super long overdue update
Moved from DigitalOcean over to Vultr
$5/mo gets you better specs, more server locations, AND your servers don't get shut off randomly once a month; what's not to love?
Also,
EasyEngine is the best fucking thing ever. It lets you setup Nginx, WordPress, and W3 Total Cache - properly - in like only 2 minutes.
Hired a shitload more 1¢/word writers
Native English, actually knowledgeable about what they're talking about, etc. Not going to win any Pulitzer Prizes, but I've seen people pay more for writing just as plain. Forums or whatever communities center around your niche are a gold mine. If people are already writing in-depth essays for free, why not get them to do it for $10 :1bluewinky:
Hit frontpage on some large (non-default) subreddits a few times
Nothing too interesting. Got 9000 something pageviews this month so far. Not enough.
Going to start selling advertising per month
Fuck Adsense. It pays too little.
Have not gotten any sales from BSA yet.
Will reach out to companies advertising with competing news websites.
Also going to buy a new theme
The current one is okay, but it's too "bloggy". I can't have that.
I found a new one on Themeforest that's almost a ripoff of an actual news website. All I have to do is fix it up a bit and it'll look like a million bucks (and hopefully get me closer to my goal of making a million bucks).
Unrelated, but I think I might have a problem with buying stuff on Themeforest. I have 2-3 themes for every site I own.
Growing on Twitter
Sometimes, things go viral (read: get 50 tweets), and it generates a bit of traffic, so I'm looking into ways to grow on Twitter. I tried out
Twtmass' free trial and went from 100 to 600 followers in a week. The thing is, like 95% of the accounts that follow back are useless bots.
Not worth paying for IMO, but it does what it advertises. I might consider buying Twitter ads or sponsored tweets or whatever.
Other ideas for traffic
I'm not fully taking advantage of the site's inclusion in Google News yet; I will start targeting big keywords with regular posts in the coming days.
I also came up with a couple of creative ways to get more eyeballs on my content - some which will probably be worth it, and some which won't. I haven't had the chance to hire someone to code up what I need
yet.
MORE WEBSITES?!?!?!
I've been brainstorming ideas for side projects, but I don't have the time for them. I guess I will just have to make time. Will keep you guys updated.