Wordpress Heiarchy?

by art72

Posted: 15 years ago 7 replies

WEB DESIGN

I am currently in the beginning stages of laying out a WP site using Optimize Press, which will consist of several pages and posts and a variety of topics under one relevant umbrella.

Generally, I just create simple sites with a few "Page" tabs in the navbar and "if" necessary create 'sibling' pages (or sub-pages) withing the 'parent' tab.

However, the idea behind this project is by far a bit more complex, as it will be my main website.

Two areas I remain 'green' is in determining whether to create "categories" with a tiered structure?

OR

Try to "Broaden" the scope of the parent "Page" tabs> siblings> grandchildren> etc...?

The broad niche will house potentially hundreds of sub-niches, or perhaps better stated; will drill-down and target the visitor's interest. As such, there will be several "lists" and opt-in forms specific to that "targeted" niche, so I can better serve the needs of the individual user.

Perhaps, I am over-complicating this procedure in trying to plan ahead, and yet, I feel the early planning in user friendliness and navigation is a priority, as I currently have 115 "targeted keywords" to structure my content around in say roughly 30 sub-topics.

I will openly admit, structuring content in a hierarchy is NOT my strong point, so forgive my inexperience.

Ultimately, if this site were constructed to function as I envision it, it will be 100's of pages deep, and each page will contain multiple articles with relevant content, ads, affiliate links, and maybe AdSense after I build some depth.

My main problem is understanding the 'best way' to prepare for the sites future growth and the projected depth of each of the website pages.

Unlike a 'niche' site with a few pages and one 'call to action' this site will feed traffic to several 'topics' and secondary niche sites (with further relevant content) that I intend to house on independent domains, and create a series of landing sites specific to that audience, as visitors drill down their interests.

In short... this is the mothership, and it will be supported by 100 or more 'individual' domains, each "targeted" to one specific audience.

With all the choices, and NO real experience as to how to best present a user friendly menu... any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Finally, using "pages" will clearly exceed my navbar, so should I use "categories" and display as such:

Web Design -(Grandparent)

Domains - (Parent)
Research

Tools <----(Siblings)

DNS

Buy/Sell/Auction

Wordpress -(Parent)
Using FTP

Fantastico Installation <---(Siblings)

Themes

Plugins

Naturally, the siblings could then go deeper to more specific content. What I truly need, is a A-Z type menu, yet have enough on page exposure that readers will know how to easily navigate to their specific points of interest. Thus, I can "refine" their interests, create sales pages, opt-in, and relevant subject matter to aide them in their quest.

Again, forgive my inexperience, as I can draw it on paper and see what it is I desire, but with choosing whether to use pages, categories, menus, tags, posts, and in concern for the proper use of on-page SEO and visitor visibility alike... it's definitely a grey area for me.

Hence, I call on the pro's.

PS - The niche above was for example only, this particular niche project is NOT about web design, despite the above example, as it's obvious, I still suck at this part!

Thanks in advance,

Art

#heiarchy #wordpress

Istvan Horvath 15 years ago

I have some ideas to share with you... I just need to go offline now, sorry. Later or tomorrow morning I will post here my thoughts about it.
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Abledragon 15 years ago

For something the size you're referring to I think a WordPress Multi-User (WordPress MU) installation would be the easiest way forwards. It would enable you to have one umbrella domain and lots of subdomains, each with its own site going as deep as you please.

Istvan is very knowledgeable on WordPress MU - and he's promised to get back to you. If he doesn't for any reason, it would be worth pinging him to get his thoughts.

Cheers,

Martin.
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Istvan Horvath

15 years ago

For a while I thought I could follow your description. Then I got lost when you started mentioning 100 more domains

Anyway, you are halfway in the right direction: if you already planned it out on paper then it will be (relatively) easy to implement it in a website. Actually, that's what I "preach" in my WP Mistakes report - plan it on paper before you do anything.

Let's see:

Originally Posted by art72

I am currently in the beginning stages of laying out a WP site using Optimize Press, which will consist of several pages and posts and a variety of topics under one relevant umbrella.

Originally Posted by art72

The broad niche will house potentially hundreds of sub-niches...

Originally Posted by art72

I currently have 115 "targeted keywords" to structure my content around in say roughly 30 sub-topics.

