I’m Back!
It’s been a while since my last post (about 25 days) and a few people had gotten in touch to check if I was still alive and doing affiliate marketing. Well I am still going, I went away for a week but apart from that have been plugging away quietly.
How Are Things Going?
Sales are doing ok for this month and I should do better than last month but not up to the level I was a few months ago. I got a bit disheartened at the start of the month but have been putting in a lot more work of late, updating older sites, making new sites etc. My older sites are starting to rank well with a lot in the number one position in Google for their main keyword. However this doesnt guarantee traffic or sales and some of my sites that are number one still get very little traffic and few if any sales even though they get 5-10k exact seraches according to GKWT. This is why I have so far been making lots of sites. Waiting for one of them to take off as until I have got a site up and running I don’t know if it will bring in any money or not. Still not got an eye for spotting a good niche.
Big Site
All the advice I have had so far has been to make a bigger, more general site that I can focus on rather than having lots of little sites to distract me. So far I’ve been wary of putting all my eggs in one basket (especially since my choices so far have been so hit and miss) but as my other approach isn’t really paying off I am going to give it a go.
I’ve picked my niche, almost got a name for the site and should be ready to go at the start of November. I will be building it around WordPress for now but have some planning to do of how to structure it.
Getting a New Day Job
As some of my regular readers may know I gave up my day job a few months ago to come to Thailand. My earnings were going up month on month before I came out so I thought they would continue to increase and soon be enough to live on out here without getting another full time job. Alas they did not and since my earnings started to go down I’ve been looking (a bit half-heartedly) for a new job. Part-time would be ideal but there is not much on offer out here and due to the strict immigration laws teaching is really the only option for a farang and there are not many part-time teaching jobs on offer. Hopefully my earnings will rocket and I will avoid going back into working for the man. I think £650 per month would do me nicely out here and allow me to focus on really putting my all into Internet marketing.
Anything exciting been happening in the world of affiliate marketing in the last month or so?
Are you all ready for Christmas (I’ve not done anything which I am sure I will regret)?
Hi Joe,
Glad to see your back! I checked regularly to see if you had posted and thought it was very unlike you to disappear off the radar!
It’s good to see you are still plugging away! I am too but this has been my worst month so far however I am still learning a huge amount and hope to turn things around soon.
Haven’t created any Xmas sites as I left it quite late but am working on a site for next years World Cup – should give me plenty of time to get it up the rankings I hope!
Take it easy!
Although you have both left it a little late for Christmas you could still get a site up. If you think about it the real Christmas rush won’t start properly till mid November.
If you don’t know what to promote head over to this site – http://www.toyretailersassociation.co.uk/press/dt_gallery.php
Use the images provided and put your own spin on the descriptions.
I’m still planning to create a few small sites for Christmas but my main Christmas sites are indexed and getting traffic.
Well, whats the average teacher salery over there?
Ive been thinking about focusing more on bigger sites too, its deffinitly direction G has been moving in. Ive also seen some big increases in sandbox times too which seem to suggest they want to make it harder for smaller sites to rank well quickly, even for really long tail terms.
Paul
@mac-geek: thanks for that, will get something up ASAP
@PaulB: starting salary for someone teaching English as a foreign language is about 30,000 baht or £600 per month. An teacher at an International school teaching the British curiculum gets about 100,000 baht a month starting but you have to be a proper teacher to do that.
So if I could increase my earnings by £200 per month from AM I would be getting would I would be getting if I got a job anyways.
Easy Content Units also have ready made units featuring the top 12 toys!
Just to echo what you and others have said I also belive that the ‘big site’ approach is the route to go down if you want to make ‘serious’ money.
I belive that you can definatley make money from micro niche sites, but the effort and time to keep your old ones up to date while creating new sites seems to be a hard balance. Whereas (as you said) if you have 1 or 3 big sites with regular content its easier to update and you can give them more love and attention. Plus if you can create a community with repeating traffic! jackpit!
Glad to see you back. Though I thought you are busy making some more websites to encash the Christmas. Anyways, it isnt too late if you go super niche and possibly finding the product from the expected top sellers including the toys. Is it just me or you haven’t yet posted your famous How was … thread in a4u??
Since you are living in Thailand at the moment why don’t you start a mini blog about living/working out there featuring loads of pics and of course montetised
Just an idea anyway….