[hazlcha]

I've got a few midling sites that provide pocket cash. I've tried PPC advertising, and found that it does not pay for itself. I can keep tweaking them so they'll grow slowly, or strike out in some new directions.

So the other day I sat and brainstormed for new sites to build, or expansions or programs of existing sites. I came up with about four ideas that excited me, three being new sites, and one being a radical new promotion on an existing one.

Each will take time to do properly, some more than others. I want to do them all. And that's the problem.

How do you triage? How do you decide which to do first, and how much do you invest until you know of it's a winner or not?

Experiences and ideas are appreciated.

[DoctorMike]

There may be a more scientific approach, but if not, you could always do a mix like this:

50% of your time on the one most likely to bring near-term growth
25% of your time on the one most likely to bring long-term growth
25% of your time on the one that you find the most interesting

I like mixing things so that you're making progress on all fronts, but with the largest block of time focused on likely results. But there are probably many different takes on whether this is a good approach, and how to divide the mix.

[adFinityJoe]

Haz,

In regard to the question of how much to invest, I think it's appropriate to look at an affiliate site (even individual ones out of your entire portfolio) as unique business opportunities. Imagine if you were investing in brick-and-mortar businesses, and decide the appropriate investment amount.

For instance, if you have one site that you believe will be able to net $50 of revenue for ever 1000 visitors, start putting in perspective how to profit quickly. Obviously if you're spending $0.10 per click to get people there, the math just isn't in your favor, so you need to find ways to retain visitors, get them to refer their friends, and work on ways to reduce your long-term costs.

With that in mind, you may have to spend $200 to get your first $50. But the hope is that the next $200 will net you $75-100. And then the next $200 gets you to $150-200. You see where I'm going with this. Assume that you'll have to invest heavily in a good idea early on just to get traction.

In regards to finding the site that's right for you... I think Mike had some good observations, although I'd argue that you might want to simply focus on the single BEST idea and put 90% of your energy in to that early on. See if you yield results. If not, shift to another idea. The only reason that you'd really want to split your development time is if these things are all time-sensitive ideas (ie they need to be up before anyone else enters that market).

Good luck, and please share how things progress!

[MichaelColey]

Choose the one that you think will return the best results for your time. Or, if one is simpler than the others, get it out of the way first. Go ahead and pick domain names for all of them and register them all, but beyond that I would recommend focusing your attention on them one at a time. One completed site does better than four partially completed ideas. Once you finish one, move on to the next.

[netnow22]

There may be a more scientific approach, but if not, you could always do a mix like this:

50% of your time on the one most likely to bring near-term growth
25% of your time on the one most likely to bring long-term growth
25% of your time on the one that you find the most interesting

I like mixing things so that you're making progress on all fronts, but with the largest block of time focused on likely results. But there are probably many different takes on whether this is a good approach, and how to divide the mix.

Thanks Doctor! That helps

[Stephanie Harris]

I would just add that if you feel most passionately about one of these ideas (i.e. the subject, angle, or product focus is really interesting for you and you're personally jazzed about it) that's the one you should start with, even if the other ideas seem like they'll have a better ROI on paper. It will feel like fun, not work, and you'll work harder at making that venture succeed even more because the personal investment is so much greater than the financial one.

[hazlcha]

Thanks, everyone, for your input. My gut tells me to focus on one project mainly, while taking baby steps on another project. Doing different things seems to give me balance, but without one strong emphasis it feels that I'm scattered. I will make the call on which to do first, and try to be thorough but speedy.