OK, I am bad at math... but not this bad, LOL
I don't think every keyword is a niche, although I might be wrong...
You will have to decide, i.e. clear up on paper, whether you will have "several" or "hundreds" of topics! When someone has 100 categories - it is like having none because the huge number of classification groups defies the whole idea of grouping content around specific topics!

Whether you go with categories (which would be my choice for "topics") or with Pages (that can cripple your WP site after growing too big) you have to cut down their numbers.

Originally Posted by art72

if this site were constructed to function as I envision it, it will be 100's of pages deep, and each page will contain multiple articles with relevant content...

I hope you didn't mean that!

Let me try one approach:

Suppose, you have indeed 100 topics. Because that is too broad and because the human mind likes to categorize everything in hierarchical order - you must find 4-5-6...10 bigger classes to group all those topics.

Then you could have:
- the main-main topic = the blog/site
-- 4-9 categories (as parents)
--- the rest of the categories grouped under the parents (as child categories)
---- whatever number of posts filed under different categories

Technically, your so-called category pages (category archives) would be the places where you have "multiple articles" (a.k.a posts) with your relevant content.

Pages, should be used as usual, for the quasi-static content: About, legal docs etc.

Another possible approach:

- main topic = the site/blog
-- 4-9 main grous = subdomains on the same install (this is where WordPress MultiSite can come handy: one click and another blog on a subdomain is created)
--- each subdomain has the categories that were subcats in the plan above
---- posts etc.

Since WP version 3+ the custom Menus feature gives you the possibility to navigate the site in whichever way you want using menu items, sub-items, sub-subitems...

Maybe it's time to take a second look at that paper plan and come up with something that makes more sense.

Don't fall in the so common mistake to create a category for every post - that creates a chaotic mess of content: if every post has its own category... it's like not having categories at all.

(too bad you didn't have the chance to watch my show on TMN this last Monday - I was talking exactly about this topic)
_____________________

I would suggest forget for now the "other" 100 domains and sites - they just confuse your mind.
(It might be beneficial if you clarify whether the mothership supports the niche sites or the niche sites send the traffic to the mothership)

Originally Posted by art72

Unlike a 'niche' site with a few pages and one 'call to action' this site will feed traffic to several 'topics' and secondary niche sites (with further relevant content) that I intend to house on independent domains, and create a series of landing sites specific to that audience, as visitors drill down their interests.

In short... this is the mothership, and it will be supported by 100 or more 'individual' domains, each "targeted" to one specific audience.

________________________

Let me know if you need more clarification.

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art72

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

For a while I thought I could follow your description. Then I got lost when you started mentioning 100 more domains

Anyway, you are halfway in the right direction: if you already planned it out on paper then it will be (relatively) easy to implement it in a website. Actually, that's what I "preach" in my WP Mistakes report - plan it on paper before you do anything.

While, I promised myself, no more lists! - This is one list I will gladly add to my knowledge base resources, as you Sir appear to be quite an authority on all things WP.

"Yessir"; I couldn't agree more, as I always try to "blueprint" everything on paper first, in both words, and sketches, and I'll be quick to admit; not having the proper WP tech skills and web design experience, has nearly brought me to my knees a few times already, as even with a blueprint, some aspects still challenge my abilities.

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

OK, I am bad at math... but not this bad, LOL
I don't think every keyword is a niche, although I might be wrong...
You will have to decide, i.e. clear up on paper, whether you will have "several" or "hundreds" of topics! When someone has 100 categories - it is like having none because the huge number of classification groups defies the whole idea of grouping content around specific topics!

Whether you go with categories (which would be my choice for "topics") or with Pages (that can cripple your WP site after growing too big) you have to cut down their numbers.

*Referencing the bold'ed quote above: "No, I absolutely do not wanting too many Pages or over use of Categories." -Topics or unlimited posts..."YES!"

In fact, the "Main Site" as I believe you suspected, is indeed "broad" and the [keywords] will be specific to a series of "topics" or posts - relevant to the main theme, but independently 'targeting' specific topics leading to a plethora of posts, articles, content, images, video, and products designed for each "categorized" group of topics and sub-categories.

*This is where I have confused matters in both my layout and this thread, by using the word; "pages".

