I would like to break down the numbers for a mini-site project I just completed and some plans.

Development costs:

1. Domain Name $7.05
2. Theme $0
3. Install $15
4. Logo $30
5. Articles $65
6. Article Re-Write $15

Total: $132.05

Time spent was about two hours managing the logo creation, site setup and article implementation.

I probably paid a little more than some of you out there. I’m not tech savvy so didn’t do the WP install and I didn’t feel like doing the rewrites for the articles. For me the extra couple of dollars spent is worth the time saved.

With very little work I have already recovered $100 of my initial investment. I sold three links a few months back on another poker site so I just contacted them to see if they were interested again. One of the three responded and purchased a link on the home page along with a review article.

Within the next week or two my goal is to have sold at least one more link at $35 to break even on the development costs.
Upadate (1/12) I just sold another link for $35 and have broken even on this project.

Now that I have broken even on the project I a few choices…

• Sell the mini-site as is for $100-$250 (take the money and run)
• Leave it alone until the next page rank update (with a higher pr i can sell links for more)
• Continue selling links and work on SEO (build up and make real money)

At this point I’m really not sure what I will do. Because I’m not into building up my mini-sites I’ll probably go with one of the first two options. Now for everyone out there wondering what if I selected the last option. Well, affiliate programs like Party Poker pay $75 just for someone signing up and playing poker. I also have a learn how to play poker banner on the site that pays $23.50 on the initial sale and another $7.50 every month. Real money can be made, it takes effort and time.

A side note for everyone, Google does not allow any of their ads to be displayed on gambling sites. Their is a little trick to this, as long as you are not promoting or directing anyone to an online gambling site you can use Google ads. That decision is up to you, either high paying affiliate sales or Google ads.

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LAST DAY!!!

On December 29th I announced a SECOND CONTEST to follow up on the free mini-site giveaway from last month. Not only is this contest better because of all the prizes but I am about to take it up a notch.

I was talking to Bradley from Site Graduate last night and he told me to drop the entry price from $189 to $149. Personally I think he’s nuts but hey, if he wants to give his stuff away that is up to him. His craziness is my readers gain!

For the people that have already purchased their mini-sites at $189 Bradley will be issuing you a credit with Site Graduate.

This is what you can win (up to $700 in prizes).

• 2 Mini-sites provided by SiteGraduate.com at a $249 retail value each
• 2 $25 GoDaddy gift cards
• 2 HostGator hosting accounts with six months hosting prepaid on each
• 1 Copy of The Domain Game book by David Kesmodel
• Domainer Comic Strip #8 framed and signed by yours truly

The HostGator accounts must be purchased through my affiliate link. Once the account is active for 60 days I can either pay HostGator directly six months hosting at $9.95 a month or send the equivalent monies to your PayPal account.

How to win?

All you have to do is purchase a $189 $149 mini-site from SiteGraduate.com and you will automatically be entered into a raffle. For every mini-site purchase you will get one entry into the raffle. This means if you buy 5 mini-sites you will have 5 chances of winning.

CLICK HERE TO BUY A MINI-SITE AND ENTER THE NEW CONTEST

Contest ends January 15th and the winner will be announced on the 16th.

Let me say this in BIG BOLD letters, BUY YOUR MINI-SITES NOW!!! Bradley has lost his marbles GIVING you a mini-site for $149, you only have until the 15th to take advantage of this.

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Last night I sold xoda.com, a four letter domain name purchased a few months back for $815. I sold it for $640 which is a $175 loss, but guess what, I’m happy to take the loss. Not happy to lose money but happy to to gain that budget for future investing.

Here are a few examples of what I can do with $640.

• 85 hand registered domains with GoDaddy
• 3 site graduate mini-sites
• A good quality keyword domain
• 182 cups of Starbucks coffee, meetings to network with local domainers
• 12 125×125 banners on pretty much any website I choose (branding)

Really the possibilities are endless, I could even buy a couple hundred t shirts or mugs and give them out to you guys, again for branding which is extremely important.

What the extra cash gives me is options and flexibility. I get dozens of emails every month asking me to purchase domain names, some of those people are desperate and need to sell. I hate to say it but in hard economic times a domainer or any business for that matter needs to learn when to take advantage. I wouldn’t even say take advantage of the seller, they are happy to get the cash. What I mean is take advantage of the times and lower pricing. Now is the time to buy the premium domain names.

