Running ONE Website Is A Full Time Job
A common quesiton I get is how many websites it takes to earn a full time income with affiliate marketing.
The answer is ONE.
I'm a great example of what not to do when you get started with affiliate marketing.
2011. 60 Websites.
I started at Wealthy Affiliate in 2010. By 2011 I had 60 different websites. Things were different back then, so I had a whole crazy "system" of how I ran these websites which seemed likea. good idea a the time (it wasn't).
As you might have guessed, 95% of the content on those websites was spun by VAs. Basically copied and reweritten. I'd write one article, then have some software or a person rewrite the article.
For a while, this tactic actually worked, but a few months later some Google algorithm updates happened, and the majority of them tanked.
Anyway, that's just a side note.
The point is that I was trying to run 60 websites. It was a nightmare.
One problem you might not have thought about is that mistakes were repeated across many domains. Each time I learnred something in the training, I had to go update 60 websites. Bleh.
Another problem was just mental exhaustion. Scattering my brain across many different projects was taxing on the mind!
Almost a decade later, I focus on just two websites, and I still have lots of help from VAs (Virtual Assistants).
A Single Website Can Earn Infinite Income
One difficult thing to unserstand for newbie affilaite marketers is that there's no limit to how much your website can earn.
Literally. No. Limit.
$10,000/month sounds like a lot, but $100,000 per month is possible.
Of course, it takes a lot of work and brain power to get there, but it's possible, and that's just crazy.
The weirdest thing is that you don't have to even reinvent the wheel to get there. It's not like you have to develop a new smartphone to compete with Apple, or even think of a new app idea like Fortnite.
A single affiliate webiste with content and affiliate links can earn insane amounts of money. How do I know?
I see how much I earn. Then I see other websites with 10x my traffic and a much smarter team behind the blog. Some folks post income reports as well, and I'm always shocked to see that some people are earning $100k/month from their blog. Wow. Talk about #financialgoals!
There's a Lot You Are Not Doing Right Now
If you take a full 16 hour day, you can work on a single website and never run out of ideas. There's a lot you're probably not doing right now, that you could be doing, to grow your traffic and sales exponentially.
For the very basics, you just have to write articles and add affiliate links. That's it. A simple website like that can earn money online.
But what's next?
- Start A YouTube Channel
- Grow A Social Media Following
- Do Outreach And Joint Venture Projects
- Add New Styles & Categories Of Content
- Revamp Old Content
- Create Infographics
- Outsource Content And Manage VAs
- Start A PPC Campaign
- Research Keywords For New Content
- Double Down By Creating Videos For Written Content Or Vice Versa
- Cross Promote With Relevant Peers
- Collect emails and start an email marketing campaign
- Develop your own ebooks and online courses
- Segment your email list and create more targeted promotions for sub-audiences
- Display ad optimization
There are people that make a full time income on YouTube. That alone could be a source of traffic and revenue to add to your current affiliate website.
Similarly, some folks make a full time income from just email marketing. Or just display ads.
If you do ALL of those things to your one website, that's three or four full time incomes you could be earning!
Now you're going to add a social media presence and grow a single profile? That's a boatload of work too!
On top of that you want to learn how to create amazing infographics that get shared around with your brand name? That takes a lot of time!
The point here is that there will always be something to fill your time. If you've run out of ideas for your webiste, you aren't thinking hard enough. If you have too much time in the day and not enough tasks to fill, well, keep brainstorming because there's something you can do.
Final Thoughts
A single website can fill an entire day with tasks, and provide you with a significant income. You do not need to start multiple websites to be "successful" online.
That being said, once you realize the power and potential of affiliate marketing, it's kind of hard to limit yourself to just one webiste. Any hobby or interest can be turned into a profitable business!
Are you running multiple websites right now, or just one? How does your work load feel - not enough, just right, or too much?
Recent Comments
222
Hey Nathanielll,
You're right about full time job. I'm bookmarking this page but I don't know how to this here on Wealthy Affiliate.
Years ago, I watched all of your Youtube videos.