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

I having HUGE difficulties understanding your idea (concept) of "deep"!
(Small but important detail when talking WordPress: when you mention 'pages' - are those just webpages or the WP-specific Pages, with capital P, as opposed to posts?
If Pages - you can NOT have posts on them... well, you can but it requires manually coding the Page templates!)

Mentioning "deep" confuses me because when we talk subcategories and sub-Pages related to content structure... 100 deep would mean one main category and 99 sub-sub-sub-sub-sub...subx99-categories
I hope you didn't mean that!

Let me try one approach:

Suppose, you have indeed 100 topics. Because that is too broad and because the human mind likes to categorize everything in hierarchical order - you must find 4-5-6...10 bigger classes to group all those topics.

Thank-You! *This is coinciding with my 'rough' blueprint, as I will further explain.

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

Then you could have:
- the main-main topic = the blog/site
-- 4-9 categories (as parents)
--- the rest of the categories grouped under the parents (as child categories)
---- whatever number of posts filed under different categories

Technically, your so-called category pages (category archives) would be the places where you have "multiple articles" (a.k.a posts) with your relevant content.

Pages, should be used as usual, for the quasi-static content: About, legal docs etc.

*Bold'ed reference...

O.K, this too helps me to understand that I can structure a number of "Parent Categories" (say 10 or so) - within those will be sub-categories defined further by "Topics" or a large number of posts.

This is NOT to say, I have completely figured out the 'best' visual presentation for all the Categories/Sub-Categories/Topics/Posts as the site will likely expand and develop in content as it all evolves over time.

*The above bold'ed breakdown would constitute my definition of 'depth', as processing the layout to me needs to maintain some chronological order or be of a structured priority best suited for the end user, which is; of the highest priority. Perhaps, this best defines my interpretation of deep, as I never imagined myself building something of this caliber!

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

- main topic = the site/blog
-- 4-9 main grous = subdomains on the same install (this is where WordPress MultiSite can come handy: one click and another blog on a subdomain is created)
--- each subdomain has the categories that were subcats in the plan above
---- posts etc.

Since WP version 3+ the custom Menus feature gives you the possibility to navigate the site in whichever way you want using menu items, sub-items, sub-subitems...

Maybe it's time to take a second look at that paper plan and come up with something that makes more sense.

Thank-You, I briefly scanned the MultiUser WP Plugin, which has since been replaced by the WP MultiSite Plugin... leading me to believe I have a decision to make here. This sounds like what I'll need to use. I only hope, I can assemble it all properly, as some details remain a bit fuzzy.

I have seen several sites using an A-Z menu as their topics and posts often interlink, and tend to be of enormous amounts of content, shared within relevant categories, and that of a great organized effort. I really can't say, I'll ever reach that level, but wanted to prepare accordingly... should my insanity (as the wife calls it) later prove to be of its own genius.

There too, maybe more information may help you, to help me, make that decision.:confused:

Bear with me, as this is and extensive look into my 'mind map' of sites, and how they need to mesh...

My main "marketing model" centers around information (writings)and is focused heavily on obtaining residual (targeted) traffic through article syndication, and a few secondary resources, SEO, web 2.0, ads, affiliates, etc...

The simple plan was to create the "Main Site" and house ALL syndicated content (topics/posts) and/or informative articles, predominately free of any selling, then be accompanied by 3-5 richer "posts" on a series of 'main topic keywords' ... being more sales driven, and specific to each 'sub-category" on the accompanying niche site or sub-domain.

Example: (Bear with me, as I think this is what you advised?)
Category: Dermatology

Sub-Category: (*Obviously just one of many)

Skin Conditions

Sub-Sub-Categories: (Basically A-Z) *gradually built upon of course.

Acne

Albinism

Exema

Topics: (*one example)...standard posts

What is Albinism?
Albinism Causes
Albinism Symptoms
Albinism Treatment
Albinism Prognosis
Albinism Prevention

The topics as shown above (in red) will be housed on the main site, and within those posts provide the 'masked' affiliate links, linking to, and supported by, any sub-domains (or niche sites) that I create to be of a more sales driven nature.

