Just like that, I added another site to my virtual empire in the making. You know, when you think about it, that's what we web publishers are doing. We're staking out our claim on the internet. Instead of real land, we're using bandwith plots to build our condos, storefronts, homes and bungalows.

Maybe most of us will never be rich like Donald Trump is in the offline world of real estate investment, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't look at our virtual real estate as any less valuable. Here are the benefits of owning virtual real estate:

IT'S CHEAP

Virtual land may be invisible, but you can sure build a lot on it. We buy an empty plot of bandwith from a hosting company for the monthly cost of a cheeze pizza with toppings. This is no skimpy deal, either. You get a sizeable piece of bandwith to build several web sites containing hundreds of pages. Personally, I've built lots of web sites and I still haven't used up half of my bandwith. This is a great deal (can't get any better than dirt cheap, can it?) compared with normal real estate investing.

BUILD YOUR DREAM SITE

There's no building codes or stuffy landowner association telling you what you can and can't build. Make your site as small or as big as you like. It can be a simple web page, or an elaborate thousand page site. Choose the colors you like: red, blue, purple, green, hot pink, who cares? (of course, you should try not to annoy your visitors) There's plenty of freedom to express yourself in whatever way makes you feel good. (right now I'm running through a field of wildflowers, la la laaa…)

REPAIRS ARE A BREEZE

When a house has peeling paint or faulty plumbing, somebody's got to come over and perform some hard labor to repair the damage--and it ain't gonna be cheap! Well, no such worries with your virtual property. You can easily log into your web site's account manager and spruce up the place. Change wording, delete outdated information, add new graphics, even change the template. It may take you a few hours, but compared to real world house upkeep, it's a breeze.

EARN MONEY

Ah, just like offline real estate investors, most people building virtual empires wish to make money on their investment of time and effort. While earning money from your virtual real estate is not as easy as many would have you believe, it's a whole lot easier on your bank account, and you don't have to apply for a loan or spend months saving. Just get online and start building. You'll learn along the way what you need to do in order to make your web site(s) profitable. Trust me, it can be done, but you need to have patience and persistence.

Whether you are new online (hi newbie!) or experienced, don't just think of your web site as something you slap up on the internet for someone to see. Look at your web site(s) with fresh eyes.

What are you building?

Is it good?

Does it need sprucing up?

What will make it more valuable?

This is a chance for you to build an empire. Don't let it go to waste.