My Amazon Affiliate Journey - thenwhat

[thenwhat]

Hey all, I've been into IM since the year I graduated high school (2012) and only started getting serious about it last year.

When I found out I was going to be a father (December 2012) I turned to internet marketing in high hopes of being a stay at home father, so I can spend time with my daughter. Boy was I wrong. the budget I had was extremely low as I was working for minimum wage.

I failed horribly on my first few ventures because I told myself it was impossible. From Amazon affiliate sites to CPA to eCommerce back to Amazon affiliate sites.

Safe to say, I'm glad I went through all of those failures; the knowledge I've gained from those projects were valuable.

Anyways, enough about me...

My recent project is currently working its way up in the SERPs. One of my keywords are ranked at number 0 (Snippet) and 1. A few of my other keywords are ranking in the top 10. They've been stuck around rank 7 to 12 for the last few months but I'm having a hard time trying to push it up. It seems the more links I build, the lower my rankings go; so I'm going to let my site stabilize for a few months then revisit it.

Anyways, I've been wanting to start this next website for a while. I feel like it'll do better in traffic diversity as it's a social media friendly niche and the competition for some of the keywords I want to target on SERPS aren't very competitive.

So far:

• Purchased 3 year hosting and domain ($171.63)
  
• Purchased GeneratePress ($39.95)
• Upwork: Custom CSS to duplicate cloudliving,com's homepage tabbed navigation with category specific tabs. ($50)
  
• Ordered two 2000 word articles from @LuckyCharm007 ($120)

Total Spent: $381.58

Some of the keywords I want to target are highly competitive but the search volumes and possible profits are high. I'll be ordering two articles at a time; one low competition and one high competition.

• Made website HTTPS
  
• Installed plugins: Yoast, Reduce Bounce Rate, Social Warfare, and Shortcodes Ultimate

Goals to finish this and next week:

• Prep photos for the two articles I ordered
  
• Prep guidelines for two more articles (Keyword, LSI keywords, Amazon products)
  
• Tweak shortcodes for Pros/Cons
  
• Remove unnecessary links to lessen link juice leakage (301 author page to homepage)
  
• Create IFTTT network? Still debating if it's worth the creation and not too much resources on building one

I decided to have a homepage like cloudliving,com because I feel like it'll pass link juice the best along with keeping my categories separate. As for silos, they make my brain hurt.

Homepage->Category1->Category1 Article->Homepage->Leak link juice?(Because logo/navigation)
Homepage->Category2->Category2 Article->Homepage->Leak link juice?(Because logo/navigation)->Category3->etc.

I even thought of no-following home button/logo for previous projects but I didn't have the technical skill. I feel like I'm getting too technical with it.

 

[kanamon]

Good luck will be following.
what your defintion of highly competitive ?
why you did not host the domain in your current provider ?
$60 for just 1000 word, right ?
you will be buying link building services from here ?

 

[MisterF]

G/L with this.
I often read bits and pieces from Cloudliving, Someone gave me the 10k challenge course.

Sounds like you've got a plan laid out.

 

[kawsarbd]

Good Luck. Following

 

[awpcat]

Good luck, Following

 

[adiseshu]

Solid plan. Good luck.

 

[LuckyCharm007]

Good luck buddy! I'll be following your journey

 

[thenwhat]

Thanks everyone.

Good luck will be following.
what your defintion of highly competitive ?
why you did not host the domain in your current provider ?
$60 for just 1000 word, right ?
you will be buying link building services from here ?

$60 for 2000 words

And highly competitive are keywords I know for a fact are competitive from years of watching these keywords. The products change pretty often and they’re within the technology niche. I’ve checked the top ranking sites manually for the last few years but now I feel a bit confident I can compete. Not really, but I’ll try my best see if I can rank for LSI keywords at the very least.

As for link building I may do all of it manually and add PBN links in the future. Majority white hat links, I want to do this right.
Forum backlinks, high quality directories, guest posts, high quality blog comments, then a splash of PBN links. I’m probably gonna build my own network.

For my social media friendly articles I’m looking to buy shoutouts on Facebook from some pages to gain some traffic. I may even run Facebook ads and/or buy social signals. I did this for a previous project (Starbucks secret menu website) and it gained a ton of traction because some people with a high following on Pinterest, tumblr and a few on Facebook shared my post.