I want to use your blog post as a reference. I'm going to lead some of my leads to this page. Very valuable stuff here.
Thanks
Pete Weaver
Hi Nathaniell, thanks for sharing your experience. I am only focused on one niche site right now. I don’t plan on doing a second site any time soon, as one is busy enough for me. My niche site is my passion and I don’t think I’ll ever run out of ideas for it.
OMG, 60 websites?? Even the thought makes me stressed. I do n´t even know what virtual assistants are. But I´m running my website because I love writing. I want to continue writing my own content, because writing is what I can do best, and I get to fulfill myself by writing.
Everything else about keeping up a website is new to me, and I´m learning it here. But I´m not going to outsource the one thing I can do best, writing. So I can only run as many websites as I can write content on. For now, one website is more than enough for me.
Great to get some perspective about affiliate marketing from somebody with true experience and success online! I'm just running 1 site, that keeps me busy enough. Starting to get the odd referral or two here and there, but they don't even want to fill in there bio/pic. Last 7 referrals are no shows :( I don't mind though as I know by continuing thing s will get better... Great post!
This is so on point for me now, after just buying two more domain names HAHA. I have one main site I make money with, and then I have, ummmm......four other websites, with an idea for another one.
The problem I have is I began with a website in a lower price point niche, so getting to a full-time income is taking me years, and I am still not there yet.
I agree though, there is lots more I could be doing with just my one main site to bring in more income. And you have given me lots of good ideas.
Last year, I started a side project site in a much higher price point niche, and I am seeing the benefits of that.
So now I have the problem of wanting to continue working on my main site, but seeing the amazing potential of higher earnings with another side-site.
I look at it like this. Some people make a full time income with email marketing. Some do it with affiliate marketing. Some with YouTube. Some with display ads.
If you do ALL of those on one website, that's four full time incomes!
Thanks for that affirmation, Nathaniell. We have just the one site right now and that is more than enough work for the two of us. We are amazed by the number of members who seem to be running multiple sites, we just don't know how they do it.
We do plan to start another website but not until we have reached certain financial goals with our current site and, even then, we anticipate having to hire someone to help us.
Colette and Philip
If you really want to grow multiple sites, you gotta have help from VAs...unless you focus solely on publishing content. If you could do one article for one site in the morning and one article for the other site in the evening, then you could grow significant content on two sites.
Beyond that, there's not enough time!
Good post Nathaniel. I have two WA sites, but concentrate on one only at the moment. Another which hasn’t had much love for about three years and one just started on another niche I want to grow. You are quite right it is a lot of work. I try to use ideas across all of them if I can to reduce thinking time. I think once you start and have a site for a while it is hard to drop it though, kind of admitting you were wrong to start it?
Using similar ideas across your websites is a great strategy! I do the same thing when I discover a style of blog post that's getting results.
I joined SAC a few weeks back. But I found out that it is too hard to run two websites at a time. I'm still a newbie. So maybe it is better to focus on one main site right now.
I'm not going to quit the SAC but just starting slowly with my own pace.
Great point, Nath. Thank you for sharing.
Amy
You can always go back and restart the training when you have more time Amy! Plus, by then you'll have more experience with affiliate marketing, and more to say on your SAC site.
Couldn't agree more Nathaniell.
I have 2 websites but focusing on one at the moment - that's more than enough to fill my day with all the tasks I need to be doing and, I'm not even doing half of what you have suggested.
You are right, you can be successful with a single website and once you have that earning income, you can outsource and then start another. Until that time comes, I'll be sticking to one.
Thanks for this reminder.
It's a lot of work creating a comprehensive strategy for a single website! Every day I feel like I'm leaving money on the table by not doing task X or Y.
I guess the good news is that there's plenty to work on in the future!
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Thank you Nathaniell for sharing this valuable post.
I am mainly focusing on my SAC website this year and planning on add YouTube videos to it shortly.
I have other websites that I update to keep fresh but most of my time is my SAC website.
Thank you for your tips I feel encouraged
Have a great day and wonderful weekend
Jennifer