[Journey] Scaling an Authority website to 10K a month (and beyond)

Kikerinka said:

Milestone update:
It's been a long whole since I posted something, but today we can celebrate another small (yet important) milestone. Because every milestone is important when you look at it from the right perspective...

Yesterday, for the first time ever, we broke 26K sessions in a day!
View attachment 189279

All traffic milestones so far (over the duration of this journey, since 12th May 2020):
5K sessions/day : 9th June 2020
6K sessions/day : 10th August 2020
7K sessions/day : 15th September 2020
8K sessions/day : 13th October 2020
9K sessions/day : 17th November 2020

10K sessions/day: 7th December 2020 (jumped straight to over 11K sessions on the day)
12K sessions/day : 7th January 2021
13K sessions/day : 11th January 2021
14K sessions/day : 12th January 2021

15K sessions/day : 19th January 2021
16K sessions/day : 26th January 2021
17K sessions/day : 2nd February 2021
18K sessions/day : 9th February 2021
19K sessions/day : 23rd February 2021

20K sessions/day : 9th March 2021
21K sessions/day : 20th April 2021
22K sessions/day : 11th May 2021 (exactly 365 days after starting the journey)
23K sessions/day : 24th May 2021
24K sessions/day : 13th September 2021

25K sessions/day : 14th September 2021
26K sessions/day: 20th October 2021

Daily traffic since the start of the journey:
View attachment 189281

The day wasn't far from $1K as well, ending at $942, which is the best income we've had since June. On 15th June 2021, the only day so far when we broke $1K/day the website had 23,476 sessions, but it was much better season for eBook sales .

Anyway, glad that the website keeps growing in traffic, and hope guys you see the same trend on your sites.
Take care everyone, and in 11 days from now I'll be here with a monthly update (unless we reach another traffic or earnings milestone before that

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Dang that's crazy man! Congrats! I'm starting to see patterns a bit like you, getting high traffic on the weekend and low in the middle of the week, but still far from my goal

tousif1988 said:

The best motivational thread and one of the most inspirational users of BHW. Keep it going, mate!

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Thanks mate, I definitely do not plan to stop updating this thread, regardless of what happens with both the website & my life

GVald said:

Dang that's crazy man! Congrats! I'm starting to see patterns a bit like you, getting high traffic on the weekend and low in the middle of the week, but still far from my goal

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Thanks GVald, always looking forward to your updates as well . BTW, my traffic patterns are completely the opposite--high in the middle of the week, and low on weekends.

Have you built any backlinks to your blog?

Kikerinka said:

Hundred articles is a lot to be honest--unless you had months in which you published 30, 50, 70. Publishing 100 articles in a month requires amazing levels of dedication and consistency, and also ability to write quickly.

Even "content machines" like @Shaunm or @Bloooop struggle to publish hundred articles a month, and these are guys with experience of writing over 1K articles each.

I suggest you to be more realistic with your goals. Start with 1 article/day for October. Make it your challenge. You can even do it as a challenge with someone you know, another blogger, such motivation can help.

If you reach the goal, and only then, add 10 extra articles for November, then 10 extra for December, and so on.

Wanting to do 100 articles/month from the blue is to me similar like the guys here who start journeys threads wanting to make $100K/month in 12 months from now, while they've never earned even $1K/month from IM. For sure you know how 100% of these journeys end...

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You are totally right, I even want to write 60 articles one month, but I found it is very hard to write so number of aritlcles for 1500 words each articles. So I decrease it to 30 articles but still hard to reach.
Write a 1500+ words article require a lot of effort. I hope i can reach 30 articls one month a day. It is my aim.
Thanks you still keep updating.

Milestone update:
Didn't expect to reach another milestone until the end of October, with Halloween weekend looming. This weekend typically means a slight (few percent) drop in traffic to my niche for all days of the week. However, yesterday we broke 27K sessions/day for the first time:


All traffic milestones so far (over the duration of this journey, since 12th May 2020):
5K sessions/day : 9th June 2020
6K sessions/day : 10th August 2020
7K sessions/day : 15th September 2020
8K sessions/day : 13th October 2020
9K sessions/day : 17th November 2020

10K sessions/day: 7th December 2020 (jumped straight to over 11K sessions on the day)
12K sessions/day : 7th January 2021
13K sessions/day : 11th January 2021
14K sessions/day : 12th January 2021

15K sessions/day : 19th January 2021
16K sessions/day : 26th January 2021
17K sessions/day : 2nd February 2021
18K sessions/day : 9th February 2021
19K sessions/day : 23rd February 2021

20K sessions/day : 9th March 2021
21K sessions/day : 20th April 2021
22K sessions/day : 11th May 2021 (exactly 365 days after starting the journey)
23K sessions/day : 24th May 2021
24K sessions/day : 13th September 2021

25K sessions/day : 14th September 2021
26K sessions/day: 20th October 2021
27K sessions/day: 26th October 2021


Those of you following the journey from the beginning may remember that it happened a few times that one of my articles "went viral" in a specific country. Sometimes for a few hours, other times for a few days.
We had Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, India, and if I remember correctly even Canada one time. And maybe another one I forgot.

