Two months have passed since my last update on this case study, and I’m happy to say that things are going very will with it. Just to recap, I’m actually working on two new niche sites with my Insider25 group (as opposed to one, like the original plan). Why two? An Insider25 member challenged me to rank for a specific set of keywords, so I accepted that challenge. And yes, earnings are on an upward trend, despite me not doing tons of work on the two case study sites. I didn’t share much about site #2 last time, but I am giving you all the deets on it this time around. Now, let’s dig into the details.
What Have I Done On The Case Study Sites Since Update #2?
Would you be surprised if I said, not a lot? If you recall up from update #2, I’m taking a slow and steady approach with these due to the fact that most of my group members work day jobs. I want to show them (and you) what you can accomplish with only after-work and weekend hour to put into growing successful niche sites. In contrast to how I work on my own sites, last month I launched a total of three brand new sites for my portfolio. They were all for a niche that I already have six other sites in, so that’s why it didn’t take me too long to get them up. And, I outsourced 100% of the content for those sites. But, back to the case study sites.
Backlinks
Case study site #1 didn’t get any new backlinks.
Case study site #2 is being using for a blogger outreach (guest posting) case study I’m doing. So, it got a few new links from DA 20+ sites through a variety of different guest posting service providers. (If you want to know how that case study goes, sign up for my mailing list in the sidebar!) And in June I subscribed to Diggity Links for 5 links to this site.
New Content
Case study site #1 got two additional posts added to it for a grand total of 23 live posts.
Case study site #2 got two additional posts added to it for a grand total of 42 live posts.
Rankings
Case study site #1 has multiple page one rankings now, including one coveted #1 position!
Case study site #2 just recently made it to page one!
Growth
Considering how little work I’ve put into the case study sites compared to my regular sites, I’m rather pleased with their growth trajectory so far. Here’s what the site #1 looks like on SEMrush:
And here’s what site #2 looks like:
About These Niches
I don’t think that I mentioned it before, but my analysis tells me that the niche for site #1 is more competitive than site #2’s niche. However, you’ll notice that site #1 is getting much more traffic and I already told you that it has more spots on page one than site #2. So, what gives?
PBN links. Yup, only site #1 has PBN links so far, and they are all niche relevant links. Site #2 has had five high DA links from Diggity Links for June and July. And over the recent weeks I’ve been getting those guest post links for site #2, but they’re not all niche relevant. However, their DA is overall higher than the DA of the PBN links for site #1. Interesting how topical relevance plays a part in backlink power, huh?
Income
Yeah, I know that this is really all that most of you care about. That’s why I put it down here at the bottom! So, here’s a look at the earnings for each case study site:
Case Study Site #1 Income
- April: $14.19
- May: $22.07
- June: $185.11
- July: $273.17
- August (so far): $108.08
Case Study Site #2 Income
- April: $1.77
- May: $2.26
- June: $75.42
- July: $156.37
- August (so far): $24.54
So, a slow start for site #2, but now both sites are having a pretty decent income trajectory. Imagine where my earnings would be if I was devoting more time to working on this sites!
Unfortunately, those income numbers don’t take into account the expenses for each site. I’ve outsourced some content on site #1 and there are the PBN sites I made. For site #2, I have outsourced 100% (so costs are substantially higher) plus there are the monthly Diggity links cost and those expensive guest post services I’ve been testing on it. Here’s the total expenses for each site so far:
- Site #1 expenses: $566.95
- Site #2 expenses: $1,406.26
Yeah, it will be several more months before I hit a profit with site #2. However, site #1 turned a profit as of today’s Amazon Associates report update! Take a moment to consider how few posts are live on that site and how few backlinks it has – and from now on, even if I never do much more work on it, I’m looking at a few hundred bucks a month in income. That should be motivating for you to start you own niche site. If you haven’t started yet, then what are you waiting for?!
Now What? How To Increase Your Niche Site Income
So, if you recall, my main goal with this case study is to reach $500/month and cash out for at least $10,000. That means I’d have to basically double site #1’s income and about triple site #2’s income. But – that $500/mo has to be a three-month average (at least).
What’s the quickest way to double or triple your niche site’s income?
Here’s how:
- More content, or
- More links, or
- More content AND links
You need more sales to boost your income and to get more sales you either need more traffic or more promotional content. Personally, I like to double down on more content and more links at the same time to achieve the income boost that I desire. Obviously, there is a LOT of room for more content on site #1 and site #2 is actually in a pretty broad niche, so there is more room for it as well.
I definitely recommend this approach for your niche sites as well. And if you’re strapped for cash, then opt for whichever method is cheaper for you. If you write your own content, then focus on adding massive amounts of content to your site. If you outsource content, then take a hard look to determine if it cheaper to pay for content or links. If the cost is the same, then alternate links – content – links – content – links – content, etc.
Other updates to this case study:
Note: If you’re wondering wtf is up with the header image of the wild-eyed guy with the banana, it’s simple – I saw it on Pixabay and it cracked me the fuck up so I used it. You’re welcome.
Hey, I’m Shawna. I make a living working from my laptop in places like London, Sydney, Dubai, Rome, Oslo, Bangkok, Las Vegas, Barcelona, and Amsterdam. I share how I do some of that on this website.