100 BANS Sites: The Harsh Reality
764 words | Last Updated: May 1, 2008 |
If you're thinking of 100 BANS sites (eBay niche stores) hoping to earn something $100 a day (eventually), here's a quick dose of reality. Yes, this pretty much means that I've seen some techies and newbies go through this project because they were inspired by Vic Franqui of Blogger Unleashed.
So, what are the realities that you have to prepare for? Here goes...
1. Setting up domain names is BORING. While it is true that buying 100 domain names in one go from one registrar allows you to easily point those domains to your web host provider, actually setting up those different accounts can leave you feeling numb.
Imagine, you will need to log into your web hosting account, indicate the domain name, set the PHP version to 4 point something, choose a username for your domain, and assign a password. Sounds fairly easy and straightforward enough...
...until you get to your 12th domain. That's when you'll notice some fatigue in your neck and lowerback, or the sounds of your friends having fun outside the place where you're working. That's when you start to ask yourself: "What have I gotten into?"
Some people are using Domain Dashboard (www.domain-dashboard.com), which helps automate the process of setting up your accounts. It assumes that you're hosted in a WHM / CPanel environment, which will be the case if you get the Reseller Hosting package at HostGator.
2. Setting up mySQL is BORING. It will feel quite mechanical creating a database name, a username which will access your database, plus of course the corresponding password.
From the videos, however, it does not look like Domain Dashboard is capable of setting up mySQL accounts automatically.
3. Uploading or FTP'ing BANS files to your webserver is BORING. Yes, some people have talked about using Cpanel and skeleton directories so that whenever you create a new account, it will already have the required BANS files. But if you plan to build your site into something more than a niche store, then you may need to adopt a different approach.
You can zip your BANS files and upload that zip file. Some webservers will automatically unzip your uploaded zip file, which means you'll be able to save time (because you'll be uploading a smaller zip file).
If you don't want to fall asleep while getting your web sites ready, then outsource this kind of work. If you don't have the budget, then be prepared by making sure you're quite alert. Perhaps you can take a break every 30 minutes or so, in order to preserve your sanity.
After you get through the initial stage of setting up your sites and adding a bit of content, you'll need to work on sending traffic to your BANS sites. It's not that easy, though. Even if this or that guru says that getting backlinks is the easiest thing in the world, that may not be the case.
Especially if you don't quite enjoy writing.
If you want more backlinks, you will need to find a way to publish articles in different places online, and have those articles provide links that point back to your BANS sites. Alternatively, you can build a high traffic magnet of a blog right there in a folder of your BANS site, and use that to funnel traffic to your eBay store.
And that's something that can be quite challenging particularly if you prefer to read, rather than write. Then again, it doesn't have to be you all the time. You don't need to do everything, right? If you walk around long enough, and if you look around closely enough, you will be able to find people to help you with your 100 BANS Sites Project.
Right now, there are some groups who have already put up 50 BANS sites, and they're starting to burn out. Some are getting disillusioned because they aren't seeing the returns they hoped to receive. Others are elated that they have already recovered their initial investment, but the earnings are slowing down.
BANS is a long-term project. And there's no guarantee you will earn a bajillion dollars. But if you're one of the relatively few people who can sustain themselves over the long-run, and if you're willing to take on the financial, mental, emotional and physical challenges, then go ahead and build your BANS sites today. FTW! 
"100 BANS Sites: The Harsh Reality"
First Posted: May 1, 2008 | Filed in: Make Money Online
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Gotta love BANS but I am not to the point where I need the Dashboard.
I currently have only 4 BANS sites. I feel the need to master BANS a bit more before jumping into too many sites and finding I made a big blunder.
I do host with HostGator and must say they have been the best. I have only one other hosting service that I used in the past that handled support as well but I found them too expensive at the time but HostGator is so affordable.
I don't have Domain Dashboard at this point but along with my 4 BANS site I do have 15 other sites and my daily routine for checking them all is getting to be a bit of a pain in the behind. A good reason to purchase DD.
Once I am comfortable with BANS I do plan to start creating at least one new site per week for a while and I can see that being a time sucking problem the more I get.
That's true, James. DD is a great tool for people working with more than 50 domains. Mastering BANS will take about 2 days. It's the development of content to accompany those BANS sites that will take quite a while (although there are folks who just put up a store and don't add more than 3 paragraphs of content).
I like the look of the BANS examples you mentioned in your blog.
You are right- it is hard and often tedious work. I am in the middle of a BANS experiment myself, but I had a few hundred domain names prior to thinking about BANS. I have blogs, different types of affiliate sites, and other product and information sites.
Like any business, most people see "get rich quit" but few do the work that needs to be done. Even WITH the hard work there is no guarantee of success.
Personally, I don't want to brag about myself but I think I am talented/skilled at some of things needed to be successful in the niche marketing business- such as picking good domains, writing good content, and knowing what/when to delegate. I have spent hours with people in IM and email discussions trying to guide them and even when I spell every step out 99% of people do not "get it" or fail before they begin. People will target bad niches, pick terrible domains, go out and get 100s of links with no/wrong anchor text, not research keywords, you name it.
As for the long-term, some of my best domains are ones that I completely abandoned YEARS ago, but I had the longterm approach to leave them on the back burner and redevelop. For example I built a site in November 2004 that never made a dime, but I had a very targeted domain and KW. fast Forward to late 2007 and I was getting a trickle of traffic. I changed one link on the site and started making at least $400-600 a month. I understand thats not a "lot" of money but for a site I haven't touched in 3 years, get less than 20 uniques a day, and costs about $10 a year to maintain- not bad. I have another domain selling a serious business service that bills in the 3-4 figures monthly and pays SPIFFs and residuals. basically the same deal, 3 years of no income then all of a sudden 10 sales in a month, most with bonuses and 2-3 year residual contracts.
Yeah, I'm going to make 200-300 BANS sites and see what happens. if BANS doesnt work, something else will. It can be boring, but who isnt bored with their work? Many people spend 40 or more hours a week bored out of their minds, so why cant they dedicate the same bored hours to this.
That's great, Greg! And the good thing about the things you publish online, nothing is wasted. Somewhere down the road, even dormant web sites have a way of suddenly surprising us. Here's to more web sites in the future.
Nice article or information that you have here.. anyhow its feel on that individual opinion.. there is nothing wrong to find incomes in internet, but the way to get it certainly will be judge by people.. but anything can surprise us...