How I Ended Up Here…Blogs, PPC & Stability
My entry into online endeavors started when I decided to try my hand a selling pet supplies through eBay. There is a local manufacturer that produced very high quality collars, harnesses, leashes, etc., along with wholesaling some other assorted supplies. I knew some folks that worked there, they hooked me up with an account and away I went!
The eBay thing was working, but I thought I could do more, so I started a website and sold supplies through it. That worked too, but I realized pretty quick that I wasn’t making enough money to quit my real JOB, and I was working a heck of a lot more! After about a year and a half, I decided I had all I wanted.
I had developed a pretty good reputation through my website, and was beginning to see a few repeat visitors. So I thought I’d try to throw some Adsense ads on the site and maybe some affiliate ads as well. If I can make some extra money without having to touch any product or deal with customer service issues…why not give it a try?
So here I am a year later…12 websites and enough domain names to add another 12. Am I getting rich? No…not rich, but I’m making constant progress and I’m loving it! Some of what I call websites, are actually blogs. The other sites are static and don’t require much attention from me.
Initially I tried going the “pay per click” (PPC) route, with Google, MSN and Yahoo. I just never fully “warmed up” to PPC. I know there are people that are making a killing by creating niche websites and promoting products or services through PPC, but I found the concept to be a little frightening at times. If you don’t watch what your doing, you can end up owing the big search engines big bucks at the end of the month! It’s not that I didn’t know the rules of the game…but I will admit to not necessarily following them like I should at times. And that can get you in trouble if you’re not careful. It’s possible to make darn good money, relatively quickly, going the PPC route. I believe there is definitely a science to it though, and the search engines can kill your income overnight if you’re not well diversified.
I finally got to a point where I decided to step back and take a hard look at what I was doing, and what I wanted to accomplish. I could continue to “live on the edge”, or I could take the slower, more stable route by creating solid blogs or websites, loading them with “good” content, doing my SEO and link building, and be willing to give it some time to start producing returns. It’s definitely slower, but your risk is greatly diminished in my opinion. You’re still at the mercy of the search engines, but not like you are when you’re playing the PPC game. If you have a blog or website that is helpful and one which people can benefit from, you will be successful eventually.
I decided to use this particular blog as a way to share information with others. Whether it’s helping someone to create a blog by sharing what I’ve learned or by teaching someone how “not” to monetize their website! Sure…I’ll try to make a buck through this blog occasionally by promoting a product or service that I like, but I don’t expect I’ll be retiring from it anytime soon. 
Some days you may tune in here to find me rambling about something that is totally off topic, (I’m sorry but it happens…), and some days you might actually pick up a tip thats useful. Either way, I hope that you enjoy your visit.
