What does it take to be lucrative in the freesite game nowadays?

sue-fl · 2005-10-14, 01:13 PM

Thanks for the great thread everyone! I make money off of my free sites. Not a 1000 a week but make money. I don't ever expect to make 50k a year it would be nice but I don't have my expectations near that high.

What I have done in the year and a half since I started is spend money. Mostly in content so far. I invested in content and housing before I was making a dime. I have a fake tgp with galleries that I link to on all my free sites. I also have a link list which has all my free sites and my sponsors free sites, plus submits. I have noticed that I'm getting sales now from my tgp, not my link list yet.

So I have invested the money and certainly the time, as I feel like I live on my pc! I usually make four free sites a week, on average. My next step is to invest in some better programs for my pc to make better sites, logos etc.

So can you make a living off of free sites that I don't know. My husband is the income maker this is more or less spending money, and unexpected expensive money for us. So I'm happy with what I'm making a month at this point. Do I want to make more money? Shit yeah and I can tell you I would not be sitting here an average of a least 8 hours a day every day if I didn't.

I hope I'm on the right track with how I'm doing things and it will continue to pay off for me. The first week if ever I make 1000 dollars you'll all hear me celebrating from here.....

Great advice everyone and good luck to all of us!

Surfn · 2005-10-14, 01:55 PM

Life is about choices. Each of us make them every day. You can listen to positive people that try to help or you can listen to negative people who have a hidden agenda.

Most of the posters on this board need help and there are some willing to help them. Others want to shut you out to keep more of the pie for themselves.

The people that are making good money usually help people that are trying and appreciate their help. It's your life and your choice who to listen to.

Good Luck

Linkster · 2005-10-14, 04:13 PM

Bill - please reread what I said - after 1 year with the use of all the tools (hubs etc) along with those 360 free sites (and hopefully people still submit to places like DMOZ and other SEs with a made for SE copy of their free sites) starting that second year $1k a week should be average - to break it down to a certain # of sales per free site is not realistic as you will get sales from your "mousetrap" sites, traffic pumps and hubs that you have built along with these free sites (hopefully) although realistically at the one year point you would really only need 2 sales per free site out there if you were still building as after one year you have 360 plus the sites you are building today.
To those making 15-20k a year from submitting free sites I would only say that you could increase your income quite a bit - its not an easy biz and unfortunately that is why so few actually stay in the free site end of it - that compounded with the fear generation that has plagued this industry for the last year has dropped the number of submitters drastically. To me that just means there are even more opportunities out there

Bill · 2005-10-14, 04:55 PM

Linkster, I feel I know exactly what you mean. Working a whole system, taking advantage of all the traffic oppurtunities out there, tapping search engine money (which is a lot _slower_ these days than it used to be, remember, if you are starting from scratch), I agree, a skilled person could do it.

I believe I could probably do it, for instance. But I sure as hell would hate to have to try.

But that's not from freesites alone. The traffic coming from linklists alone is just not that lucrative these days.

I understand the point you are trying to make - but, I think you are splitting hairs here, and going fairly far outside the original scope of the question.

I don't want people to feel bad because they aren't seeing that 50k a year you are suggesting should be "fairly easy to make".

I keep coming back to one essential point - if it's so easy, where are the people doing it?

Because the only people I see doing it are the oldtimers with established networks and a wealth of contacts and skill and resources.

neveremail · 2005-10-14, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill

Linkster, I feel I know exactly what you mean. Working a whole system, taking advantage of all the traffic oppurtunities out there, tapping search engine money (which is a lot _slower_ these days than it used to be, remember, if you are starting from scratch), I agree, a skilled person could do it.

I believe I could probably do it, for instance. But I sure as hell would hate to have to try.

But that's not from freesites alone. The traffic coming from linklists alone is just not that lucrative these days.

I understand the point you are trying to make - but, I think you are splitting hairs here, and going fairly far outside the original scope of the question.

I don't want people to feel bad because they aren't seeing that 50k a year you are suggesting should be "fairly easy to make".

I keep coming back to one essential point - if it's so easy, where are the people doing it?

Because the only people I see doing it are the oldtimers with established networks and a wealth of contacts and skill and resources.

I think Linkster is trying to say if someone who is prepared to work really really hard at it can achive it. But I'd agree with you on saying dont get your hopes up.

