12 Month SWAG Report: Nothing to Shout Home About.
Hi guys n' gals!
After 12 months of putting ALL my effort into a Bootcamp blog, I'm actually disappointed by the lack of results.
I don't mean to sound too negative lol, but I envisioned reaching the 12-month mark with a decent amount of traffic and a part-time income to be proud of.
Up to this point, I've managed just 4 premium WA referrals, 0 NON-WA free/paid Jaaxy referrals, and very little to show from another affiliate program.
With now over 260 posts after 12 months, all I'm getting is less than 60 organic visitors per day from Google.
But some Bootcampers with far less posts and younger blogs are getting 2 to 3X that amount of traffic and with better success rates too.
Maybe I just need to keep plugging away for a little longer? Maybe I've just published too much content too soon and need to slow down a little? Maybe I need more than 2,000 comments? Maybe I should be building 1,000s of backlinks like some other Bootcampers have done for massive income results? Who knows.
But there comes a point when you feel angry, frustrated, and demoralised, and you consider throwing in the towel on the whole "blogging thing" completely.
But that other part of you tells you not to lose faith.
However, the good news is that some of my reviews are sitting on Google page 2 - even if the majority of them have been stuck there for the last 12 months lol.
But anyways, here are the results after 12 months:
Google Search Console Traffic From October 5TH 2017 - October 5TH 2018:
In terms of free WA referral results over the last 12 months:
Clicks: 2,175.
Referrals: 76.
SiteRubix Referrals: 6.
I just hope the time/effort I've invested will start paying off in the next few months.
Hopefully, Black Friday will bring some good results too.
As for qualifying for Vegas, still got 98 sales to go. But at the slow snail rate speed of the site's progress, I think the chances of making it to Vegas are getting slimmer as time ticks by.
Fingers crossed, those 98 premiums come rolling in during November/December.
Neil
Recent Comments
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Hey Neil.
Just wondering how your website traffic is coming along. By all indications, you would be about 21/22 months into this site now.
I'm in a similar situation as you about the 12 month mark. Anywhere between 40-70 visitors per day, done 190 posts.
Can you let me know if Google's given you any love.
Cheers
Its like the exact same thing with me. I'm approaching 200 posts now and only getting about 10-15 organic visitors a day. I only have 1 premium referral and she left months ago. This month I made something like $1.50 from adsense and no commissions from any of my affiliate offers.
Hey Neil,
Hang in there! You're doing incredibly well. Go with Zarina's suggestions. Keep writing quality content and get additional advice from members who are going to Vegas. Find out what they are doing differently on their site.
I really feel next year could be an exciting time for you if you keep writing. Are you putting in videos?
Fingers and toes crossed for you!!
Monica
Hi, Monica!
Thanks :)
YUP, I refuse to be beaten lol.
Other SWAG members are already doing the same as what I'm doing. In fact, what we're all doing.
The only difference is some Bootcamp members have built up thousands of backlinks to help get them rankings.
But I'm not gonna go into that whole "backlinking" debate here.
Cheers, hopefully, things improve. Videos aren't really my thing. Just happy with writing. :)
Neil
Hello Neil,
Reading your post and also Zarina’s suggesting have opened my thinking. When we first start in WA, it would be easier to apply the lessons to a Niche, rather than WA. I have been confused at times with learning Affiliate Marketing and being part of the process,
Yesterday I was assessing where I was at with WA and decided to start another website apart from the WA niche. I’m excited in getting started today and already see a clear path ahead to actually making money.
Rob
It is far easier to accomplish success with niche blogs because the "make money" niche just seems too competitive. Add to the fact that unethical bloggers outside of WA have stolen parts of my content and even outranked my site with it.
So "Plagiarists" really do add fuel to the fire lol.
We can have success with Bootcamp, but obviously, it takes a while to get anywhere.
Hope your new site goes well Rob!
Neil :)
Hi Neil, please listen to Zarina's suggestion. You have been work so hard and so far to give up, don't do.
We all here to give you support and lift you up. Have faith, God will open the door very soon. Don't give up.
Telma
Thanks, Telma!
It is disheartening when you've put so MUCH of your energy into something and you're just not reaping the rewards from it.
But I shall continue.
Congratulations on your many posts! Wow, you have been working hard.
Sorry you haven't seen the success you wanted, but I think it is just a matter of time.
Also, I'd be so curious to read what would Kyle say about this. Maye an idea to ask him...
Best of luck!
Alenka
Thanks muchly, Alenka! :D
It's VERY frustrating when we keep plugging away for months on end and we see very little improvements. It's even worse when we don't know how long it's gonna be until that traffic does actually start to spike.
I've already picked Kyle's brains numerous times in the past on the same issue.
It's a case of following the training and investing the work.
Cheers!
On the positive side well done for all your hard work. Well done for all your comments as well. Is there a sub-area within the MMO niche that you are targeting or are you still keeping it pretty broad? Also how many product reviews have you done? Jerry & Grace both swear by lots of product reviews.
Thanks, much appreciated. :)
I've stuck to the "affiliate marketing" side of things. There's plenty to write about.
Yeah, product reviews are the best source of traffic. I've sone 223 reviews so far. So no problems in that department lol.
You are doing wonderfully, and I sincerely hope you don't get too discouraged!
You have a great foundation built, you're getting traffic, and it looks like maybe you just need to get some feedback to see if there's something you can do to increase your conversions.
Just off the top of my head, do you have a lead magnet and are you collecting email addresses for an email marketing campaign? Do you have call-to-actions placed well--enough, but not too many? Things like that, but there's more that a much more experienced marketer will be able to go over.
Your hard work will not go to waste, and I'm betting that in another 6 months you'll be updating us with all the successes you're having!
Good luck!
Janelle
Thank You, Janelle! :)
Trust me, I've spent A LOT of time tweaking that site to get things just right. It does a fairly good job at producing conversions. :)
The problem is the traffic. There's just not enough of it when there should be more with the amount of content published and especially with the site now being a year old.
Email marketing isn't on my radar until I start getting a decent amount of traffic and some income from it.
Plus email marketing is a beast all by itself which requires in-depth learning.
I appreciate the encouragement.
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Hi Neil, today at church one of my friends, name is Sue, and I am Suzay, said she was wanting to take a look at WA. She gave me her email, I told her how much tuition is if she pays for the year in a lump sum. So how would I go about getting credit for that, when she joins ?
And she said she is a slow learner, (not as slow as me!! I got to step 2 in the first training and got lost, then had Congestive Heart Failure and almost died, now a year and a half later, I'm finally getting physically stronger, spent that time writing back to people on their posts, which made me a better communicator via writing. Yet I still haven't made a post at WA, just a ton of personalized comments.
Can you post on WA without having a completed website?
I have been faithful about going to Jay's classes, it's only now in the 2nd year... I'm starting to grok, understand the terminology better. I wonder what is so different about me that the germination time for these technology seeds, Word Press ( my God, I want to go to Udemy and get a Word Press dummy to play with it and it's back office maybe that would help!).
OK, well I promise I'm going back to basic training this week, signed Suzay. Other than that Neil, would you please be so Kind as to answer my questions here, and to help me with other stuff, if I need it. And I probably will!
Stopping for now. Thank you!
Suzay