Niche Blogging: Seven Day Blog Challenge
One of my favorite ways to make money online is to build a flagship website and then extend outwards into relevant or topically different projects. I’m a big fan of diversity when it comes to making money online and I seldom focus exclusively on one niche or target market.
I have an voracious appetite for experimentation and I’ve had my share of unfinished projects due to a lack of time or interest.
What’s important however, was that I learned a lot from each of them.
In fact, one of the main reasons why I’m still writing at Dosh Dosh on a daily basis after several months is mainly because I’m using this blog as a journal to record down the experiences and observations which result from efforts on some of my other websites.
Personal Knowledge and the Value of Case Studies
I’m a firm believer in developing knowledge through personal experiences. To learn if a specific method (e.g. blogging) will earn you a decent income requires that you set up a blog and try to do something with it
One cannot appreciate the potential of a specific niche or monetization method, nor understand its flaws and compatibility with your goals unless one has personal experience with it. Just reading the thoughts of others will not suffice.
Dosh Dosh’s Seven Day Niche Blog Challenge
From tomorrow onwards, I’ve decided to start a new blog everyday for the period of 7 days, by the end of which I should have 7 new blogs, each in specific niches.
Unlike Dosh Dosh, these blogs will be monetized early on and will be built explicitly for profit through contextual ad networks like Google Adsense and various other relevant affiliate programs.
Their purpose: to serve as case studies which will allow me to develop more definitive knowledge on search engine optimization, niche blogging and monetization tactics.
These additional blogs will allow me to develop more experience in different content areas and I expect to learn new things about ad networks like Adsense as well as effective methods to drive ever more traffic towards these blogs.
I’ll try to share some experiences I have with setting up and monetizing these blogs over the next few days as I’m quite sure that they will provide me with a wealth of material that might be useful for all of you out there.
Joining the Challenge: Creating Your Own Case Studies
If you’re interested in diversifying your website portfolio and revenue sources, now is a good time to do so. I would highly suggest setting a similar challenge for yourself, perhaps to also start seven new blogs in seven days or something else that suits your schedule and interests.
The best way to learn is simply to put what you have read into practice through your own money making projects. Experimentation with site building and traffic generating tactics will provide you with a valuable skill-set for future online projects.
If you own a blog about blogging, internet marketing or making money, you could also use these case studies as fodder to provide more valuable information for your audience.
You’ve watched other people make money online long enough. Now it’s time for you to take the center stage.
Sounds interesting to me. I’ll be keeping a close eye on your progress. Good luck buddy!
I have enough problems coming up with posts for one blog, never mind seven!
John, I know exactly what you mean.
Perhaps I should have mentioned that I’ll eventually be outsourcing by hiring bloggers/writers to take over posting duties. I think I might not have time for seven as well ^-^
Sounds like a really interesting project. I have many blogs of my own already, actually, but I don’t really work with them. I just made them and now I really only use my main one. Maybe I will do my own project where I do something with these other blogs or make new ones. I’ll keep a look out on your results as well! Have a great day
Nice idea. I too attempted a similar thing once, but it failed, as i just couldn’t write enough posts (in topics which i am interested to write on) to maintain these blogs.
Also, another issue in monetizing all the blogs. What if adsense raises a concern abt one of the new blogs (just because they are for the sole purpose of making money) and bans the accnt? You end up losing adsense from all your primary blogs too.
Wow, 7 blogs is a lot of work to complete. But if it’s merely for information and data collecting purposes, I’m all for it.
I have a similar goal as well, but this involves affiliate marketing and hiring content writers.
Can’t wait to read your analysis on the 7th day. Your reviews are always comprehensive and informative.
Rajaram,
I don’t think there will be any problems with Adsense as long as your content or your placement/actions doesn’t go against their TOS. If you are genuinely fault-free and still get banned.. a polite letter to Adsense will probably help.
That is a great idea. You have to have a lot of spare time to build up 7 blogs. I am really looking for those other posts about this topic.
Lol, I started only one new blog not seven two days ago
with orientation to learn more about seo using blogspot.
Success for your project Maki
Sounds like an interesting experiment Maki, I’d like to do something similar (I keep looking at all the spare bandwidth etc. I have on my hosting package) but the problem I perceive is time & content.
My 3 existing blogs, which are not really seriously monetized, take a lot of time & effort-where would I find the content for lots of others without falling into the trap of re-blogging or plagiarism? I know it can be done, I’m just not sure how….
Great idea. I have two blogs and that keeps me busy! Will keep an eye on your progress.
Great idea. I love your encouragious words. I am going to
implement these technique in my website.
7 blogs in 7 days….
I wonder how long it takes to you to set up a blog completely. OK, with practice that time gets shorter but one day is impressive time!
It would be nice to read something about quick setting of the blog.
This is going to be interesting!!!
Maki – I guess I’m echoing everybody here that this sounds interesting. Are you proposing that you will write fresh, new, original content for each of the 7 new sites daily?
I would be most interested in hearing about how you overcome that issue in your first posts back here on how the experiment is going.
Best of luck!
7B is easy to create but to maintain it for 7 days and 7 different niches it might get a full time duty, especially if you are somebody like my self or Maki that does not copy and paste majority of the text
I already have 30 blogs created but only 4 that I update on daily basis , and thanks god I got time for it @ work and home. Oh i forgot! I work from home!
Good luck Maki , are we going to see any status on revenue ?
Good luck on the project. As for me I will stay with my only blog:) It is hard to update it on a regular basis anyway:)
@Mark from Bloglyne.com,
I believe I will be coming up with some content for the first 7 days but as I’ve mentioned, I’ll largely be outsourcing them to other writers and bloggers. More on my overall strategy in the next few post updates.
