3 Steps to $3,000 Extra: Christmas 2017
This year one of my websites earned about $2,000. Almost half of those earnings has been in December alone so far (it's December 15th currently). (2018 Update)
As you can see from the chart, I was earning about $0 in January 2016. The website started in June 2015 but I didn't star producing affiliate content until about Jan 2016.
I published a few hundred posts during the year, and earnings were terrible. I was frustrated and disappointed. It was even more stressful for me because I was paying for content instead of writing it myself. But I pushed through because I know that affiliate marketing works. Sometimes it just takes longer to see results than you initially expected.
How did I achieve this? Of course, I'm very familiar with Wealthy Affiliate training, so that was the core model for my website. However, broken down, I can categorize my content production into 3 categories. They are easy to follow. If you aren't earning right now, you can consider a similar strategy moving forward.
1) Top 5 Posts
Very simple! Create a top 5 post for very specific categories. So instead of "top 5 TV's of 2016", you can do something like "Top 5 Internet Enabled 1080P TVs over 40 Inches". Many times I'd rank for terms like "40-inch internet enabled TV", but sometimes I would actually rank for product names listed in the reviews.
2) Product Reviews
Again, simple. Pick a product, review it in-depth. Most reviews were over 1,000 words, usually around 1,500 words. I actually purchased the products and took my own photos as well.
Then, link your Top 5 posts to the actual product on Amazon with an affiliate link, plus a link to your full review.
3) Keyword-Based Posts
Kyle teaches this in the lessons. Using Jaaxy, I found related keywords to the products. Then I'd write articles and link back to my Top 5 posts as well as product reviews.
Of course, I still have a lot to work on. It's Christmas and Black Friday, so people are spending more money. Chances are, earnings will drop off in January. But I have a whole new year to work on the same things and increase monthly earnings. I'm confident that Black Friday and Christmas are going to be even bigger next year.
Many people tell me they are afraid that they will put a lot of work into their website and not see results. Well, I didn't see any results for most of the year, but I know that people buy stuff online, and I know that I can help them find the best items with my content.
$2,000 per year is not a full time business. But it's enough money to have an extra-nice Christmas next year, and possibly a full time income by the next year. I know that growth snowballs, and I know that this website will be garner more success in the future if I keep doing what I'm doing.
Update: I hit 3k for 2016!
In the last weeks of December, things really took off and I surpassed the $2k I originally wrote about in this post. I hope with enough work in 2017 I can do $30k next December LOL. Seriously. I think it can happen.
Recent Comments
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Bounties are referrals to Amazon's memberships. So Prime, HBO, Music, etc are all bounties.
I think that includes the free trial, so if someone signs up to the 30 day free Prime membership you get $3.00.
Thanks for sharing this with us Nathaniell.This is exactly the kind of open and honest dialog we need to hear to keep ourselves motivated.
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Let's see, 10 websites averaging $2,000.00/year = a $20,000.00 year. Very encouraging. Thanks nathaniell.
Sure but that comes from 10 websites. I'd much rather make 100,000 a year from one website, and then continue to make about as much from any other site I create. 20,000 a year won't cut it where I'm from especially from hard work on 10 websites.