Going Forward and Building a Real Business

For the past few weeks I have been really examining my business and looking at what the best way to grow it is. There are some people who think they can grow their online business my making hundreds of niche sites with each site making them a few dollars every day. This may work for some people, but this is what I am getting away from in my business.

I don’t have a lot of websites compared to some other people but I do have way too many for me to handle. I also have some that are thin affiliates sites and even some that I would constitute spammy. I’m getting rid of these sites and I want to build a real business with my few authority sites.

For a while now I have been contemplating simply building authority sites that I can be proud of, but with the recent events (such as the deindexing of BMR) and going through Lisa Parmley’s Authority Site Model course I have decided that the only sites I am going to have are authority sites that I enjoy writing about and want to build a business around.

I am deleting my sites that are spammy. I am deleting the thin affiliate sites that I haven’t even got around to working on. I am not renewing the EMD (exact match domains) that I haven’t gotten around to building yet.  Some people may wonder why I don’t just leave the sites instead of deleting them, but truthfully I don’t want the hassle of having to update them all the time and them potentially getting hacked and possibly affecting my authority sites.

I am still working on narrowing down my sites and coming up with game plans for all of them, but I plan on having less than 10 websites (plus I am keeping 5 or so Halloween sites). For right now though I am only going to be building 3-4 at most and will just hold on to the other ones for the years to come.

I’m In This for the Long Haul

I want to build sites that I can be proud to attach my name to. I want to build sites in niches were I actually enjoy writing the articles and interacting with other bloggers and webmasters. I want to be able to confidently approach other sites in my niche to make guest posts instead of depending on getting  backlinks from paid networks because I know other sites won’t want to link to my site because it just doesn’t look real.

Most of my sites are not that bad and I only have a few spammy and think sites, but I also want to go through the better sites and decide which ones I actually want to pursue in building. I know for sure that one of the sites that I will be keeping is my case study site.

I will still be targeting keywords for my sites and using SEO tactics, but I am also going to be incorporating more networking with other bloggers. I’m going to be building larger, authority sites that cover broad niches so I am sure I will have tons of sites that I can network with.

Why Now?

There are actually several reasons why I am changing my business up a little bit.

*I don’t want to be completely reliant on Google. I plan on building mailing lists and having connections with other people in my niches to help pad any blow Google may send my way.

*Backlinking networks like BMR are being targeted by the Big G and I don’t want to use them anymore.

*I want to enjoy working and be proud of the things I am putting on the web.

*Building an authority site is a long term plan for me. These sites may not make me thousands now but in a few years I know one of these sites can really take off and bring in the kind of money I am aiming for.

*I have been doing Internet marketing for 2.5 years now and I need to do something different to really build my income.

*I want to be able to spend more time with my kids and fewer sites and more focus means more time for my family.

*I really think this direction will help with my motivation funks that I get into.

*Lastly, I have been doing a lot of analyzing of some of my favorite sites (not related to IM) and believe that you can make money in a niche you are passionate about if you treat it like a real business. That means putting out quality content, helping others, networking, and being proud of the work you are doing.

If you want to learn more about the type of sites I am going to build, check out Lisa Parmley’s Authority Site Model. Although my sites may not exactly be like her course recommends, it is the best course that I have seen on building sites for a real business that will stand long term and won’t have you getting panic attacks every morning wondering if your site has been penalized or if you lost your affiliate account.

And for anyone wondering, yes, Passive Income Goals will be staying put!