Plans for the future…
The last post that I wrote was me brain-dumping my thoughts on what project to do next. I was unsure of what to do with Spy Review, and what I could do with my time… particularly with growing my investments. After a lot of thought, my ideas are starting to form.
I’ve learnt to not worry about too far into the future. I’ve learnt to think about what I need now, and then to have vague plans for the future. These vague plans take the form of goals that I want to achieve at some stage in my life.
Something that’s an issue now is that I’m not 100% happy with my day-job. I think its because I just dislike working for others. I want to be my own boss. That in mind, I’ve started making plans to achieving that, and doing so within 2-5 years. i.e. within that time, have my own businesses that provide me with a salary sufficient to live from and leave my day job.
As a result, I’ve set up a new site called Power Dosh that’s going to chronicle my journey, and everything I learn before, up to and during my ventures. JagoHarry.co.uk will remain to be about me, rather than my business interests.
Wish me luck!
Moving on - so what next?
I’m starting to reach my limit when it comes to websites now. Admittedly the recent Google rape of Spy Review from a Google Page Rank of 5 to 0 has been an influence. Although I personally don’t place much value in Google Page Rank, many others do, which affects the potential sale value of Spy Review.
I had been toying with the idea of selling Spy Review for a while, but the progressive changes from PR5 to PR4 to PR3 to PR0 was beyond what I deserved. Spy Review did have some paid links (as the drop in page rank is supposedly based on), but I added nofollow attributes to all sitewide links before the latest drop from PR3 to PR0. Google have not even given me a hint to why the sudden drop either.
That aside, Spy Review does have a solid income each month from Google Adsense, and continues to have solid search engine rankings in the top search engines for the most popular spy related terms. However, I am finding it increasingly difficult to find the time and motivation to write high quality articles for the site. I’d prefer to sell it on whilst it still makes money and I can get some value from it.
If I do sell my portfolio of websites, it then begs the question, “what next?”. I’ve enjoyed having the extra cash from running the sites. But I’ve often resented the amount of time I’ve need to dedicate to them to actually make them profitable. You can’t just make a website and hope it brings in cash… it needs active work and promotion.
I haven’t felt particularly ‘fulfilled’ from running the sites either. Sure the money is useful, but money isn’t everything. If it wasn’t for the extra cash that I’ve had through my sites, I simply would not have been able to afford my own place, nor afford the DIY costs needed to spruce it up. At the end of the day, I achieved my target of getting my own place. Now that my interest is weakening, it appears to be a good time to move on to something else.
The temptation to have a complete break from webby stuff is a strong one. Just sell on, take a break, and see what else takes my fancy!
Spreading the webmaster luurve
It’s taken a little while, but I finally came up with an idea to help Annie run her own website and earn some extra cash. After brainstorming a few ideas, we came up with the name “Heaven’s Paradox“, and Annie came up with the great tagline “Where angels fear to tread…”.
The idea is to use the blog as a bit of a whore and sell reviews and links, etc. I’ve started doing it myself with Peep At Life and it is appreciably profitable. I’m helping Annie using my experience to promote the website, and we’re slowing starting to see the benefits. Admittedly, it is only a week old at the moment!
One website sold, another purchased
So I’ve now sold another one of my directories (itrcc.net), which was based on a fairly highly ranked domain, but was terrible in terms of being a brandable name. I bought the domain about a year ago, before I had learnt anything about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
However, I did earn some money from it from link sales and from the sale of the site, so it was far from a being a failure. I still have 4 web directories left in my portfolio, and my ideal situation would be to reduce that to just 2. However, .co.uk domains are a pain to sell, since you need to complete a load of documentation and pay a transfer fee to Nominet. This hassle tends to put off buyers too. That said, it does protect domain owners. I’ll probably sell the directories in 1Q2008 though.
I’ve also purchased a new domain and I’m developing a new blog PeepAtLife.com for the purpose of selling paid blog posts. It will take me about 3 weeks to get it to a standard high enough that will derive a profit.
Home DIY - Decorating - 2 rooms now done!
I’ve now completely decorated the bedroom and study area in my flat, so I no longer have pink or purple walls. It’s taken me a long time to decorate that room, but I’ve finally done it. It’s surprising how long it takes to decorate a room, since it took me 5 days working all day. Admittedly, I did absolutely everything that was needed, including patching up the holes, painting the woodwork (which includes 3 doors), painting the ceiling twice, painting the new coving 3 times, and painting the walls twice. This is in addition to varnishing new and existing shelves!
All I have left is a pair of shelves to varnish, and I need to fit a new blind in the study. I’ve fitted everything else now. It looks really nice now that I’ve finished, but it was a painful journey. I hate decorating! But now I’ve got to start on the other rooms, as I plan to get the whole flat done by Christmas. The rest of the flat will not be any easier than the bedroom, except that I have no shelves to varnish. I’ll have to do it in my diminishing spare time too, so that’s why I’ve given myself about 3.5 months to do it!
DirectorySpy.com now sold
I’ve now sold DirectorySpy.com, and I wish Scott the very best of luck with owning and running the site! I’ll be subscribing to the site myself to see what changes he has in store!
Changes in the JagoNetwork
I’ve started my changes in the JagoNetwork now, and I am selling off one of my popular sites DirectorySpy.com on the Digital Point forums. I also am planning to sell one of my directories, and kill off one of my sites.
This is to greatly simplify the network so that I can spend more time on other projects. This also means I can give my current websites more time for development.
Changing the network…
With recent changes in the SEO and webmaster world, I’ve decided to make some big changes to the JagoNetwork. I’m already at the stage where the number of websites I have are difficult to manage. I have plans to sell off a couple of websites, but that will happen at the end of July when a contract expires. For now, I am shifting the emphasis to just a few of my websites.
Lots of Email Problems
I’m having trouble with email on my server at the moment, so any emails sent to any of my email addresses will probably bounce. I’m trying to sort it as soon as possible!
And so it begins…
“Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.”
- Niccolo Machiavelli