*This could be translated as a ClickBank landing page or another complete standalone niche site (of mine on an EMD) leading to the product(s) and in short, the BUY IT NOW content.
This is why I had envisioned the necessity of "Sub-domains" coming into play.

With say 1-5 products carefully selected per sub-category, and relative to the 'visitors' interests in a defined topic within the main site, this will lead them to one of many targeted sub-domain sites. The main site by itself; is just a pre-sell filter, or a giant menu of topics/articles/posts that are designed to drill-down, and determine the visitor's specific needs. (A process of elimination, of sort)

Within the (6) Topics shown above, there would be links (either linking to a specific affiliate offer, a sales letter, niche site, or say a FREE mini-eCourse opt-in squeeze, on individual sub-domains, and for example; would be niche specific to say: Acne, Albinism, or Exema for example.

If my plan is remotely plausible?... each 'Sub-Category' (consisting of a group of relevant keywords and topics) would be accompanied by one 'sub-domain' either housing my own squeeze page, product offer, and/or perhaps a CB product sales page...still TBD. (Further testing will be in order here to see which methods convert better.)
(*Many of these sub-domains or niche sites to be supported by my own branded products in time.)

Mind you, this is a 3-5 year plan. So, in essence, I really am just beginning to build several niche sites that would serve as functional independent niche sites, while trying to build the main site on a broad niche, like Health. The main categories could be broad... like homeopathic medicines, holistic remedies, or medical procedures... just to name a few.

However, I would be steadily building the mother-ship site, and increasing it in content as each niche would gradually be added, as would more unique information of articles focused on my syndication efforts, and all the less "sales-like" information will serve as a "silent" pre-seller feeding into the niche sites housed on the separate sub-domains.

"YES", ass-backwards perhaps, but due to magnitude of the vision, I realize the importance of knowing "how to" add all this content and properly structure the main site right from the start, as it could (and likely will) make all the difference in the main site's future success or failure.

The reference to having "branded products" is just something I intend to focus heavily on later as well, so once the main "Health" site reaches a plateau and is populated with enough fresh content, I will then devote time, money, and some outsourcing, to eventually create a footprint or identifiers to create the 'feel' that all these domains are all of the same site. (At least from the users perspective)

Branding these niche sites will be premeditated to start off simple, and will be included within the writing and imaging of all the FREE reports offered on the sub-domains, and will be maintaining a "branded" correlation to the main sites theme throughout each niche site. *Thus, sharing in theme, logo, favicon, etc.

Hence, I would then maintain the focus on building 'several opt-in lists' specific to the end user's needs through a series of (laser targeted) sibling sites or sub-domains. Such as...

· Acid reflux
· Acne
· Albinism
· Carpal-tunnel Syndrome
· Weight Loss
· Etc...

So yes, in any absolution, the number of niche specific sub-sub-categories is overwhelming to say the least, as I wanted to put all the A-Z informative content on a well-organized main health site, then, sub-categorize into individual sub-sub-categories redirecting to domains housing a relative niche site. The niche sites will house a few more sales driven articles, opt-ins for building targeted lists, and have the product (say an eBook) available for purchase on the niche site, along with other relative Amazon, CB, products and/or my own branded products eventually.

*If the visitor doesn't buy any products directly from niche site, like: Acne per se, hopefully...

A.) They will respect the FREE information (or value) they obtained on Main Site, whereby the non-sales like informative content will then drive them to the actual Acne niche site (sub-domain) whereby, each niche will have a FREE opt-in (mini-eCourse, report, eBook) -a few articles, and my affiliate links and/or my product offers. *Naturally, if they don't hit a "Buy Now Button" within the niche site, I always aim for the opt-in, and follow-up via; emails with relevant content and offer them products (and freebies) specific to that niche.

B.) The goal is: they will remember the "Main Site" name (*Branded in time) creating returning visitors, repeat business, a silent trust, and (hopefully) a diversity of recurring income from multiple sources, and a steady increase in authority to the mothership site!

C.) They join my multitude of mailing lists, enabling me to follow up, and to email future offers both from the "Health" site and to the individual [targeted] Niche Sites... again, like the Acne niche site.

*However, if they do Buy: (And the product provides their final resolve per se)

A.) I don't necessarily want to lose them as a potential customer(s) for 'other' health related product offers, the main site will have similar value for many other topics and health related solutions/options. If I build a single Acne niche site only, and sell only Acne related items, chances are, if the product cures their Acne...any further correspondence (or sales) is now lost.

