An Interesting Find

landbeforetimelover · **on:** August 26, 2010, 12:20:48 AM

As some of you are very well aware, I'm becoming quite the savvy internet marketer (see the topic about me being on the second page of Google for "computer repair" (no quotes)). I really love the Land Before Time. I really do. Because of this, I decided to do a quick check to see about how much it would cost to get to the very top of Google for "land before time" (no quotes). Based on my initial observations, it would be even harder than "computer repair." But today I decided to dig into it and do a lot more research and I discovered that the competition for that keyphrase is 1/10 of what it is for "computer repair." I did more research and this is what I've found:

*There are roughly 10,000 searches per month for "land before time" and "the land before time"
*The cost to get to the top of Google for these two keyphrases could be as low as $100
*The potential income of TheLandBeforeTime.org if it reaches the top of Google for these two keyphrases is $300/month if I monetize it (meaning put ads on it)

So here's what I'm thinking of doing. I'm thinking of trying to get onto the top of Google for those keyphrases and investing some money. I'll monetize the site to cover the costs of getting to the top. Once the costs have been covered, I'll remove the ads and make it a nice place again.

So why aren't I doing this? I do have some concerns. The first concern I have is getting too much traffic. TheLandBeforeTime.org is hosted on my private server. Too much traffic and it will go down, especially if people are watching the TV episodes. If this happens, I'll have to host the website somewhere else and I'll have to keep the ads up to help cover the cost. I'd love the extra $300/month, but I DON'T WANT ADS ON MY SITE! That's why I left Freewebs.

Other concerns I have is that if my site becomes too popular and Universal sees me monetizing it, they might try to sue....they might even go so far as to blame my site for shutting LBT down. I could easily avoid a lawsuit and keep my identity secret by hosting in the Ukraine, but again I'd have to keep the ads up to help cover the costs of hosting.

Another issue is the fact that if I do reach the top, GOF will likely receive a lot more visitors and potential members.....but it'll also receive a lot more spam. I could remove the link to GOF from my website, but I value my affiliate status with GOF and would hate for it to have to come to that thanks to a few bad apples.

Here's what I'm thinking of doing. I'm thinking of recoding TheLandBeforeTime.org from the ground up using PHP and MySql to create a fully dynamic website where users can edit the website directly, create profiles, contribute images as well as fanart/fanfiction and do a lot more things. Unfortunately if I'm to get to the top of Google, I'll have to remove the TV episodes for safety reasons (I really don't want to be sued, thank you very much!). Unfortunately, just the use of LBT images could be grounds for a lawsuit. I may end up killing TheLandBeforeTime.org entirely. I really don't know what to do about this. I'm so tempted to do this, but the chances of things to hit rock-bottom is a real possibility.

Petrie. · **Reply #1 on:** August 26, 2010, 08:16:28 AM

Lets see...I've been running websites for ten years and while it is nice to know people have found your site and all, and its awesome to be #1, but at the same time, I think that's too much attention. Considering the Land Before Time is still very much a property making profits for universal (dvd sales, etc.) I think you'll gain too much attention for your own good.

I'll pick apart the two sites I run that receive the most attention: Mistmantle and Ranger Rick. You can find either one if you type in the correct search terms (not just the obvious ones), and then, only in google am I up to the first page.

Examples:

http://www.google.com/search?q=ranger%20ri...lton%20langford - a search for Alton Langford, one of Ranger Rick's artists puts my site on the first page, about seventh place, but the sixth place result is also linked to my site.

http://www.google.com/search?q=ranger%20ri...db4f7af4a13aa89 - a search for Mistmantle character images puts me on page 2 of google, and oddly enough, not on the page that actually links to the character image page.

Are these decent results? For someone who pays $0.00 for this sort of exposure, its certainly good, and I know the people I reach are specifically looking for more than just basic info about either of these topics. I've tried the domain name, advanced meta tags before, and I've spent more time doing that stuff than developing the site. That was certainly true of landbeforetime.org when I ran that site (at first I had thought you bought my old domain name

).

About all I did for my current sites was submit my site to search robots from google and bing. Not bad for something that took five minutes to do. I'm happy with what I got, even if I'm not #1. I still get a lot of people thanking me for the Ranger Rick site--family members of one of the artists are especially pleased.

That's better than any #1 spot on google.

Petrie. · **Reply #2 on:** August 26, 2010, 08:39:26 AM

I'll make another so I don't have to edit in case you're reading something.

I guess my questions are, are you prepared to deal with exposure that #1 might get you? Can you handle trolls hacking the site? Can you handle server bandwith? Can you handle the legality of what it is your doing?

I look at what I run, and yeah, mine aren't exactly legal either, yet I fly under the radar for the most part, and I'm not profiting from anything I do. I think because I'm not competing with the companies that own both properties I discuss on my sites, I'm less likely to be shut down. You're jumping in with both feet. I personally feel you're better off staying where you are, given the site's content and copyrights you might infringe going to a profit-earning site.