A beginners journey to earning $2000 per month

What topics are you comfortable writing about? I might be interested in ordering some content from you.

Good luck anyway.
 
Day 7

Here's what I want to accomplish today.

Add content to my affiliate sites and keep finding and trying out methods of driving traffic to them. I'm going to look into methods of improving on-page SEO. My first site is on the first page of Bing for a few searches but I'm not sure how to tell what page of Google it's on. It's not first page for the main keyword yet, but the competition for it on page one is pretty good. Second site isn't on any of the first few pages of any search yet but it has gotten a tiny bit of traffic. I'm also going to start manually commenting on websites and blogs related to my niches. Today I will mostly be researching SEO and methods of getting traffic since that seems to be my weak spot.

I'll still be searching for a theme I like.

I'm going to upload another article to Constant Content. I'll have 6 articles on the site by tonight. I'm hoping for the one that was approved to be sold today.

I have close to 10k words for my first eBook. I'll be writing another 1k words for that and possibly starting another one. I'm planning on uploading my first one to Amazon by the end of next week. I still need a cover though so I'm not sure if I'm going to design one myself or outsource it.

No Fiverr orders overnight. I'm going to make 3 job proposals on both Elance and Odesk.

Other than that not much to report. I'm going to be working for the next few hours then I'm going to a BBQ tonight. I'll probably stay up pretty late again. I find I have the most motivation late at night. Typically after 9PM I really crack down. I might try waking up early next week and see if I notice any positive changes.

Here's my motivation for the day.

"I knew that if I failed I wouldn't regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying." - Jeff Bezos
 
Oh yeah, I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

While it's not hard to keep motivated it's a bit disheartening to read other journeys and see how quickly people have achieved success. That's probably where my motivation lies. It's not about how fast you can become rich but whether or not it's possible. Just in the past week I've discovered it's possible to make something online. And as I've learned from this site it's all about taking action and scaling up. In 1 week I made ~$150 so if I keep at it what will I be earning a month from now, or a year from now? I only spent a few weeks reading this forum and then realized the only way to become successful was to make an effort and take action. Reading the posts on journeys such as WhitePassion and seeing how he made his first sale on Amazon really quickly can really mess with your head. Then you check out his blog and realize he had spent a lot of time beforehand trying other methods before finally finding the one he was successful at. It's not a competition and fundamentally we all want to see each other succeed. I'm really excited to see where my personal journey takes me and it's great speaking with people who I've been motivated by and who I've motivated. So that's my rant and I just want to say thanks BHW for encouraging me to take control of my life and I hope to one day be able to pay it forward.
 
Good work buddy! Thats exactly the right spirit. If you can earn $150 in a week, then you can scale it up and like you say who knows what you could be earning a few months down the line! Well done.
 
It's late and time for bed. Here's what I accomplished today.

I finally chose a theme for my affiliate sites. It's free so I'll use it for now but I plan on upgrading in the future. I spent an hour or so fiddling around with it and I'm still trying to solve a small problem I have with it.

My first site got 3 views today from search engines. My second site doesn't have enough content and didn't get any views. I added an article to both sites. I did a ton of SEO research today and there are a lot of things I will be trying in the coming days.

My second article got accepted to Constant Content and I uploaded yet another one to the site. I currently have 2 articles uploaded and 5 under review.

I broke 10k words for my eBook in the economics niche. I'm going to write another 10k and then upload it to Amazon. I saw someone post today that it's possible to make a decent incoming with eBooks but that you would need 100s of them on Amazon for that to be possible.

I only found 2 jobs worth applying for on Odesk and Elance. I'm hoping to hear back tomorrow. I noticed on Odesk there are a lot of foreign writers so it's a lot less competitive than Elance.

I created a new Fiverr writing gig. 1 order came through and 2 people messaged me. I didn't complete the order today but I will do so tomorrow morning.

That's all I accomplished today. I worked and researched for at least 10 hours. It might not seem like a lot when you're reading through my posts but I keep surprising myself by the work I put in and what I've accomplished.