 

[Holzr]

Don't forget the low hanging fruit keywords. Enough of these really add up and can bring substantial traffic along with building authority which in turn will slow you to rank harder keywords easier down the line.

Non money pages are also crucial to building authority.

Good luck.

 

[DJ.Bud]

Good luck

Will follow your journey.

 

[thenwhat]

For sure, can't miss out on any chance of making money. I'm hoping this site is my ticket out of working my 9 to 5.

Don't forget the low hanging fruit keywords. Enough of these really add up and can bring substantial traffic along with building authority which in turn will slow you to rank harder keywords easier down the line.

Non money pages are also crucial to building authority.

Good luck.

 

[huynq14011995]

Good Luck. Following

 

[thenwhat]

Update:

Goals to finish this and next week:

• Prep photos for the two articles I ordered - Done
  
• Prep guidelines for two more articles (Keyword, LSI keywords, Amazon products) - Check
  
• Tweak shortcodes for Pros/Cons - Check
  
• Remove unnecessary links to lessen link juice leakage (301 author page to homepage) - Check
  
• Create IFTTT network? Still debating if it's worth the creation and not too much resources on building one - Decided not to do one

What I've been up to:

• Ordered one article (6000 words) from Upwork targeting one of those competitive keywords I was talking about.
  
• Prep 2nd order after I post this update. 5000 word article.

* Both the writers (@kyescontent and @LuckyCharm007) I want to go through are backed up so I went looking on Upwork. Giving two different writers a try.
TAT for my articles from LuckyCharm is 2 weeks since I placed it when he was backed up. He notified me and asked if I wanted a refund but I'd rather wait because it's hard to find strong writers.

• I switched my theme from GeneratePress to SmartMag (Changed the name of the theme within the files to show my sites' name so competitors can't copy my site theme.

I really liked the listed looking view blocks. Organize each category and list category specific article under each category as well.

• Optimized site using GTMetrix.com - Might look into getting a few tweaks done on Upwork to fully cap my speed out lol.

• Asked my brother to design a logo for me. (He has his own brand and I wanted to bite how his logo looked lol)
  
• Found content (about 50 articles) I ordered for a previous project of mine a few years ago (same niche) - Will be using these for my PBN links. All about 1000 words long, all ordered from @Jared255 back in the day lol. Wish I could use this content but the products on them are outdated.
  
• Looking into some PBN domains relevant to my niche from @Nargil
  
• Added all the necessary pages (About, Contact, Affiliate Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, etc.)

Costs/Income :

$50 - Got refunded from Upwork as I cancelled the job listing to tweak my site to look like cloudliving,com
($200) - 6000 word article (TAT Feb 13)
($100) - 5000 word article
$0 - SmartMag (Bought it a few years ago, don't remember the cost)
$0 - Free Logo
$0 - PBN Content

Total Expenses: $631.58


Plans for this week:

• Cry
  
• Finish watching Shippuden as I wait for my articles to come in?
  
• Prep two more articles (Products, LSI keywords, photos, etc.)
  
• Create social media profiles. (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
  
• Look for forums that allow do-follow links, to sign up for and build post counts so I can post my link later.
• Look for niche relevant blogs to leave comments on (For no-follow/do-follow diversity.)
  
• Pay for a few high quality paid directory links
  
• Sign up for DMCA
• Maybe: look for some expired domains myself?

Debating if I should use EasyAzon or AAWP plugin for this site.

 

[thenwhat]

Also if anyone could send me some resources on doing my own taxes that'd be great. I'm not sure where to start to keep track of all my expenses and whatnot.

 

[ScribScribScrib]

Also if anyone could send me some resources on doing my own taxes that'd be great. I'm not sure where to start to keep track of all my expenses and whatnot.

Country of residence?

 

[pj777777]

Sounds like a plan, good luck.

Have you made any projections regarding income?

I have a couple of old amazon sites that are running their course and have downgraded their income projections to reflect an overall 3% commission rate for the future.

Hey all, I've been into IM since the year I graduated high school (2012) and only started getting serious about it last year.