In fact the articles didn't really get viral in a traditional sense of the word, such as people sharing them on social networks, via emails, etc.

What happened was that a certain topic got trendy for a few hours/days, due to some "event(s)" taking place in the respective country. Obviously I cannot tell more about the "events" without revealing the niche, so sorry for a slightly blur explanation .

Anyway, it seems some of the trends may repeat each year. Check the following screenshot from GA:

The article from the screenshot went "viral" in SA last year at the end of November, and this year at the end of October. Since I am ranking better for both primary and secondary keywords now as I was year ago, the traffic spike is even higher this time around. Last year it peaked at about 1,100PV/day. This year it peaked at over 2K PV/day!

The article would normally get about 100PV/day, from all around the world, so the extra 1.5K entrances from SA yesterday helped a lot with the traffic milestone .

Some people may say SA is a shitty traffic, but it actually isn't too bad. Check it out:

Screenshot from Adthrive RPM by Page, for 25th October, when the article reached it peak daily traffic of 2,025 PV in a day.
Sure, $4.65 isn't a high RPM, but it made me extra $10 on a day, which is a nice bonus we otherwise would not get. Hence I am definitely in for getting "viral" in any country

That's it for the milestone guys, and in 5 days I will be here with a regular monthly update. Stay tuned.
Answers to questions posted earlier:

ramuite said:

Have you built any backlinks to your blog?

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No, I haven't. BTW, I've already answered you the very same question much earlier in the journey thread, but you've probably forgotten

dlyhai said:

You are totally right, I even want to write 60 articles one month, but I found it is very hard to write so number of aritlcles for 1500 words each articles. So I decrease it to 30 articles but still hard to reach.
Write a 1500+ words article require a lot of effort. I hope i can reach 30 articls one month a day. It is my aim.
Thanks you still keep updating.

Click to expand...

30 articles/month is very solid. My goal for this month is 50, and I am not there yet. But still 4 more days left to write .
What helps a lot for me is to have some "writing routine". In my case, my mind works the best in the morning. So when working on new articles (which I do not do every day), I make it point to write two articles before noon.

Then if I feel like it, and am not busy with other stuff, I may write another one in the afternoon or evening. But even if I don't do so, two articles are already published, and I can be satisfied with my writing for the day .
GL to you, and let me know if you succeeded with the 30 articles/month goal.

Kikerinka said:

Milestone update:
Didn't expect to reach another milestone until the end of October, with Halloween weekend looming. This weekend typically means a slight (few percent) drop in traffic to my niche for all days of the week. However, yesterday we broke 27K sessions/day for the first time:
View attachment 189958

All traffic milestones so far (over the duration of this journey, since 12th May 2020):
5K sessions/day : 9th June 2020
6K sessions/day : 10th August 2020
7K sessions/day : 15th September 2020
8K sessions/day : 13th October 2020
9K sessions/day : 17th November 2020

10K sessions/day: 7th December 2020 (jumped straight to over 11K sessions on the day)
12K sessions/day : 7th January 2021
13K sessions/day : 11th January 2021
14K sessions/day : 12th January 2021

15K sessions/day : 19th January 2021
16K sessions/day : 26th January 2021
17K sessions/day : 2nd February 2021
18K sessions/day : 9th February 2021
19K sessions/day : 23rd February 2021

20K sessions/day : 9th March 2021
21K sessions/day : 20th April 2021
22K sessions/day : 11th May 2021 (exactly 365 days after starting the journey)
23K sessions/day : 24th May 2021
24K sessions/day : 13th September 2021

25K sessions/day : 14th September 2021
26K sessions/day: 20th October 2021
27K sessions/day: 26th October 2021


Those of you following the journey from the beginning may remember that it happened a few times that one of my articles "went viral" in a specific country. Sometimes for a few hours, other times for a few days.
We had Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, India, and if I remember correctly even Canada one time. And maybe another one I forgot.