B.) The Main Site serves as the portal (building authority over time) w/some traffic producing some SEO value, and perhaps the ability to lease out ad space later for extra revenue. Most importantly, it serves as a nucleus to a matrix of niche sites to revolve around, creating a familiar atmosphere for the end user, and hopefully burns into their psyche or memory.

C.) As I slowly replace CB Products (eBooks, remedies, etc...) with my own, I can foresee the importance (and benefits) of 'recruiting' affiliates using (RAP or similar) and paying out high 75-100% instant commissions on front end of my own product(s), but serves mainly for creating viral links (inside copyrighted content) linking back to both the Main Site, and the sub-domain(s) for higher back end profits, and even more targeted sales.

So, as you stated above; the Pages would be used for the quasi-static subjects like...

Home | Legal Disclaimers | Affiliates | Sitemap| Member Login
Pages on the Main Site would be vague: (I am still challenged to narrow them all down..) but for example:

Mens Health | Women's Health | Children and Infants | Holistic Medicines | Natural Remedies | Medical Procedures | General Health

Categories on the main site for example: (Starting with the main category)

Main Category: General Health

Sub-Categories (A-Z)

· Arthritis
· Back Pain
· Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Topics "A-Z" (A few informative articles with links to the niche site)

· Arthritis Causes

· Arthritis Symptoms

· Arthritis Treatment

In roughly expressing the plan, the main Authority Health Site will need to house some articles and a blend of informative posts/articles. All unique articles, no spun garbage, some (maybe 25-33%) of which I will attempt to get syndicated through other channels.

Ultimately, the idea behind main site was for it to be more than just a directory, so I emphasize the importance of populating it with informative content. The main site is NOT for any direct sales through main site, or of any real purpose other than providing valuable content to presell the user.

The main site is to get users to click the "links" within the posts/articles 'topics" which will 'quietly' redirect to the relevant niche site designed around that topic on a separate domain, but sharing the "branded" theme. (*If that makes any sense.)

*This is where I truly felt the benefits of sub-domains would come into play, as each sub-domain would be structured like a typical niche site, to house its own Pages with a more focused emphasis on the call(s) to action, like aggressive Opt-Ins, sales-letters, a buy now button page, or could even be a simple highly optimized standalone standard niche site with 2-7 articles, a couple of garnishing's all designed to do the preselling before selling the users and/or funneling users to the sales page or the "Buy It Now" offer.

Any tested sales approach could work really, but, all of them need to be matching the main-site design, logo, favicon, header, and maintain the contextual flow with the main site, so it will silently remain in the users mind, as a "branded" benefit.

This is where my precautionary maintenance and organization is critical to making this a smooth flow for the end user, as they transfer in/out of the main site to explore the (standalone) niche sites, or sub-domains.:confused:

*Obviously, the only throw back, is when linking outside the site(s) to CB products, Amazon, or any 3rd party affiliate network products, as it would of course; be the exception to the rule of maintaining the theme, as those products often have their own sales page, layout, and would be boldly declared as Sponsored sites/offers.

But, as the name slowly becomes "branded" with the main site name/logo/header, and starts creating links back to the Authority Health Site, a future transition can and will take place. The siblings can, and will then be both "supported" and "supportive" of the main site itself, as they will feed each other and grow to become interdependent, yet remain non-reliant or solely dependent on each other to function when a person enters: "Acne Treatment" into a "G" search, which could return results to the Main Site, and catch some search engine traffic.

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

Don't fall in the so common mistake to create a category for every post - that creates a chaotic mess of content: if every post has its own category... it's like not having categories at all.

No...do not want that! I actually feared using Page Tabs or too many Categories, as it would create an unpleasant user experience, but due to the nature of the main site remaining so broad, as there is, in all probability... 100's (if not 1000's) of specific "Targeted Topics" to wit, they will each be defined by specific keywords, and target low-medium competition, by using a variety of niche specific keyword variations. All of this centrally focused on building authority and traffic to the Authority Health Site, itself.

Again, the main site is only to serve as the filter by offering a large menu of topics! -Then direct traffic accordingly to money pages, and niche sites.