When I found out I was going to be a father (December 2012) I turned to internet marketing in high hopes of being a stay at home father, so I can spend time with my daughter. Boy was I wrong. the budget I had was extremely low as I was working for minimum wage.

I failed horribly on my first few ventures because I told myself it was impossible. From Amazon affiliate sites to CPA to eCommerce back to Amazon affiliate sites.

Safe to say, I'm glad I went through all of those failures; the knowledge I've gained from those projects were valuable.

Anyways, enough about me...

My recent project is currently working its way up in the SERPs. One of my keywords are ranked at number 0 (Snippet) and 1. A few of my other keywords are ranking in the top 10. They've been stuck around rank 7 to 12 for the last few months but I'm having a hard time trying to push it up. It seems the more links I build, the lower my rankings go; so I'm going to let my site stabilize for a few months then revisit it.

Anyways, I've been wanting to start this next website for a while. I feel like it'll do better in traffic diversity as it's a social media friendly niche and the competition for some of the keywords I want to target on SERPS aren't very competitive.

So far:

• Purchased 3 year hosting and domain ($171.63)
  
• Purchased GeneratePress ($39.95)
• Upwork: Custom CSS to duplicate cloudliving,com's homepage tabbed navigation with category specific tabs. ($50)
  
• Ordered two 2000 word articles from @LuckyCharm007 ($120)

Total Spent: $381.58

Some of the keywords I want to target are highly competitive but the search volumes and possible profits are high. I'll be ordering two articles at a time; one low competition and one high competition.

• Made website HTTPS
  
• Installed plugins: Yoast, Reduce Bounce Rate, Social Warfare, and Shortcodes Ultimate

Goals to finish this and next week:

• Prep photos for the two articles I ordered
  
• Prep guidelines for two more articles (Keyword, LSI keywords, Amazon products)
  
• Tweak shortcodes for Pros/Cons
  
• Remove unnecessary links to lessen link juice leakage (301 author page to homepage)
  
• Create IFTTT network? Still debating if it's worth the creation and not too much resources on building one

I decided to have a homepage like cloudliving,com because I feel like it'll pass link juice the best along with keeping my categories separate. As for silos, they make my brain hurt.

Homepage->Category1->Category1 Article->Homepage->Leak link juice?(Because logo/navigation)
Homepage->Category2->Category2 Article->Homepage->Leak link juice?(Because logo/navigation)->Category3->etc.

I even thought of no-following home button/logo for previous projects but I didn't have the technical skill. I feel like I'm getting too technical with it.

 

[SEO FOX]

Good luck with your Journey

 

[thenwhat]

Country of residence?

United States

Sounds like a plan, good luck.

Have you made any projections regarding income?

I have a couple of old amazon sites that are running their course and have downgraded their income projections to reflect an overall 3% commission rate for the future.

I haven’t looked into that. I’m not sure where I would start for this, maybe after it starts making money on a monthly basis I can do this?

 

[pj777777]

I start off with a traffic goal, conversion goal and project from there. I start as soon as I commit to building a digital asset.

Use your figures as targets to aim for and review your progress. A simple spreadsheet will do and review on a regular basis.

I aim low for new projects purposely to remain motivated and to circumnavigate any disappointment in a project ;-)

Only use googles search volume figures as a very rough guideline as it can be wildly, but pleasantly misleading depending on the amount of long tails you may rank for.

PJ

United States



I haven’t looked into that. I’m not sure where I would start for this, maybe after it starts making money on a monthly basis I can do this?

 

[thenwhat]

Edit:

Ended up shortening my word count for my 2nd article to 3000 words as my competitors only have 1500 to 2500 words.

Expenses:

($171.63) Purchased 3 year hosting and domain
(39.95) Purchased GeneratePress
($50) Upwork: Custom CSS to duplicate cloudliving,com's homepage tabbed navigation with category specific tabs.
($120) Ordered two 2000 word articles
$50 - Got refunded from Upwork as I cancelled the job listing to tweak my site to look like cloudliving,com
($200) - 6000 word article (TAT Feb 13)
($60) - 5000 word article
$0 - SmartMag (Bought it a few years ago, don't remember the cost)
$0 - Free Logo
$0 - PBN Content

Total Expenses: $591.58