Hey Marc!

Good question.

A lot depends on you and how you want to run your business.

I honestly think that going from an affiliate to a pay site owner is in someway a natural progression. Many of us have done it - some have succeeded and some haven’t.

Here’s my take…

Pay sites ARE a pain in the ass to build, run and maintain. You have to have enough time, energy and money to maintain a quality site. You need a fresh idea in these ever growing markets, the content needs to be available (or you need to have it shot), and sometimes customers can be so infuriating that at times you scratch you head and wonder why your even doing this.

On the other hand, if you DO find that fresh idea and have the means to work it - owning a pay site can be the best thing you do. As an affiliate you know how to build traffic, market to the surfers and sell a product - so logically you should be able to market your own idea(s). With the right amount of networking, you can build deals, and work the site to make a lot of money. But you have to WANT to do it to make it succeed.

I built my first pay site as a training exercise. I decided, since I was a resource owner, I had to have the knowledge of what it takes to build a membership site - simply because I had to have the answers for GWW members. I managed existing sites in the past for other companies but never built one totally on my own from scratch. SOOO I thought of an idea, decided on a layout and I built it. For me it wasn’t so much a moneymaker as it was for the knowledge. However, once I realized what I had, I was excited. And even as an experiment, the site makes money. And once I had it on line I realized this is something I wanted to do all along – I even love doing it.

Ok that being said; before you build you need to look at what it is that YOU want to do. While I think this is a natural progression, there are so many avenues you CAN take other than a pay site… do you like building traffic? Can that traffic be brokered? Do you like marketing? Perhaps opening a market service is viable? Are you a tech head? Is hosting in your future? I think my point is there are so many options available on the net that what may be a natural progression in my eyes, may not be in someone else’s. And, as you’re looking to expand your business, your decision will have to carry you out to the 3-5 years you mentioned. Is working a pay site something you WANT to do? Are there any other ambitions you have in mind?

Owning a fresh pay site can be a moneymaker as long as you’re ready to deal with all the joys and pitfalls. The days of putting up a site and walking away are long gone and counting all the money on your way to the bank only happens after a long hard day of work LOL

Is the money is there to be made? Hell, yes. Is owning a pay site the only way to go? No. Just think it through before you jump in with both feet!

There are my thoughts…

Good Luck!
GA