One of my most-read posts is still getting comments six years after I wrote it

I’m always happy to see when posts from years ago continue to live on and bring active conversation and discussion. Every once and a while I write a post that somehow magically transforms into a discussion board of its own. One particular post that is still going strong I wrote back in 2011 and yesterday it hit 138 comments – it’s about why it’s so hard to make money with directory sites and you can check it out here.

While I wrote the post six years ago I still think it covers a topic that is still very relevant today. I don’t think this is something that is specific to Domainers though and if I were to go back in time and change the title I’d change the title to “Why most people won’t make a dime with directory sites.”

Still, six years later and I see the same being true and actually extending beyond directory sites. The fact is that too many people think that building a website and monetizing one are the same thing. It’s easy to spend a good chunk of change on a great-looking site, the problem is, you haven’t spent a dime sending traffic to it. A great website with no traffic is like an incredible store that would make millions in the middle of Manhattan, and putting it in the middle of the desert.

From directory sites to eCommerce stores, just putting together a website that has the potential to make money isn’t enough to actually make money. Companies spend a lot of money paying people like Google and Facebook to send traffic to their site. It’s not enough to have a budget for your website, you need a budget for getting people to your site and actually performing some action that makes you money.

It’s probably time for me to write an article about why most people that think they’re going to build a money-making website are actually probably going to burn a lot of money building an awesome website that doesn’t make any money. But I’ll have to save that for another day. Thanks to everyone that has been commenting on my post from way back in 2011, always fun to see things like this happen.

Of course, I’d love to hear from you. Do you think what I said back in 2011 still holds true? Comment and let your voice be heard!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton