I have a question to ask you so let me have your opinions – as full and open as you want to be.
This post might seem self-serving and I apologise for that (@Brandon, apologize) but it could also prove to be valuable for others on a similar journey. I willingly admit that I do not know everything and I seek your wisdom gained from your own experience.
You might be thinking that the answer to the question (below) is as obvious as the picture above indicates, but I would like to hear your opinion on it anyways.
I started nine95.com with the intention of making $9.95 an hour by the end of 2010. That is still my goal. Now, $9.95 an hour is around the minimum wage in Australia for several industries and you might be wondering why I have set it as my goal. The main differences between a job paying the minimum wage and earning that from my online activities are:
- online I plan to be earning 24/7 – $9.95 per hour is equivalent to $87,000 a year
- it can be done from home at times that suit me
- I meet and interact with a lot of interesting people (you for example)
- I get to play with my dog (pictured)
Now to the question. I have several domains and niche sites that I am developing but this is my main blog where I have been posting new material for a couple of months now. I also started www.michaelpedzotti.com a while back as I read about using your name in your domain as good branding practice.
What I would like to hear from you is whether or not I should:
(i) abandon nine95.com and switch over to the named domain
(ii) use nine95.com and keep the other one just ticking over
(iii) set up a regular posting schedule on both
(iv) something else
I would really appreciate your thoughts in the comments below.
For those who do not know much about me, I am an Australian software developer and internet marketer (IM) who is interested in not only developing my own successful online business, but I want to help others plan and build theirs.
I am working on this by developing and selling IM/blogging software tools, how-to guides and publishing a series of reports on everything I do. Some of this material will be offered for free and some will be set up as commercial products.
Last month my income was tracking at around $65 a week from my online efforts. It is not much but it is better than a kick in the pants. It is certainly a whole lot more than I was making two months ago 
Thanks in advance,
Michael Pedzotti
Related posts:
Twitter: anna_haller
says:
Hi Michael,
$65 a week is not bad at all, it’s better than what I’m making:) As for your questions I say focus on one site, whether it be your nine95 site or your other one, choose which one has an established presence so to speak and one that has a good amount of activity and readership. You don’t necessarily have to abandon the other one, I would still try to post on it once a month or so.
Try that for now and as your plans change in the future than you can always tweak what you’re doing as it will be dependent on what your focus is at the time.
Best wishes on whatever path you decide to choose.
Anna
Twitter: Alexwhalley23
says:
Hey Michael.
First, put an N on the end of Australia in your about page (hehe, sorry, considering last post I had to)
I think you should keep this domain as it has a good story behind it and it is unique. look at some of the biggest domains out there, 37signals for instance. This has a nice ring to it too.
This is what I would do:
Keep the existing named domain active with keyword relevant content to whatever product you eventually plan on creating, then in years to come when you have built both the brand name and the product, you can simply have the product available there so that when people search your name, which is the first thing they will do once your famous, they will find your product and buy it!
Even if you don’t make it HUGE, the years worth of keyword rich content will have it ranking really well anyway so it’s a win win.
Yeah, so anyway, that’s what I would do, besides you have put so much work into nine95 so far, why start that process again?
Alex@Keyword Research Blogger´s last [type] ..How to Make your Blog Posts more Appalling A Grammatical Guide
@Alex – LOL, thanks & done. You could hire yourself out as a proofreader
I appreciate your advice and the suggestions. I just did a Google search on Michael Pedzotti and found the first 49 out of 50 results point to my blogs or comments I have posted elsewhere. Now, I guess, based on your advice, all I need to do is make my name famous, or is that bazed on you’re advise? Where’s Brandon?
@Anna – Thanks for the words of encouragement. This domain has the best online presence and content at the moment. The other one has one post as a placeholder, introduction and pointer to here. As an aside, your About Anna page is a very powerful story. I believe you that you have it within you to achieve your online financial goals. I look forward to reading news of your success.
Twitter: alljessilicious
says:
Hi Michael;
What about forwarding your name domain to this one for now, then when you’re ready to transition you can do so? Would save you from having to update two different sites.
I’m a big believer in branding yourself and having that as a central hub around which you do everything else.
That way when you want to transition your business into something a bit different, it’s still YOU and the transition is a lot simpler as your domain stays the same, etc.
Just my two cents.
