Don't miss a single post about Developing your Niche Store or Website! Subscribe today and start Making Money!
August 26, 2008
In my post yesterday about the latest ePN communications and Getting back to the basics, I mentioned that I was going to tread down a different path for my future websites, as well as converting some of my established ones. This is really no shock to any of you who are regular readers here as you have seen me start sending this message several months ago.
Back to the Basics
If you caught the title of this post, “Getting back to the Basics of Website Development“, you may have noticed and possibly worried, that I did not mention anything about developing an affiliate website. The reason for that specific omission is because we don’t want to start with an affiliate website! Instead, we want to end up with an Authority Website full of our own custom and unique content, that also happens to have an affiliate program! Again, you have seen this message consistently throughout the majority of my posts for the past year.
How is this Different than Building a Niche Empire?
When I ran through the series of Building a Niche Store Empire, it was done with one main goal in mind. To develop a pattern of methodology you could easily repeat and apply to several eBay affiliate websites, getting them operational and profitable with the least invested time. To date, I still have several sites I continue to use the same process on. I spend one hour a week adding new store categories and content in a consistent manner!
The difference this time is that we will work on building only 1 website for an entire month. If you choose to build more than 1, that is your personal choice… but in the end, we will have taken this single site from the point of researching and understanding our target visitors, to planning our site structure and what components we may need to entertain their needs. From developing the right content to keep them coming back and finally, turning those visitors into a source of passive income. The most important aspect of the new site however, is also going to include enough flexibility to monetize your site with any method you choose.
As an example of how this methodology works, I have a site I spent 3 months working on last year. The site has only 67 unique posts and I have not posted one thing since October 2007 and it still averages 1000+ unique visitors EVERY DAY and earns an average of $800+ per month! Imagine if it weren’t neglected for this entire time?!
I developed that site before I ever really understood the power of WordPress and was one of my first affiliate websites!
The Tentative Plan of Action
Throughout the rest of this week, I intend to take the advice of some of the readers and try to close up several of the open doors I have left behind me. There have been several posts where I have promised to look into different things and for whatever reason, never made it back to get it done.
If the topic needs to be completed, I will complete it as promised… on the same hand, if it is something that may no longer carry any relevance due to changes in BANS or any other outside factor, I will simply post that it is a closed door.
As August is quickly coming to a close, I already have a few posts written for next week as I will gone fishing with friends, but I want to welcome and encourage anyone who may want to guest post during that week, to email me via the contact form above with a post topic and content and I will review and put it into the queue for next weeks posts.
Mentoring Program
Using the old analogy that I wish I had a nickel for every time someone has asked me a question, the most common for me is: “Do you have a Mentoring Program?” I truly wish I could take the time to devote to one or two individuals or even a small group, but I honestly think the better way to learn is in a user to user based community environment.
Several months ago I secured a domain for a highly structured mentoring program and have yet to get it fully off the ground. Mostly due to my own procrastination! (It’s NOT my Big Idea BTW) When the time arrives, I will share it with all of you… The most important thing I wanted complete ahead of time is the full itinerary of content, so those who wish to jump in and go, have the ability to do so without having to wait on daily posts.
As of today, I have completed roughly 40% of the initial content I wanted done and should have the remainder completed before the middle of next month.
Mark
41 Responses to “Getting back to the Basics of Website Development”
Got something to say?
Posting tweet...
Mark:
When you said that you were going to be converting some of your really established websites, do you mean taking your BANS sites and detearing AWAY from the EPN program?
btw..I love your site. Its been a lifesaver for me! Actually I was just about to create 100 BANS websites…and work really hard on them. However hearing all this BS about EPN, I wonder if I should stay away from this? Do you still recommend EPN or do you think people are now better off taking another route so that their hard earned work and investments are not devastated by EPN and these goofy issues. I mean seriously, how can we control what the visitors to our sites do? A sales a sale..and if we are just sending traffic with no sales…why should they care so much? Its still traffic and exposure? The whole thing is absurd if you ask me.
Im upset because I had really high hopes and had everything already planned out, bought the BANS and everything, now Im thinking I made a mistake. I dont wanna make 100 sites and have them banned in a month because eBay doesnt approve for some odd reason thats really out of our control!?
