Correction (it's way more)

There's a reason I didn't become an engineer or an accountant. My math is atrocious. Yesterday I set out a question as "How long would it take to get to 250,000 words?" and answered as follows: My goal is to average 300 visitors per post per month. That means I'd need 166 published articles plus several months for them to rank. The question really is "how fast could I publish 166 articles?" If I could publish two per day, it would take 83 days. It would still take at least 6 to 9 additional months for enough of those articles to start getting enough traffic. Absolute best case scenario would be 9 months (this would be lucky). Realistic scenario: 18 to 24 months. WRONG! It should have been: How long would it take to get to 250,000 monthly visitors? My goal is to average 300 visitors per post per month. Not only did I screw up the question wording but I royally erred with my answer. The correct answer: 250,000 / 300 visitors = 866 articles (not 166 articles that I set out yesterday). Sorry for the horrendous math. I even used a calculator. It's a good thing there are some astute readers of this newsletter who pointed out my errors. Thank you. At two articles per day, that's 433 days. Let's call it 1.5 to 2 years to produce the content assuming two articles per day. By that point plenty of it would be ranking so that's the timeframe, give or take 6 to 12 months (so many factors it's always a big range). That makes a lot more sense. 866 articles? Are you insane? I know, I know it's a lot. What you have to realize is that my numbers may not be your numbers, especially the long term average number of visitors per article per month. This can make a huge difference on how many articles you need. Some folks in this industry scoff at my goal of 300 visitors per month per article as in being way too low and a waste of resources. I see their point. I'd rather a higher average but I mass-publish so that's what it ends up being. Most importantly, with my ad RPS, it works financially in the long run. Here's a smidgen of good news. Many publishers average more than 300 visitors per article. I probably would if I wrote everything because I'd do a great job. I'm confident that if I wrote all the articles myself and went all out on quality, I could hit a much higher average number of visitors per article. Probably double or triple. Not only would I publish some really epic content but I would choose KWs and topics more carefully. When I mass-publish, I go after anything that's searched and while it works, if you're publishing less, choose your KWs more carefully. It'll make a big difference. If your goal is 600 visitors per month per article on average, you need only 433 articles. Yeah, I know... that's still a lot. 900 visitors per month per article? 278 articles. Yeah, that's still a lot. There's no way to present this model as easy because it's not. Consider another option which is less content that earns more. Totally doable. Can be a great option. A lucrative niche blog with some high-earning affiliate pages can hit $7,500 per month from one or two articles easily. Publish 50 to create a rounded out, tight niche site and let those two pages earn like crazy. In theory it's great. In practice, still hard to do. In lieu of content you need to build links. Link building is no picnic. It's not easy getting good links. Paying a service can be risky. Many go out and buy the links. You'll never know. I wouldn't. Paying for links isn't cheap either. Like anything, link building can be learned. If you like the idea of less content, learn to build good links to your site. It's definitely a high-value activity. There's gotta be an easier way Maybe there is. If you discover it, let me know. I'll end with this. While 866, 433 and even 277 articles seem impossible now, when you get there and you have a solid base of consistent traffic, you won't regret it. Whether it takes one, two or five years, you'll have created a great revenue stream. And you might have some fun along the way. Jon Fatstacksblog.com ​ [Unsubscribe]( | [Update your profile]( | 2016 Hill Drive, North Vancouver, British Columbia V7H 2N5