The Worst Performing Site I Ever Built
I speak to a lot of new people, I don’t mean babies by the way, I mean people who are new online. Some of them just want to make some extra pocket money but far to many actually NEED to make some money.
We are in a recession/depression/deep crap (depending on which TV station you watch) and far too many people really need to make some cash to pay the bills.
Let me tell you about the worst performing site I ever built, I know most people tell you about the stuff that makes them money but I want to be a bit different and tell you about a flop so you don’t repeat it.
The niche was great, there was plenty of money being spent on ads for adsense, there was a product or two on Amazon that I could sell and yet the site made me $0
Why did it fail?
One simple reason
I never built it..
- I found a domain name, but didn’t buy it there and then.
- I thought that the niche was competitive, so surely little old me couldn’t really get anywhere in it.
- I went to a forum and asked “what do you think?”
- I thought about it overnight
These four things are the kiss of death!
One of the few things I can guarantee online is that if you don’t build a site it will NEVER earn you any money. I produce products and while I want a higher CTR, I am happy that I am selling. If I wait till I have the sales letter perfect it will never get done.
I see it all too often, “I was going to build a site but…”
If you don’t build it you will never know how it will perform.
The great enemies of newbies (and not so newbies)
- Procrastination -find a niche-buy the domain-build it. Don’t spend hours or days trying to decide.
- Over Analyze – Don’t spend days collecting the same info from different places just to try and prove to yourself a niche is a good/bad idea
- Over reach – You need to walk before you run, your first site is not going to make a million. Aim for some adsense income to start with and expand from there.
- Continual Education-Don’t try and learn everything there is to know in the first week. Learn what you need to know then take action
- Forums – Some (not all) forums are like pits of despair, there is always some trog who will kick you when you are down. Find a good one and go there to learn, but ignore any trogs.
I am sure there are more things I could list but these are the ones that come to mind.
I hope my first Friday Thought post helps some of you see that you can make it if you use your time well. I am no smarter than 99% of you and I have no magic skills, If I can do it so can you.
Do or Do Not There Is No Try (name that film)
Good post. This is a tricky business and it’s hard to make your first dollar. I’ve found as a newbie I either over analyze or lose focus. Just have to stay focused and move forward.
I am just writing a post on focus for next Friday..lol
Moving forward even in small steps is perfect, pretty soon all those small steps add up and you have suddenly got a winner on your hands.
Hi Paul
been there – done that: guilty on all 5 counts, especially # 2 & # 4
thanks for reminding me
Nadine
Hey Paul your post hit home. I always over analyze and then find a reason why my niche won’t succeed. Also wanted to say thanks for all the wonderful tools I have been buying from you. I have peters themes and the link index plugin and and cb easy ads. You guys make some good stuff. In case you don’t recognize me I am in wordpress goldmine with you. Have a good day appreciate everything. Ron
Hi Ron
Always nice to hear from people who buy all my stuff!
It is easier to convince yourself why it will fail than why it will succeed, I have dropped some right clankers in my time but they are overshadowed by the ones that take off.
If I never tried I would never have any failures..or success
Your post really makes sense to me. I love learning from other peoples mistakes! Thanks for the great information.
How true, Paul!
Especially – “Continual Education-Don’t try and learn everything there is to know in the first week. Learn what you need to know then take action.”… Info overload is a killer!
I’ll admit that I still suffer from a few of the 4 points you highlight in your post, but far less frequently!
I can’t remember where I read it – “Successful people have the habit of doing the things most other people won’t”. – I make every effort to follow that thought.
jonel.
Great posting! Everybody is striving to be on top, that is needed by new baby…
Need to be patient, of course!!
Great point about taking action. As Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” Such is true about blogs you never build. The key is take the idea/inspiration and take daily action, no matter how small, towards your goal. Oh, and the move…Star Wars: Episode V.
How apt your words are Paul…
I have a whole string of poorly performing sites that were built without spending a lot of time on procrastination, analyzing and forum debate.
But I also have a whole load of profitable sites built the same way
Don’t think too hard about it, for a few dollars you can have a site up and working, and then is the time to analyze and fine tune it…
Even the sites that perform poorly make enough to cover the cost of the domain name and over time many of these sites end up, surprisingly, starting to make enough sales that it is worth revisiting them to fine tune and tweak so that they perform better.
My WORST clunker was one that I spent days on research, talked it over with others, tweaked and retweaked the site copy, I really thought that this was the one…. result? ONE sale of less than $12 in a complete year!
I’ll stick with the “think of a topic and build it! approach.
Cheers Paul
Regards
Phil
p.s. “Star Wars V, The Empire Strikes Back”
Excellent information. Get started, build your first site, (don’t be afraid of how it will look, you can tweak it as you learn), then advertise and build backlinks to gain traffic.
Ditto for me too Paul! My big reason for not building ‘that site” is when i look at competitors websites when gauging the competition. If they look too sharp or too good then sometimes I crawl away! Often then I go back to my own sites that look sharp and look good and wonder why I thought I could not compete
Hi Paul,
What you say is a rule I try to live by, (DO IT NOW), and the older I get the more important I find it is to follow this rule. If you have never failed you have never tried! Thanks for the email.
The Empire Strikes Back (YODA) Do Or Do Not, There Is No Try! What do I win? lol
lol…that was an easy one obviously..
Nice Article, thanks for the tips. The “The great enemies of newbie” are true Thanks
Great advice, thanks for the wake up. My biggest vice is procrastination.