Milestone Month: $100+ commissions!
FINALLY I'm at the point where things are starting to go UPWARDS and I'm hoping it's going to keep going up, up, up from here!
I joined WA in Aug 2016, spent a full year and a bit building a big site that I finally understood was never really going to get anywhere, money-wise. I started fresh 6 months ago taking what I learned and building a new site that is actually beginning to now really take off! On it, I'm now to 80-100 organic visitors/day, and this month I finally topped $100 commission for the 1st time (purely Amazon at this point).
I'm feeling great about this. I know it's "only" $100, but it's giving me a real sense of relief that at some point in the not-toooooo-distant future I'll be able to say this affiliate marketing gig is actually profitable haha. (I started my first site in August 2016... I have yet to earn back the 2 yearly fees plus the domain fees. I'm CLOSE though, yay!!)
I think once I'm actually making some nice money with this (I mean "big picture", revenue minus all expenses), I'll be willing to actually tell people about this hobby/stay-at-home "thing" I do called "affiliate marketing". So far, just my husband and 3 or 4 select friends and family know that I put hundreds of hours in the evenings into website building and writing... am I weird for keeping it quiet?
Anyhow, wanted to put this out there, make a prediction, perhaps... that eventually I'm going to have one profitable website! It CAN be done! :)
I'll post again at my first $1000 month!
Recent Comments
49
Congrats! And No you're not weird. You just needed proof. People respond better when you have proof that something works. People looked at me funny when I mentioned my "hobby" and my financial goals. Now I have the final laugh. Don't be afraid to spread the word if it is something you believe in. It feels great when you get there.
Thanks! I look forward to being able to talk about it... soon! :) I know a whole bunch of stay-at-home-moms who would probably be very interested in this idea! (Haha, maybe I can get some WA commissions out of it at some point ;). Never know!)
Not wanting to share yet is not weird at all. When you tell people about a new venture, the first question is "How's it going?". It'd be nice to be able to say "well - and yes it's starting to make money". Continued success. Looking forward to that $1000 post.
I made the mistake of not target "buyer" keywords. Hence the reason why I may not convert as high as I liked.
Congrats on your success.
Jessie
My mistake was, I think, my niche. I know Kyle says that all niches can be full time incomes, but my first niche was kids dress up clothes. There were very few things that I could promote that would be more commission than $1. Meaning I'd need a seriously insane amount of traffic to "make it". And most traffic is moms just looking, I think. Even at Halloween, I didn't see much of a sales leap, although traffic was pretty high, especially from Pinterest.
Niche choice is pretty important... as is promoting products that will get you commissions worth the effort you put in. I'm seeing that now with my second site. I wish Kyle would push that point a bit more... maybe less newbies would drop out.
Woohoo!! Marlaine, that's awesome! Good on you. I am sure this is just the start. Hope your first $1000 month is around the corner.
I hope it doesn't take as long, but I think it'll get there maybe within a year... that'd be ok. :)
I'm sure it will grow exponentially. Take a look at Crystal's post and see how quickly it snowballs... On April 1st she had achieved $1000 in TOTAL sales on Amazon and by May 30th... Woohoo! My First $1000 Month Can't wait to read YOUR next Amazon post.
Definitely possible! I think I'm nearing $100 already for THIS month (assuming certain percentages commission) and it's only June 3rd!... WHOA!!!! Did not see THAT coming! :) :)
Hello!
Great news -- glad you are now seeing results!! : )
Wishing you continued success, Marlaine!
Cathy
Hey there,
Can't help but join commenting this kind of success stories!
You've attested our efforts don't go wasted.
Catching you up.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Awesome! What a milestone. Congratulations. I can’t wait for my first 100 dollars to roll in.
And about being quiet, you’re not the only one. My wife, and only one friend know about this. And yes, hundreds and hundreds of hours in the late evenings, night and weekends. I’m here since October 2017 and still waiting for the big thing to happen: earn money. But I do enjoy my time here, and I have learned sooo much. Grateful for ever. And money is not the only thing that drives me, but it plays a role
Wish you luck and success.
Oscar.
Glad to know I'm not the only one keeping mum about it until it's successful. :)
I tell myself it's a hobby for now, because yes, I enjoy it too! It's definitely not just about the money for me either... honestly, I think having something to learn and use my brain with has saved me from going crazy in these "early mothering years".
See more comments
Hi Marlaine, just wanted to congratulate you on your milestone in May and sounds like in June you've well surpassed that now.
I once remember doing comments on your old site and I also agree with the comment you said below about niche selection. I think it's important you pick a niche you can make good commissions from because your effort of writing a review or an article is the same whether you make $1 or $100.
I think this comes with experience as well, and why Kyle gives it a blanket every niche can make you a full time income is because that old site could probably still make you a full time income if you worked on it much longer.
I'm glad you switched gears and now experiencing way better results! Congrats to you!!
Thank you! I am pretty happy with how things are going with my "new", more profitable niche site! I'm well past $200 this month already, yay! So things are starting to scale, and I'm loving it!
Yes, I agree that it's experience that helps learn what to do and what NOT to do! I'm just glad I stuck it out and didn't give up when the first niche didn't work out. I actually am skeptical that the first site would have ever made it to a "full income", ever. The amount of traffic compared to commissions made on purchases would have meant I'd need to have driven 10,000+ people almost daily to the site to make it. Doable in a VERY, VERY long time, perhaps. Not by me though.
Oddly enough, I haven't done comments on my new site, other than a few at the beginning. I'm very skeptical as whether or not it useful in all niches - I'm getting lots of traffic and google rankings without spending tons of time and energy on comment getting and giving. Internet marketing niche, yes, I think so, as you're selling a service not a product. But I'm focusing on "Best Of" product reviews - not sure comments would be useful or not. I may test it on a post I can't get to rank.
I read things are going really well for you too!! Congratulations to you as well! Yay for us moms getting it done! :)
I totally agree with you and glad you didn't keep at it on that first site. I'm glad you were able to see that it would take much longer and required way more traffic to get the results you actually want so switching gears have been obviously amazing for you and glad you did! :)
Sounds like you're using Dylan's strategy, guess it still works and will continue to work because people do search like that especially when they want to buy! I know I search Best of something when really want to know what's best and about to buy.
I'm just so happy for you!! Please keep blogging about your successes, these are the types of posts that got me through my darkest days so you are doing a service to the community for doing what you do. :)
To your first $1K month very soon, it sounds like!
Grace
Will do, Grace! I too look for success posts to help me get through slumps :)
Dylan's strategy is working, yes! He has helped me out so much with his training and posts and comments! Posts do tend to take a while to rank, but I AM seeing movement.