Honestly, should I continue doing BANS with EPN or should I focus on something else? I respect your opinions.
@ Chelsea -
BANS and the ePN are still very good as long as you don’t mind the unknown risks. I still make alot of money every month with ePN and BANS and simply cannot walk away from it.
I HOPE that the folks running the ePN turn it around and start sharing with us versus the previous way they handled it.
I am not abandoning BANS at all… I am just building “around” BANS and other affiliate programs, versus putting all eggs into that one basket.
You actually asked the EXACT question that I want to make sure we dont see again… Investing all our hard work into something that can be jerked out from under us.
If we build our content, nobody can EVER take it away!! We can monetize it however we wish for the future.
Great comment BTW - Thank you!
Mark
Mark,
Thank you.
Sounds like a good plan Mark.
I would be curious to hear about your methods and alternative income sources for these sites.
Look forward to more updates!
Mark,
Yes, a lot of us are new to affiliate marketing and can’t see past ePN, and the recent actions by eBay have left us feeling very vulnerable so your plan to show make affiliate sites that are less risky and more flexible is very timely.
Enjoy your break and I hope you catch plenty of fish!
James
Loke always Mark, Great Work
You lead and I will follow. The past week has brought much searching and experimenting with new things.
I will never give up on BANS its done to much for me.
Very fluid time now.
Bill
Mark:
Gee your positivity has made me see things in a new light….Im gonna go fourth with my BANS plan of 100 sites….thanks for your words of encouragement!
Mark, may I ask what your favorite affiliate program is next to BANS/EPN? Is it Adsense?
Before BANS and the whole make $1 a day from each 100 websites to make $100/day, they were saying the same thing about Adsense. Do you think Adsense could be as profitable as EPN?
Also, do you think that BANS are still a good idea to use for general niche websites, even without utilizing EPN - as there’s always that “turn products off” option! :o)
It would be nice if BANS would expand a bit, and people could use BANS sites for other feeds, such as iOffer and what not. Too bad its strictly EPN, but I guess that’s their claim to fame!!
If you don’t mind me asking, may I ask what you personally recommend for an alternative to EPN?
Do as you will but I’d forget that 100 bans sites crap. That is a sure recipe for failure.
I have been keeping a close eye on all thats been going on lately
and the way things are going its like being in a maze and no sure way out, I welcome the new idea and look forward on coming on board
Good luck Mark
Thanks Mark, it’s good to try and keep focused and reading your posts really helps to do that
Hey Mark,
Cool idea on the mentoring programme, count me in please
Enjoy your fishing..
Best Regards
Sam
Has anyone noticed that your Privacy Policy plugin has stopped working. I have an email into the author. Has this happened before?
Bob
@ Bill: Why do you think having 100 BANS sites is crap? I read this one guys blog and he hired 10 people out of the paper to all create 10 BANS sites for him and he was making $12K a month from 100 BANS sites.
@ Chelsea -
I think you hit on the key in your response… Having the manpower to manage all of them.
I know personally, Ihave had more than 100 at one point and its just too much for one person to keep the quality up with.
Having 10 people however, means only 10 sites per person, which is very do-able!!
Mark
I’m loving this direction you’re moving towards, and your honesty is what keeps me coming back day after day.
I’d love to guest post on your blog, I’ll email you first though as I’m not too sure what you’d like to have posted up here while you away catching fish.
It’s all about the basics. We can use site builders and content management systems to build as many sites as we’d like to, but if we don’t have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of building a successful website, whether to make money or not, we will always have that holding us back from true success.
Hmm Good point. 100 websites. Hire 10 people to maintain 10 each. That covers everything :o) heh….I thought it was worth a shot anyways! And since those 10 people created the 10 sites, they will be familiar with them.
I’m betting that blogs would probably be the best bet do you think? Im still not sure what are better: wordpress or basic sites? or both? however, Wordpress blogs are picked up in the SE’s better..thoughts?
I was watching a 100 bans sites video on bloggerunleashed.com , Vic there sure seems to think that the 100 sites thing is a good idea, and Im betting that he has that many or more. Since hes pretty enthusiastic and encouraging others to do it!
