One Website or Many?

Should you focus on one website (or niche) or several?

This question has come up for me many times since I started my online writing journey, or more precisely, since I began focusing on my own websites for the foundation of my writing business. Part of my conundrum stems from having more great website ideas than I have time to build, develop and write. I've purchased a couple (okay, maybe a few) dozen domain names and yet the bulk of my income comes from just two of those. 

Oh, I've tried outsourcing, to mixed results. But ultimately, my best websites and articles are ones I've written myself. They tend to be so focused that a hired freelancer without preexisting interest or experience in the topic can't do it justice at the standard freelance rates I've been able to afford.

The problem I've discovered, when you have a large number of domains and thus websites and blogs (assuming you've made the first steps to turn the domains into traffic-generating, revenue-earning assets) is that your attention can become very fragmented, meaning that even your best niches and blogs become somewhat neglected.

In the quest to make every website reach its potential, none actually do. For example, my pets website earns $500-$1,000 a month. It could hypothetically bring in much, much more, but I still haven't gotten it a new and better template, or regularly added new content in recent months. I'm too distracted by other sites that may not be in as great a niche and I've barely touched, yet feel an odd obligation to take care of.

I don't think I'm ready to just delete -- or not renew -- my collection of great-idea domains that are languishing in various stages of completion. But my approach moving forward is to give my most focused attention to the ones that showed themselves early on as true winners. By winners, I agree with fellow WAHM Felicia at No Job for Mom: the website has to both do well AND be something I truly enjoy writing about.

By putting about 80% of my efforts into my two top niches (the pets site and a home/ family niche that is also doing very well, responsible for most of my affiliate sales) I think I can have my cake and not eat it, too (I'm on a post-baby diet.) That is, I can both hold onto all my wonderful ideas and still maximize my earnings by focusing the majority of my time, effort, and resources on the best income-generating ones.

With these two websites alone, I know I can get back to my previous income level of  $5,000 a month.

To keep myself on track, I will:

• Make a detailed work plan at the start of each week, and a checklist for each day to accomplish the week's goals. 
• Schedule my work time, with my family's cooperation.
• Use my prime morning work time (5-7:30 am) for my top niche sites.
• Work on the extra sites when I need a break, or during extra work sessions after my main weekly goals are completed.

 Have you faced the dilemma of how many successful websites you can truly manage? What was your conclusion or solution?

July Residual Income Report

My  July residual income from affiliate sales, Adsense and online writing was higher than June's, thankfully. I took most the month off writing and blogging to prepare for, welcome and enjoy my new baby.

I think that writing for passive income is one of the very best work at home jobs for moms you can find -- there is nothing like checking your accounts on a Monday morning (after spending Sunday hosting a post-baptism reception) and seeing a $250+ commission from a large sale over the weekend. That's the site that greeted me August 1, a great start to a new month.

I'm back at work now, getting up early when I can (baby Mark likes to wake up and eat at all hours, the little stinker, I mean sweetie) and writing during nap/ quiet time. I'm still working to build up my monthly income back to the $5k/ month mark ... as you'll see from the numbers below, I have a ways to go.

July Residual Writing Income:

Adsense    $577.30
cj.com      $338.15
Amazon   $114.73
Demand Studios $107.78
Clickbank $101.32
Wealthy Affiliate $66.50
Niche Blogger $29.94
Squidoo $5.62


Total $1,341.34 

I'll be writing, formatting, linking, backlinking and working on all the other fun tasks that writer-webmasters do throughout August to hopefully increase my numbers.

What are you working on? I love to hear about others' online projects!

Work at Home Jobs for Moms 2: Blogging

 This is the second post in my work at home jobs for moms series. 

How much money can you make from online blogging?

There are thousands -- hundreds of thousands, maybe millions -- of "mom bloggers" who share their thoughts and ideas on their blogs. You're reading one of them right now. While most bloggers blog for personal enjoyment or to share their family news with friends, some do it to earn money. And of those who hope to earn from their blogs, only a small percentage actually succeed at building a significant or even part-time income from their work.

What sets the "earners" apart from the "non-earners"? I think there are a few things that increase your chances of making money from a blog:

1. Niche: The theme or topic of your blog needs to be narrow enough that you have a definite focus, yet broad enough that you always have topics on which to write and a large enough audience who cares about the topic.
2. Strategy: How will you make money from your blog while helping your audience? If every post is an overt effort to sell something or promote a paid review item, readers will lose interest and profits will be sparse. A good blog monetization strategy considers first and foremost what your audience is looking for and what you can do to help them get the information or things they need.
3. Content: Good, original, useful information will draw readers, keep them coming back for more and cause your readers to share your posts through social media online. Dry, stale, redundant posts will have the opposite effect. As a blogger, it's your job to bring fresh, helpful, funny, interesting, or beautiful content to the table whenever you post. 

One of the first things you should do when you start a blog is to write down your plan for each of these three areas. What is your niche? What strategy will you use to earn money in this niche (adwords, paid advertisements, sponsored giveaways, affiliate links)? How will you produce good content for your blog?

To start a blog you need to do a few quick things:

• Buy a domain name (this should be keyword specific, ie buysilveronline, not marksonlinesite).
• Purchase a web hosting plan (I recommend using HostGator web hosting).
• Install a blog platform (with HostGator, you can install a WordPress theme in a few minutes).
• Start writing. 

The best resource I've found for beginner bloggers as well as more seasoned bloggers who want to increase their productivity and earnings is Amy Bass' blogging course. She has a free report on how she went from 0 to $5,000 a month and how to replicate her success. Definitely check it out -- I love that she offers that for free so you can get started without spending a dime .. other than on web hosting, of course.

