WA Two Year Progress Report
I'm coming up on two years as a Wealthy Affiliate Premium Member! But as that reunion approaches there's a thought hanging over my head: Am I missing something?
I'm seeing a lot of folks blogging about their successes at WA and sharing their monthly income reports. I went back and read Kyle's story as part of the WA Black Friday promotion. It should take about a year to build a full-time online business, right?
Well, I've been working at it for two years and I'm not seeing the consistent commissions that I was expecting at this point. Why is that happening?
I've written more than 100 posts in that time promoting various products and offering plenty of knowledge in my niches. I've built a large catalog of affiliates to choose from and I've leveraged social media to form new bonds with companies that have begun sending me products in exchange for social posts and reviews on my sites.
And still, the commission stream is a slow trickle, at best. So I ask again: What am I missing?
In these moments, I have to remind myself that I haven't been working on building my online business FULL-TIME over the entire course of this two years. Sometimes, yes. But I've also spent the last two summers working full-time as an outdoor guide, which means that my momentum with my online businesses comes to a screeching halt for about six months every year.
I'm starting to recognize that maybe it's better to keep up small momentum than to be full-time online for half the year and then basically no-time online for the rest of the year. What do you guys think?
On another note, I've been wondering if I've spread myself too thin. Instead of focusing on just building and monetizing just one website, I have gone from presiding over one website when I first started with WA to presiding over a total of four websites. Is there something to the familiar "less is more" moniker on this front? Should I consider focusing my efforts on just one or two of these websites if I want to be more effective and monetize more effectively?
Just seeking some advice on my path forward here at Wealthy Affiliate!
Personally, I like to believe that my ability to grow and sustain multiple websites is success in and of itself. But if I'm being honest, the primary reason why I joined WA is to learn how to monetize my sites more productively. For whatever reason, I'm still not quite over that hurdle, and I can't say why....
Recent Comments
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Personally, I believe being consistant is better than being full-time half a year and absent the other half of the year. Stick to a posting schedule you can keep up with throughout the entire year. Once or twice a week, as long as you post it on a schedule, is useful. THen you can write posts ahead of time for the times you're too busy in the summer to write stuff.
Secondly, you're right that spreading yourself over 4 websites when you're unable to devote your entire time to it might be pushing it. I would focus on one website and just sporadically keep up with the others.
That said, I think you recognize why you aren't full-time online yet at 2 years. I myself changed my niche after my first 6 months on WA, and am only 6 months in on my second website, which is the one I focus on now. I also cannot devote myself full-time yet as I volunteer and rescue cats (which is important to me) as well as you know, a job and all, so that I can live.
Don't beat yourself up too much. ^_^; If you devoted 40 hours a week to one website for the past two years, you'd probably be raking the money in. But it is what it is and we all have different goals and focus and time availability.
I think you're right about consistency! And I have recently created a posting schedule for all of my websites through the end of 2020 and it feels so much more manageable than working on a month-to-month, or worse, week-to-week basis.
I definitely have to prioritize my websites based on which I want to give the most time and energy to and which I can keep up more sporadically.
Thanks for your encouragement!
You have several small success already Tucker--it sounds to me like it's coming together--slow but sure!
Jeff
Thanks Jeff! I know how important it is to stick with it. And I've been concentrating on doing the work and making sure I'm enjoying the process. I still believe the results will come!
See more comments
Hi Tucker,
I certainly joined WA to supplement my income. I am not where I would like to be, but I will remain persistent until I reach my goal's.
Believe in yourself, shed the doubts and go for it. Perhaps putting all your energy into that one website that you are most passionate about.
Best wishes,
Michael
Thanks Michael! The persistence is, I think, the key!