Anyone here have close to 100 sites? :o)
By the way I just wanted to add, that Ive been doing money making schemes for years, and I just recently stumbled upon this BANS thing (about 2 weeks ago), but since then Ive been researching it like crazy. I cant believe the amount of successful bloggers and marketers that are involved in this BANS/EPN thing. Some are making tens of thousands a month!
Anyways, considering it had such good feedback I thought it was worth a shot! Therefore Im going to dedicate all my time to this project, and it proves profitable I’ll run with it for as long as I can.
@Bill: Bill I see you have a successful blog as well, and like Vic from Bloggerunleashed you also promote BANS. However, you don’t seem to agree with the volume part of it. Which is fine, but Im just wondering why your take on it is different than other bloggers in your field? May I ask how many BANS sites you DO have? Are you one of the ones that are doing $XX,XXX a month from it? I read somewhere that EPN’s top 10 affiliate are doing $200,000K/month , I’d like to know who they were! lol…
Anyways, sorry for all the rambling…maybe these posts are a bit off topic opposed to the actual topic of this post. I guess I’m just a newbie starved for knowledge and inspiration! Glad to be here and talking with all you folks!
I am not going to hash out my thoughts here in the comments section of Mark’s blog…but I will tell you this…..over 100 sites for someone who is not very, very skilled at this stuff is a recipe for failure.
Vic promotes 100 sites that are keyword stuffed, throw them up, index them and try to squeeze a dollar or two a day out of them until google deindexes them.
If you want to play that game then by all means….I don’t think it works and most would agree.
Let me give you something to think about……I’ve yet to see a blogger that posts about how much they make on BANS and saying how easy it is…..not have an affiliate link in the post.
We don’t have any affiliate links in this comment section and I can tell you that you will be far far far better off to build fewer but higher quality sites than you are to play that other game.
It’s your call, your money, your time….and good luck but it’s not for me. I have a site that earns 4 figures all on it’s own and I have some that earn almost nothing. Try different niches, find ones that work and then build them into mega sites.
That;s my advice….follow it or don’t. It’s your call…..just always remember the person who wrote a posts motivation for having that opinion. You will see a pretty quick trend emerge if you know what to look for and keep your eyes open.
I should edit something…..It may work….but not for me. If it works for you or Vic or others then more power to them….it’s just not what I would recommend.
Thanks for your input Bill!
Yeah it definately would be a lot of work, but may I ask something, why would google de-index them? Are BANS site generally de-indexed?
Count me in for the mentoring programme, great idea
BAD Bans sites are quite often deindexed. Google has declared war on thin affiliate sites. Look through Mark’s archives here and you can feel his pain and see why he promotes highly developed sites now.
Chelsea….for instance…the site you listed for your URL above….is not indexed.
I don’t know if it is brand new or if it was indexed and has been removed but it isn’t in the index now…..which translates to next to no organic search traffic…..which is the buying traffic.
Hello Mark,
Thank you for this encouraging post. You really know how convince me to keep going. You are on my prayers.
On the mentoring programme, it is a great idea. It will help me to keep focus in this BANS business day by day!
Please count me in!
Enjoy your few days of much needed rest with your friends.
All the best.
Monica
Bill:
Ahh I see…yeah brand new site, so makes sense. So content is king then? Is there a standard amount that is considered safe? Or an example of a good BANS site? Also how can you tell if a site is indexed?
Thanks, learning more by the minute!
By the way, this mentoring program should prove to be successful! What do we need to do to quialify :o)
@ Chelsea -
Kinda on the line of what Bill is saying, I think we have all tried to push out 100 stores in the past, myself included. The problem comes around when you end up neglecting 90 of them… :-)
Out of my own 100++ stores, I have actually dropped all but the top 15-20 and focus solely on those. I can spend 1-2 hours almost every day, and provide fresh content on all of them each week that way.
In regard to the mentoring program… its free!! I am only going to ask folks to provide an email so they can receive email updates on the site I have set aside for this project.
Its 3-6 months in the planning and making… so it should be well worth the cost! :-)
Mark
Thanks a bunch Mark!
Its actually nice to know that you can actually make a decent income with BANS on just 15 sites rather than 100! So in a way thats quite inspiring!
