Hey everyone, I’m excited to finally reveal Samara’s niche site that she has been working on for the past couple of months. Today’s post is technically coaching call #11, even though we mostly just review the site for you on video and discuss why we did what we did.
I’d like to briefly walk you through the journey that Samara and I have been on before I reveal the site. Samara has been working REALLY hard on this site, and these 11 coaching calls are only a glimpse of the amount of effort that has been put into the project.
Here’s a quick timeline/review of what we have covered in this project so far:
- Samara’s was voted the #1 applicant out of over 100 applicant videos. Watch the video reviewing the applicants and announcing Samara’s as the chosen student here.
- We covered how to choose a niche and then how to do in-depth keyword research.
- We discussed how to develop a long term content strategy.
- We strategized on how to monetize the site.
- We discussed how to build links to your niche site.
- We talked about many other things in-between as well; see all the coaching calls here.
- Samara published the very first article on the site around March 1st (so the site is about 2 months old).
I wasn’t quite sure when would be appropriate to reveal the site. I wanted to do 2 things: First, I wanted to prove that Samara could build a niche site and start showing early signs of success without ANY involvement from the Niche Pursuits community. Second, I want the Niche Pursuits community to still have a great learning experience; and that often comes with being able to visit the niche site we are talking about.
A few weeks ago, I held a small poll on the Niche Site Project 3 Facebook group. Here’s what the poll revealed:
Most people wanted to see the site once 20 article had been published. Well, I’m happy to share that Samara’s site now has just over 20 articles published and has made it’s first sale!
I felt like if we waited a few months until the site was making $500/mth before revealing it that people would lose interest in the project. So, I think we’ve struck a nice balance here, the site has over 20 articles, has made a few sales, and is getting natural search engine traffic from Google everyday.
And the Niche Site Is….
So, with that introduction, it’s time to reveal the niche site!
The URL of Samara’s site that she has been working on the past couple of months is: TinyFry.com!
Feel free to go to the site and check out what has been done so far.
Earnings so far…
Besides revealing the site, the big news is that it’s ranking in Google and earning money!
Here’s a quick screenshot of the earnings. The site has earned $15.24…woohoo!
In Samara’s Words…
What’s up everybody?
Today’s the big day! We are revealing my website and I’m a big ‘ole bundle of nerves, but I’m also excited to show you guys what I’ve been working on these past few months.
Welcome to Tiny Fry! As you can probably see, the website revolves around babies and kids, a niche I chose to go into mainly because I recently had a baby and this is what’s most interesting to me at the moment. I also chose it because it’s a huge market, I found weak doppelgangers, and there are lots of opportunities and areas I can branch into going forward.
As I mentioned on the call, I started off focusing on toys and am now getting into crafts, gear, and games and activities. I’m trying to publish a few articles a week if I can, and I’m also constantly working on backlinks and outreach. A few people I have reached out to have shared my posts on their social media, and I’m trying to develop relationships with people in the niche, which is nice because otherwise the process is a bit lonely. And as Spencer says on the call, building a website should be a social experience.
How’s the Budget?
I have spent about $280, which is slightly more than half of my $500 budget. My expenses to date have been as follows:
- $50 on the logo, on Upwork
- $200 on content (10 articles in total), on Freelancer
- $15 on hosting (around $5 per month), on Bluehost, and
- $15 on video editing, on Fiverr
We took a look at Google Analytics, which shows that I’m getting just a few visitors to the website, and we looked at Google Search Console, and we saw that I’m starting to rank for my keywords… sometimes in 60th position, yes, but I’m ranking nonetheless. You gotta start somewhere. All in all it’s pretty exciting.
We also saw how I’m ranking for keywords I’m not even targeting, which just reinforces the idea that focusing on as many long tail keywords as you can is the way to go. I’m also excited to report that I have about 10 backlinks at the moment, which isn’t a bad start (or so I’m told).
As you all know, this is a work in progress and I sense I will be an eternal student of WordPress (and Spencer). Some things on my site may not work right, some of the formatting may vary between blog posts, some of the links might be wrong, but I’m working on it! The learning curve is tremendous, but after slaving away at my desk and after many a late night in front of my computer, it’s definitely starting to come together.
Lessons Learned So Far…
I have definitely learned a few valuable lessons along the way, some of which I’d like to share with the hope that they might help you guys as well.
- I think you should spend at least some time planning the structure of your articles. I published a whole bunch and they all looked different because I didn’t really think about how they should look. Around article 20 I figured out what style I liked, and now I have to go back and make lots of changes so that the site looks uniform. This may not be important from an SEO-perspective, but you also want your site to be cohesive and aesthetically appealing.
- If you’re testing out writers, think about giving them one or two articles to start, and then decide if you want to send them more work. I sent all of my articles to two authors without giving it too much thought and I was pretty disappointed with the content they returned, but I was stuck.
- I think it’s easier to pick a niche that you’re interested in, even if it’s only a remote interest. Building a website like this is all-consuming, so it’s a good idea to actually like the topic you’re getting into.
- It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, as there are lots of moving parts, from keyword research to the search for backlinks. I think it’s important to get organized and try to do a little bit each day or work on something different every day (Wednesday – keyword research, Thursday – outreach…) to make sure you’re always making progress in each area.
- WordPress used to make me swear like a sailor, but not anymore (or, maybe more accurately, not as much). Stick with it! I never thought I’d say this but it does get easier with time (and blood, sweat and tears, but mostly time).
The “big” news we shared on the call is that I earned my first dollar. Someone—who I don’t know (I’d like to emphasize that)—actually went to my site, clicked on a link and bought something. At the time we recorded the video, 2 items had been purchased, for which I earned $1.11, but now I’m thrilled to report that my earnings have skyrocketed to $15.24, since 2 more items were purchased through my affiliate links. It’s an amazing feeling and it has motivated me even more to continue to try to produce useful content. It also validates the process.
I hope you’re all making progress with your own sites. For now, my long-term strategy is, as Spencer says, “more of the same”: content, social media, backlinks and outreach. Hopefully I’ll have more exciting news to report down the line, so be sure to watch this space!
Watch the Coaching Call Here
You can watch the full video of the call below. If you would rather just listen to the audio only, you can download it here.
The post Samara’s Niche Site is Revealed: Starting to Rank and Earn Affiliate Commissions! appeared first on Niche Pursuits.
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