After 22 days online a milestone has been reached.  100 people have stumbled onto the website.  That is a lot of people.

If I had to make dinner for 100 people then I would have to start cooking at dawn – it is a lot of people to feed.  If I was at the supermarket buying supplies for the dinner and the line up at the cashier was 100 people – that is a big lineup.  If I had to wash the dishes after everybody has gone home – that would be a lot of dirty dishes.

But in terms of website visitors 100 is pitiful.  Like 100 people going to a Rolling Stones concert.  I need thousands, not hundreds.  According to my Google AdSense account these 100 visitors have earned me $4.34 by clicking on ads 8 times.  I serve dinner to 100 people and all I get is $4.34.

So far 157 hours have been spent creating this website.  This past month has been completely devoted to the website’s creation and maintenance.  Had I spent the time as a employee for a website design company paying $25/hour then I would now have $25 x 157hrs = $3925. 

This means that I have sacrificed $3925 dollars to please my visitors.  In return they have given me $4.35.  100 visitors came to my house, have a delicious dinner, and then pay me $0.04 cents each.

I should not complain.  I knew this would happen before I started.  The beginning is hard.  Lots of work with no reward.  100 visitors come, they look at 2.53 pages, and then leave.  Almost all of them not paying a single penny. 

But that is how the website business works. It is very ‘front heavy’. You must do lots of work at the beginning with little return. After many hours (I do not know how many hours yet) of being a slave it begins to turn around. Once there is a big visitor base and the visitors keep coming back and inviting their friends. Then you will be receiving lots of money for little work. You will be making money while you are sleeping, walking the dog, growing your chia pet. Your website will become the slave. Working for you 24/7.

Unfortunately I am not there yet. Maybe far from it.

So for now, still at the beginning, it is nothing but blood, sweat and tears.  Only the hope, that one day 100,000 visitors will come and leave a big tip on the table, drives me to continue.  Because then I can take the money and buy a dishwasher.

About Traffic, Visitors, Promotion, Actual Stats From The Website Used, Optimistic and Motivational

The Vision

You decide that you want to be a Web Master.  All you have to do if figure out what your website will be about.  For days you think of ideas.  Every time an idea pops in your head you think it might work.  Then after a few minutes of contemplation you decide that it is not a good idea.  Back to the drawing board.

Then one day while walking the dog, just as his leg lifts, you have a great idea.  You do not know where it came from but you really like it.  The more you think about it the better it gets.  From a little pea the idea grows into a melon.  The website begins to form in your head.  By the time the dog is back digging in the yard the idea has become golden.  You imagine millions of people visiting your site – why wouldn’t they?

My story is similar (except for the dog part).  Once I got the basic idea of the website, all the other things fell into place.  The money counter on the home page, the data page, the ‘did you know…’ section..  Millions of people visiting the website.  Returning again and again to see the number rise  Why wouldn’t they?  If I found a website like mine I would visit it all the time.  I had dollar bills flying in front of my eyeballs.

The Reality

The site has been up for 3 weeks.  And what a crash down to earth these 3 weeks have been. 

For the first week it was only one or two people visiting.  Then I joined forums and the traffic increased.  A little.  Week two and three have averaged about 25 visitors.  Far from millions.  How can it be only 25?  When I envisioned a typical visitor to the website I saw them reading the content while slowly putting a hand over their mouth to cover a wide WOW!  Then, all excited,  forwarding the address to all 200 of their Facebook friends.

The plan was for the few initial visitors to begin the traffic tsunami.  I thought I would need just a couple visitors and they would do the rest.  That is not happening.  To my surprise they are not forwarding the website to their friends.

Not only are they not forwarding it, the average page views per visitor is two.  TWO!  They land on the website, quickly look around the home page, click to another page and then leave.  How can they leave?  If I were to find a website like mine I would spend all morning reading everything – just absorbing all the great content.

And what I do not understand at all.  What has no explanation except that there must be some mistake with my statistics is that 63% of the visitors stay on the site for less then 30 seconds.  What can they possibly read in less then 30 seconds?  Nothing.  They are not even giving it a chance.  Just a quick look around, “I don’t like the background color”, and then they leave.  Only 5% of the visitors are do what they should do – stay for at least 30min.

After all these kicks in the balls.  When I think that the indecency is finally over.  And I am completely covered with tomatoes and eggs.  They go for the final blow.  So far, 0 RSS subscriptions.

The Lesson

At the beginning, when you have your vision.  Hold on to it..  Take it with you everywhere.  Imagin yourself explaining to Opera  how you came up with the idea.   Imagine yourself accepting a honorary writing degree from Yale.  Your family and friends envious of your success.  Cherish the vision because it will be a happy time.  Do it as long as you can because after you build your website all you will be doing is crying into your pillow.

About Traffic, Visitors, Promotion, Bitter and Pessimistic When I Wrote this, What YOU Expect vs Reality