Spectator To Money Maker

Hi all,

I'll try to keep this short and to the point:

I've been a long time spectator at BHW as well as similar internet marketing and internet business websites and have (to a large extent) half heartedly attempted many of the tricks, business models, and journeys on this website. During this time I was more or less exploring rather than tracking statistics, click through rates, revenue, and costs. I did this as a hobby to test my skills and what not. However, things have changed and I am working almost full time to get this up and running. While I do have a fairly strong technical background, numerous half made projects to jump off from -- I have decided to post my journey here in order to get much needed advice and keep myself disciplined. Ideally within the next 6 months I would like to have around $3000/month from a time commitment of below 30 hours per week.

I'm not sure if I want to open up all of my secrets here on BHW, (it probably wouldn't hurt because you guys know more than me) but for starters I'm going to quantify my starting point:

Skills:
-I can problem a website from scratch. Ruby, PHP, HTML, Javascript, etc. However, now I just use Wordpress or similar CMSs.
-I can do limited graphics work. Could create a number of logos and simple work but could probably not create a whole new web design layout. (In my mind that is what free templates are for)
-Great at SEO, internal and external. My past two jobs have been about SEO and I can reasonably say I could get any quality website within top 10 on Google. (More on this later)

Assets:
-A bunch of random domain names, mostly expired domains that I thought could be used in the future. Some have autoblogs but I will ignore everything that gets less than 100 views per day.
-3 active websites within The 3D Printing industry. Each gets about 150 views per day.
-3 active websites within The Tech Industry with auto blogs on them. Each gets about 100 views per day.
-3 active websites within the The Electronic Cigarette industry. Each website gets about 200 views per day.

Current Revenue Streams:
Affiliate Advertising: $10/day with about 2 hours of effort per day. Mostly in the E Cigarette industry
Pay Per Click Advertising: $1/day with zero effort needed. Mostly within the 3D printing industry.
Other/Miscellaneous: $2/day. With about 1 hours of effort per day.

Current Expenses:
-I spend no money on advertising, and these websites have the domains and hosting already paid for. This is where I need help. My gut feeling says if I start paying for advertising for my affiliate links I will see significantly more income. Thus far 50% of my traffic and revenue is from organic google search and the rest is from forum links and or social media. A lot of this is done manually which I need/want to automate.

Current Budget:
-Very little but willing to bit the bullet to try out paid advertising.

Anyways, I plan to do some posts here, possibly every other day to keep myself on track. Will post more detailed starting statistics tomorrow. Also if anybody has any questions please let me know.

Oh, and I almost forgot. If it isn't too much work, each update I will ask one question and would humbly request any member jump in with their 2 cents. I will kindly return the favor my answering any of their questions or giving some advice later on down the road.

Question #1: As I alluded to above, I'm a complete newb when it comes to purchasing marketing, clicks, traffic, or anything. I believe my frugality has come at a cost, now I have no experience with paid internet advertising. Currently, I am trying out Reddit pay per view ads but am completely shooting blind here. What would you suggest, a starter ad network and or tricks for getting the cheapest options.

Cheers!
Tony

Alright, just a quick update since last time.

My Stat Card For 6/16/2014
Total Revenue: $13.32
Revenue From E Cig: $13.32
Revenue From 3D Printing / Other: 0
Expenses: $0.00
Earnings: $13.32

Optimization And Views
Total 3D Printing UV : 500 - Conversion Rate Sucks
Total 3 Cig UV: 200 - Conversation Rate Sucks
Total Other UV: 100 - Conversation Rate Sucks
Total Affiliate Click Throughs: 100 mostly in E Cigarette Industry

Work Completed:
Spent 2 Hours Marketing and 10 Research / Building Landing Page And Website Improvements.
Purchased a 50K block of Reddit ads. (Will post expenses once ads start running)
Began exploring FB ads for 3D printing.

To Do:
Improve conversion rate by either:
-Alternative sales funnel (try out landing pages)
-Better website (design, speed, etc)
-Better targeting (new marketing channels, reddit)
-A/B Testing Landing Pages

Been a little busy as of late. Took a long 20 plus hour flight... Still recovering from jet lag.

A manual Reddit post of mine when semi-viral a few days ago and brought in over 1000 affiliate clicks. Currently reaping some rewards with a consistent $20 per day with no work as a result. Cookies last about 60 days so if I continue to get $20 per day, that is a good 1.2K for a viral post.

Meanwhile, I am learning a bit more and taking advantage of value ad promotions for my affiliate sales (discounts, promo codes). Which seams to give me some immediate rewards.

Reddit ads are running but very slowly, I may have targeted a very small niche. Thus far I have received a few clicks and spent a few dollars which an over CPC of 0.30. I think I could do better with better advert writing. Only one of these clicks has converted. Its technically profitable but not scalable. Will see if I can get some sister sub reddits and increase my scalability.

My to do list is more or less the same.
-Alternative sales funnel (try out landing pages)
-Better website (design, speed, etc)
-Better targeting (new marketing channels, reddit)
-A/B Testing Landing Pages

Since first post on the 16th, my total revenue has been about $120 with about $10 expenses.