In fact the articles didn't really get viral in a traditional sense of the word, such as people sharing them on social networks, via emails, etc.

What happened was that a certain topic got trendy for a few hours/days, due to some "event(s)" taking place in the respective country. Obviously I cannot tell more about the "events" without revealing the niche, so sorry for a slightly blur explanation .

Anyway, it seems some of the trends may repeat each year. Check the following screenshot from GA:
View attachment 189959
The article from the screenshot went "viral" in SA last year at the end of November, and this year at the end of October. Since I am ranking better for both primary and secondary keywords now as I was year ago, the traffic spike is even higher this time around. Last year it peaked at about 1,100PV/day. This year it peaked at over 2K PV/day!

The article would normally get about 100PV/day, from all around the world, so the extra 1.5K entrances from SA yesterday helped a lot with the traffic milestone .

Some people may say SA is a shitty traffic, but it actually isn't too bad. Check it out:
View attachment 189960
Screenshot from Adthrive RPM by Page, for 25th October, when the article reached it peak daily traffic of 2,025 PV in a day.
Sure, $4.65 isn't a high RPM, but it made me extra $10 on a day, which is a nice bonus we otherwise would not get. Hence I am definitely in for getting "viral" in any country

That's it for the milestone guys, and in 5 days I will be here with a regular monthly update. Stay tuned.
Answers to questions posted earlier:


No, I haven't. BTW, I've already answered you the very same question much earlier in the journey thread, but you've probably forgotten

30 articles/month is very solid. My goal for this month is 50, and I am not there yet. But still 4 more days left to write .
What helps a lot for me is to have some "writing routine". In my case, my mind works the best in the morning. So when working on new articles (which I do not do every day), I make it point to write two articles before noon.

Then if I feel like it, and am not busy with other stuff, I may write another one in the afternoon or evening. But even if I don't do so, two articles are already published, and I can be satisfied with my writing for the day .
GL to you, and let me know if you succeeded with the 30 articles/month goal.

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Ok, you think your niche is high competitive? your small niche websites still makes money for you?

Hello, can anybody tell me how the OP is monetizing their site? Also, what is the general niche? (Entertainment, health, fashion etc..) not really ready to read 76 pages today. Hope someone could let me know. If not, I understand. Congrats on your success OP! And thank you for sharing your journey

Unchained said:

Hello, can anybody tell me how the OP is monetizing their site? Also, what is the general niche? (Entertainment, health, fashion etc..) not really ready to read 76 pages today. Hope someone could let me know. If not, I understand. Congrats on your success OP! And thank you for sharing your journey

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Niche: outdoors of some kind; maybe even hardcore porn on the outside
Monetization: Ads

dlyhai said:

Ok, you think your niche is high competitive? your small niche websites still makes money for you?

Click to expand...

There are more competitive niches out there, as well as less competitive niches .

The thing is that, at least I believe, you can find your place in every niche. It is just a question of good keyword research, and focusing on building topical authority for your site.

And yes, the small websites still make money, but it is nothing significant. This month they may make about $1K all combined.
I do not care about them really, since I consider it waste of time and effort considering how Google ranks websites nowadays...

Actually this year alone I let 3 of my small sites drop, and currently have only 15 MNS sites left. I just keep them as small passive money makers, until they slowly die, one after another.

Over the years they brought me combined over $250K (vast majority of it between 2014-2018), which is really more than I could ever hope for considering the effort & money I spent on these sites. But as I said, they are the thing of the past, and I prefer to live in the present and focus on the future in my business efforts .

Unchained said:

Hello, can anybody tell me how the OP is monetizing their site? Also, what is the general niche? (Entertainment, health, fashion etc..) not really ready to read 76 pages today. Hope someone could let me know. If not, I understand. Congrats on your success OP! And thank you for sharing your journey

Click to expand...

The site is monetized with Adthrive ads and my own digital products. I also use one affiliate program related to my niche on a very small scale (below 1% of total income for the website).

BTW, if you are starting the website, or plan to take an existing one to a new level, maybe it won't be a waste of time to read this journey . In any case, good luck to you as well!

ANewBeginning said:

Niche: outdoors of some kind; maybe even hardcore porn on the outside
Monetization: Ads

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Mate do not answer when you do not know what you are talking about .
I have never shared my niche in the journey, and do not plan to do so.

Of course, there are many smart people on BHW, and this is a long journey, and I post a lot of stuff. Those who know how to read in-between the lines can have some ideas by now, but that's about it...

