Niche Website Profit Report
Niche websites can be one of the best ways to build a residual income online, although earnings are usually low at first as the webmaster builds up page rank and traffic to the site.
This was certainly the case with my first website, a nutrition site I built with Site Build It and did not monetize from the start, instead working on traffic building before including advertising and affiliate links. I don’t think that’s a bad strategy, but in retrospect I would have included monetization channels earlier than I did.
In late December 2008, I started a pets-themed site using a basic html template (not Wordpress) and included Google Adsense ad units and links to Amazon books from the start. I have added 10 content pages on keyword phrases closely tied to the site url, which is a three-word search term on the overall topic.
The adsense bids for these keywords are really on the low side, actually — but conversely, competition for the article keywords in Google search results is also low.
Income from the site is not substantial yet, but it is more than I expected for time invested, pages online and number of backlinks to the site (very few).
To date, my earnings from the site are as follows:
Google Adsense for content …….. $246.59
Amazon affiliate earnings ……….. $ 20.11
TOTAL ………………………………… $266.70
That’s an average of a little less than $1.50 a day, or about $45 a month. The past couple months have accounted for a higher percentage of earnings, obviously, so I am actually earning closer to $65-$70 a month with the site as it stands. I expect that number to go up as I add more pages and include affiliate links to a Clickbank ebook on the topic that I have bookmarked.
My marketing of the site has been limited to building a few links to the main page or one of the content pages through article sites like Bukisa and link libraries such as Xomba.
Interested in doing something similar to increase your residual income online? Be sure to check out my Make Money with a Website series to learn how to create and monetize a niche site efficiently.
Have you had success with a niche site? Share your tips, below.
Are you just getting started? Comments and questions welcome!
I actually have just started with my niche blog, about 6 months ago. However, I have made nothing, even with adsense and affiliate links to places like Amazon. My readership is growing, though I am wondering if I should drop it or not. I have done as much marketing as I know (submission to blog and article sites, creating backlinks, social media networking). Any advice?
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Rachel, blogs are somewhat different than niche content sites, as blogs often depend on a large audience for income. With content sites, you rely on web search traffic for traffic and clicks. However, can also have the best of both worlds with blogging — a loyal audience as well as targeted traffic, which combined deliver a steady income stream.
Have you looked into The Niche Blogger? I recommend this program for writers who want to increase income through their blogs.
Maria a blog is just the architecture of the site – whether the site is built on static html or a blog it doesn’t make any difference to the earning potential – its all about getting search traffic. Unfortunately Rachel sounds like she just learnt the first rule of blogging – social traffic is pleasent but rarely makes you any money
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Lis, there’s still a difference between a article site and a blog as far as the style and type of writing as well as the social components. I have a couple niche sites built on WordPress platforms but they aren’t blogs; there’s no conversation/ comments, the style is not that of a blog, etc. Many blogs depend on a large, active readership and word of mouth rather than search engine traffic and do incredibly well financially. I think there’s a huge difference between a blog such as The Pioneer Woman and a niche content site on homemaking topics. But I do agree with you that the lines have blurred considerably.
Interesting conversation here Lis and Maria. In my own experience I’ve found that a website (hand coded HTML) is more profitable than any of my blogs. The website I’m talking about is not a niche site and encompasses quite a few subject areas. It barely employs SEO practices, it’s shunned by Google and isn’t updated very often. With all that being said it still consistently brings in several hundred dollars a month.
My blogs, on the other hand, are more niche oriented. Some are keyword specific, updated regularly (usually 2 to 3 times a week) but they pale in comparison when it comes to advertising revenue.
As an experiment I’m using the WordPress platform to create a static site that does not accept reader comments. Over time I’ll see if the WordPress platform is a successful as the hand coded HTML site. I realize there are a lot of factors to take into consideration when comparing the two, but I’m putting my money on the hand coded site. This is just my humble opinion.
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My first niche site I started has earned barely enough to keep it going. I have actually learned a lot from the experience as I chose a topic that was way to competitive for the amount of time I wanted to invest in it.
Nice job on your earnings!
I wish you folks all of the best earnings with niche websites/work from home/etc. I hear a lot of buzz around those topics, but it never worked for me… I must have done this wrong, but my AdSense never earned enough money to even motivate me to invest more time or money.
I like this conversation, but as a beginner on writing online, I don’t know what to ask or share. Sure, I feel great to find a guide.
My first niche website is just coming online, I enjoyed reading your blogg very interesting. I will keep following you.
Thanks
Perhaps the trick to Niche website building is really focusing on the keywords. There are few great websites that cover how to really zero-in on those “buy” keywords as well as focusing on Siloing and Themeing, a taxing discipline in blogging, but well worth it. Hope this helps! Great post, by the way. It’s nice to see the *realistic* numbers as passive income. It’s a lot of work but well worth it!
I read some ugly comments about site build it. How are you finding it to work with? Is it worth the cost?
JadeDragon — The SBI instructional videos were my most solid education on web content, SEO and building a good website when I first began my online career. I still have my SBI subscription, and my SBI-built site pays for itself every year, but I think the web has evolved to the point that SBI is kind of unnecessary (and expensive). I personally host all my other niche sites with hostgator and purchase customizable templates for building my sites. For anyone with the know-how and html editing ability, I recommend this method (self-hosting).
However, for the non-tech-savvy online entrepreneur who is just starting out, SBI offers both an education (it’s like a mini college course if you follow all the videos and instructional material) and the tools to build a site. Basically, if my grandmother or even my Dad asked for a single resource that would help them get a website online and ranked in the search engines, I’d get them SBI.
So as you can see I’m kind of on the fence. I think it’s still a great and very valuable product for many people, and have kept my subscription for the variety of benefits provided, but there are definitely other options that will work better in many cases.
Thanks for the good explanation Maria. I think I’ll stick to my self hosted properties now.