The more effort I put in the better I feel and the closer I get to success.

Here's my nightly motivational quote.

"No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist" - Unknown
 
Day 8

I was unable to post this morning because I was having Internet problems. I don't have my own Wi-Fi since one of my neighbors has an open router and I just borrow his. For some reason the Internet was not working very well today and even right now it's very choppy and slow.

However I still worked hard and if the problem persists I will be waking up early to go log 12 hours at the library.

I got 3 orders today on my Fiverr gig. I hate writing 500 words for $4 and other than Fiverr I won't be doing it. It's pretty easy though and I completed the 3 gigs in under an hour. I'm looking into better ways to sell my writing services.

I modified the theme I chose on both my sites. For those wondering I'm going with the "Hueman" theme on Wordpress for now. It's exactly what I was looking for and displays the images and reviews pretty well. After a week of being live my first website has 20 views. Most from search engines and a few unknown. I still have no idea where it is on Google. My second site only has 9 views. I checked my Amazon Affiliate account today and I have 1 click, which I think is awesome. Someone read my post and clicked the link!

I wrote and added an article to each site. I think I'm going to be making one of those huge table comparison charts. I'm also going to start using social media to drive traffic. I need to find a ranking tool to use to find out which keywords are successful and where I am on the Google search.

I did not hear back from the proposals on Elance or Odesk. I applied to 1 job each on either of those sites today and hope to hear from them.

I uploaded an article to Constant Content. I found a niche where there are very few articles but a lot of demand. No one has purchased any of my articles yet.

I only wrote 500 words for my eBook but it's still early and I will write more. It's difficult to do research with my Internet problem but that's not going to stop me.

I haven't completed the 2 articles I'm supposed to deliver today for my Odesk client. I will 100% complete those before I go to bed. Afterwards I'm asking for another deposit before I write any others.

And that's it. I'm still doing SEO research and working on improving my 2 affiliate sites. The traffic is slowly trickling in and pretty soon it's going to start pouring.

I'm up to $170 in earnings since I started.

As always, my daily motivation.

"Our life is what our thoughts make it" - Marcus Aurelius
 
Day 9

I had a huge post and of course it didn't go through and disappeared.

Here's a brief of what I accomplished today.

Added content to all sites, both affiliates, and CC. Both sites are receiving 100% organic traffic. I'm not well ranked on Google but I'm ranking highly on Bing and Yahoo. I got an order on Fiverr and completed that right away. I'm in the process of doing research for a 3rd niche site. I created a personal blog related to my travel and SEO experience. It will be strictly for fun. I did not add any content to my ebook since i got frustrated over it and decided to take a break today. I had to work at the library all day because of the terrible Wi-Fi connection at my place. Most important lesson learned today is save your work often. Had to do a hard reset and lost 2k words and later on in the day I lost this BHW post.

Here's some motivation, it really helps.
"Just know, when you truly want success, you'll never give up on it. No matter how bad the situation may get" - Unknown
 
Best of luck mate, I am following you and I am sure you will succeed :)
One piece of advice with regards to elance and odesk, don't give up on those easily, it is hard to get jobs with a new account and I would recommend that you lower your priced just a bit and be challenging on delivery times, so you can gather up some reviews on your accounts.
Good luck again and keep posting!
 
I will be following you on this journey. I wish you all the success in world. Keep us updated.
 
Day 10

Hey guys. Here's what I accomplished today.

Added content to both my affiliate sites. I started taking advantage of using Excel for my keyword research instead of trying to remember everything. It looks like it's going to work quite well. Traffic is still steady but today I got 5 hits for one of my sites. That doesn't seem like much but it's a record for me!

I'm manually submitting the sites to free directories. I'm also manually blog commenting. I'm spending 2 hours every day doing SEO research and another hour practicing what I've learned. I've been checking Analytics to see what's working but I really don't have enough data to know what to change.

