$2,525.41 In October. From a Site Started in Jan 2021
So here's the part everyone wants to see...
And then the other type of person wants to see proof...
And here's the traffic (about 15k in October)
I'm just putting this here as I know how it feels when you start out with all of this stuff. You wonder will it ever work and will you ever see results.
Well, I just wanted to tell you that YES! It does work!
(...but it's not easy!)
What I've been up to
I've been a lot "less active" here recently (I still help referalls as much as I possibly can) for one main reason...
I wanted to focus!
About a year ago I took stock of what was working for me and what wasn't and stopped all non-income-producing activities almost immediately.
This was for a few reasons:
- We had our first child (which takes a LOT of time!)
- I knew I was starting back as a PE teacher in August as I was missing it, so my time was going to be reduced... A lot!
- I wasn't enjoying some of the things I was doing anymore! So why do them if they don't provide anything?!
So I decided to start a new niche at the start of this year.
Picking a niche
I would say this is what I have not been very good at typically. So I educated myself on this a bit more and took some new training, pretty much especially for this.
Here's something that I personally now think (and not enough people say)...
Your niche choice is super important in this business.
And it's hard to know what niche to pick!
Sure ANY niche can work.
But some niches are infinitely easier and more lucrative.
Figuring out how to do this well definitely helps!
Here are a few good tips:
1. Search for sites selling on sites like empire flippers, flippa, FE International and places where online businesses are sold! If they are selling for a decent price on there chances are there is money to be made!
2. Research the competitors. Check things like domain authority and traffic (you can get an idea with free tools like Moz or Ubersuggest)
3. Find affiliate opportunities (find brands that these websites are promoting- you don't want to rely soley on Amazon... or and one company)
4. Read my article on 5 tips to pick a niche (I go into some of the above points in more detail).
Expenses
Here's what I've spent money on for this site:
- Content (1 "expert" writer for the niche, 1 "commercial" content writer)
- Paying an "expert" to answer questions on HARO (commission based- this is to gain "authority" for the site by getting some links from some very well respected sites)
- GeneratePress Pro
- Elementor Pro (not needed & I wouldn't actually recommend this now)
- ShortPixel (compresses images)
- WP Rocket (good for site speed)
- Hosting the site here at WA
- Ahrefs (keyword research tool, which dives deep into other websites & helps see the competition... this is not needed (especially for beginners) and it's not cheap... but now I use I don't think I'll ever be able to live without it! It's a game changer for sure.)
Key Takeaways
- 46 articles published (all focusing on keywords that I can rank for and the majority of them are focused. on"commercial intent" i.e. review or a "best of" post)
- The site made $2,500 in October and is currently on pace to make over $4k in November (not accounting for Black Friday)
- I've spent $7,820.87 on the site so far and it's made $5,563
- I'm reinvesting income from other sites to kick start this one so it's still all in profit for my online business stuff
- Focusing on building systems and hiring good people so I'm not trading all of my time to keep growing the site
Despite this I want everyone that is still reading to read this part...
- I did EVERYTHING for the site at the start
I did the hours (weeks?? Months??) of research
I wrote over 20 articles.
I made the images.
I designed the site and I set up the high standards and systems that I expect anyone else working on the site.
I DID NOT just outsource content to an agency or expect miracles to happen on day one. I kept expenses on a shoe string budget at the start and once it started ranking and making money I've hired more people and outsourced more.
And the truth is...
I could only do all of this because I've spent a few years honing my skills on this and I keep learning.
Like I say I took a course that was specific for picking a niche and keyword research using Ahrefs, which I wanted to learn how to use.
Even today I'm in the middle of a new course that is specific for creating content that attracts links from other sites organically.
Bottom line
Keep Learning!
Keep changing for the better
Mike
P.S. Ask me anything you want below (I won't publicly share my niche though)
Recent Comments
85
Hey Mike
This is a great post. I think the advice in the training not to spend more than 15-30 minutes on picking a niche is not the best.
Sure, you could take forever but it is so critical. Yes, you can start over but it's best to get a really good niche to start.
If you start with a super-competitive niche you could be dead before it ranks on Google.
The fact that you only have had so much success with only 46 articles posted and have most of the keywords is amazing.
You are making me think about my third niche but I need to make one of the existing ones work first!
Keep it up!
Best,
Jean
Yeah valid Jean,
For complete beginners it sometimes is a good idea just to pick something you know about and get going.
It’s hard to learn any of this stuff unless you have a website and “do”.
But once you’ve done one and know the deal you really should pick a niche carefully. You will work on it for years and so choosing a bad niche can waste a lot of time.
It’s a big reason why I recommend WA to beginners as it’s so good at making you take action. But once you have the basics you prob should find some training to pick a niche more carefully/ better.
And my advice on creating “another” niche…
FOCUS!
Choose one and go all in (whether it’s an existing site/ new niche)… don’t do 3 half heartedly as you’ll get half hearted results
You are killing the game bro!
This really goes to show how remaining consistent, taking action and having enough patience is key, especially if you want a website to really show you its potential.