Still, the idea for the Authority Site is to build its own value, as it houses more and more content, catches visitors with a variety of bait, refines their query, funnels them to their desires and needs, or the root of their interest, and lands them on one of many of the niche sites, and funneling them to the "FREE Offer" pages, opt-ins, and products relevant to their query, while generating instant sales or triggering preset sales oriented emails.

This way, I am keeping prospects swimming in the same inter-connected ponds, so to speak. *Or more cynically phrased from another age old adage, it would eventually be like; "shooting fish in a barrel on autopilot."

While the main site may never see a #1 position even a Page 1 ranking in the SERP's due to the many established authority sites, by the sheer volume of laser targeted traffic, keyword specific content, VALUE, and the projected volumes alone... I think it could;

Yield more syndication of my articles and build substantial traffic as it becomes populated with rich content, becoming a website offering quality and value to users, and in time will build credibility
Then build some authority (or at least trust) to the main site, as back links, trackbacks, and traffic begins to generate revenue through privately offered ad space, banner exchange, and lastly, if necessary, some reliance on AdSense revenues. (*The less reliance on "G" or any one resource the better, IMHO!)
Add into the equation the "branded name" element, as every eBook, report, mini-eCourse could slowly be replaced with "The Authority Site's Brand of Products" and passed freely to resellers, affiliates, visitors, or even on shareware sites for pennies, as it all links back to the top of the funnel -The Main Authority Health Site.

As a previous swimming pool builder, I was great at laying out complex blueprints and designing a customer's desired vision to provide a suitable outcome. I all but mastered the art of constructing those client's vague visions into scalable blueprints. Then, I took those plans as a foundation, refined their ideas, and constructed them into a reality. This required foresight, materials, tools, labor, and expertise.

To that regard, this model shares a similar thread as my prior offline business had once sewn, in the sense that as with swimming pools the water was self-contained in separate bodies (fountains, spas, spillways etc...), and was circulated, filtered, treated, and then sent back to the main body or pool. Only on rare occasion was water added, as some is lost due to natural order of evaporation.

I relate this to my sites visitors as the flow of traffic will need to be plumbed properly, in order to have customers flowing to the location of their desired destination within a series of interlinking pools (websites).

None the wiser, they will be in an over sized fish tank of sort. Like any sales funnel, the complexity of this plumbing needs to remain leak free, whereby, the main sites navigation provides the vehicle to quickly guide them to the destination of their choosing, all while quietly generating revenue.

Forgive my metaphorical example, but the idea here was to treat the main "Authority Health Site" like a pool, whereby, users can choose from a wide-variety of menu options, and like with a pool, the niche sites will serve like water features (piping them to their area of interest)... yet, all be constantly flowing, recirculating, filtering, and refreshing the flow back to the main body (Authority Health Site) to both attract visitors and provide them with a memorable user experience.

So, the 'bulk' of the revenue here, really being on the back-end and will be found on the sub-domains housing the specific niche topics, and the adjoining products designed to provide value, and compliment the users interest. The sub-domain niche sites will also generate affiliate earnings as affiliates can sell to their list(s) or their visitors, by-passing the main site, and allow them to send their traffic directly to the sub-domain(s) offering them to earn a share in any of the the revenues generated.

Yet, the main objective is to not let either (user or affiliate) escape my clutches, as I will have infused many of the FREE reports, eBooks, even future branded products creating viral links.

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

(too bad you didn't have the chance to watch my show on TMN this last Monday - I was talking exactly about this topic)

Please keep me informed, should you ever do another show!

I need (and crave) all the education I can get to make IM my full-time business, and right now, I have revised this blueprint about 10x already, as I continue to reverse engineer; "What NOT to do!"

Only now, I am starting to actually slow down and ask for directions when specific components and necessary paths have me completely lost, and realizing this is a long journey, not just a short walk to the bank. Not planning this way prior, cost me a ton of time, be it "time is money", I sincerely cannot afford to waste any more time, especially on hyped-up lottery style offers.

_____________________

Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath

I would suggest forget for now the "other" 100 domains and sites - they just confuse your mind.
(It might be beneficial if you clarify whether the mothership supports the niche sites or the niche sites send the traffic to the mothership)

Regarding the highlights above in the order they appeared...