Sounds like you’re busy with your sites anyways….but recently I am a little concerned about the whole Google de-index thing. What is a Good Bans site? Do you mind showing me an example of a Good BANS site that’s NOT de-indexed by Google so I know what Im looking at….either your own or someone you dont even know and just came across would be great.
I really would like to spend my efforts in building quality and not just quantity. Just curious what quality actually looks like! You see I thought my coach auctions site wasn’t bad, however I dont think all would agree with that! lol..I know I still have a few categories to add content too, but otherwise I thought it seemed near complete?
Chelsea
hi Chelsea -
Your CoachAuctions site is new… but it does start out with a few hard roads ahead, the first being the domain name. “Coach” is one of those trademarked terms and one of the companies that chases after them!!
The site itself however is fine… you have the auctions in place and now you can start building on the content!
I tend to keep my strongest sites close to my chest, but one I have often shared is the http://www.fine-designer-shoes.com site. It was originally just a plain BANS site that was very thin and point and click, out of the box BANS.
I added a blog to it several months ago and post stuff I find on the web to it about once a week or so…
The best thing I could suggest would be to pick a topic you KNOW about, even if its just something you are mildly interested in.
Build a Blog
Add a BANS Site
Add Links to other Sites including the Wikipedia page defining your niche.
Post Comments in your Niche on other blogs (True comments, not just… I want a link comments)
Then just start blogging 3-5 times a week on your new site and provide contextual links to your store pages. You are building content for your visitors and also telling them where they may find what they came looking for.
Mark
That was great Mark, thank you!!!!
Your designer shoes blog is gorgeous too! I have a lot of blogs right now, not BANS blogs, but is it possible to turn a basic wordpress blog in to a BANS blog? Or would I be best to just add the EPN banners and what not?
You touched one thing that I have been worried about, the Coach trademark name in my domain. I wonder if I should cut my losses now and ditch the name? So does that mean any trademark name you can’t use in your domain name? I thought about this before, so I looked around to see if people were using brand names in their domains for their sites and I did find some, so not sure if its illegal or not, or if it was what could they really do?
But yeah I Love your wordpress idea for BANS…I think you were the first to launch that idea, were you not? Its a good one! I think I might even buy your WP template package. I have a designer that does all my sites, but sounds like converting BANS in to WP is a little time consuming!
Really excited about the mentor thing!!!! …by the way thanks for sharing your BANS blog, its nice to see a good example of successful BANS site. Good content !!
Oh btw, I took your advice from another post you made earlier about refraining from inserting your campaign ID (running EPN campains) until the site has got a nice amount of content, etc. I’m not running any EPN campaigns however, I think I am going to remove the ebay ads all together until I have perfected the site to a comfortable spot!
Oh and I wanted to ask as well…your shoes blog for examaple, is that using a template in your package that you have for sale for $29? I think Im gonna pick that up as soon as my webdesigner gets back in a couple days, he makes all my sites so i’ll just give those to him to make WP blogs out of instead of using the free template BANS gives ya.
God I know this is information overload, and Im sorry, but can I just ask you one question while I have your attention? I was researching this ALL day yesterday and I still cant figure it out, and I have read almost all your posts ..however I still cant figure it out, lol…thats just me though, not the sharpest tool in the box! ANYWAYS my question being:
As far as unique content goes, what percentage is deemed acceptable? I have been scanning my pages though http://www.articlechecker.com and the odd time I will get a 13% or 30% or something like that…what on earth do those percentages mean, and what do you feel is acceptable for a BANS site?
That is a content duplication checker. Nobody can tell you for sure what the right answer is OTHER than to say that if you have 100% unique content then you are good.
Those percentages mean that 30% of your article is duplicate content taken from another page on the web somewhere. Google frowns on this…we just don’t know for sure to what extent.
Everyone has theories….they are ALL guessing…..100% unique and you can’t go wrong.
@ Chelsea -
I actually to reiterate exactly what Bill just said… the only number Google has ever shed ANY light on is that instead of trying to reduce duplicate content, the time would be much better spent just writing unique content.