Besides the blanket statement of buy now I want to say buy smart. Find a niche and buy domain names in that arena. I own hundreds of real estate related domain names, my prior businesses were in that field. I still have thousands of contacts and influence in real estate. My example may be a little extreme, I am fortunate to have built up a real estate contact list. For the majority of you start off with your hobbies and interests. More than likely you will know more people with the same interests. If your a gamer buy gamer domain names. Maybe your buddy wants to start a gaming forum or a games fan site, who will he reach out to when the time comes to buy a domain name. I don’t want to get off topic on how to sell domains but hopefully you get the point.

Back to my loss on xoda.com, I bought into a niche that I didn’t understand and had no end buyer contacts. Do I regret buying a couple hundred four letter domain names, never, it is all part of my domaining education. Will I buy more four letter domains, maybe, but they have to have obvious development potential or at a price I couldn’t pass up. In fact now is the time take to take advantage of me, not because I need the money but because the domains listed are not in my niche. If you are interested check out DomainSubway.com and make some offers. Remember I said take advantage, not abuse or beat me up, those offers will be ignored.

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How much time are you wasting watching TV?

I did some research and found that the average adult watches almost five hours of TV every day. Another source stated that the national average is 20-26 hours per week. After doing the research I looked at myself to see if this is true. It is, I watch about 21 hours of TV every week and more if it is football season.

People, TV time is equivalent to a PART TIME JOB!!!

I’m not going to get into time management, that’s for another topic, but come on. If this is true for you and your not reaching your goals, get off your ass, turn off the TV and put the time into money making avenues.

That’s it, just a quick post to make you think about what you are doing with your time.

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Wow, thank you everyone for the comments about the new theme, site name and direction. I am still making some updates and changes so bare with me over the next few days.

As you already know from my previous post the direction of this site has changed a little. Instead of strictly talking about domain names and the domain world I am going to shed more light on how to make money online. While I learn to make money online I will be sharing those experiences so you can repeat my results, hopefully just the good.

Want to know more about my past, read the who’s cooking page which was just updated.

Goals For 2009

Earn $20,000 a month from virtual real estate by the end of the year. Virtual real estate to me would include domaining, blogs, development, mini-sites, affiliate programs and so forth. Of my goal, at least $5,000 would be from this blog. Yes I said $5,000 from this blog. There are bloggers making $40,000 a month easily. Do me a favor, if you are one of those negative people that think this goal is unobtainable, stop reading now and leave my blog. To be successful you want to surround yourself with successful, like-minded, positive people. If you are a believer and continue to read my site I promise to reward you by learning how to make money online.

Earn $5,000 a month in physical real estate. Honestly this will be a piece of cake, prior to selling my real estate companies seven months ago I was making in excess of seven figures per year. I plan on working a few short sales and take part in some teaching. Two questions I can anticipate being asked is, why am I not doing real estate full time and why only $5,000 a month. Basic answer, I am tired of real estate, bored and burnt out. I plan on spending a max of 10 hours per month (from home) to meet my goal.

Blog at least once per day seven days a week.

Answer emails when I open them. I find myself opening an email and letting it go for a few days. Simple solution, respond immediately.

Unplug! I spend far too much time in front of the computer and not enough time with my family. It is actually pretty sad when you’re having internet withdrawels. The power went out the other night for about an hour or so and all I could think about was getting back on the internet. I think there can be a happy medium to this. I plan on purchasing a laptop shortly, this will allow me to at least be in the same room as my wife and kids while writing an article or researching a project.

I’m not 100% sure on this goal but just maybe loose 10 pounds. I know that sounds girly but for the first time ever I hit the scale and it said over 200 pounds. My kids are running around and saying daddy is 204, blah blah blah.  My normal weight has been low 190′s, I think the holiday and getting up there in age (31) is what’s doing it. Plus I can feel the 10 pounds, it doesn’t feel good. Ok enough of that, lol. I’ll have to really think about this goal. I’m sexy the way I am.

Want to read my wife’s goals? Check out her blog, Mominator.com. I am very proud of her, she is doing very good. She even has a pretty strong following in the mom blog world.

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