I sold my first article on Constant Content! It was only for use, instead of full rights, so I didn't get the $25 I expected. I earned $11 for the article but it only took me 20 minutes to right. Off to a good start!

I wrote 1k words for my first eBook and 1k for my second. I looked on Fiverr for some covers and will choose a gig to order from in the next few days.

Speaking of Fiverr I got 3 orders today. One of them was for $10, which is the first one I've gotten for that much.

No replies from anyone on Odesk or Elance. I haven't applied to any jobs yet today and don't think I will. I've got some other stuff to do. I asked my original Odesk client for more money before I continue writing. I'm hoping to hear from him soon.

I'm going to visit my Grandmother tomorrow so I will not be able to spend the entire day working. I'll be posting a late review after I get back and accomplish something.

My total earnings are almost $200. In less than 2 weeks I've been able to earn this much. I'm getting very excited to see what the future holds.

And here's my daily motivation.

"It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable" - Seneca
 
Keep it up my friend! You are doing a great job... be constant. You can also invest a little and start offering your writing services in forums. Look for different niches you think someone would need content for, like real estate and post your service. Also try looking for sites you can guest post, that would help to get traffic to your sites.
 
This is very interesting, I don't know the route you are going to take as there are too many methods in earning money - Desk jobs, Freelance, Affiliate Marketings etc.

You're going to exhaust yourself in no time, why not try to stick to 1-2 ways of generating income before scaling up? I'm sure you passion of fire will not easily extinguish! Keep it up!!

Warmest Regards,
Commoner
 
This is very interesting, I don't know the route you are going to take as there are too many methods in earning money - Desk jobs, Freelance, Affiliate Marketings etc.

You're going to exhaust yourself in no time, why not try to stick to 1-2 ways of generating income before scaling up? I'm sure you passion of fire will not easily extinguish! Keep it up!!

Warmest Regards,
Commoner

Thank you for the insight. I must politely disagree with your claim that I will "exhaust" myself. For almost 2 weeks I've been working close to 12 hours a day. Earning money through Internet Marketing is something I'm passionate about. While you might not be able to dedicate yourself to something with as much effort or dedication, please don't assume that others are the same. There are only 2 methods I'm attempting to earn money with - freelance writing and affiliate marketing. I've seen success in both those methods and I'm continuing to scale them up.

Again, thank you for your insight. I'm looking forward to reading your journey!
 
Keep it up my friend! You are doing a great job... be constant. You can also invest a little and start offering your writing services in forums. Look for different niches you think someone would need content for, like real estate and post your service. Also try looking for sites you can guest post, that would help to get traffic to your sites.

Thank you! I'm planning on creating a content writing service in the future. A few people have messaged me here on BHW already but I'm not sure whether that's against the TOS or not.
As for traffic I'm practicing a few different methods and I've messaged a few high pr blogs asking if I could guest post. Nothing happens overnight and I'm very new to the internet marketing world. Everything is still new to me!
Thanks again, friend!
 
But to write content for other people has nothing to do with internet marketing. These people who market your written content make the real big money. Yes, you can make good money but you have to write every single day and your income is limeted because a day has just 24h. Your intention was/is to build a passive income stream to have more time for traveling and so on but writing for orher people is not passive. Thats a normal job and no stable income stream. On the other hand: Affiliate is a good way to make a passive income. But it is really hard if you just rely on google traffic. Creating a niche site and just rely on google traffic is not enough today.

This is not meant negatively. I have respect for your effort but you are on the wrong way. When do you plan to reach the 2k/month? In two years? You are focusing on the wrong things.
 
But to write content for other people has nothing to do with internet marketing. These people who market your written content make the real big money. Yes, you can make good money but you have to write every single day and your income is limeted because a day has just 24h. Your intention was/is to build a passive income stream to have more time for traveling and so on but writing for orher people is not passive. Thats a normal job and no stable income stream. On the other hand: Affiliate is a good way to make a passive income. But it is really hard if you just rely on google traffic. Creating a niche site and just rely on google traffic is not enough today.

