This is a great thread. Thanks for writing this all down, it's given me some inspiration to try a few new things.
It depends for me. Some sites I keep niche.com and it's satellite sites separate. The only thing tying them together is links, whether it be partner links, related links, or other means (hidden 50x100 transparent images anyone?).Are you branding your sites as a 'network' or something like that or keeping them seperate? Do you plan on promoting your new niches to your existing users?
I'm glad the users of WF liked the post. To me, its all basic knowledge but apparently, to others, its new (or eye opening).
You can easily spend thousands in content writing. However, it isn't required. You can make your own content too.So we aren't talking a couple hundred bucks in content writing, but maybe over $1000 spent on hiring content writes? Also, with the databases, wouldn't that not qualify as unique content? All you are doing is a glorified version of Mad Libs so the search engine will flag this down and probably not rank it as well as unique content, correct?
Sure, you want the keys to my house too? Seriously though, I get as detailed as possible. Often spending over 40 hours writing my projects up, going into specific details. I usually do private listings and invite the programmers I see fit to bid. Therefore, my listings aren't public which allows me to go into details without worrying about someone stealing the idea.Quick question - could you give an example of what you are asking for on rentacoder, etc? (Obviously w/ all references to your niche and unique idea taken out). Are you giving general guidelines or are you getting down to the individual pixle on each page- hand holding them through the process (which I have been doing). I'm not a programmer either, but I even had to hand code in my adsense target/ignore code for them!
I never go into a project with a fixed budget. I drive the bids to my project using the invite system. After they bid, I contact them and proceed to talk them down in price starting at 30% below their bid. They bitch and moan, I bitch and moan back, you know, typical bartering, and usually get them to agree to a price about 15% below their asking. It's all about leverage.Reefer said:Also, how much are you looking to spend on these sites (if you don't mind...) - $x,xxx, or $xx, xxx +? I got a steal on one site, I dont' think they realized the scope of my project and I got them to sign a low $x,xxx contract (no tricks on my end, everything spelled out)- but I am curious as to the average cost for a good content site that isn't as gigantic as a MySpace, etc...
You can easily spend thousands in content writing. However, it isn't required. You can make your own content too.
Databases can be used for whitehat or blackhat SEO. It depends on your usage of the databases. If you used the database as a supplement to your site instead of the full content, you will be fine. If your really smart, you could take the DBs and change the content and make it your own.
First off, Google doesn't care about original content. That is a myth perpetuated by savvy, high earnings white hat webmasters so that they can hog all the rankings to themselves while everyone else struggles to rank with so called 'original content'.
It is considered to be poor forum edicate.
First, I would like to state, this was not a "how to game google" thread. Therefore, it's topic isn't posted with full SEO in mind. That would have made the post twice as long.First off, Google doesn't care about original content. That is a myth perpetuated by savvy, high earnings white hat webmasters so that they can hog all the rankings to themselves while everyone else struggles to rank with so called 'original content'.
Google does care about links and domain age. I have a spam-ish site I made a year ago that ranks well in google and gets thousands of uniques a day. No unique content but tons of hits. I haven't spent much money to promote the site yet it generates plenty of automated revenue for myself. No outsourcing either.
Wow, where did I say put all your content up immediately? Mind quoting that from my text please?Spending lots of money on content writers and an advanced CMS when you launch a site is generally a bad idea. I see a lot of people doing this and it is a waste of resources. Neither is adding 100's-1000's of pages at once to a new site. Google flags this as spam and will suppress the sites rankings. There is no need to spend more than $100 to launch a successful high traffic site.
Also, please quote me from my text above where I said that directory submissions is my only link building strategy? It was merely one suggestion.I am also opposed to directories because they don't give you much pagerank (if any) and they aren't contextually relevant to your site. You are better off with solid trusted links instead of directory links. There is also evidence that google discounts directory links after their recent explosion in popularity in the past 2 or so years.
Fuck off. I did exactly what the forum owner did in his Lightening Round. You'll get to know Jon, I have a feeling he will ban your ass soon.Also, please don't double-triple-or even quadruple post. It is considered to be poor forum edicate. One possible reason why people aren't replying as often as you would like is because the premise of creating content websites has already been exhausted here as well as other webmaster forums. There is nothing really original here.
I thought it was a great post, ScottDaMan. I've been developing Information sites for a while now and love it. I just printed your post and plan on re-reading it a few times to fully understand.
Thanks for writing this post. I really enjoyed it.