Welcome to BeerMoneyForum.com - BIGGEST MAKE MONEY FORUM ONLINE

Join us now to get access to all our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, and so, so much more. It's also quick and totally free, so what are you waiting for?
Blue
Red
Green
Orange
Voilet
Slate
Dark
  Guest viewing is limited

Follow Along [Journey #2] Hobby + Affiliate Site | will I make it this time?

OVERVIEW
My last journey was a flop, but I learned a great deal from that.

With the experience I got by running that first site in 2017, I've created 2 new sites in 2018.
  • Hobby site (3rd of March, 2018).
  • Affiliate site (5th of April, 2018).

Hobby Site Journey, 03.03.2018-31.05.2018.png

The hobby site will be monetized by adsense and the like; tech field.

Affiliate Site Journey, 05.04.2018-31.05.2018.png

The affiliate site will be monetized with Amazon mainly; outdoors sports. For June, the pageviews are around 1000 already.


PLANS
They are rapidly growing, which is motivating, but the problem is, I can't work on them in the coming 9 months starting from July (military service).

With that said, what I've done is I've layed a sort of groundwork only. I have not monetized them yet because I'm not sure how things will end up with me not being around to babysit and/or collect the money... I'm just going to let them sit like this and grow (including June's work) for those 9 months, pretty much. Maybe I'll get to do some maintenance on them from time to time, but that's about it.


TECHNICAL
The domains are bought via GoDaddy for 2 years. They are on a VPS (virtual private server, Vultr, $3.60/m) managed by ServerPilot hosting service (free). I've implemented https for both of them and they're using relatively optimized simple free themes (Best Simple and Wisteria).


SEO
I feel good about the SEO on those new sites. The hobby site has no SEO-level competition basically. The affiliate site has relatively low competition overall - there's some room to snap untouched keywords basically.

The on-page SEO for the affiliate site in particular has:
  • 1500-4000+ word articles with pictures, short paragraphs, useful content, etc;
  • interlinking to useful and relevant sources within the site itself with ultimate pillar content for each category;
  • low competition keywords for the most part already bringing in users with buyer intent.
  • (user friendly - useful yet simple and pleasant overall feel of the site(s))

The off-page SEO is not something I'm overly concerned about. I feel like there's no need for it in all actuality. I'm pretty sure that simply having better content will do the trick over time. I'm in no rush.


MONI
All is paid in advance for 2 years. The affiliate site is sure to make at least some money, that's a given. Just needs more content and time...

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to monetize the hobby site though. The audience is not looking to buy anything in particular, but there are some potential ways to monetize it (adsense; contacting digital product sellers and suggest to give their solutions more visibility on my site by demanding a small monthly fee - right now the free solutions are at the front and most nobody needs to scroll past the free solutions on the lists of ways to do what they want to do; etc).

Expenses:
  • 2 domains: $65
  • VPS: $70
Revenue:
  • not monetized yet
 
I wish I had the power to edit my comments sometimes...

I forgot to put a timestamp on the video link so now the point of that video in relation to my comment is totally lost.

The guy on the video mentions the problem I started to face as well starting at 1:00, and then the problem specifically is pointed out at about 1:15 where I too started to drift away from the topic a little at the FAQ section that's way below the listicle...
 
I'm slowly carving out some content from that white space between the subheadings of that aformentioned "best cheap" listicle post. It's at 4000 words now.

At this rate, I get the minimalistic version of it done fairly soon with the word count probably stopping at around 5000 words which should be enough to compete with other such articles ranking on the first page. I'm thinking I'll make the detailing after publishing the minimal version of the post.

Upon closer inspection, those other articles (copetitors) consist of mainly "buying guides" and other "supporting" information rather than just a super detailed listicle. That means I don't have to go mental over this one post. There's just one such super detailed listicle with very little supporting information sprinkled in ranking 1st (7000 words), but their content is clearly outdated!

Overall, I'm fine with the potential 2nd place for the time being if it means less headache for me. At least that's what I'm telling myself to keep going. Deep inside, I hope my interlinking is somehow "meaty" enough to act as backlinks pushing my listicle to the first spot over time.