@JuliaxXx
It will be almost impossible to show any revenue after 7 days because it takes time for the blogs and their content to be indexed.. and for them to rank on search engines. However, I will most definitely disclose revenue earnings in the near future (perhaps a month from now) because I’m sure everyone would be interested in that. ^-^
Maki,
I think you have the right spirit, there is no point waxing on about the various benefits of this or that if you don’t have first hand experience of it.
I have recently come back to the web after a hiatus of about 4 years and have been scrambling to catch up. In the past week alone I have opened profiles on Digg, Delicious, Twitter, tumblr, mybloglog, jaiku. I have been turning things over in my mind on how to monetize the five or so odd blogs I have lying around the place.
Most people would say where would I find the time for all that, but I assume you are talking about one setup and a post for each, each day. Most people underestimate the power of the niche, if you have something that people want and you are the only one that supplies it you still have a monopoly no matter how small the market.
This is a great challenge and one that I am willing to take up, I’ve never been one to sit on the sidelines.
I would love to do this… Maybe after I get my first blog “running” full-time I’ll do the same thing. I have a ton of ideas for other blogs, but I’m having enough issues getting the current site up-to speed.
–
Kevin
http://technogeek.org/
This is an idea I’ve wondered about, too. I have the same concerns as most here that it would simply take too much time, though. As for outsourcing the blogging, that’s a cool idea if the revenue-sharing deal is lucrative. With that said, that seems to be the biggest problem: how to entice someone to write for a blog that’s not making much money yet…
Nice idea, thanks!
-Dave
Ride it like you stole it!
I have a blog in the works on a domain I’ve had for over a year and done nothing with- I have a difficult enough time thinking of worthy posts for my main blog and the idea was brought to me by a good blogging friend of mine to make the new blog a community effort. Monetizing the blog will be at the forefront, but my question is- if you outsource other bloggers- are you sharing in the revenue? I’m interested in seeing how this works for you.
That is aggressive. I am afraid I cannot take care of the sites I already have set up, but will be watching for your reports.
Great idea! I came up with similar decision, and am making about one blog a month, so now I possess about 8 blogs, on similar niches (that bring some little money each). I want to experiment with new keywords, and put a challenge to myself to have 20 blogs by the end of this year, with a definite AdSense income.
Dudes,
Are these blogs that you write frequent post on, or similar to mini made for adsense ads? I don’t see how you can keep up with it. I meant MFAs, “Made For Adsense” mini sites.
Thanks
@digitalnomad,
I’ve mentioned this several times in the comment section alone but I’ll just repeat it for your benefit: Outsourcing content work.
If I’m going to start a MFA site, I should have titled this post the ‘Seven Day MFA challenge’ instead. I’m not talking about scraper sites but blogs with unique content.
@Beth,
Outsourcing can mean revenue share or just a per-post/monthly payment arrangement with the blogger in question.. there are several ways to actually go about it.
I’m just getting into the same thing myself*
i realize my $B Baloney Blog is scattered all over the Map & is more fer Entertainment – i have to Focus on Blogs that are going to make me $$$!!!
I have a full time job and can’t do 7 blogs in a week. I will eventually be creating several blogs but maybe in 7 months.
All the best and I will be definitely be here regularly for your updates.
sounds like an interesting project that I might just join ya on.
I already have a list of several blogs I wouldn’t mind creating just to see if I can narrow down a focus.
I think I could probably start 7 blogs in 7 days but after that they would go silent. I already have 7 blogs but I only actively post on one of them. Coming up with more than 3 or 4 interesting posts a day and in different niches is hard for a part time blogger.
I’m very anxious to hear about how you outsource your writing. Where to find bloggers, how much to pay them, how to predict your future income to figure out how much to pay them, etc, etc.
This should be an interesting 7 days. Good luck!
If you are cash strapped, instead of hiring people to write articles for you, you can always go to sites that offer you free articles to post. Some blogs also allow you to use their articles. I have a few site under “Articles Links” in my blog http://myblog-log.blogspot.com
Anthony,
Thanks for your feedback.. I’ll take your questions into consideration and will reflect upon them in some upcoming posts.
I’m sure you’ve already decided on the specific niches you are using for the remaining blogs, but I have a suggestion:
Start a new blogger blog.
I just finished ranting about the lack of new blogger focused blogs. I bet you could really make this idea a winner!
Accepted your challenge:
http://redrory.com/2007/05/26/i-accept-your-challenge-mr-dosh-dosh/
Thanks Rory, all the best for your blog!
Donovan,
I’ve read your post and that sounds like a great idea. There is certainty a market for teaching those who are seeking to get started in the blogging field.
For those of you who are a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of developing and maintaining multiple blogs, remember that they don’t all have to be “text” based. Consider mixing in photo and video centric blogs, or a combination of the two. Maki had an excellent post on this very topic…How to Make Money with a Video Blog. These types of blogs are typically much easier to build and update, as well as potentially very profitable.
@Maki – Is there an update?
Yes, maki, how about an update? I realize you didn’t want to hint too much at the 7 blogs in question, but I note it’s been a month (+) now. How many of the 7 did you actually get launched, how many have been updated, are any making money, page rank, Alexa rank changes, etc., etc. Don’t lame me for asking so many questions, it was you who laid out the challenge
By chance, I’ve been busy with a project like that. Of course it’s not “7 blogs in 7 days” but I’m at least trying to increase the number of my blogs these days and learn some lessons from the whole process but its really hard!
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