How Many Websites Do You Need To Make A Decent Profit Online?

A common question which arises on the various "make money online" dis0cussion forums is exactly how many websites you need to actually make a decent profit.

Someone will say they're building Adsense sites, for example, and ask how many will they need before they can quit their job.

Understandably when we hear stories of someone who is successful online we want to try and emulate them to become successful ourselves as quickly as possible.

However there are two factors you need to take into account with a question like this which makes any answer you might get vastly inaccurate.

Firstly, we need to understand that different types of websites tend to make vastly different sums of money. For example, an Adsense site may only make a few cents a day even with hundreds of visitors. An ebook site might make a few dollars and a site selling a high-level course may make hundreds fo dollars each day.

So don't think that if someone says that have 10 sites that you need 10 too. What are they doing with those 10 sites to make money? If they're selling something profitable like ebooks, you're unlikely to make anywhere near as much if your sites are only monetized using Adsense.

The other factor is that different niches have different levels of profitability. Frequently I will speak to people who have 10 or more sites, but make 90% of their profits from just a small number of these and I have to admit that I am in a similar boat myself.

The same applies for Adsense and all the other standard money-making techniques. It may be that you get a dollar or more per click for expensive niches like credit cards, mortgages or legal advice. But equally you might not be able to get enough traffic in these highly competitive markets to actually make much money from each one.

I have between 50 and 100 websites yet make most of my profit from just a half dozen of them. I could get rid of the rest and my income would barely change but often it's necessary to go through so much trial and error, learning what you're doing and testing different markets before you actually hit gold.

Don't be afraid to blaze your own trail and try things out for yourself. Just because one person has failed with a certain money-making technique doesn't necessarily mean you'll suffer the same fate. As an example, I have never had any luck with pay per click marketing while some other people I know make 5 figures a month through it.

So really while I hate to sound like a killjoy, there simply is no "right" answer to how many websites you need to be successful online. Some people earn a fulltime living (and then some!) from just one website while others earn just a few dollars per site but own literally hundreds.

The skill is having the focus to keep on trying things out until you find something that works for you. When you find something that works well - and produces results every time you apply - it is then time to ignore everything and just scale up that winning concept. And it's this scaling that can be so exciting - and profitable.

So try some new things out and keep experimenting and refuse to quit until you find your own system that works. Then ruthlessly apply it until you achieve the level of profits you want.