But for that I first need to actually finish it. I only get to work on it a little at the weekends...

Once I get done with the writing I'll simply need to add LOTS of pictures and go over ALL the other posts in order to interlink to the "best cheap" listicle post from them.

I don't plan to rank that listicle for this summer as there's just not enough time for Google to sort it out. I'm hoping the inner links function not just as a ranking factor but as a sort of tunnel system bringing all the traffic from those other posts to this listicle post from where they should have little to no doubts actually buying the product they fancy.
 
I wasn't exactly satisfied the way the minimalistic version of that "best cheap..." listicle was and worried if I should maybe put more effort into finalizing it, but once I started adding pictures (almost like a children's book effect), things started to shape up on their own.
 
I've now published the "best cheap" listicle. It got to around 5000 words as I predicted.

Overall, it's got a few phases to it:
  1. planning
  2. writing
  3. illustrating
  4. interlinking (I'm at this one)
  5. polishing
  6. waiting...

I'm not fully satisfied with this article as I rushed with releasing it a little (it would need more polishing), but at least it gives an overview of the whole market (the cheaper segment) to somebody only getting glimpses of it from all those other "best cheap..." listicles each being either slightly or quite a bit different to one another with only a handful of products compared to my 20+.

I guess I'm hoping too much from it. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. I simply can't approach these things as simple cold calculated statistics one would analyse and test for best results - I'm all about gut feeling until things don't work out.

But if it does rank the way I hope it does, and if it generates sales better than a simple review post, then I've successfully created a sort of formula for myself I can make use of in future projects or content plans.
 
It's been almost 3 days since publishing that best cheap listicle.

It's ranking on 3rd page of google already. (it's on the first page on my own browser, but that says almost nothing apart from that it's indeed indexed). I'm able to use only free tools as I'm not too keen on spending big bucks on premium tools I rarely use.

Upon doing some deeper analysis, it turns out there is actually quite a lot of competition to the "best cheap... [niche product]" keyword. So getting to around page 3 in just a few days means it seems the interlinking works wonders. Now I just need to crank out more and better content using this formula.


One other thing is clear though - I'll need to seriously still work on that best cheap listicle post for it to convert better. Clicks to Amazon have increased from the 0 to 7 on daily average to 10+ daily average.
 
I somehow missed the sale made on Amazon US region when I checked on things on my phone... It's the second time this has happened - nothing shows on the phone while when I open it with my laptop (which I can access only on certain occasions due to the... military) things show up. To be fully honest, when I'm carrying out some particularly stupid orders and I happen to check the phone where NO results show up, it kind of brings down my mood even more and to later find out I could have my mood brought up a little............ You know?

But anyhow, here's the thing...

I'm sort of feeling weird about this particular sale made on the US region Amazon. It's a high ticket item (basically a $1000 item) I'm gonna get 4.5% off of. AND I JUST FINISHED A "BEST CHEAP..." listicle which I spent all my free time on! It's like an insult... but it's not... It just reminds me how out of my control this thing is... And that is simply frustrating to be aware of.

I mean if I had made more sales of "cheap" items, then at least I'd know things are more under my control and what I do has an impact... Instead I just do whatever the https://www.beermoneyforum.com/ I do and people they do whatever the https://www.beermoneyforum.com/ they do and I just have to smile and take whatever the https://www.beermoneyforum.com/ https://www.beermoneyforum.com/ fucks I guess. Sorry for the vulgar language, but it's just been too much of a mindfuck.
 
Up next I just want to get done with this affiliate niche site.

With the "best cheap [niche product]" done, I'll probably create review posts for "best affordable [niche products]" post and then for the "best [niche products]" pillar post with the occasional info posts mixed inbetween. It already sounds pretty mundane, to be fully honest. If I find the motivation, I'll probably include all the niche related gadget sections as well, but right now I can't be bothered with that.

With this month, almost a year later since starting this journey, I finally see a profit (revenue - expenses...).
 
[HELP]

Quick question though...

Am I allowed to use other affiliate programs directly from product sellers while I'm associated with Amazon?

