Motivation

My main web site received a massive penalty on the day of Jagger1. I took the hit and made some motivation out of it. I quickly grew a completely different site up to the point where my AdSense revenue was $15k/mo -- just where it was before Jagger.

Then, last week, that site was penalized for no apparent reason. A few days later, the penalty was removed from my (old) main web site.

But this thread really isn't about Google penalties; this thread is about motivation.

This last penalty has really done bad things to my motivation, because I'm certain that there is nothing I have done to deserve this penalty.

Much worse though is that the removal of the other penalty also negatively affected my motivation. This occured because something good happened that was not due in any way to an action on my part. Psychology can be strange that way.

Motivation is extremely difficult when cause and effect are unrelated. The brain says "If I work smart and work hard, it will have no effect on the outcome -- I think I'll have another beer." The corrolary is "If I slack off and drink beer all day, nothing more bad will happen than if I work smart and hard."

I have a stack of content to write, a few scripts to install, a bunch of links to build, and several sites to migrate to a new server. None of this is getting done.

I have just started my third year playing this "SEO" game -- and I'm still part-time.

Other than the obvious financial benefits, how do y'all create the motivation to keep playing this game?

 

I find new products to sell on my sites. When they start selling, I find another new product. There is a certain satisfaction in finding stuff customers want to buy and providing it to them.

My "content" sites - joke site, and some others - I feel absolutely no motivation to improve as the results are far less tangible.

For instance, right now I feel like I have just about maxxed out traffic potential to my garden decor items, so I am going to start moving inside again. Try bath items - like bath mats, bath decor sets (tissue box covers, toothbrush holders) in given themes and see how it works out and continue in that vein.

 

Maybe to consider enjoying privilege of earning money while sleeping? Dont be slave to own job!

 

My motivation is not being a slave, and being able to call the shots. I know that I could get on a plane tomorrow, and fly to Tokyo, New York, Paris, or London, and be making money while I'm asleep on the plane. I could carry my laptop, and thus my business with me.

What motivates me is being on the cutting edge of technology, beyond 80% of the population which are a bunch of 9 to 5 slaves for big corps that keep laying them off and slashing their benefits.

Thinking outside the box is what keeps me going.

 

Motivation > to get to the point that the engines do not dictate the traffic for me to a point that could wipe all my income, of the 100,000 visitors I can get on a decent day google would account for around 20% which is very nice and I aim to keep them happy.

That must suck Will, especially after taking the second site to the top and having to go back again without good reason apart from humoring G.

 

First of all Will, i would like to congratulate you for your aprox. 15k/month figure.

This itself would be a motive for me to go on. Because i know it can be done, i've done it in the past, so i can do it again.

Other reasons ? You love what you are doing, you love to be up-to-date with the industry, you love to read forums in our niche, and you love to be able to learn how to control all these SEO/SEM aspects.

At the end, you will have satisfaction.

There is a saying here (i don't know if it's worldwide), and i pretty much guide myself after it (personal and professional) :

or

 

Ah... that's Friedrich Nietzsche from Thus spake Zarathustra.

Nietzsche was one of the most intelligent human beings ever to live.

 

Didn't knew Nietzche said that, and it doesn't really matter.

 

If I could make $15,000 a month that alone would be my motivation.
I could do a lot of good with that kind of money.

Earn as little as I make and see just how hard it really is too stay motivated.

 

I make 15K/month. WAAAAAAH!
I can't stay motivated. WAAAAAAH!

Grow a pair, would ya?

 

If you can manage yourself financially with your sites and love doing it then it's all the motivation you need.

Drive a few trips round the block or in your city and let the unfortunate people of society you might encounter such as the homeless remind you that you are fortunate with the lifestyle you are having due to your sites eventhough you have some set backs.

Keep expanding your horizon regarding new websites and in due time your sites that don't do so well momentarely will hopefully pick up in the future.

 

well, first I must agree on that

As for the motivation... you all know it's just money, nothing more than that.
There's not much more I can say about it..

 

lorien: I think you have hit on a key. One of my favorite sayings is "A change is as good as a rest." I've been devoting a lot of my time to building text-based informative and educational sites and monetizing them using AdSense. I really should try a different type of site (or at least page) next.

tesla and _vlada_: In my primary job, I am the boss. I call the shots and work my own schedule. My motivation to get away from that is that I don't really enjoy being the boss. I have an unimaginably awesome team at work, but I still don't enjoy the role.

sji2671: That's a good one. I am growing to really dislike Google. Independence from Google is something that I might be able to really motivate myself with.

melaniejk and Michael_Goldman: Money is only motivational up to a point. When I was young and poor, money was very motivational. No work, no dinner. Now that's motivation! Right now, I could drink for six months straight without seeing an immediate problem. Money doesn't motivate well in the long term. Your mileage may vary.

expertu: You are correct that the joy of doing the work is what should motivate a person. That's what got me into this in the first place. I seem to have misplaced that motivation. That's the key to the problem. I am not enjoying what I once enjoyed. I must try something new, either something close (a different type of web site?) or something completely different (perhaps something non-IT related?).

Edz: Watching poor people isn't very motivational for me. I've been there and I understand that most of them are there because of hardware or software failures. They are either biologically unequipped for success (i.e. stupid) or socially unquipped for success (i.e. their heads are filled with ideas which are just wrong).

 

Will ... Just get yourself a woman man .. That's a motivation

 

It's too late for me; I am already the property of a female.

 

Well what i meant was get ANOTHER women then

 

Will, I'm not talking about small money.. I'm talking about BIG money, there's really not much more than that in what we do..

 

Will Spencer wrote:

The reason why they are in the situation that they are is not important.

What is important is that you have the luxery to sustain yourself as the way you do and not letting yourself get demotivated because of some SERP changes.

If money isn't the prime factor anymore for your websites that is currently demotivating you then you should take the mental challenge as a motivation.

And this challenge would be that you will not let yourself be beaten by an automated algorithym and rise to the position you once was before.

If you like what you are doing, that you obviously do otherwise you would already dropped this venture and focus more on your own company you should considder it a challenge to stay on top as best as you can and share your experiences with the steady visitors you have on your site to keep them educated and keeping the site educational as well in the process.

Good luck

 

Raising capital for ploughing money in to safer off-line or online investments?

I can think of many ways to invest 15k/month on the web that would provide long-term risidual income.

Perhaps you could look at developing products and releasing them to affiliates? That's a challenge to develop a product (even just an e-book) and the sales pitch to get it converting. I quite enjoyed creating one of these a while back. Once affiliates are promoting it your income doesn't rely so much on rankings as (if your product converts well) many affiliates will be using Adwords and PPC networks to sell your product with their own money.

There's nothing more I'd love then to create a number of very good products setup like that.

Pete

 

Will, how is this for a motivation?

'Damn you, Google, with your bans. I'll find a way to make up for the lost income AND enjoy my way through that (change is good)'