I hadn’t thought of that Jess. Thanks for your 2c. All contributions are gratefully received. I will add your ideas to the mix and see what comes out. By the way, you have a fantastic domain name
Twitter: barry_wells
says:
Hi Michael, My thinking is that as this one (nine95) has already started to earn you a regular income it should be the one you focus on.
You’ve already broke the back of it and got it out there, would you have to do it all again with the new one?
I think the idea of forwarding the new domain to this site is your solution my friend.
Hope it helps Michael,
Regards, Barry
Barry@The Newbies Guide´s last [type] ..Is This The Age of Disposable Computers
Michael, great you’re questioning such things and cute dog!
You could consider going with a keyword rich URL name that focuses on the key benefits to your potential customer and the search terms they would use. After all, Nine95 is meaningless to everyone but you.
I switched my blog URL for exactly that reason. It’s about relentless optimization of every aspect of the game. Like using KeywordLuv properly.
If you are going to make a switch, do it sooner rather than later.
Joe
Joe@Toronto Dentist in Etobicoke´s last [type] ..Dentists are Tooth Carpenters -amp Dental Hygienists are Gum Gardeners
@Barry – Thanks for your vote with Jess on the forwarding. It has taken a couple of months work to get nine95.com to this stage. I am stoked with the traffic, Alexa rank and range of keywords being used to find the blog (StatPress Reloaded plugin).
@Joe – That’s another angle I hadn’t given much thought to. Thanks! I have put some effort into the meta data in each post as well as the blog title and subtitle. The range of terms some people use that are finding my blog are surprising at times. I have noticed though that domain names that include the search terms do tend to be listed higher.
Thanks for your input. I appreciate it. By the way, I like the favicon you’ve got on your site. If you are willing to share, what was your old blog URL?
She is actually my daughter’s dog but we have adopted her for now. Yep, she is real cute.
Michael, I don’t mind if you use the favicon. I made it myself. I also use it as a page accent – see http://www.RoyalYorkDental.com
I suggest you become the spokesperson for each brand you create, not the brand itself.
As you can see, my Dental Office is branded as Royal York Dental. I purposely broke away from using my own name 15 years ago. I never would have grown this big just using my name. Also, I can easily sell my practice since the brand is independent of me. Current value is over $2 million.
My blog site is something I created to further differentiate my brand (few other doctors are doing it and none particularly well) and to strengthen my marketing.
My original blogsite name was help4smiles.com. Cutesy and indicative of the blog’s intention, but otherwise useless.
I switched to http://www.smilesensation.com. That was an aged URL with a long history – it used to be my main URL for years. Instant page rank of 3, but lousy for keywords. So I bought a new URL and switched things over.
Joe@Toronto Dentist in Etobicoke´s last [type] ..Dentists are Tooth Carpenters- Dental Hygienists are Gum Gardeners
Joe, from what I can gather from your site, welcome video and the advice above, you’re not only a great dentist, you’d make a wicked internet marketing adviser.
Thanks for the well reasoned tips. Do you mind if I take your comment and use it in a post I am thinking of writing once I have taken a direction on this domain name decision? In fact, I would like to combine all the great advice that comes in through this post if that is okay with each contributor.
It considered not bad to earn $65 a week but it is also not a bad idea to plan to improve your earning online. People need to put a high target in order to earn more.
Changing domain is unnecessary as it only play a little part of SEO.
Regular blog post will surely attract visitors to keep coming back more often.
AJ@Moving Boxes´s last [type] ..About Moving Boxes Ireland
Thanks AJ. SEO is a strange thing and I hear what you are saying about the domain name only being a small part of it.
Have you considered putting a contact us page on your site, or turning on comments so that over time people can ask questions, you answer and you build up an FAQ for each page.
I’m good with it Michael. I look forward to your post.
Joe@Toronto Dentist in Etobicoke´s last [type] ..Dentists are Tooth Carpenters- Dental Hygienists are Gum Gardeners
I think you may already know my thoughts on this, but…
People like to deal with and buy from people. Using your name in the domain as your main site enables people to relate to you more and there’s no question as to who’s behind all that stuff that’s going on with your name on it. They can search for your name and check you out.
This site has a clear purpose, and it’s well worth continuing in that trend and posting stuff about you getting to your goal. Then maybe use your own named site for the other stuff. I’m sure that if you looked at your posts on here that some are definitely on (site) topic, while others would be better used on your named blog?