Once your blog is online, there are four important things you must do to get your blog off to a great start:

1. Create an "About" page. This is such a key part, but often overlooked by bloggers. Let your readers know who who are, why you're blogging, what ties you have to the topic, and what they'll find on your blog. For example, on my About page I introduce myself, include a picture, explain that I'm a work at home mom who is seeing online success and share my goals as well as topics I'll cover on the blog.

2. Use your blog's header to tell what your blog is about. The blog tagline should be descriptive and convey in a few words what your niche is. As you see, mine mentions "tips on maximizing online income while balancing work, home and family." Visitors get an idea right away as to what type on content they'll find on the blog.


3. Include a short bio of yourself on your main page. Mine is on the top of my left-hand sidebar right now, just a headshot and a caption to give readers a sense of whose articles they are reading when they come to my blog.


4. Find related blogs in your niche and network. Start by commenting on these blogs -- look for busy ones with great content -- and link back to your blog. Link to these blogs from some of your posts when something is especially interesting or helpful. Over time, ask if you can guest blog or if the other blog authors would like to exchange links. You can get some great traffic in the beginning by commenting on many other blogs and having readers follow your hyperlink back to your blog.

The answer to my question at the beginning of this post is ... top bloggers earn thousands every month, and even tens of thousands of dollars, just from one blog.Will yours be next?

Work at Home Jobs for Moms Part 1: Re-Selling Stuff

There are many work at home jobs for moms that require little to no overhead, do not involve finding people to sell under you or host selling parties, and can be enjoyable as well as profitable. As a work at home mom who makes in the neighborhood of $3,000 a month primarily from my computer, I have several years' experiences and many ventures from which to draw on in order to share this knowledge with you.

I've earned money selling items on eBay, reselling kids' clothes at consignment sales, grading English papers from home, mystery shopping, forum posting, writing articles for hire, freelance editing, writing content articles, blogging, publishing websites, ebook writing and affiliate marketing. Two things I don't do, and refuse to do, are "paid surveys" and any type of multilevel marketing, whether it's selling makeup or microfiber cloths or kids' educational toys or kitchen gadgets at home parties -- no thanks.

It's very, very hard to build a passive income from multilevel marketing -- the cards are stacked against you. Conversely, it's actually quite possible -- with hard effort and some skills -- to make a significant income from home with a job you will enjoy and hours you choose.

Since I currently earn the bulk of my income through online sources, I'll focus on those methods in the future posts in this series. However, I first want to note several great sources for side income, especially since these can be used to build capital for  funding and growing an online business.

Work at Home Jobs for Moms:  Reselling Used Stuff


You can buy and re-sell kids clothes, home goods, collectibles and the like while working from home. This works best if you have a good sorting and storage area, such as garage or basement space, that you can use just for this purpose. as you'd assume, the key is to buy things very cheaply and to resell them for more.

eBay Selling
Don't dismiss eBay auction selling as impossible, overcrowded or not worth the time. If you find good items to resell, you can make money -- possibly even lots of money-- every week through online auctions. When I was first a stay at home mom, I built up a small eBay business and earned a few hundred dollars on the site every month, sometimes more. I simply bought things for a little and sold them for more. For example, I found a new Calvin Klein duvet at a thrift store for $5 and resold it for $60. A lamp I paid $2 for sold for $20 plus shipping, and there were many items like this where I was able to turn a  few dollars into more. Some work at home moms make a full time income selling on eBay, and most got their start finding used things to re-sell.

Good sources for items to resell include yard sales, consignment stores, Craigslist, giveaway bags from friends and family, clothing salvage stores such as Gabriel Brothers and Rugged Warehouse, discount places like Ollie's and Big Lots, and your own attic and basement.

A friend and fellow blogger, Suzanne, has tons of advice, information and free resources on making money from home with eBay at her eBay Selling Coach blog. If you have an eye for things that would sell well, or would like to develop one, check it out. Suzanne discusses ebay niches, eBay success stories -- like a thrift store find of vintage sewing patterns for 76 cents that sold for $75 on eBay -- and she is all around the best eBay blogger I've ever read.

Kids' Seasonal Consignment Sales
I sell used children's clothing, toys and furniture at semi-annual sales held in my area and make about $200-$500 per season for what amounts to a few hours' work sorting, cleaning, tagging, and  delivering my items. The money lets me splurge on new things for my kids and have extra money to spend on their birthday and Christmas gifts. If you get serious about it, you can earn thousands of dollars per sale (assuming you're selling at a sizable sale in a good area).

ConsignmentMommies is a great website and offers some key advice on top-selling kids' items and how to maximize your consignment profits. When you can source items very cheaply and resell them for great used-item prices, you'll do well. They have an extensive listing of consignment sales by state, too.
(By the way, if you are looking for affordable kids' clothing and don't have local consignments sales, you can also swap kids' clothes online for free at Thred-Up.)

 Consignment Stores
Despite the recessionary economy of the past year, or perhaps in part because of it, one of the new businesses that opened up in my hometown was a consignment store in the town's main shopping center. They accept everything from home goods to furniture to ladies' clothing to kids' toys. While the store/ consignor split isn't the best (they keep 60% of the sale price) it is an easy way to make extra money, using the same sources listed above for re-selling on eBay. for me, the consignment store is the least favorable selling option and used mainly for heavy items, home goods that wouldn't do well on eBay, and kids' clothes only in between the seasonal sales.

There are many work at home jobs for moms, and I'll discuss more -- especially online ones -- in future posts. My favorite ways to earn money form my computer involve residual income and being paid over and over for the same work. But as you can see, reselling things can be a great way to get started earning money from home. 


Have you made money selling on eBay or via consignment? What's your best re-selling success story?