My progress so far!
Hi, I am Aidan and proud owner of my new website, savvyoutdoorgear.com. To be quite honest the last few weeks have been a crazy journey. One moment finding myself on a Trails Guiding Course in Kruger National Park to being under lockdown for the last 35 days. I was doing my trails guiding course to take clients on walking safaris in Big 5 dangerous game areas. We were evacuated because of the Corona Virus and I had to make use of public transport to travel 2000km back to the area where I live in a small flat on a farm in a very remote area.
The lockdown has done me good, I am enjoying the alone time, peace and tranquillity. A lot of people are really paranoid about the future but for me, it is a time for reflection and to start afresh. As a tour guide, the working prospect does not look too bright with the international travel ban. I am currently working on my own two travel websites which I am doing by myself with no experience. It has been a struggle as you spend more time trying to figure out how everything works. I realized that I need to master the skills of becoming a digital marketer. I had to learn the skills if I want to have competitive websites. But I also realize that travel websites will take time as need to get a following. I had to think out of the box and the first thing that came to mind is trying an online business as this will also be beneficial to my travel sites.
I listen to a few webinars last week and it just clicked as to what I have been doing wrong all along. I need a blueprint to follow, to copy and paste what other successful people in the industry do. I found the webinars that I have listened to very inspirational but they all want you to buy the course. At the moment I flat broke as I spent my last money to go on that trails guiding course. I stumbled across WA and I liked the idea that I could join a platform and get training while building my first site step by step - the blueprint I was looking for but on a much larger platform.
I maybe rushed into things a little bit because of excitement and did not do proper research on my Niche. From the beginning, I had the concept in mind that I want an Outdoor Gear online shop where I promote affiliate outdoor products. I know Outdoor Gear is a very broad concept with lots of niches and sub-niches but I had already gone and registered the domain before doing proper research. It is not the end of the world. I see this now then as an opportunity to practice what I learn and to build an awesome looking site. What I also consider is that because of the broad range that I will have many affiliated products. This will teach me how to do research on products and in the process, I might stumble on my perfect niche. (I am still thinking and researching the perfect niches for me)
After upgrading to Premium I always had the goal of having 4 niche websites ranked on Google after 3 months. The first one is my learning curve and I still believe over the medium term it will do as well as any other website. It will just take longer to rank because of all the products and it will take longer to built.
My 3 months goal is:
In 90 days I want 4 fully functional niche websites to be ranked in Google, Bing and Yahoo. In 90 days I expect to start making some money but not much. Another goal is to have mastered the basic skills of becoming a successful affiliate marketer.
My 6 months goal is:
After 3 months I will have my 4 niche websites up and running ready to create income. My goal then is to scale down on learning and building websites but to use my time wisely to optimize my sites for more traffic, writing a post for all my sites, spend time building a brand on social media as well as social media marketing. At this stage, my target is to earn $100/day from each of my websites. That is $400/day and in South Africa, it is a lot of money.
I am very grateful to WA for what I have learned so far in the course. I also appreciate all the support from members and the support here at WA. This is my last task before I complete Level 2. Cannot wait to get to the rest. I can not see my employer being operational for at least a few months. I am using this time to learn a new skillset. Hopefully, by the time, my employer opens their doors to the public again, that I will be in a position to hand in my resignation, never to work for a corporate company or a boss ever again.
Thank you for reading my story, much appreciated.
Kind regards
Aidan, aka, the Bush Guru.
Recent Comments
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Way to go Bush Guru! I like your niche (I am in the same one and recently was able to narrow it down, there are a TON of places you can take it).
I like how motivated you are, as well as your experience. You have picked an excellent niche, and I think you will do very well. Having a plan this soon is going to help you a lot. I didn't make a plan until a few weeks ago, and that was my mistake.
If I can offer some advice, just food for thought. Focus on one niche, then got to the other ones. That way, you will have completed the WA training, and built up a site (or two). When you go back to complete the others, it will be a lot easier and might even make it simple.
I'm looking forward to how this goes for you. Good luck, and welcome to WA!
Thank you for your comment. Just one question - How do I narrow down to a more specific and targeted niche seeing that outdoor gear is so broad and the fact that I have already bought the domain. Many thanks, Aidan
It took a while and a lot of reading other sites and posts to see how to narrow it down. I got a bit frustrated and didn't think I had the right niche.
Then, one day, I started looking at the type of gear people use (camping, hiking, emergency prep). That same day a coworker came to me to ask about a flashlight I had. That's when I started realizing that all my friends come to me for gear suggestions (I am one of the gear junkies at my current job).
Over the last few years, I have been 'upgrading' gear/equipment from cheaper stuff to more expensive items. So, I decided to focus on beginners and people just starting in the outdoors. It is something that I'm just trying out (focus on camping), but I am interested in emergency prep for beginners as well (I've been a first responder for awhile).
Sorry, this is a long reply to your question. But with you having a background in (what I assume) is trails, tracking, and getting people motivated to be outside. Maybe that is a way to head. What are the types of gear people need? Is there stuff that is a waste of money to buy? You can even then link to your travel site (5 best places to use your xxxx). I don't know, and these are just thoughts as I'm typing this :-)
I hope it helps and let me know if I can help in any way!
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Aidan, it certainly sounds like you are getting all your "dicks in a row" so to speak!
Best success to you in this endeavor, my friend!
Jeff