I've been looking around, but it seems to obvious to everybody that they're not even talking about it. I myself am a little paranoid of making a mistake and losing the account because of that. I'd rather follow their rules and be in good standing with them as long as possible.

There's one particular brand that has an affiliate program to one of the best optimally priced product line in my niche I feel no buyer feels inclined to buy via Amazon rather than from them directly (with discounts and better customer support and warranty conditions in general).
 
UPDATE
(April, 2019)


48028


48029


Hobby site: meh... One thing hough still... Ezoic (an advertising platform like adsense and Mediavine for example) has approached me twice now for me to sign up with them. And what I've read about other people's journeys with similar monthly views count using ezoic is that they went from the 6 € per month (like me) using adsense to a whopping 80 € per month when using Ezoic. I'm thinking once I get free of this military stuff and thus find myself some spare time, I'll maybe get to work on this hobby site one day too.


When it comes to the affiliate site though, things are looking better and better.

The month of May has been approximatelly 10+ € per day so far up until 11th of May. That's over 110 € from the first 11 days of the month doing jack shit in the forest. If things continued like that, I'd be looking at a 300+ € month doing nothing. It's probably the "best cheap [niche products]" article I released in late April that's generating all these sales almost daily now. Most of the sales for April came from late April because of that too.

The "best cheap [niche products]" keyword bundle is ranking now between the 1st and the 2nd page according to the free research tools. With just a little more time it's probably gonna be up there in the middle of the first page already for the summer (assuming I did polish it some more) which is more than I asked for. That's a positive. I need to create a snippet section for Google to pick my article for the snippet position.

Things to do:
  • add/polish content
  • sign up for more regions in Amazon affiliate program
  • watch the money roll in


Expenses:
  • 2 domains: $65 (March, 2018 - March, 2020)
  • VPS: $70 ($23.85 left of that $70, approx $3.60 per month)
  • Outsourced content: $238
  • Total: $373 (327.84 €)
Earnings:
  • Adsense: 68.44 €
  • Amazon Affiliate program: 336.72 €
  • Total: 405.16 € ($455.22)
I should be happy over this... 100 € per month doing nothing!

But the fact is that the site is seasonal and I'm sure it will perform poorly outside the season afterwards. Another thing is that the site is not making enough for me to sustain myself after the military service which ends at the end of this month (May, 2019). That means I have to find some actual work and slave away again........... And I still have to spend a few years at least making websites to reach the level of getting to quite the regular job.

How out of touch would it be for me to think that in my little country where most little companies with their sweet little websites where they have put seemingly no effort into SEO would hire me to fix that in their stead? I now know a thing or 2 about the internet presence a company would want to have (I did attent a marketing school for a few years before I decided to just sign out of that because I didn't actually learn anything I didn't already know... It was so tied up with psychology which I had taken interest in already at the age of 14 reading a book or 2 per week and documenting everything new I came across just to deep learn that shit until I ran out of books to learn much of anything new from...).
 

Attachments

  • Affiliate Site 01.05-12.05.2019.png
    Affiliate Site 01.05-12.05.2019.png
    56.7 KB · Views: 131
I'd correct the few typos I made along with some weird looking sentences, but I realize I can't edit my comments here.


I wonder what's the potential for this particluar affiliate site... The uncertainty is not motivating me much at all still.
 
I feel like I've almost mastered the on-page SEO thing for an Amazon affiliate niche site at the very least.

I'm able to see it for what it is, kind of. I can see the entire content strategy that doesn't need backlinks to work. It's not unique, it's not clever, it's not hard either. It's a lot of repetitive soul eating work of actually pouring that content into it. Feeding the system.