These 3 pillars are crucial for establishing a profitable website, particularly one that will make you serious buck down the road!
With that being said I wish you continued success on this affiliate journey Mike and to weather any Google algorithm updates that could rock the boat a little!
All the best
Amhil
Honestly it's far from where I'd hope to be right not.
The bootcamp site has pretty much been put in a standstill indefinitely. Way too many algorithm updates have left this project desolate so to speak. I'll probably try and fix everything once my other sites gain significant traction.
Sieving through and potentially even rewriting 500+ posts would be too large a task for my brain to handle at this point in the year.
One site is generating a few hundred bucks a month now. It's got over 130 posts but, it's quite competitive so only recently has it begun gaining traction. Keyword research was lackluster too. I've been reinvesting the money made on content which results in about 4 - 6 every month at around 1k words.
Lastly I've started up another project where I'll be focusing more on the ads side of things. I'm trying to get this site to 100 by the end of the year and continue growing it throughout the next. Possibly 400 - 500 by the end of the year. The project only began around late October even though I've had the domain for roughly a year.
It's currently got 44 posts with about 36 published all bar 2 I've written myself as in a technical sense this niche is far easier to write for.
That's pretty much everything that's happened, yeah you could say it's been a subpar year but, set backs are just part of the journey and I've definitely learned from these setbacks which should finally help me achieve some kinda breakthrough this year, fingers crossed.
Forgot to reply, to you earlier and yeah kinda.
I'm going for low competition keywords where forums or content that are extremely short/thin are on the first page as that's touted by the majority so, hopefully I'll have a better understanding by the end of the year to see if the theory is for real.
Almost hit $1k in December from the the older site and have currently written 100+ article for the other (it's almost 3 months of grinding into that project now)
When I hit $1k in singular month I'll probably update the community to give something back to it.
Got a few ambitious goals for this year too which I'll update at that point too.
Keep us updated on your progress Mike, it's an inspiration to a lot of us and I'm sure when looking back at it a year it two from now, it will be trip... In a positive way.
Well done on your success. So, do you buy domains from Flippa which are already making money and have traffic? Also do you recommend wp-rocket even if your site is hosted here at WA?
My cat blog is starting to make money, and I'm about to start my new niche which I'm equally passionate about. This the MMO niche.
Best wishes:) Kathy
No I built it from scratch- and yes 100% recommend WP rocket for pretty much everyone.
See why here https://maketimeonline.com/wp-rocket-plugin-review
Glad to hear about you cat blog… I advise people to hold off on the MMO niche as it’s super competitive and far easier once you have that “social proof” of making money from sites yourself
Hi Mike,
Kudos to you for being able to use HI (Human Intelligence!) to set up your new website based on your new niche. I will check out your article on this topic. It is clear reading from other successful affiliates how critical this step is.
The next lesson I learned from you is to restrict your business actions to those that are money generating. This includes the kind of articles you wrote and posting regularly. Interestingly your throughput wasn't heavy like 3 - 5 a week. I calculated it was close to 1 per week. But you made it count by writing income-focused articles and posted them at regular intervals.
I also noticed you invested heavily by using your income as an offset and accepted that initially breaking even is acceptable. It is this angle that many will find hard to accept. And I feel that this is not the only approach, as long as one's initial income expectation is lower than what you achieved if you invest less money to leverage your efforts.
Does any of what I said make sense to you? Am I missing something?
The niche I am in now was my second, It is MMO with the main focus of helping others to find ways to use the Internet for profit. A big part is to attract referrals to WA. I enjoy doing this. However, I have a lot to learn to compete with others who know much more than me in this niche.
Thanks for sharing your earnings info, I am certain that other members will be encouraged that a website can earn money in less than a year. But the process used is critical to make it happen.
I wish you continued success.
Cheers.
Edwin
Bingo Edwin!
The bottom line is that the training and learning you take along the way is crucial. It’s very easy to be a busy fool!
Let me know if you have any specific questions and happy to help (also check out my comment above about my opinion the MMO niche)
See more comments
Hi Mike,
It's been awhile since you posted- but for very good reasons as you mentioned. That is exciting to hear, and kudos to you on that niche website so far!
What you're doing is fantastic, and you're getting great results. You make some great points, such as continued learning.
Each one of us needs to stick to doing that, so that we can become better content creators/marketers overtime.
Thanks for sharing. Keep up the great work, and continue growing those numbers :)
All the best,
Eric
Thanks Eric,
How are you getting on?
Hi Mike,
Thank you for asking. Yes, it’s coming along well.
I started from scratch a brand new niche website. It’s nearly 6 months old, so a long way to go.
I believe I made some mistakes when I started at WA two years ago. Also, I got distracted and lost focus along the way.
I’m more focused now- and following the core training to the T. So I learned my lessons, and I’m sticking with this website for some time.
But I’m liking the progress I made so far. I’m committed to the website for the next 18-24 months. By then, I’ll see great results if I remain consistent.
Thanks again for asking. We’ll talk soon :)
Best,
Eric