The only downside to having a named blog is it does open you up to sometimes upsetting personal attack. It’s impossible to make everybody happy no matter what you do (there are just some obsessive nutters out there – not very PC I know, but true), and in the process of doing business, some will have very strong opinions as to how you should deal with them.
When you do things your way, and not theirs, then these trolls can start jumping up and down, frothing in anger, and can even try to make things uncomfortable for you when you have a named site of your own.
It’s all part of the territory of becoming successful though I’m afraid, and if you can live with this possibility, then having a named domain is great as it shows people you’re a real person.
-Frank Haywood
Hi Frank, I’m glad you dropped by and thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I certainly want to be out there as a real person selling quality products but I’m a little bit concerned about the bad stuff you refer to. I would rather avoid the angry, frothing trolls
but if, as you say from experience, they’re out there, I guess I can lay down some troll bait (can you get that on eBay?) early on to get a jump on them 
I will have to review the existing posts and see whether there is a clear line to divide them between the two sites. That would help with getting a bit of content on the named domain in a short space of time.
You’re very welcome.
Hehe, it’s sad but it seems that frothy trolls are inevitable. I would love to avoid them too.
Some will confine themselves to private messages while others will do it publicly.
I guess that if you put your head over the parapet, it’s going to get shot at.
The fact is though, most people are golden. Most people are just like you and me, and I always take particular care over the very polite ones – I often give stuff away or I’ll refund their purchase as part of my appreciation for good manners.
However… Built into us all though (I assume) is the fact that we naturally tend to pay attention to the squeaky wheels and give them more grease in order to stop them from squeaking.
I just don’t do that any more. I save all my love for the nice people and the bad ‘uns can go to hell.
The really weird thing I’ve noticed *sometimes* though is that some people seem to be okay to begin with, but then they gradually go bad.
The saying that “familiarity breeds contempt” may be true in these cases, or they may have been hiding their true nature behind a “smile”, I just don’t know.
Er… Sorry for diverting the thread, this is completely off topic. Durrr.
Keep both domains! Split the content.
I’m just getting ready to start a niche business blog myself to do with WP marketing, so I appreciate the thought processes that you must be going through.
-Frank
Frank Haywood´s last [type] ..Life In The Crab Bucket
its great to know that there is something like dofollow blogs out there, and now the keywordluv plugin. thanks for keeping your blog dofollow.
Hi Rasim, if you have a blog add its URL in a comment here so that you can get some link luv for it as well. You never know, you might also get some more readers and comments by doing that.
Once I’ve worked as a freelancer and earned about $30 a week. I was quite glad that time for this cash. So $65 at the start is quite nice profit you gain.
Making it to $65 a week is very pleasing. I have been investigating online money making activities for a while so it is good to see some of the effort turn into cash
I think you should keep nine95, personally. You’ve already been building a brand here – while some of your audience would certainly follow you (or find you again), why not stick with what you’ve got?
As far as your named domain, why not use that as a hub for the other half of your interest sphere? If nine95 is all about internet marketing, have MichaelPedzotti focus on the software niche instead. That can be the hub from which you offer tips and software – you can always link to them from this site too.
I think that’d be a way to potentially draw in two different target audiences, but still double up on views/sales opps with good interlinks where appropriate.
Jillian´s last [type] ..6 Ways to Work Online Part Time
Hi Jillian, I am thinking more along these lines as well. It takes time to build traffic, regular readers, link juice and so on. I am putting a bit of background effort into the named domain so nothing will show there for a bit while I work on it’s design and content. Using it as a hub is a good idea and cross-linking is always good for sharing traffic and link love. You are so full of good ideas
Thanks.
You should continue what you are doing because you love that in the first place. The best thing out of that is you helped a lot of people and that is more than money can offer. Just continue to push yourself. Good luck Michael.
Thanks for the good wishes.
Twitter: thublogger
says:
Hi Michael. I’ll say keep both. For one, you’re already ranking well with this. Google-wise you’re in good hands. Second, setting up a posting schedule will enable you to control both workload. I hope it’s not too much. At least, you can see this domain down the line. Since I’ve seen Yaro Starak’s seminar on blog flipping, it’s quite possible for you to sell if you don’t find this domain worth the time anymore. By all means, then you can focus 100 percent on your other domain.
