Wednesday, December 2, 2015

The Excitement of Building New Successful Websites: Prelude to Niche Site Project 3.0

Why is it that a new project is always more exciting than an old project?

So many people suffer from “shiny object syndrome”, and I get it!  Old projects can become stale and less exciting…even if they are making money.  For example, if you have a niche site that has been making $1,000 a month for over a year…it’s no longer a novel idea to see it earning $34 a day.  That becomes the norm.

However, if you have a new site that usually only makes $1 or $2 a day, and suddenly it starts bumping up to $15 or $20 a day…that is VERY exciting!  Even though the new site is earning less than the “old” site, I suspect that you would react just like me and be more interested in growing the newer site.

I’m not here to say whether that is a good or bad reaction, and I certainly am not one that is going to be able to resolve your “problems”, because I share the problems with you.

I do want to share some of my own recent success and excitement with you!  I’ve been working on a niche site for the past 4 to 5 months, and it’s really starting to take off nicely.  In fact, I want Jake and Perrin to get in on the action as well, and will be sharing their recent niche site success stories.

I want to do this for 2 reasons:

  1. I hope seeing a couple of cool screenshots will motivate you.
  2. Since we are going to be coaches for NSP 3, I think its important to know that we are having RECENT success.

So, with that, let’s jump into the screenshots and why this is all relevant to Niche Site Project 3.

Our Recent Niche Site Success Stories

If you have been paying attention, you will remember that I highlighted briefly a few sites taking advantage of long tail keyword traffic in a recent blog post.  In that post, I shared a few details on a site built by Perrin, one built by Jake, and one built by me.

I want to give a quick update on those sites with updated traffic screenshots.  All 3 of us are seeing some serious growth, and we are all using very similar tactics.  Bottom line is this stuff works, and we are excited to share it with you during the Niche Site Project 3.

Spencer’s Niche Site

When I say “I built” this site, I mean in a managerial role.  Perrin has been doing most of the leg work based on my instructions and ideas.  So, I have to give props to Perrin for really handling the day to day grind on this one.  But I pay all the bills, so I get some credit right?

This site was started right around August 1st.  The purpose of this site was as an extension of my Amazon FBA business.  I’m currently selling 5 products on Amazon, and this site was built in the same niche to attract traffic outside of Amazon.

Here’s a screenshot showing the recent traffic growth:

sep-novtraffic

The traffic growth since October has been awesome, but the last week or so has really just taken off like crazy!  (And to be clear, about 80% of the traffic is coming from organic search).

What About Earnings?

The site just had a record November with $761 in Amazon Associates earnings!  I always like to set the goal of $500 a month for those starting out/potential Niche Site Project students…so I’ve surpassed that goal. :)

I also earned quite a bit with my Amazon FBA products. But I don’t want to lump all of that earnings in with this site, as most FBA sales came directly from Amazon.

Why the Growth?

The site has just exploded the past few weeks, and the reason is obvious.  In mid-October we started posting lots of content based on really low competition / long tail keywords (found using Long Tail Pro of course).  That content is getting indexed and ranked in Google…and I only expect the traffic to grow as we add more content and the site ages.

No big secrets, just great content based on REALLY low competition keywords.  And I guess that IS the secret, really low competition keywords…even if they get searched for less than 100 times a month…can bring in great traffic.

Jake’s Niche Site

Jake is a guy that definitely knows what he is talking about.  He has built lots of successful niche sites, and the success below is only the most recent one.  He’s very well experienced, and anyone would be lucky to have him as a coach.

Here’s the screenshot from his recent success:

Screen Shot 2015-12-01 at 1.01.30 PM

This site has grown to about 3,000 unique visitors a day!

This is a domain that Jake had sitting around for almost a year before he really did anything with it.  Then he started to post content based on really low competition keywords around June or July.

The best part is that he has done no link building whatsoever outside of posting a few things on Pinterest (if that even counts as link building).

Earnings:  The site earned right around $1,000 in November.  Congrats Jake!

Perrin’s Niche Site

Perrin has been busy in his spare time building out a niche site that is seeing some awesome recent success.  So much success in fact, that this new site is ready to eclipse what aPennyShaved.com was earnings at its peak.

Here’s the traffic screenshot:

1448992969533screensave

In fact, this screenshot shows ONLY organic traffic.  So, he is actually getting more traffic than is show here from other sources outside of search engines.

After just six months of working on the site, it’s already grown to nearly 3,000 unique visitors a day from organic search.  Well done my young student, well done!

Earnings: The site earned just over $3,000 in November from Amazon Associates.  Bam!

So, what’s Perrin’s secret?  Well, all will be revealed during Niche Site Project 3.0.  Actually, the general strategy is exactly the same as Jake and I have taken.  Target really low competition keywords and create great content.

Perrin has focused on link building a bit more than Jake or I have, but he isn’t doing anything crazy here either.  Just reaching out, connecting with other bloggers, and getting links on relevant sites.  We’ll definitely talk more about link building during the Niche Site Project.

Why Recent Success is Important

In a world of SEO that is constantly changing, I think it’s important for me to show that what I teach still works in today’s world.  In order to do that, I think it’s much more effective if I can show you examples of sites that were built recently and successful, than if I were to talk about successes I had back in 2011 or 2012.

I actually DO think there is value in learning from successful people and businesses, no matter when that success came.  However, with SEO and niche sites where strategies can be changing more frequently, its always nice to see more recent success.

Jake, Perrin, and I are actively working on sites that are growing and earning money.  Hopefully, we can pass some of these skills on to you as you read the niche site project.

NSP 3 Applications


We are no longer accepting applications after 12/2/2015.  So, if you try to submit your application on 12/3 or later…it’s too late.

As I’ve watched a few of the videos, I’ve been truly humbled and thankful to see how many sincere applicants there are.  I really didn’t know what to expect when I opened up the application process.

The videos that I’ve seen are from people that truly want to build a business for themselves and a better life for themselves and their family.   I’m starting to feel the pressure!  But I’m excited to take on some students that truly do value the process, like I’ve in some of the video applications.

I submitted my own video just as a thanks to everyone that has applied.

The Process

Now that the application process is closed, we are going to take about a week to digest all the videos and start narrowing down the finalists.  So, if you submitted an application, you won’t hear from us until about Decemer 9th or 10th.  At that point, we can let you know if you made it to the next round.

We will then have a round where the Niche Pursuits community can vote on the top 10 videos that Jake, Perrin, and I have picked out.  We’ll be making decisions based on your votes.

This video finalist round will start around Dec. 9th or 10th…I’ll keep you posted with more details.

Overall, I just want to thank everyone that is following along with the 3rd Niche Site Project!  Jake, Perrin, and I are seeing some recent success with our own niche sites as shared above, and we are excited to share more about what’s working.

The post The Excitement of Building New Successful Websites: Prelude to Niche Site Project 3.0 appeared first on Niche Pursuits.



from Niche Pursuits http://ift.tt/21woCjK

No comments:

Post a Comment