Actually, (100 domains and sites) that's actually part of my 2nd business model, whereby, I firmly believe domains are 'empty lots' liken to real estate assets, whereby the "keywords" are the neighborhood, and as the neighborhood(s) sell out of valuable vacant lots (TLD's), it can ultimately determine the 'future value' of the (domains) lots purchased when the land was still undeveloped, and can be purchased fairly cheap.

Whether I actually build on them all or not, that depends on time and available finances, and the eventuality... that "if" I am going to do all of this within one lifetime, it will require time, effort, finances, outsourcing, and perhaps a few good VA's and JV partners... ALL of which remains a privilege, or better still, a luxury, I have yet to afford.

Whenever, I reach burnout with everything else (like reading!), I generally perform keyword and market research for fun and relaxation, and fill the void buying up more domains. I just recently set up a broker, and decided to list some of the secondary TLD's that I don't want or need, and am planning to try and generate the funds to buy the ones I need for the main model here.

Naturally, it may even be possible to make a dollar or two, or in the least get my domains (in essence) for free, from the domain sales and trading on the side!

In closing, the Mother-ship tends to, and, feeds the siblings, but then... the siblings will 'grow' independent, (hopefully) to take care of, and equally benefit Momma later, or "Daddy" in this particular case!

So, if my projected theories and rough plans prove to be correct concerning the highlighted quote above referencing whether the mothership support the niche sites, or the niche sites support the main site?.. the answer is BOTH will support one another, yet continually strive for measures of independency and diversity.

I sincerely hope my explanation above was able to paint a 'rough' rendition of my plans, and to clarify any confusion I may have created in my initial post. This plan is currently strewn throughout 2 or 3 notebooks, and this (as long as it is) represents only a small portion of the goals.

Many people (especially, those closest to me) have assumed or implied; I haven't started at all, because they haven't seen any huge returns on my measly investment of my time or financial investment. But that is NOT the case at all, as the knowledge I've gained is priceless; and steadily implement it all into an executable plan.

I've been at this process 7 days a week, 40, 50, even 60 hours per week for 6+ months... just chiseling away, while maintaining a menial 40 hour per week job. I've spent less than $3,000 in total on an enormous amount of tools, product, education, domains, and have made roughly $150 in sales to date. (*They don't have a proper smiley for that one!) If they did, it would be of blood shot eyes and a half-baked grin from the lack of sleep... since I started this journey!

I am simple arming myself in knowledge, and in the final stages of plotting out my territory. I truly believe; tomorrow's revolution of the information industry is just beginning, and there is NO college degree could ever afford me the honor of what this forum, and this journey has already provided education wise.

And to think; I'm really just getting started!

*I know I still have a long way to go - and I have set my goals high.
Yet, I think time will reveal; I am getting much closer than that displayed by the slow trickle of income currently reflecting my efforts to date.

Example: CB sale of $27.61 last night, after 3 weeks of 0's :rolleyes: -So although I need to make money too, the focus is definitely not for the short term monetary gains, but I can say; that it is a "breath of life" when a rogue sale shows up from something I put together a few weeks ago, and it keeps me going forward with this bigger vision.

What I am trying to build is something that on the surface should appear simple to the end user, has little to low maintenance, but has a ton of architectural reinforcements 'complimenting' each of the smallest details, which later, could yield substantial rewards to all parties involved.

One challenge is making sure it will be resilient to any sole reliance on say just "G" or any other singled out method for generating traffic and ultimately, revenue as would be so (to a degree) with just building standalone niche sites.

I recently had this disaster happen right after I made my first 4 sales with a product created by Ewen Chia back in early July. I had purchased 10 product specific domains, did a ton of SEO work and started ranking these sites, and then just as sales started coming in, the little ******* shut the program down without warning. So, I say; "Thank You Ewen, for a valuable lesson learned!"

While, I am only 6-7 months into the IM world, and just really starting to take this business serious, it's slowly finding and assembling all the pieces for longevity that is fueling my passion to explore this industry further, for it, as a whole; fascinates me the amount of intelligence being shared and gained by those succeeding at this awesome business.

