In case you’re wondering how 2020 went for the four sites that I’ve been profiling, you’re in luck!
I’ve compiled all the data from the year so you can see how things progressed and where there is room for improvement.
Of course, it wasn’t a normal year so the results aren’t normal either.
Remember, the sites in this report are only a portion of my portfolio and not the only sites that bring in revenue.
**And as always, I’m an affiliate marketer and this post contains affiliate links, meaning I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links
Site #1 – 2020 Yearly Summary
Things started off rocky with this site as it was originally going to be a totally different site/niche…then COVID-19 turned that all to shit.
So, I picked a new niche and a new domain and here we are. I didn’t even really get started on this site until April.
It is pretty obvious that my heart just wasn’t in it with this one.
At the end of 2020, this site only had 27 posts live.
It’s not monetized, so it earned zero income.
But I spent almost $3,000 on the site throughout the year….mostly on links. (that was a waste of money) The rest on content – I outsourced the bulk of that at Word Agents.
It’s safe to say that this site was a failure overall, but that’s mostly due to my lack of initiative.
But I’m not really considering this a failure for a few reasons:
- Site hasn’t even been live a year yet
- Niche is ultra competitive
- I really didn’t even work on it that much
So, my plan for 2021 is to focus my spending on content targeting more low hanging fruit and get this bringing in some money by year’s end 2021. I still believe that this site can earn a decent income…once it gets more content up.
But I just gotta get into the habit of putting in the work every single month on this one.
Site #2 – 2020 Yearly Summary
I decided to spend 2020 focusing solely on backlinks for this site (all purchased at NO-BS). It was an existing site that was already earning, so I was curious to see what would happen with no new content but fresh links.
I didn’t go crazy with the links, but I don’t think the results are what I was expecting.
Granted, I admit that I could have built more links each month, but I was trying to do this on a budget to show you what can be done with a low budget.
I was really surprised to see that traffic to this site almost doubled YOY. So, clearly the links from NO-BS did provide a decent return – at least as far as traffic concerned.
I would have expected to see more improvement in the monthly income though.
Granted, it has more than doubled compared to the first reported month for this site.
I’m really curious to see what 2021 brings for this site with the content avalanche that I plan on bringing down on it.
My plan for this site for 2021 is content, content, content and then more content. I’ll be doing a 100% informational content push after seeing how high the RPMs are for other sites in this niche.
My conservative income goal for this site by the end of 2021 is $1000/month.
Site #3 – 2020 Yearly Summary
Ah yes, the site that I’m dying to sell if I can just hit those income goals again (but actually maintain them this time).
As you know, this is a tough niche to compete in and things went crazy in it when COVID hit, as evidenced by the traffic growth.
Damn, that growth is something, eh?
Shame fitness equipment has been sold out most of the year as a result of COVID, or I’d definitely have already maintained those income goals.
With that in mind, I made a big push in content for this site throughout the year.
I’d guess the mix was 80% informational and 20% affiliate focused topics.
In total, I added just over 150 posts to this site over the year. And I outsourced the bulk of that at Word Agents and Writer Access.
My plan for this site for 2021 is content, content, content and then more content.
I’ll be doing a 100% informational content push for display ad monies….and because stores are still having problems keeping the items I’m promoting in-stock.
And ideally, I’ll hit my income goal and flip this site within the next 12 months.
Site #4 – 2020 Yearly Summary
I’m not going to lie – I’m really disappointed in myself in regards to how little work I did on this site in 2020.
Cause I fucking love this niche and I’m so stoked to write about these topics.
And yet, I did barely any work on it – granted some of that was due to me considering changing domain names and having my trademark registration denied.
So, things didn’t really get going on this site until we were into 2020 a bit.
I only just crossed the 30 posts mark by the end of 2020 – what a disappointment. But I’m ready to crush it with this site in 2021.
No income for this site because I have not yet monetized it, but the upside is that I’ve only spent money on hosting so far.
But in 2021, I will be outsourcing some content for this site to scale things up a bit.
Since I had to move back to the US unexpectedly, I rented a house with a dedicated space for me to take photos and record videos for this site.
So, I’m ready to go all in…just as soon as all the equipment that I ordered gets delivered to me.
My conservative income goal for this site by the end of 2021 is $1000/month, but I’d really like to see the traffic rise enough to get this site into Mediavine by year’s end.
Final Thoughts & Summary
Overall, I know that I seriously neglected some of these sites and that’s on me.
My biggest surprise with these sites was seeing how much the traffic grew for site #2, despite no fresh content the entire year.
Here’s what the year (or at least 11 month of it) looked like for expenses and income for these 4 sites:
If these were my only sites, then I’d be looking at almost just over $2,100 month profit – not bad, but not enough to live on in most places after paying taxes.
My goal is to have all of these sites earning by the end of 2021 because I plan on actually working on them more! This will be easier for me now that I’ve got a better home office situation.
And remember, these four sites are only a portion of my portfolio 🙂 I also want to remind you that sites #2 and #3 were existing sites that have been earning and ranking before starting this whole thing.
Got any questions? Requests for other data in future updates? Let me know.
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.