Thanks, Andres!

Time flies… It’s almost January, so first quarterly update will be out soon!

Dim

Hi, Prashant,

Backlinks are essential if you want your site to build authority over time and not get outranked by others. But, in the beginning, what moves the needle is content.

I personally focus on link building only after I’ve published 20-30 articles on a new site. Hope that helps!

Dim

Thanks & Regards

Hi, Sam!

You’re not being negative at all; it’s important to think critically about one’s investments and discuss them from both positive and negative angles.

Here’s how I see it:

I’ve invested about $5.7k in the site so far and recouped about $1.2 of it. Considering that the site is 1 year old, built on a new domain, and monetized for 3½ months, I do see this as good progress.

At least in my experience, it’s rare for a site to recoup 100% of its investment in Year 1, especially if it isn’t built on an aged domain and you’re not aggressively building links (which, in turn, adds greater risk). I see this on maybe 1 of 5 of the sites I build, so I consider it the exception rather than the rule.

Of course, this is my approach. Others are probably able to get there faster, especially if their goal is to build cheaply and exit early, which is just as good of a way to do business in this space, even if dissimilar.

I think it’s easy to find buyers for websites right now. This site in particular has a well-kept captain’s log, steady verifiable growth, and plenty of opportunities to do things differently and/or more aggressively.

That said, I also think it’s early. I can do more in Year 2 and sell it for more later (or just keep it and keep milking or growing it).

Dim

Hey there, Sheldon,

Great question. No, I haven’t written anything about this yet. But you’ve given me food for thought, either for the blog or when I finally start that YouTube channel.

When I work with freelancers, I hold a weekly 30-minute meeting where I give my feedback on their work, and we exchange thoughts on how to produce good content. I also have a Discord channel for my team and am available to any of my writers via email. I see this as a necessary investment of time to build an engaged team.

I also give them access to the tools I use and train them on how to make the most of them. It’s a win/win. I get engaged people who learn more and more as they work with me; they get more than just the average writing gig and build new skills by the week.

My best writers get free coaching if they decide to build sites of their own, too. My goal is to retain the best people and make myself as redundant as I can.

Finally, my writers and I keep a team wiki with a knowledge base on how to produce great content in Atlassian. Nothing fancy; just bulleted lists of the best practices and non-negotiables for each site in the portfolio.

When working with agencies, I try to have monthly catch-ups with an account manager where I share honest and upfront feedback. If that feedback is listened to and incorporated into the work, we keep working together. Else, I discontinue and change to a different supplier.

Dim

Appreciate you following along, G!

Can’t believe it’s been one year since I started this site. Time flies! Stick around, though, the upcoming case study will be worth the read every month too =)

Dim

Thank you, Roy!