Whitehat VRE Empire: Why Multiple Sites Make Sense

As we get started with building our virtual estate empire, we have to ask ourselves this question: Do we build a network or small sites or one or two really large sites?

The answer is that it’s better to create a network of sites. There are several reasons for this, but the most important reason is that you simply get more links with more sites. More links generally means more traffic. More traffic means more money.

One of the things you’ll do to promote your sites, for example, is submit them to various web directories. In general, each website can only be submitted once to any given directory. So if you have one gigantic website, you only get one link back from the directory. And that link is from a single category. If you have twenty websites, each website can get its own directory link from a very targeted category. You’ll see a similar pattern with social bookmarking sites.

Then there are the links between your own sites, which will carry more weight than links within sections of a site. Yes, Google knows they’re all your sites as soon as you put your AdSense code on them, but so what? As long as you’re linking smartly between sites (links from similarly-themed sites — see How To Link Multiple Sites) then you’ll benefit.

Then there are the other reasons for using multiple sites:

The downside to having multiple sites is that there’s more to manage. When Google requires you to change the privacy policy on your sites, for example, you’ll have to do it N times. You’ll also have to track domains and web hosting accounts.

Then there are the expenses for domain name registration and web hosting services. It’s cheaper to run a single site than a network of sites.

But the advantages of having an AdSense network outweigh the management effort, in my mind. So that’s what we’re going to do in this series: build our virtual real estate empire using a network of websites.

Next we’ll look at creating the first site in our network.

May 8, 2009 | Filed Under AdSense | 17 Comments 

Whitehat VRE Empire: Preliminaries

Time to embark on our whitehat virtual real estate (VRE) adventure. The goal is to create a profitable network of AdSense sites with additional monetization via affiliate links where appropriate.

Let me state at the outset, however, that I make no guarantees as to how well such a “VRE empire” will do, there are simply too many factors that come into play. My hope is that you’ll follow along with me and build your own network, but I can’t promise you’ll make money with your network. I can’t even promise that with the one I’m about to create in front of your eyes! Although I have some strong advantages to start with — I have a couple of “old” sites with fairly high PR that I can use for linking purposes, plus a well-read blog for quick indexing, and a lot of experience building sites — the fact that I’ll be doing this all in public will be a disadvantage. I’m sure some clown will try to do some click fraud to get me kicked out of AdSense — it won’t be the first time it’s happened! No risk, no reward, though.

Sign Up For AdSense, Analytics and Webmaster Tools

If you’re not already an AdSense publisher, please go to the main AdSense page and sign up for the AdSense program. You’ll need an existing site or blog to apply, so you may have to wait. It can take a few days to get approval, so best start now.

You’ll also want to sign up for Google Analytics. Now I know some people will object to this, but if you’re using AdSense on your sites it’s not like Google doesn’t know which sites are yours. And since we’re being totally whitehat, there’s nothing to hide from Google, anyhow.

Finally, sign up for Google Webmaster Tools, a free website management center that lets you see how Google crawls your site. Same argument here as with Analytics — Google will know all about your sites anyhow, so why not take advantage of the free info you can get from Google?

Pay For Domains And Web Hosting

You can build your VRE empire pretty much for free, but there are some costs: you have to pay for domain registration and for web hosting. (Technically, you can avoid web hosting costs by building your sites on free services, but I don’t recommend that — you lose control of your empire. It’s like building on leased land. You want to own the land.)

As I’ve mentioned before, I have a strict separation-of-church-and-state policy with respect to domain registrars and web hosting services. Don’t host sites with your domain registrar. It will save you grief down the road, trust me.

For domain registration, shop around. If you need privacy on the domains, I usually recommend 1&1, because privacy is available for free and the price isn’t bad. If privacy isn’t a concern, you can go with the big players like GoDaddy. (Be sure to Google for “GoDaddy coupon codes” before paying, there’s always an active coupon code that gets you .com domains much cheaper than the stated retail price.)

For web hosting, you’ll want a hosting account that supports multiple domains, ideally an unlimited number of domains. You won’t be needing a lot in terms of bandwidth and disk space per site, so usually the smallest web hosting account that offers unlimited domains is adequate, and they’re pretty cheap. Check out DreamHost for a popular service. You might consider using a reseller account, though, which while a bit more complicated to manage may make it easier to sell a site later on. I like ResellerZoom for reseller web hosting. But shop around.

That’s it for the preliminaries. Next, though, we’re going to discuss why we’re going with a network of sites as opposed to a single site with subdomains. I have my reasons!

May 7, 2009 | Filed Under AdSense | 10 Comments 

Building a Whitehat Virtual Real Estate Empire

As I mentioned not too long ago, I’m returning this blog to its original purpose as a purveyor of AdSense help and information. My laptop problems have distracted me as of late, but I can finally move forward with a new series of posts.

I’m calling this series “Building a Whitehat Virtual Real Estate Empire”. Essentially, it’s about building your own network of low-maintenance, totally legitimate AdSense sites.

I’m sure you’ve heard the term virtual real estate — VRE for short — before, it’s certainly not my invention. The “empire” bit is perhaps an overstatement, but it sure sounds good. All VRE empires are based on the creation of multiple monetized niche sites.

I want to emphasize that I’m only going to be discussing legitimate, above-the-board methods in this series. If you’re interested in “blackhat” methods, best search elsewhere.

The Whitehat VRE Empire Series

Here is the complete series so far, the list will be updated as I post them:

  1. Whitehat VRE Empire: Preliminaries
  2. Whitehat VRE Empire: Why Multiple Sites Make Sense
  3. Whitehat VRE Empire: The First Site
  4. Whitehat VRE Empire: Building The First Site
  5. Whitehat VRE Empire: Creating the First Site’s Content
  6. Whitehat VRE Empire: Deploying the First Site
  7. Whitehat VRE Empire: Publicizing the First Site (coming soon)

Please bookmark this page so you can easily access all parts of this series.

Resources and Additional Reading

As well, you may be interested in one or more of these products to help you build your whitehat VRE empire:

The resources above are all optional. You need a hosting service, of course, and you have to pay for domain registrations, but you can build your AdSense network without using commercial products or paid services. At some point you may want to “outsource” some of the work, however, and some of those resources may be useful.

You may also want to read the following:

Remember, though, there’s a point of diminishing returns when it comes to reading about making money online — if you don’t act on what you learn, you won’t make any money.

Try to follow along with what I do. Learn and profit from experience, not from being a couch potato.

May 6, 2009 | Filed Under AdSense | 20 Comments 

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