Unchained said:

Hello, can anybody tell me how the OP is monetizing their site? Also, what is the general niche? (Entertainment, health, fashion etc..) not really ready to read 76 pages today. Hope someone could let me know. If not, I understand. Congrats on your success OP! And thank you for sharing your journey

Click to expand...

Lol you don't have to read 76 pages you just had to read 1 reply above you

And something OP would say: If you don't have the patience to read 76 pages then you definitely don't have the patience to start making money online with this kind of website

Kikerinka said:

There are more competitive niches out there, as well as less competitive niches .

The thing is that, at least I believe, you can find your place in every niche. It is just a question of good keyword research, and focusing on building topical authority for your site.

And yes, the small websites still make money, but it is nothing significant. This month they may make about $1K all combined.
I do not care about them really, since I consider it waste of time and effort considering how Google ranks websites nowadays...

Actually this year alone I let 3 of my small sites drop, and currently have only 15 MNS sites left. I just keep them as small passive money makers, until they slowly die, one after another.

Over the years they brought me combined over $250K (vast majority of it between 2014-2018), which is really more than I could ever hope for considering the effort & money I spent on these sites. But as I said, they are the thing of the past, and I prefer to live in the present and focus on the future in my business efforts .

The site is monetized with Adthrive ads and my own digital products. I also use one affiliate program related to my niche on a very small scale (below 1% of total income for the website).

BTW, if you are starting the website, or plan to take an existing one to a new level, maybe it won't be a waste of time to read this journey . In any case, good luck to you as well!


Mate do not answer when you do not know what you are talking about .
I have never shared my niche in the journey, and do not plan to do so.

Of course, there are many smart people on BHW, and this is a long journey, and I post a lot of stuff. Those who know how to read in-between the lines can have some ideas by now, but that's about it...

Click to expand...

Thanks, you are great, hope you can hit 1000 per day on average.

Kikerinka said:

Mate do not answer when you do not know what you are talking about .

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I was joking bro
Of course I don't know your niches

yesofcourse said:

Lol you don't have to read 76 pages you just had to read 1 reply above you

And something OP would say: If you don't have the patience to read 76 pages then you definitely don't have the patience to start making money online with this kind of website

Click to expand...

Hi, I was doing something today that's why I did not have time to read. I just found OPs name and I remembered them because I saw it being mentioned as an inspiration by another member here that started his own journey.

Maybe I don't, who knows. But I am already in this game for 10 years. Managing my own little team. Surviving since G Panda update. Good luck with your ventures, yesofcourse.

Kikerinka said:

There are more competitive niches out there, as well as less competitive niches .

The thing is that, at least I believe, you can find your place in every niche. It is just a question of good keyword research, and focusing on building topical authority for your site.

And yes, the small websites still make money, but it is nothing significant. This month they may make about $1K all combined.
I do not care about them really, since I consider it waste of time and effort considering how Google ranks websites nowadays...

Actually this year alone I let 3 of my small sites drop, and currently have only 15 MNS sites left. I just keep them as small passive money makers, until they slowly die, one after another.

Over the years they brought me combined over $250K (vast majority of it between 2014-2018), which is really more than I could ever hope for considering the effort & money I spent on these sites. But as I said, they are the thing of the past, and I prefer to live in the present and focus on the future in my business efforts .

The site is monetized with Adthrive ads and my own digital products. I also use one affiliate program related to my niche on a very small scale (below 1% of total income for the website).

BTW, if you are starting the website, or plan to take an existing one to a new level, maybe it won't be a waste of time to read this journey . In any case, good luck to you as well!


Mate do not answer when you do not know what you are talking about .
I have never shared my niche in the journey, and do not plan to do so.

Of course, there are many smart people on BHW, and this is a long journey, and I post a lot of stuff. Those who know how to read in-between the lines can have some ideas by now, but that's about it...

Click to expand...

Hey man! Thanks for that. Are your US visitors more than 85%? I heard that Adthrive is picky with the geo of traffic. I have a site getting 85% US traffic but I am weary of switching from Ezoic to Adthrive because if I do, my premium will go down since my overall earnings will be reduced in Ezoic. How high is your RPM in Adthrive?

Wow that's cool. Is it like an online course or something? You did everything? Or did you hire writers to help you? Are you selling directly or are you in Clickbank? What about chargebacks?