This is not meant negatively. I have respect for your effort but you are on the wrong way. When do you plan to reach the 2k/month? In two years? You are focusing on the wrong things.

Writing has been, and always will be, a source of income for me. I enjoy it, I consider it a hobby, and I'm glad I'm already getting paid for it. I spend a significant amount of time working on my passive income stream but I also spend time writing. I disagree that relying on Google traffic is not enough. There are millions of examples online of websites that provide a steady income for people in niche sites. The affiliate marketers I follow all make their living from niche traffic. There are even journeys on here about people who make steady income from niche traffic. I plan to reach my goal by December with a combination of writing and passive income from my affiliate sites. I have 2 sites up and a 3rd on the way. I'm very new to this entire process and I'm learning every step of the way. So what if it takes me two years? I would still consider that a success and it wouldn't bother me in the least. I'm not in this game for the overnight millions but for the long steady flow of income. I appreciate your insight.
 
I think you dont understand me. Its great that you enjoy to write. But why do you sell your content to people who market your content and make the big money? You can easily market your content by yourself and create a passive income. If you really work 12h/day you can easily reach your goal within 2 month.

And yes, niche sites are a good way to make money but if you only rely on google traffic it takes looong long time. Google is not the same as it was 2 years ago.

If you create own products with your own content they can push your niche sites too and you can make much more money much faster. Own content is the key ...and you sell it to people who know how to market it.

Maybe you understand it if you have more experience. Wish you everything best ...but you have to think about your strategy. There is no business structure and i bet you have never thought about how such a structure looks like. You are just following 1 method how to market your own content (niche sites). its a good method if you combine it with other methods.

1. Create content
2. Market your content step by step in any direction (eg. niche sites, ebooks, audiobooks, mobile apps) and they will push each other
3. automate the process of content creation
4. Lean back. Your work is just to search for new niches and coordinate the content creation and look for other ways to monetize your products.
 
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A good way to start, but proceed one step at a time and do your best to get to your destination. Success would follow. People only fail either because they dont take action and when they do, they make all the wrong decisions.
 
Day 11

Hey guys. I spent most of the day with my grandmother but here's what I managed to accomplish.

I spoke with someone on here who offered some great advice and caused me to take a look at my methods. I might be spread out too thin with so many different things going on and I think it would be worth it in the long run for me to pursue a single method. I haven't decided which method I'm going to dedicate the majority of my time to but I will decide on that in the next couple days.

I added content to both my affiliate sites. Got another click today but no sale. Traffic for both sites is about 2-3 hit per day from search engines.

I didn't get any new Fiverr orders nor did I work on any. I will complete those tomorrow morning.

I added 1k words to my eBook. Its almost 20k words and I plan to publish at the end of this week. This is one of the options I might be pursuing. I could write a 20k eBook every other day if I spent all my time working on it. Once this eBook goes live on Amazon it's going to be interesting to watch and see if I make any sales.

I did not hear from anyone on Odesk or Elance. I did not apply to any jobs either. I don't think those are methods I'm willing to pursue further. Tomorrow or Wednesday I will go hard on those two sites and if nothing comes of them I will put those on the back burner for now. Hoping to hear from my client tomorrow. He said he would add more money to my account.

Added another article to Constant Content. No new sales but there are quite a few hits on the articles. I changed up some of the explanations because maybe I wasn't being descriptive enough.

That's all I've done for today. The next few days I won't be able to work as hard because I've got some real life things going on. I'm still planning on dedicating at least 5 hours every day and I'll be back to 12 on Friday through the weekend. While the Wi-Fi issue was fixed my AC broke so I'm sweating it out in a 26c office right now.

The people here on BHW have been incredibly helpful in helping me make the best decisions throughout this journey. I've already made some friends and hope to make more as my journey progresses.

As always, my daily motivation.

"It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. It's how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done" - Rocky Balboa
 
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