Did you know that you can run multiple websites from the comfort of your own home without any coding knowledge? The advantage for this as a start-up is that not all of your eggs are in one basket. You can run different websites on different topics, which means that their income and traffic levels can balance each other out. If a particular niche isn’t so popular (or conversely, is over-crowded) it doesn’t matter because one of your other niche websites might be doing really well.
Over time, you should be able to grow and nurture all of your websites to the point that they are each bringing in some income.
Advantages of running websites compared to other startups:
Ultra-low overhead
Compared to other startups, websites are very cheap. This is because the only absolute must-have cost will be your web hosting plan. By contrast, other startups require a web hosting plan anyway (to establish a web presence), plus all of the other overheads specific to that type of business.
Global reach
You run websites from anywhere in the world: India, USA, Australia, France… location doesn’t matter; you can compete on a global scale from anywhere.
Set your own hours
While you will have to spend some time and effort on your websites, the time of day you do it doesn’t matter. This is something you can do on evenings and weekends if you wish.
If you plan to sell the domain later, putting up a website is helpful in negotiating a higher price. This is because if you have a domain that is bringing in $600 a year in website income, you can point this out to the potential buyer. You would not be willing to sell it for a low price if it is already bringing in this sort of income. This helps push up the value of your domain name.
Growth potential. Your websites can grow as big as their potential allows. They may grow slowly or quickly, but it allows for a lot more growth than a one-to-one appointment-based service startup.
It’s not much different to run 2, 5 or even 10 websites than it is one website. Also, many hosting plans offer the ability to host more than one domain anyway – take advantage of it.
Why no coding knowledge is necessary
Some people assume you need some coding knowledge to put up websites. Many years ago that was the case, but these days open source software has made it so you need never type a line of code if you don’t want to. Of course, if you do like to code, you are free to modify and customize the software if you wish.
Free, open source software has made it possible for you to run your website in a point-and-click manner which makes it so easy.
Challenges of running multiple websites
While there are plenty of advantages, it’s true that there are also a few challenges:
Deciding upon a successful monetization method for each site
Your income your sites bring in will hinge on you being able to successfully monetize them. You can have all the traffic in the world, but if you don’t have a monetization method then it won’t bring in an income. It’s up to you whether a website’s income is from an ad network like Adsense, affiliate marketing, selling private advertisements, selling an e-book or course, or maybe it will be a subscription-based site. Whatever you pick for each site, it needs to be appropriate to that site.
Passion
You’ll need to have plenty of excitement about each of the topics of your websites. This is because without a genuine interest in the niches you pick, you are likely to fail (this is a common mistake among people who try to pick a niche only because of its financial potential and for no other reason). Conversely though, if you are truly interested in the various topics you pick and therefore motivated to continuously work on your sites, you are placing yourself squarely on the path of success.
Speed
Unlike some startups such as a cleaning service or babysitting, running multiple websites is somewhat slower to profit from. This is because your new sites will start off with zero traffic. You will have to put in work to get it to where users are coming to your site, and even then, only a fraction of those users are likely to interact with your monetization method. So, this is not the best startup to choose if you need money right now. But once it does start bringing in money, your overhead is so low that the profits can be very favorable, making it different from many other startups. Also, the fact of it being slow to generate income is actually slightly advantageous: it is something you can do in evenings and weekends while working at a day job or even while managing another startup.
Conclusion
If you have a passion for various different topics, running multiple websites on these topics is the ideal startup for you. Furthermore, it has a very low overhead. Here we have covered the advantages and disadvantages of owning multiple websites, and pointed you in the right direction to get started.
