Over the last few months I have been working on building the ultimate content site network which I have designed from the ground up to be simple to operate and easy to administrate. Over the next few months I will be posting detailed information on revenue etc but today I thought I would explain how the network works.
The CMS Solution
The network is based on Wordpress converted to CMS format which makes it simple to use and modify. The main issue taken into consideration when using Wordpress was the fact that every other week a new update is introduced which mean upgrading every install on every server. I managed to solve the upgrade problem by having the programmers build a installation and upgrade application on a dedicated server. This software not only takes care up upgrades and installations but also monitors the servers the sites are on to log attempted hacks or downtime.
The next key ingredient to building a content site network is CONTENT!. Luckily I have a large database of writers on file to supply unlimited amounts of fresh content but managing over 100 writers is not as easy as one might think.
The Content Solution
I had the programmers build a complete writer management system which not only lets me track writers but also the content the supply. Using the system I can monitor everything from word count to writers payments which allows me to keep track of the network at every level.
The writer management system is designed to take each post and verify they are unique and good enough quality to on the site. If something is flagged it is put on hold for manual review and as each writer has a “trust meter” I can be confident that were putting out good content.
Payments to writers are made by Paypal every 7 days which means there’s a lot of activity on my paypal account. I decided early on to make sure the system integrated with the Paypal API and then exports the data directly into my accounts software for simple administration.
The Long Term Goal
The long term goal of the network is to have 200 live sites by the end of the summer publishing over 150,000 words of content every day. The next few weeks will see the introduction of the new SEO system which will make link building a lot easier for the seo chaps who are working on the network.
Currently 95% of the network is earning revenue from Adsense alone which is fine by me until each site is a minimum six months old when I can really start rolling out master plan of revenue building!
If anyone needs advice feel free to give me a shout!
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May 11th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Care to sell the code Lee??
doug
May 11th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Hi Doug,
Once the system is running perfectly then its something we are looking to turn into a “out the box” server application. I think a lot of people would benefit from a one stop solution for WP based sites.
P.S If in the meantime you need some advice on getting a really good deal on content sites drop me a line
May 12th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Hi Lee,
Are all the sites your own?
200 sites seems a lot of sites to manage.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Hi Gadget,
Running 200 sites is a huge task but the automation does help a great deal. Setting up hosting accounts and choosing which domains to develop first seems to be the hardest part.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:03 am
Hi Lee, What sites do you have - care to share the URLS?
May 30th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I’d be interested in some of the automation tools you made/used for this as well when you have the kinks worked out lol. I have a bunch of domains sitting that I wanted to put content sites on but just never can find time to develop more than a couple here and there.