Putting all my eggs in one basket.

Nothing is guaranteed with a plan like that.

Hey Fin,

I think one of the best things you can do is build up one big
authority blog.

Obviously there are many variables of getting website right which
we cannot see. I would strongly recommend you get an experience
marketer to look at your site and make sure your on the right track
so you don't waste a whole bucket load of time.

PS You don't need 1000 word articles. I would split these in to three.
It will be way more effective for you.

Good Luck!

There is nothing wrong with putting all of your eggs in one basket as long as you watch the basket very carefully. In fact, it is an excellent idea. It's far better to give one site 100% of your attention than to give 100 sites 1% of your attention.

Dan Kennedy talks about ONE being the worst number in business... one income source, one employee etc etc. I sometimes wonder if it applies to relationships...

I think to start with ONE is a good number, to stay focused and get things running smoothly first before expanding.

Good luck mate!

I've had my wine site as my main money site for almost two years and it's the only reason I started trying to learn to market online.

I've recently branched out and created a few other niche sites and I like having a range of sites to worry about. They aren't all profitable, but having other sets of keywords to watch makes it easier to not obsess over my wine related ones.

Fin, I know where you're coming from. I tend to get obsessions too... Unfortunately, they don't always pan out. I love to write, it's what I do and what I am, so stuff not panning out isn't a biggie for me. Once an obsession fades, I can forget it.

That said, I worry that you're too invested in your travel project, without being as certain as you can be that the project will work out for you. Will you be shattered if it doesn't?

Your questions, and my thoughts...

"1- Is it worth it to throw all my eggs in one basket for a site like this, and would you ever do such a thing?"

Yes, by all means, put your eggs in one basket and then watch the basket... AFTER you see some results for your efforts, not before.

In other words, monetize the site NOW. Don't wait.

You're focusing on content, which is fine, but you must have a clear path to monetization, and you need to do it NOW. Not later.

You'll need to monetize anyway, so you gain nothing by waiting.

The benefit of the monetize NOW strategy, is that you'll get feedback, which is immensely useful.

If you're not making sales quickly (whether the sales are actual sales, or AdSense or other advertising clicks) you can alter direction.

You'll need to alter direction many times. A famous general once said that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Truer words were never spoken. Plan, then put the plan into action, then change the plan. Act again, change the plan again... and so on.

Re "have you ever done such a thing"?

Yes, I have, and suffice to say that I don't regret it. I created the site for my own amusement, but it's never been a money-maker. Here's why it doesn't make money: I FOCUSED ON THE MONEY TOO LATE.

Don't do that... :-)

"2- Do you think sites like this provide an income that could be considered passive? (I'm not saying after 300 articles, but more like 1000)"

The problem with information marketing is that the audience changes. You're providing information. The audience for that information will be different a year from now, and much different five years from now.

You're in the travel niche, so trends will change over time, as the audience changes. Even evergreen information (travel tips) change over time.

Your site is a PRODUCT, and products need updating.

Without knowing a lot more, I have no idea whether you can make a truly passive income.

I hate to be negative, but 300 articles at 1,000 words a lot of words on one topic.

Consider this: 25,000 words is enough for an ebook.

Non-fiction print books are somewhere between 65,000 words and 85,000 words.

If you're writing the words anyway, I'd hesitate devoting all that energy to a site.

I wish you much success, and hope that my thoughts give you some food for thought... :-)

Thanks Angela,

Fantastic post. TBH, I wouldn't kill me if the site didn't provide a passive income. As I say, it's my passion and to know that thousands of people would be using my advice would be great.

That being said, I don't want to waste 6 months of writing if the site won't make anything. I probably should start monotizing the site when I have the chance. It's better being there than not and if it doesn't make anything from a % of visitors, chances it won't make anything from more visitors.

At that point, I may have to go in a different direction, so now that you've mentioned it, I should defianetly monotize from the start.

I actually have a dream with this site. I want it to be the place to go to for advice in this niche. If this happens, I think I could make good money from advertising. The Amazon and e-books would be extra.

If it fails, then I guess I will move onto my next project with better writing skills and much more knowledge.

At the end of the day, after all the hard work, I probably would be annoyed if it didn't make me something each month.

It's always a risk putting all your eggs in one basket, but having an authority site, especially one that you have a passion for is rewarding. A lot of people do very well with their authority sites, and in the long run, they are a lot more "flippable" than smaller niche sites, especially if they are making some revenue and have good traffic.

1) Start off focusing on only one niche. You can always try out another niche if things work out succesfully, or alternatively, if things fail in your first niche.

2) It's hard to say whether your site will become succesful, or successful enough to provide a passive income. You have told us that it's in an area of the travel niche, however, this is too vague a description to give an honest, calculated answer.

My advise, therefore, is to give your idea time and hard word and if, after this, things aren't picking up, then pack up the idea and try a different niche.

I think if you're an authority site, you have bunches of options open to you.

I used to do the portal/adsense/niche site building, but I've discovered that Google can kill your efforts in one fell swoop. Social networking and people telling others to visit your site...that's virtually Googleproof.

Thus, if you become an authority site, you can:

• Market your own products
• Market niche affiliate products
• Branch out into niche CPA offers

See?

Then there's all the subniches in which you can indulge too!

It's all how you choose to position yourself.

Hope that helps!

I forgot to mention social networking, but I think it would work well for the site if I go by other sites examples. A lot of the competition have 5000-10,000 facebook fans, from looking into their sites.

I'd also be doing a lot of offline marketing. Taking the site to the people.

I did such a thing when I started my own business. I was tired of a broadcasting industry that was falling victim to the economy more and more every day. I was tired of doing the work of 6 people and getting the salary of one person So, I decided to turn my passion for writing into a business.

Was it scary? Absolutely. I was going from a guaranteed (albeit lower than I wanted) paycheck every two weeks, to not knowing if any money was going to come in.

Was it an adrenaline rush? Absolutely. I will never forget making my first sale. In my head, I knew the plan would work, but actually seeing someone buy something was awesome!

I wouldn't consider what you want to do "putting your eggs in one basket". Instead, I consider it being pretty smart. There are too many people who set up dozens of different sites, spend a little bit of energy on each one, move onto the next, and wonder why they don't make any money. Instead, you're looking at building a business - and that's something that most people don't "get". They think they can throw up a ton of ho-hum sites and, soon enough, live on an island with the profits.

If you had a passion for cooking, you wouldn't try to open up 6 different restaurants at once, would you? No, you would open up 1 restaurant, devote yourself to building it, and - if it got big enough - expanding to other ventures later. It should be no different in the online world.


I'm not sure that any business can truly be passive. I suppose if your name and/or product was big enough, you wouldn't have to spend so much time marketing. But if you build up a business and then just let it sit there, you're going to wind up with hard-working competitors out-gaining you.

I know a marketer that has a huge authority site. Huge. Super high quality. And he earned about $100K a year just from Adsense with it but then when Google had an update he lost about 60% of his traffic and income.

So I would say, if you want to go with just one site, then make sure you try and minimize your risks. Get traffic from tons of places, don't just depend on Google organic traffic. Make sure you do regular back ups of your site. Keep aware of changes in the market so you can adjust your site, etc.