I don't mean to offend anyones practises here however I think it must be said.

If you are soley concentrating on adsense or any other business model that requires a huge number of visitors in order to make a significant income then you are putting yourself in a dangerous position.

When I first joined IM forums a couple of years ago I too created a directory as I thought it was the best or perhaps only way to make money online as most of the member were doing that - I'm sure many others got the same impression I did.

However running a directory and focusing on adsense are probably the 2 most difficult methods of making a full time income online. I'm not saying it's impossible but it sure is hard and if you are going the adsense way, you definitely need thousands of page views per day to make any worthwhile income.

Thankfully I realised I would be better off going down a different route, and one which I wouldnt need thousands or millions of page views per day, just a couple of hundred

I think a lot of people would be better off selling information products and building their own mailing list. Infact everyone should be building a list, even if its not the main focus of your site.

With a list you would only need a measly 3 people to sign up per day and you would get 1000 subscribers in 1 year. Get 500 visitors a day and youd have about 200 subscribers a day if your page is good (that would be 73,000 subscribers per year). Of course the figure is slighly bloated but surely you get the point, getting thousands of page views per day isnt needed to make big money.

Not trying to tell anyone what to do, but perhaps it's time you reacessed the direction you are going? Those of you who need to will know who you are

For the rest good luck and keep doing what you're doing.

Just something to think about

Very interesting post. I have a question for you, that I have asked here and not had answers. For a long time I have been wanting to create lists for several of my sites. I plan to use the list to send out updates of new content or affiliate offers that may interest that specific group.

I am unsure how to go about this. What do you suggest doing as far as having a signup box on my site, to managing the list, to sending out the messages.

Hi John..list building can be very profitable so I think it's a path you should go down.

I'm by no means an expert but I have a lot of knowlege on the subject so I'll do my best to help.

:: How to Grow and Profit From Opt-In Lists And Web Site Traffic is a cheap membership site that is run by jimmy d brown and he is the best in the business when it comes to building lists I highly recommend you join up even for a month or so and read all his resources. He also has a fantastic product which goes through the whole list building process which can be found at :: List P.R.O.F.I.T. System ::

Now for my own advice the keys are to build a relationship with your list, provide them valuable free content and mix it up with paid products. Involve them, ask them for their input, ask them what they want from you, ask them if they need help etc. It's common sense stuff really, treat them well, don't email them too often, 1 email a week is usually best.

You will need an autrosponder to create and manage the list AWeber Autoresponder & Newsletters: Unlimited Follow Up Autoresponders Increase Email Deliverability. are the best.

Hope that helps

Cool, thanks for the tips. For the next while I am going to be revamping my older projects instead of making new ones so this will be a great time for me to add a list. I may just start out with a simple form to submit their email address that goes to an email address I own and just keep the list in a text file or something, just to see how many submissions I get. Once it gets over 100 people, I will try to get a better system going.

I will keep you posted on how it goes.