Adsense that fluctuates and sales do as well. But this is not one website, it’s a portfolio of sites. I own three sites with 2 in production. (I won’t tell you the niches because I do a lot of research to find profitable niches). It breaks down like this: Site A: $2000/m, Site B: $4,000/m, and Site C: $3,000/m. And my sites are many years old, the organic traffic is high, so the page views are in the high tens of thousands after that time and effort. Newer sites take time and work to rank and get page views. It all comes down to the value you provide people for free (more on this in a moment).
Sometimes like in the summer, some niche revenue is higher but lower in the winter. Others remain roughly the same, it depends on the niche. Adsense on each site is about $200-$300. The rest is product sales that I own. One site I private label the products.
So I create, hold for income, and sell consistently. I currently have an LOI for one of my sites for $67k. To find a price when I sell, I take net annual revenue and multiply it by 2-3. I don’t always get the asking though. Also, many times people will take the last 3-6 months of revenue and find the average to get to the annual revenue. So it’s the most recent data. And when I sell, it’s because I’m tired of the niche or I have another online project in mind and use some of that income to pay for the new one. I rarely look to hold a site forever, because things change so much online. And I have more ideas I want to work on. I built my life around automated niche websites that provide a lot of value for free, and on businesses I truly love working on. That’s important, start a business you are passionate about and can write about daily.
So I’m always creating, earning, or selling. I avoid sites where I don’t create and own the products myself. And I avoid affiliate businesses because I wouldn’t own the products, and I avoid Adsense only sites because they aren’t as stable and I don’t have as much control, and they aren’t scalable in my opinion.
But remember, this has taken me many years to come up with a blueprint that words. My very first online business didn’t make a sale for 8 month. My most recent made sales in the first month. So once you start, you learn and improve.
And I would disagree about setting up a site just to make money. That’s what I do, I’m an entrepreneur. I do it full time. I don’t have the luxury of a steady 2 week paycheck (nor would I want one).
If you are in business online to make money, then you should build a business with revenue in mind. I think what others might mean is don’t cut corners, no black hat SEO, and I can tell you, the only way to earn money online from your own business is to create the highest quality content possible and give it away for free. And do it often. I create a piece of content I could sell weekly. But I don’t, I give it away so people get a feel for the value of my products, and they trust me when I launch a new product.
Content will always be king. So if you provide a ton of value on your site through a blog or through free giveaways, that will be a critical piece of your success. Start every day thinking about how you can help and contribute to people life’s. Make them better. Solve a problem they have.
Here’s some free advice: Do some keyword research and find profitable words with good search volume and low competition in a niche you are passionate about. Have them in a spreadsheet. Then create outstanding content with true value for each word, and post that on your blog or on a separate page on your site. So each keyword has specific content pieces related to it, and it’s contained on it’s own in a post or on the page. The more you help people with their problems for free, the more they will share your content, the bigger your list will get, and your conversion rate will increase.
And DON’T create spammy links to your site. Don’t take shortcuts. Don’t buy into they hype new products. Most don’t work or by the time you get them, they’ve been used by everyone. When you link build and share on social media, provide value in your post or comment. Don’t always have a sale pitch behind everything. Create something people will be able to use to help themselves or improve their life. Just like I did for you here. I gave it thought, wanted to answer your question AND provide some value if you are just starting out. No sales pitch required.
Chad
Content is Key