The affiliate site has only ONE money article so far. Just a single one. The rest is filler content aimed at improving the authority and relevancy of the site in Google's eyes.
y4p4pZ3-Imgur.jpg


But I feel like there's a mental block to all of this.
Where's the bottleneck? Maybe it's that I'm too attached to the site? And it's that that stops me from overfilling the site with content I know I'm slowly going to write anyway, kind of like forcing myself to harm it because I know the content is far from being good or even just fully honest (how can I possibly write a review of something I've never actually seen with my own eyes, let alone touched it, and don't even start about actually having used it). It's not even about motivation any more as I've learned so many motivational tricks to get myself into the flow of things. Now I need to learn how to let go of things I'm attached to...
Disaster-Girl.jpg

Oh, and 300 € for May is kind of a reality now. I'm at around 250 € as of 25th of May! (some products haven't been dispatched yet so I don't know exactly how much they're going to bring in comissions, but I've calculated them myself and it seems somewhere in that ballpark there...)
 
I've been following your journey for a few months now and its pretty interesting to see how much success you've had in that time, putting the pain of writing that 4-5k word article aside. What has made it even more interesting for me is to see another Estonian do affiliate marketing, as an Estonian myself I haven't heard of anybody else doing it or having much success with it.
 
I've been following your journey for a few months now and its pretty interesting to see how much success you've had in that time, putting the pain of writing that 4-5k word article aside. What has made it even more interesting for me is to see another Estonian do affiliate marketing, as an Estonian myself I haven't heard of anybody else doing it or having much success with it.
Right? When I announced that I wanted to delve into the IM world, all I got was super confused and in some cases even worried faces from friends and family. I can understand where they're coming from (erm... wasn't this an e-country though?), but I would have liked a little more support.

This shit ("shit" being IM, excuse my language by the way) has so much potential it's not even funny. Though I really see myself as a simpleton who just started and simply didn't stop, and I haven't yet really succeeded either.

And here I am questioning my every choice now, constantly being hinted towards starting an actual career with a good spot in mind at the end of it. On the other hand, the places I've worked at and the people I see, even the ones just simply walking down the street, remind me of a sub-bar lifestyle which by the way is probably challenged in near future by technological advancements on top of it. Things are changing and I don't think one can expect to follow through with the old ways I'm subtly but constantly being pulled back into by the people I care about (slowly distancing myself from them for that simple reason though, which is kind of a sad thing).

For one, I felt really bad for the company I was last working with before the military. It was simply built on the old ways so much so I didn't see any of it working out. The guy had worked his entire life at that particular field he came out of it an expert with the inspiration of starting his own company in that field. And now it's bankrupt. It felt like it was bankrupt the moment he started it. The main flow of customers would have had to come through the internet, but he didn't imagine it even as a choice and focused so bloody hard on reaching them anyhow else it was cringeworthy and very expensive at that, all that only because his expertise was so. And then you look at all the similar little physical companies on the streets and wonder - is it really that bad of an idea to start a risk-free business online instead for there are countless of ways to really actually make it online. I can only imagine how much starting a physical company would cost, even here where it's easy to do so, and it's super likely to fail the first time too. That guy I worked for probably invested his life savings on that little company that failed! The horror.


Even just the marketing side of things here in Estonia is basically non-existent. It's confused with sales. Marketing in its own right doesn't seem to have much room here. And the marketing that is being done here is kind of outsourced to foreign work force...

I met some other guy in the military who also wanted to make it online. I can see that he believes in it, I believe in it, but all the rest are like not at all supportive aliens to the idea, bringing down his morale to the point where he's not really even taking action before he's out of military. It's hard to watch. Even my virtual money tree clearly doesn't really fit in their head yet (not to talk down on anybody or anything).


It's like with religion - I don't mind one believing in something as long as they're keeping it to themselves and not forcing it on others. I guess support is not something to expect from a relation such as that.
 
Fun sidenote to the importance of just writing the content I've planned for the affiliate site.

I added a tiny section for an extra product in the list of the "best cheap [niche products]" article/post from which I need to link to a completely new separate review at some point. That little section generated the corresponding sale the same day of adding it there. It was less than 100 words long of a section...
ops.meme_.nba_-1024x768.jpg
 
@ThulfWaatu
Internet marketing is beautiful and once you get this "make money online virus" if I can say so, you will work like crazy until you achieve your goal.

That's why I built this community to spread the "make money online virus" all over the internet and help people make money easier. :Greedy
 
impressive ! it's so sad that not a lot of people are posting in your topic , keep it up this great work buddy !
 
