January Niche Site Challenge Results!
Well in my December results I mentioned that the word to describe December was HOLIDAYS. If at is the case, then the one word I would use to describe January was TESTING!
January was the start of a brand new year, and one of my goals as the start of $1,000 Niche Site Goal was to focus on testing different things and conducting case studies that would help you with your niche sites – and in January I started my first case study looking at advertising and link building strategies and their effect on indexing and ranking.
So let’s kick it off with the income breakdown and then we can look at the exciting things that happened in January and my plans for February.
January Niche Site Income
I’m happy with how I went income wise for my niche site last month. Here is how they all did:
Surveys Niche Site
- $119.20 – CheckMyStats
- $35.55 – Adsense
Total: $154.75
Campers Niche Site
- $23.87 – Adsense
- $0.06 – Ebay
Total: $23.93
Late Cruises Site
- $28.36 – Adsense
Total: $28.36
Italian Shoes Site
- $0.07 – Adsense
- $0.0 – Amazon
Total: $0.07
$207.11 – January Niche Site Income!
A slight increase on Decembers niche site income ($175.92), but that was because of last months sale of the Greenhouse site, and the Camper Trailer niche site still getting no Google love.
Let’s take a closer look at the month that was January!
Successes, Failures & Thoughts From January
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Survey Site Is Smashing It!
I am stocked with the progress that my online surveys for money site is progressing. I only made minor additions to the site and submitted a couple of articles to ArticleRanks and I have seen a 50% increase in income this month. Not sure that I will have much time to dedicate to this site, so it will be interesting to see how it goes with no work this month ( but I have a feeling that it will be consistent or higher).
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Camper Trailer Site Is Getting Smashed!
Last month I decided to drop the eBay rss feeds that I had running on Camper Trailers site, because I thought that they were the reason for the roller coast ride. I got excited mid way through the month when it started ranking really well again for 5 days straight, only to see it drop again and stay down for the rest of the month. I’m just gonna let this one sit and hopefully it will just start ranking again.
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Cruise Deals Site Is Progressing Nicely
After the sale of my greenhouse site, I needed something that would take over it’s earnings and late cruise deals has really stepped up to the plate. Only started in the middle of December, this one has been a niche little earner and I hope to see it’s income rise over the coming month.
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Two New Niche Sites
I recently purchased 4 new domains thanks to a special ‘Australia Day’ offer by my local domain registrar. I am excited because A lot of the success that I have had with niche sites has been with local (country specific) sites, so I have decided to focus on them for the next couple of months.
The first two of the domains are up and running and I am using them as Guinea Pigs to for your enjoyment (and education). You will hopefully find one of these in Februaries income report, but the other will not make it – as it is currently on an ‘ad ban’ for two months.
So exciting times ahead in February, and I really need to pick up my game because July is approaching quickly (and February is a short month!)
**Update On The Niche Site Case Study**
I am excited to announce that contender 2 (the mining site), is smashing out the search traffic already with 17 searches for 16 different phrases (just 8 days after creating the site). Contender 1 is still not seeing any search traffic.
10 Responses
2.3.2011
Some excellent earnings there Tom. The survey site is earning a packet – great to see!
I’m really at a loss as to what Google has against your Camper site. I know we’ve discussed it at length, and really the obvious changes you’ve made should help rankings, but it seems not. Hopefully it irons itself out when the domain ages a little.
It’s great to see the cruise site earning too! Obviously the backlinking is working well.
I look forward to next month’s report as you’ll have more sites. Keep it up, chat soon!
2.3.2011
Thanks Mark! Things are starting to get exciting :)
Yea, maybe the camper one is just going to be a time thing?
2.3.2011
Tom, you’re doing excellent work here. Like we discussed, I’m planning on taking my old sites that are ‘failures’ (but are now showing some life) and ranking them, along with creating a couple of new sites in February.
It’s exciting to plant the seeds now… February is quite the critical month for me!
2.3.2011
Bravo, Tom!
Your monthly reports are really inspiring. Love reading them every month. You’re proof that if niche sites are set up and maintained correctly, they can provide an passive income. Almost enough to do a little traveling with.
Keep up the awesome work, mate and we’ll chat soon!
2.4.2011
Dude, awesome stuff man
I’m tellin ya – it’s all about that minimal look like we were talking about and having a dedicated landing page; the one site I told ya about just jumped up to #2 now – up 7 since just a few days ago. I think it’s totally the cleaner designs and having a great post on the front.
Keep at it man!
2.6.2011
Thomas,
I really appreciate how you show exactly what is going on with your niche sites and how you look to fix them. It gives me new ideas for my own sites.
2.6.2011
Hi Tom
Sheila has you and Rick LaPoint starring on her site for Speedlink Sunday. So had to come check out what you are up to. I like the way you keep it real with showing your monthly progress.
I am hoping to monetise my site more and found it interesting to see what is working and what is not. Thanks for sharing Tom. Much appreciated.
Patricia Perth Australia
2.7.2011
I was curious about the italian shoes niche. I did some website stuff that are shoes related way back in 2008 and I really really could say it was difficult. What made you get into that niche?
2.7.2011
Great results Tom. Maybe the ebay feed was a factor to the drop in rankings even though it makes no sense. Also is ArticleRanks completely free?
2.7.2011
@Sheila – Thanks! I am glad that I could provide you with inspiration.
@Patricia – I did notice the mention on Sheila’s blog :) I have seen you commenting on a lot of blogs recently! And it is great to see more Aussie’s blogging!
@Melvin – To be honest, it was a bit of a bad investment. I bought it as an income earning blog – but it hasn’t been converting for me.
@Edwin – Yea, still not sure about what is causing the bad ranking.
ArticleRanks is completely free IF you have a blog with PR that you are willing to put into their network and have articles submitted to it (they give you credits based on the amount of articles submitted) – otherwise it you do have to pay.
If you are looking for a completely free alternative, you may wish to consider the Free Traffic System – which is similar, but in my opinion a little less powerful.