It seems like you really stumbled upon a gem of a niche there if you aren't willing to share even the general niche. Must be a small one or a sub-niche. Anyhow, I understand that. Hope you keep on dominating the SERPS man. I will be reading this thread in chunks haha

the greatest thread ever

yesofcourse said:

Lol you don't have to read 76 pages you just had to read 1 reply above you

And something OP would say: If you don't have the patience to read 76 pages then you definitely don't have the patience to start making money online with this kind of website

Click to expand...

Thanks mate, nice to see you here again. I've said it, but in a more polite way .

At the end of the day, I understand that people who know nothing about this journey may simply see it as another long journey, being unaware of the attention to detail & information shared over the duration of it...

dlyhai said:

Thanks, you are great, hope you can hit 1000 per day on average.

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Thanks, it is not a goal, but I have in my mind this 1 million page views in May/June 2022. That doesn't sound too unrealistic to me considering everything (especially that I am writing and publishing again). And if it happens in June, with the seasonality factor and RPM in place, there is a slight chance (but really just a slight one, like 5% :-D) that it could be a month approaching $1K/day in average.

Of course, a lot of time until then, and anything can happen, but numbers suggest it is possible.

ANewBeginning said:

I was joking bro
Of course I don't know your niches

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I know you were joking, but we have to consider all readers of this thread (many of them do not know you and your replies )

Unchained said:

Hey man! Thanks for that. Are your US visitors more than 85%? I heard that Adthrive is picky with the geo of traffic. I have a site getting 85% US traffic but I am weary of switching from Ezoic to Adthrive because if I do, my premium will go down since my overall earnings will be reduced in Ezoic. How high is your RPM in Adthrive?

Wow that's cool. Is it like an online course or something? You did everything? Or did you hire writers to help you? Are you selling directly or are you in Clickbank? What about chargebacks?

It seems like you really stumbled upon a gem of a niche there if you aren't willing to share even the general niche. Must be a small one or a sub-niche. Anyhow, I understand that. Hope you keep on dominating the SERPS man. I will be reading this thread in chunks haha

Click to expand...

- I have around 44% US traffic and Adthrive is completely fine with that. 85% US traffic is very unusual to see on any site, and will be only a plus if you apply with them. If you have such a traffic, and high quality content, I strongly suggest you to give it a try!

- You can see my RPM on monthly updates. Last month it was $20.49. This month it will be less, but that's just because October RPM is worse than September RPM, regardless of the network...

- Almost all my products are eBooks, written by me. I would never use a shitty service like Clickbank, everything is sold directly on the website.
Just for the record, I've earned couple of thousands with Clickbank in the past (many years ago), promoting a certain product from there when I did not have yet mine products, but the conversion rate was like 4 times worse. That's because of their sales pages design and overall reputation of the platform.

- I would not say the niche is a particular gem... As I replied here earlier, you can make a great website, and earn big in every niche. It is just a question of doing your KW research right, and keep writing quality content on a consistent basis. There are hundreds of websites in my niche, of all sizes (from MNS to super big sites). But only about 10-15 of them make some really nice income. I am sure it is a similar story in every niche...

Enjoy reading the thread

dreamskylk said:

the greatest thread ever

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Thanks mate, I will try to maintain the quality of the updates

Maybe this question has been asked of you many times. but I wonder. Why didn't you choose adsense? Why adthrive? Does it earn more?

huntermanager said:

Maybe this question has been asked of you many times. but I wonder. Why didn't you choose adsense? Why adthrive? Does it earn more?

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Not many times, but few times at least. But I understand such questions, because less than two years ago, I didn't even know Adthrive existed .

To simplify the answer: I earn with Adthrive 3-5 times more than what I earned with Adsense for every 1K visitors. But it is not only about money... The customer support, the role they play in the entire online advertising industry, new features to their internal analytics added regularly, and so on.
Hope it clarifies things for you, anything else, do not hesitate to ask.

Btw AdThrive added their own Content optimizer not too long ago maybe you saw it. I wonder if you have tried it and what do you think of it?

Kikerinka said:

Not many times, but few times at least. But I understand such questions, because less than two years ago, I didn't even know Adthrive existed .

To simplify the answer: I earn with Adthrive 3-5 times more than what I earned with Adsense for every 1K visitors. But it is not only about money... The customer support, the role they play in the entire online advertising industry, new features to their internal analytics added regularly, and so on.
Hope it clarifies things for you, anything else, do not hesitate to ask.

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Jesus 3-5 times... So, are there categories within Adthrive where they pay more, such as high cpm niches/low cpm niches etc? Just like adsense?