I don't care if I get rich, so long as I get free of the sophisticated slavery (job) that is stealing my valuable time, and my dreams, and escape all the F'ing naysayers who are perfectly content doing nothing but talking s!#t... and assume that my online efforts online are all in vain.

Meanwhile, I am maintaining that dead end day job (a disciplinary lesson in humility) and to some degree, I am accused of depriving my family of more quality time... (or so they say) as I work my tail off and fight to provide for them.

Naturally, all my focus travels toward having real quality time, making real money to afford that quality time, and especially, remain dedicated to regaining an ounce of my freedom... while getting back to being self-employed again.

*Until then, the learning curve is my only true adversary!

My sincerest apologies for the length of this post (almost 4,700 words...holy crap!) -feel free to ignore whatever need not apply, as it was meant to "Clarify" my "Rough Draft" and the future construction thereof.

I want to get this project started, and yet, until I know how to lay it all out properly, I really cannot make my material list, submit my EZA articles (or index them first) and start breaking ground. Currently, there are too many voids in my blueprint...but that is not enough to for me to abandon this vision.

I am almost too embarrassed to post this, as it has more content then some of my websites!

Naturally, with respect to your time Istvan, I am not rushed for your response, although I would like some honest feedback to determine if this plan is even remotely plausible on a WP platform?

Again, my sincere apologies for this all-in-one response, as it were the best way to define the task(s) I have set out to conquer, and roughly describes the complexity behind this idea of mine, relative to properly establishing the proper WP layout befitting to the end goal.

All the Best,

Art

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Atop a tree with Buddha ain't a bad place to take rest!

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art72 15 years ago

Thank You Istvan,

I definitely appreciate every ounce of your insight and expertise.

So much that, I truly wish to have checked on this thread earlier, as I would have had time to process several 'points of interest' that both Abledragon and yourself have already shared.

Respectively, it is pushing 3am here, and though I want to tackle your response now, a few zzz's and some clear thinking is definitely in order, respectively.

However, I truly wish I had caught your show! *If you happened to record it let me know, would definitely be interested.

There too, I need to look into WP MultiUser, as that may be a major part of the solution I needed.

BTW... "No", your math, nor your imagination is off... in fact, I believe that was a poor description of words on my behalf concerning the number of niches. In short, it's one main niche, whereby I would like to include several targeted and relative topics, as there are an endless number of sub-categories to build upon.

Lastly, as I am beyond tired, I'll be better prepared tomorrow, as some areas remain a bit grey. Funny, cause it looked good on paper... in reality, some refining is definitely in order.

While, I'll be out for a portion of the day (later today, actually) I will refine my query, and follow-up on this thread as soon as time permits.

Thank-You...I look forward to continuing this discussion.

All the Best,

Art
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olauno 15 years ago

Interesting read. I am new to IM but a long time network tech. Wanted to build a specific site based on networking in itself Computer networking that is. And was looking for some structures and category strategies as mentioned. Most webmasters I have spoken to don't understand some of the idea and framework behind my Idea or of course we are not talking the same language. Web design and Networking. Also considered the directory press theme and seemed very interesting. You guys shared some interesting light on the matter. Thanks
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olauno 15 years ago

ART72, something in your post stuck out in my mind and made me re read through the whole thing again. And you mention if this is feasible in WP platform question. Interesting if it would, and I do not see why not but would require some programming. As well if you accomplish this I am willing to beta test. Also I started to right down and mind map some ideas and will be consulting my long time friend and ingenious programmer but would have to jump to a SQL database server and and an ASP platform. Also Istvan brings some very interesting points. as to whether the mother ship sends to sub niches or niches send traffic to mother ship. Regardless I suggest you build this on you own server, not shared hosting etc and keep a hell of a back up. Too many categories or posts will extremely bring down wordpress to a hault and you time to live on site will probably not display on any browser at that point. Perhaps many blogs in subdomain with high grouped categories linking back to a sub niche sub domain which is seen as its own domain in SE eyes, and later if you wanted to you can purchase a keyword specific domain to mask/forward to your subdomain, as well multipress would work well. I think you would have to start to build this out and see how it plays. I still think you would need some serious programming and have root access to your server and/or maybe implement some web services for domains to talk to each other based on data, content, info, etcc.. that you provide or would like to share.
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