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.