Having interest in your niche site is the EASIEST way to find things to write about, but there are some plugins like the Caffinated Content plugin that can help spawn ideas if you even come up short. If you dont want to use a plugin, just visit Yahoo Answers and start looking for people who were looking for answers to questions in your niche market… it can be very inspiring for the content creation.
I read somewhere this week that another blogger had said he was 100% against the use of plugins like CC, but in the context he wrote about it… I would be against it also. He was referring to using it as a point and click splog type import, versus using it as a way to inspire thoughts for your own unique content. I wrote a post about it here.
Mark
Hi all,
The comments associated with this post alone are really all anyone needs to be successful with BANS. There is solid gold here alone!
Great site Steve! I know this site, and this post is awesome!! Ive learnt a HUGE amount about BANS just from this one page alone…Mark is super helpful and so are all the other members who have contributed, Bill, etc…Thanks everyone. I look forward to talking to all for a very long time!!!
PS: Mark, is the another page where you talk about the Mentor program? Is being subscribed to the feed enough to be in, or do I need to send you a PM with my information? Thanks!! Im going to spend today reading the rest of the posts and articles on this website, lots to learn!! :o)
Hi All -
In regard to the mentor program, I actually have a completely different domain setup for it as it is not 100% BANS specific! :-)
I also wanted to be able to have a clear heirarchy structure…
I will share the url soon!
Mark
Maybe stating the obvious but much of being successful is staying focused. Probably like many others involved in IM I have spent time getting bogged down a lot (not so much nowadays) by all the latest “best thing since sliced bread” and the “make loadsa money in the blink of an eye” schemes (or should that be scams!!).
From gaining experience and making mistakes you can get to know who are the good guys and who are the internet “gurus” to avoid. I think that we are all very lucky in having access to Mark and the other knowledgeable and helpful contributors on here. Their expertise, professionalism and dedication through this website has been a great help to me and has made me become more focused.
The EPN issue is disturbing and if left to our own devices it could (would more likely) have been totally devastating to our online ambitions. But through the good advice on this site we can find a way through the EPN issue and hopefully all prosper (with or without EPN). You know on here that the EPN problem will not result in a “rush out and buy my latest life-changing gizmo as an alternative” offering.
I must admit I now login to EPN with some trepidation but I will remain focused on building my sites and listening to and adapting the advice and techniques provided on here. If the word on here is build a business steadily then that for me is the way to go. This also reflects one of my favourite sporting icons comments some years ago when he said that to win the Championship is like entering a marathon, not a sprint.
Thanks Mark and all the other contributors.
Frank….I completely agree with you. If you stay focused and work smart you can earn enough using EPN, Adsense and clickbank alone to make a decent living for a lot of people.
I agree with your philosophy of staying focused but I would also encourage everyone to diversify. That doesn’t mean going off in every direction, it just means spread your efforts around to a few different unrelated income streams.
If you lose one, you are not sunk.
Hi Mark,
Hope the fishing is going well-my confusion is this–
Wordpress- have bought themes from you which are good-However what the hell am I doing-just got WP Premium looks great can not work out how to put bans on it-I am not thick but really lost on should I just have Wordpress or sites with Bans as well-Lost it on if should be in root directory or other-need a basics to work with-one theme and then should I keep my main bans page-Shit I am all over the place-
if you can when free look at some of my sites-not all Bans
http://www.magiccanvass.com /blog
this one has your theme
Another
http://you-fat.net/blog/ different sales tack
Should I just have a Bans web site and then a separate blog or should I have both under same roof thank you for past help-confusion reaps it’s ugly head—
JT
John….in most cases you want to have Wordpress in the root and BANS in a shop folder.
Blog/Bans is the best combo in my own opinion to avoid being labelled an e-commerce site.
You create a folder off your domain called Shop and put BANS in that folder. If you follow the detailed directions Mark has included with his theme then you should understand this ok.
Your site should look like this:
public_html/mydomain.com/shop
Mydomain would be Wordpress blog.
The shop folder would have BANS installed in it.
The theme ties them both together even though they operate independently.
I get the feeling having WP Blog as main site and use a subfolder using BANS is recommanded.
What about the WP plugin for a Ebay niche store. Have not really looked into that. Has anyone tried the two differant systems.
Dont recall the link for the WP Plugin.