Another niche site ranked and making money - Case study 2 2017
For those who know, I placed the task of pushing out a new niche site every month for 2017.
I have managed to stick to this deadline... Some months I fell behind due to too many projects on the run, failing VA's, rogue writers, sickness and family life. However, when I do fall behind I make it up in the following month.
For the last month I have noticed some products in my Amazon dashboard related to one of my niches I targeted in January this year..
First it was one or two popping up, but last night I noticed more so I figured I better start investigating...
SUCCESS
It turns out this site has actually been making money for the past 2 months.
There has been one major FAILURE on my behalf (perhaps two or more lol).
- I failed to keep up with my regular posting schedule, sometimes dropping the ball for an entire month!
- Mixed up my affiliate ID's so I couldn't track purchases earlier
- Some of my CTA buttons didnt even have affiliate links! Just sent them straight to Amazon :facepalm:
Truth of the matter is, my site has potentially been earning a lot more but I didnt have it linked correctly !
SITE STATS AND DETAILS
- Site launched with new domain = Jan 2017
- Pages = 9 (includes privacy, disclaimer, home, blog, about, contact, & 3 targeted affiliate review pages)
- Posts = 13
- Current traffic = 250 avg per month
- bounce rate = 2.6 %
- average time spent on page = 67 seconds
- pages per session = 2.97
- organic traffic = 75%
- CTR = 5.24%
- Average position = 29 (good sign for me. if my posts / pages that are targeting my main keywords hit page 3 or better with on-page alone, I know I can easily smash the competition from the top)
- Related queries = 155
- Current earnings = unknown as I messed up the links. From looking at purchased being made through my dashboard I would say this site has paid its domain costs, hosting, and articles I outsourced.
- Main keyword 1 = 1900 searches per month *
- Main keyword 2 = 1600 searches per month *
- Main Keyword 3 = 210 searches per month *
- Additional longtail keywords = 1,839,188 per month *
* I have not ranked for these yet
Potential Earnings 
Once I implement the tasks below i'll have more info on how the traffic is converting once they hit Amazon.
So now is the time I start implementing more strategies with the aim to improve its earning potential overall.
These tasks include:
1. Utilizing individual affiliate tags - I use different tags for each page, and within that I have tags for contextual links, tables, images, CTA buttons, native ads..
This might seem overkill but my aim is to get the most data on:
- which pages are working best.
- which links are working best CTA Buttons vs Contextual vs Images vs Tables vs Display Ads
- Which products convert best
2. Assign a content marketing VA to this site and start producing content on a weekly basis.
3. Use Google Analytics to create goals so I can get more data on better performing pages.
4. Because its a visual niche I will start doing some Pinterest strategies that I believe will make the traffic explode.
There will be a few other ninja things that I do to push my main keywords to the top. If you want to see more of my initial process, please take a look at my other case study posts here in WA.
Overall I dropped the ball on this one! The site could have been doing a lot better and a lot sooner if I had actually done a full job, not half done it lol....
Recent Comments
15
Great post for it's sound advice, step by step process and honest self-critique. Thanks for sharing. Onwards and upwards :-)
Cheers
Rich
This is a great guide, because it shows what to do, but more importantly what not to do! Good idea putting your mistakes on there, since it makes the overall guide feel a lot more complete.
Nice work Beau, I feel this is yet another field I’m gonna follow you into. That makes it like 10 now right? Expect lots of questions soon!
Thanks Moe :)
I make so many mistakes its not funny lol... Actually it is... At least I don't fear failing.
Moe, I have an idea that will be new for both of us, and can potentially make us a decent amount of money.. We have talked about this before.. It has something to do with your country lol..
Ping me back soon my man
Very cool Beau, love reading about your niches. You must be so busy to miss those mistakes but glad you found them and now have new strategies to make it better. :)
Thanks Grace :) I don't know what happened lol.. I think I was in the process of outsourcing everything, creating working procedures and training staff that I completely forgot and left the site unfinished.. Makes me wonder if my other sites are the same LOL
Hi Nick,
It sounds like you have all the ninja techniques covered! That's a ton of work you put in and consistantly also. I am envious of your dedication. I have had the same problem ever since I started doing this kind of stuff in Sept 2015--i just get involved in too many things and it prevents me from doing anything really well. I have improved I stopped paying other people to do things I would rather do myself anyway. It sounds like you are really focused and I think you have to be to become successful in this.
Thanks for sharing all that stuff you do It's a great blue print to follow!
Barbara
Hey Barbara,
I found doing everything myself was completely burning me out.. That and always aiming for the highest goals.
The only way i could produce the output I felt was required to reach the level of success I desire. I needed to be able to duplicate myself.. Clone myself if you will :)
All the best my friend
Beau
Hi BeauAndNik,
great post :-) Good to see that you pick up the pieces and make it work better.
What I was wondering, what do you mean by:
Average position = 29 (good sign for me. if my posts / pages that are targeting my main keywords hit page 3 or better with on-page alone, I know I can easily smash the competition from the top)
What does "with on-page alone" mean?
And how can you "easily smash the competition from the top"?
Oh, and hiring a VA for keeping the site running. How much does that cost more or less?
Thanks!!
Greetings,
Wouter
Hey my friend!
If I can push my target keywords to at least page 3 (once the site has indexed, got out of the sandbox), within say 3 months I use this as a signal that the niche is not full of sites that are high competition.
Page 3 has always been this indicator for me from experience.
On-page alone = the only work done on the site is the actual writing of content, layout of the site and formatting of the content.
This means no external work has been done like backlinks, PBNs etc.
How to smash the competition? Trade secrets sorry man :) Lets just say I have paid a lot of money in training and software to do this stuff. These are tactics I use in local, national and international markets to rank sites and keep them there.. #RankAndBank
VA costs depend on hours, experience, country etc.
I outsource (to my VA's) everything except keyword research.
Sites only get their own managers once its earning enough to pay its rent.
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Awesome, B. I lift my hat to you.Continued success.
M