I have read a few tutorials of experienced webmasters pretending they were newbies staring from scratch to show you can make money (LB did one on netpond) and they make it look much easier than it actually is.

juggernaut · 2005-12-02, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neveremail

(LB did one on netpond) and they make it look much easier than it actually is.

Not to mention the starter tut they have there is out of date. I went back the other day to re-read it and was glad I stayed here. That darn thing tells people to make a free site and put all the recips on the main page, not the index and after my count from that tut, shows 5 pages not 4. I have nothing against that place but just stay away as there seems to be to many chiefs and not enough indians, but everyone seems to know how to get it done. I think that place did me more harm then good, once I stayed away and just read here I got the idea how its done, but just a small idea.

2005-10-14, 01:55 PM	#2
Surfn If you don’t take a chance the Angels won’t dance Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Earth on occasion Posts: 8,812	Life is about choices. Each of us make them every day. You can listen to positive people that try to help or you can listen to negative people who have a hidden agenda. Most of the posters on this board need help and there are some willing to help them. Others want to shut you out to keep more of the pie for themselves. The people that are making good money usually help people that are trying and appreciate their help. It's your life and your choice who to listen to. Good Luck __________________ Surfn's Links Are you a partner?

2005-10-14, 04:13 PM	#3
Linkster NO! Im not a female - but being a dragon, I do eat them. Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Sex Delta Posts: 5,084	Bill - please reread what I said - after 1 year with the use of all the tools (hubs etc) along with those 360 free sites (and hopefully people still submit to places like DMOZ and other SEs with a made for SE copy of their free sites) starting that second year $1k a week should be average - to break it down to a certain # of sales per free site is not realistic as you will get sales from your "mousetrap" sites, traffic pumps and hubs that you have built along with these free sites (hopefully) although realistically at the one year point you would really only need 2 sales per free site out there if you were still building as after one year you have 360 plus the sites you are building today. To those making 15-20k a year from submitting free sites I would only say that you could increase your income quite a bit - its not an easy biz and unfortunately that is why so few actually stay in the free site end of it - that compounded with the fear generation that has plagued this industry for the last year has dropped the number of submitters drastically. To me that just means there are even more opportunities out there __________________ Pussy Chompers Porn Links NSCash

2005-10-14, 01:13 PM	#1
sue-fl You can now put whatever you want in this space :) Join Date: May 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 2,837	Thanks for the great thread everyone! I make money off of my free sites. Not a 1000 a week but make money. I don't ever expect to make 50k a year it would be nice but I don't have my expectations near that high. What I have done in the year and a half since I started is spend money. Mostly in content so far. I invested in content and housing before I was making a dime. I have a fake tgp with galleries that I link to on all my free sites. I also have a link list which has all my free sites and my sponsors free sites, plus submits. I have noticed that I'm getting sales now from my tgp, not my link list yet. So I have invested the money and certainly the time, as I feel like I live on my pc! I usually make four free sites a week, on average. My next step is to invest in some better programs for my pc to make better sites, logos etc. So can you make a living off of free sites that I don't know. My husband is the income maker this is more or less spending money, and unexpected expensive money for us. So I'm happy with what I'm making a month at this point. Do I want to make more money? Shit yeah and I can tell you I would not be sitting here an average of a least 8 hours a day every day if I didn't. I hope I'm on the right track with how I'm doing things and it will continue to pay off for me. The first week if ever I make 1000 dollars you'll all hear me celebrating from here..... Great advice everyone and good luck to all of us!

2005-10-14, 04:55 PM	#4
Bill Selling porn allows me to stay in a constant state of Bliss - ain't that a trip! Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,914	Linkster, I feel I know exactly what you mean. Working a whole system, taking advantage of all the traffic oppurtunities out there, tapping search engine money (which is a lot _slower_ these days than it used to be, remember, if you are starting from scratch), I agree, a skilled person could do it. I believe I could probably do it, for instance. But I sure as hell would hate to have to try. But that's not from freesites alone. The traffic coming from linklists alone is just not that lucrative these days. I understand the point you are trying to make - but, I think you are splitting hairs here, and going fairly far outside the original scope of the question. I don't want people to feel bad because they aren't seeing that 50k a year you are suggesting should be "fairly easy to make". I keep coming back to one essential point - if it's so easy, where are the people doing it? Because the only people I see doing it are the oldtimers with established networks and a wealth of contacts and skill and resources.