@ThulfWaatu
Internet marketing is beautiful and once you get this "make money online virus" if I can say so, you will work like crazy until you achieve your goal.

That's why I built this community to spread the "make money online virus" all over the internet and help people make money easier. :Greedy
I'm slowly starting to get it, but I'm too conscious about it for it to have that effect on me just yet. The little money I've been getting thus far is simply not enough to live a good one off of. I'd need enough to cover my basic needs, kind of passively like that, so as to acquire enough free time and capital to actually dive after it (consciously at that). I'd make that dive have bigger purpose than just to sustain my rather worthless not even a speck of life in this endless time and endless space and endless whatever... (if I was to approach it philosophically)

impressive ! it's so sad that not a lot of people are posting in your topic , keep it up this great work buddy !
Thanks!
 
So I got done with the "best cheap [niche product]" pillar money article. And it's been bringing in so much more money compared to my initial approach of having strong but simple filler type review posts first.

Now I'll try approaching this same concept the other way around. Make the analogous pillar post first and then start adding the filler supporting interlinking content afterwards.

BUT... Which such pillar type content to tackle first? Which one of them brings in the most profit for the least amount of effort? Paralyzed by options created by myself! https://www.beermoneyforum.com/ me! But I won't find out unless I actually try them out. And what if they don't work out the same way and I end up getting frustrated? Again, I'd just have to see for myself...

Keyword research is done for them. I've racked up quite a few such pillar type content ideas already. I'm kind of inspired, but then I write the heading and I get a flashback to all the work that went into the first pillar content I've published now and my motivation is blown away... I'm so much better at thinking than actually following through with the plan. And I don't have the heart to leave it to some cheap writer either in fear of failing the readers and possibly the authority of the website and whatever else bad content can end up bringing down on the site.

procrastination.jpg
 
On the eve of 28th of May (at around 23:00 of the 27th or so) I published one of those "pillar" articles I've been talking about. This one was/is a simple list of niche products with a specific womanly color (pink) to them.

Now the reason why I bring this up here is because it generated a sale already in 29th! (Amazon updates the dashboard with a whole 24h of delay or so).

About the keyword... This type of keyword had no real competition and the Keywords Everywhere chrome plugin showed the keyword clearly was having some traction every month, so it was a no brainer (the least effort for maximum profit).

This is just a lucky case though as it hasn't yet ranked for the first spot (no real competition), but it is on the first page already as of 30th. It has had only 2 clicks with one of those clicks clearly having gone over to either to Amazon directly or to the review post first (that I just so happened to have already made) and from there to Amazon. Bounce rate 50%.
 

📢 Recommended Partners

MGID - Native Performance & Programmatic Advertising Platform MGID Team
0.00 star(s) 0 ratings
Updated
Roobet.com | Crypto’s Fastest Growing Casino 🦘 Roobet.com
0.00 star(s) 0 ratings
Updated
Duckdice.io - Top Crypto Gambling - Bitcoin Dice DuckDice.io
0.00 star(s) 0 ratings
Updated
BMFAds.com - Advertise and Monetize Your CPC, CPM, POP Traffic BMF Staff
4.00 star(s) 4 ratings
Updated

banner

REWARDS: Active Raffles


  • 🤑 Roll 3: Win 100,000 BMF Points!

    The entry period for this raffle ends in..
Back
Top Bottom

Earnings Disclaimer:  All the posts published herein are merely based on individual views, and they do not expressly or by implications represent those of BeerMoneyForum.com or its owner. It is hereby made clear that BeerMoneyForum.com does not endorse, support, adopt or vouch any views, programs and/or business opportunities posted herein. BeerMoneyForum.com also does not give and/or offer any investment advice to any members and/or it's readers. All members and readers are advised to independently consult their own consultants, lawyers and/or families before making any investment and/or business decisions. This forum is merely a place for general discussions. It is hereby agreed by all members and/or readers that BeerMoneyForum.com is in no way responsible and/or liable for any damages and/or losses suffered by anyone of you.