It’s pure profit plus you can be at ease for making some money as well.
Thu Nguyen´s last [type] ..100th Post and Giveaway! So How Do You Overcome Blogger’s Shyness
Thu, I haven’t got a schedule for posting but it sounds like a good plan no matter which direction I take. Thanks.
Thanks for sharing some reliable tips and advices. Generating a blog is not easy at all, creating traffics needs an extra effort to make it. Glad to read your post, be back for more readings.
Thanks for dropping by. Do share your thoughts elsewhere on the blog and enjoy the link juice you get from each comment.
Twitter: maketakaonline
says:
Hi Michael,
You are doing great job here. I like your idea. Nine95 is good name. It draws the attention of any visitors. I think you should keep going on this projects. Post as much as possible. Wish you all the best!!!
Joynal Abedin´s last [type] ..Make Money Online Joining Adsense Revenue Share Sites
Thanks Joynal. I appreciate your positive feedback and encouragement.
Hi Michael,
I must say that you have a great blog site here. It would be a waste if you would discontinue it. You know, $65 a week is very productive if you consider others who earn only less than that and they even do manual labor. I have been checking every now and then on your site and for me your site is fun and interesting to read. I learned many things here and I’m hoping to learn more. I hope you would be satisfied for now on your $65-a-week earnings on this site, continue to strive more and for sure your efforts will be rewarded in the future. Thanks!
Felicia @ No deposit poker´s last [type] ..Leaderboard Update – Party Poker 50-000 August Leaderboard
I never knock back money and I will never complain about how much I get a month. It is not from this blog that I am making that money. This blog may end up being part of the support package behind all the plugins or I might use the named site. Still thinking … as I am too busy keeping up with the 100 comment challenge right now
I guess you’re right, if this blog isn’t the one making that money, that is..
but I hope you don’t abandon nine95.com.
Felicia @ No deposit poker´s last [type] ..Phil Laak seriously injured in crash
I probably will not abandon it as you and many of the great pieces of advice above suggest it is worth keeping. I will have to creatively split my time between both blogs.
Hi Michael . I would suggest you
1. Get some traffic before you put ads in the blog – “Wait until you have 100,000 page views a month, because before that, any monetization will just make coffee money.”
2. Stick to a niche but widen your focus – “Instead of picking a niche like diet tips, where there’s only so much you can write, instead pick a general way of looking at life or an area of interest that you’re passionate about.”
You may want to bring down that 100k requirement a bit but useful advice otherwise.
[I am not sure why but I had to pick this comment out of the spam queue - Michael]
supported accommodation´s last [type] ..Supported Accommodation for the Boat People
Thanks for the advice. 100,000 a month! Wow, okay. That is certainly a target worth aiming for. I like the idea of not going too narrow.
Twitter: J_T_Ray
says:
I know this is probably way too late but my 2 cents is that you keep this site. You’ve already got a lot of great content and links for this site that you wouldn’t want to lose by starting over. As someone else mentioned the name doesn’t matter so long as it’s catchy or relevant. Think of Google, Mashable, Twitter, etc. all weird names but we visit those sites every day.
Josh Ray@Make Money Blogging´s last [type] ..Link Building Through Blog Comments
Hey, I appreciate being likened to Google
LOL, I know what you mean. You are not too late and thanks for your very encouraging comment.
Hi) I may be too late but I think you should not leave this blog. From what I see, you have put a lot into it and a lot of people read it. So, good luck with your goal)
Thanks for your vote of confidence. I have decided to keep it going and the named site http://www.michaelpedzotti.com will be used to promote my WordPress plugins.
Honestly, this blog sounds spammy and sound like your just trying to promote your sites in a round about way but most people can see right through it.
Just like your comment?!? LOL
Good luck with your dental blog. That is a very interesting article about sleep apnea. I have passed it on to a friend of mine to read. Unfortunately he’ll not be able to make it over to NJ as we’re in Australia. Can you recommend any dentists in the Brisbane QLD area who are as knowledgeable as you in this area? Cheers, Michael.
Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really forced me to do so, Excellent post!
April@DVD Tools´s last [type] ..Julieta – Kvar Lo Yalda 2011
Well April, I really do appreciate that.