My First Successful Project Online and How It Has Taught Me to SUCCEED

byMTerry97

114 followers

7 years ago

Hello to the Wealthy Affiliate community!

I have been a part of this great website for less than a week now and have learnt more than I ever have in the couple of years I have been scouring the web in search of information about affiliate marketing... None of you will probably know me so I thought I would write a little blog post about myself and my most successful project I have worked on and what it taught me about the wonderful world of making money online.

My YouTube Career (Mid 2011- Late 2012)

My first ever attempt at making money on the internet was back in 2011 when I was 14 years of age mid way through completing high school. After failing miserably at the classic 'pay to click' sites barely earning 1c every two months, I came up with an idea to make a YouTube channel based around gaming.

It took me several months but after doing a lot of chores around the house for mum and dad I had successfully scraped up enough money to purchase a 'Hauppauge HD-PVR' which at the time was around ($250). For those that don't know this device allowed me to record HD footage from my TV to my computer. This was one of the happiest moments in my early teen life...

I was extremely good at 'Call of Duty' at the time so every spare minute I had I was recording game plays and commentating over them providing advice to all other fellow gamers out there. I would analyse guns and map layouts and different tactics on how to be good at the game. I eventually branched out and did walk-through's of 'Skyrim' and a few other smaller series which weren't too successful. Anyways, it was off to a good start I was enjoying myself and had gotten quite lucky; With a few mini viral gaming videos my channel steadily started to grow. I got more views, more likes and more subscribers. I was extremely happy with myself as I began making $50-$150 each month at the age of 14 just from ad revenue.

It was late July of 2012 when I was at the peak of my success (also my downfall). I had just surpassed 3000 subscribers and was still growing.... HOWEVER... It was at this time people at my school began to find out about my videos. At first it was okay, I could cope with the smart ass comments that were being made and the silly remarks that I received. I decided to do a 3000 subscriber special video which involved me doing a face reveal and a silly parody video of 'Gangham Style' that at the time had just been released and was going viral in every corner of the internet. I put together the silliest outfit I could and filmed myself using mums old iPhone doing what I could only describe now as the most embarrassing and worst dance moves of all time! But guess what... It was a HUGE success I had gone semi viral and gained more fans boosting me to just under 5000 subscribers. At one point the video had been viewed a whopping 59,500 times!!

At this point I was in grade 10 of high school bringing in anywhere between $350 -$1000 a month from ad revenue. I was over the moon. It was a blessing and it boosted every single aspect of my life I had never been happier. To me it was a shock to know that it was even possible to make this sort of money online

But of course, as always, good things must come to an end. I was the joke of the entire school. Everyone knew about my channel and the video I had made. I was picked on by the kids in my grade, the kids that were older than me and even the kids younger than me. It had been shared on everyone's social media and eventually even the teachers knew about it. At the time I was heart broken it destroyed me and unfortunately made me quit YouTube closing my channel in the month of August 2012. It was extremely upsetting and disheartening at the age of 14 to have something that I had worked extremely hard for, something I was so passionate about and something that I had put all spare time and energy into just to have it torn away from me because of the comments made to me from one video.

So what did I learn?

Looking back now I wish I had continued making these videos as it was what made me happy and was something that I was very passionate about pursuing. As you can see I had built a fairly decent following and it was clear quite a few people out there were enjoying the content I was providing. Monetisation wise YouTube provided me with a great income for someone who was only 14 years of age and in fact is some of the best money I have ever made online to date. It was a lucrative market on YouTube with companies wanting people like me to play their games and many brands trying to advertise products through content creators.

Being in the YouTube game for around a year or so I was lucky enough to experience what it was like to have a thriving online business. I discovered the money side of the internet, a part that I never knew existed. I learnt how to make money online and have gained so much knowledge that helps me to this day. Being on YouTube taught me the importance of social media and how providing rich content can boost your brand awareness on the internet. It was amazing to see how people on my fan page were reacting to silly photos I was sharing and funny videos that I liked from Facebook and YouTube. I learnt who my audience was, I knew my niche and had figured out what sorts of topics and content they were into. I engaged with every fan I could by replying to comments on all my social pages and helping them out whenever they were seeking advice. Subsequently, I would ask for feedback and advice on what I could improve so as to create better content therefore increasing their enjoyment. However, this does not only refer to just YouTube. These techniques can be used when building a niche website too. The more you engage with the people that visit your website the more you can learn about who they are and what their needs are so you can provide juicy and fulfilling content that benefits them. Building a relationship with the viewers turns them into customers and the happier they are with what you provide the more likely they are to share your website to friends and family with similar interests.

Also, use any tool that provides you with insider information about your website to your advantage. Dissect analytics from your website and learn where your traffic is coming from and how you can engage that platform to benefit your website. Figuring out what articles are successful and learning why different tags are more popular than others are the keys to your success.

Conclusion

Thank you to anyone that has read this far it really means a lot. If you have liked my first little blog post then please let me know. I would greatly appreciate it. I shall end this with some advice from me to you....

DO NOT EVER let people shut down a dream that you believe in. If you believe in it then you go chase it. No matter what people think if you put all your heart and mind into something that you are passionate about then you WILL succeed.

It is great to be a part of this community,

Thank you guys,

Martin Terry