Having been in the online marketing space for 8 to 9 years now and observing the process of generating traffic and building on multiple platforms in the last 4 years. There have been a number of realities that I needed to experience. Because things didn’t always go as planned in the short-term, yet in the long-term patterns were formed.
Here is some analytics information on two of my main platforms that I’ve experimented with and have been building on in the last 2-4 years. My successes have been in website traffic (organic search terms) and YouTube videos. Which is no surprise to me as writing and visual communication are my greatest strengths (when it comes to content creation) and what I have honed the most in the past few years. Both the website and YouTube channel were part-time projects where I could experiment, learn and allow myself the creative freedom that I didn’t have in my working life. While getting to better understand the nuances of the work and the skillset.
Personal Website
Website traffic and content creation is a fickle business. None the less, there is a certain pleasure you get when you see thousands of people from all over the world entering your site to read and consume what you’ve written or created. There is no longer a mystery as to what good content is. However, just because you’ve made it doesn’t mean it will rank and more importantly doesn’t mean it will stay on the top results.
Over the past few years, I’ve been battling bigger dominant websites with whole departments of writers, editors and content creators. And I’m proud to say the battle still continues. One day your labor of love is ranking number 1 and the next minute the hype train brings the big boys to the party, outranking you simply because they have more domain authority and backlinks. However in saying that, the battle is never over and being on 1st page still has it rewards with enough engagement on the topic. As people tend to consume multiple pages on a given query.
YouTube Channel
Within YouTube, there was another element of growth. I did not wish to fall into the current practices of YouTube and desired to create on a small intimate scale and see what happens. Without the call to actions and current meta strategies that YouTube tends to recommended to its creators.
Even so there has been some level of success. And in doing so I have begun creating and experimenting, while improving on the content creation process and traffic generation via the YouTube search engine. The positive thing with the platform is that even though your content may become “outdated” or in better words, no longer new. Due to the YouTube video suggest function, good content continues to generates traffic. And once a user finds you channel, they tend to consume more of your content.
There is still things to learn with YouTube and given the social aspect of the website. And the direct line of communication with the community of viewers, there are more things to consider. For example users will commonly ask and request more of you. So managing these demands and expectations is a challenge of its own and eventually you must become calculated with the content that you choose to share.
That is why for me, 1000 true subscribers and 100k views is more valuable and manageable than thousands and millions. And therefore, my desire for growth is put on hold for when I would essentially be mentally and emotionally available and ready for the growth that will arrive.
Affiliate Marketing
My secondary goal with all these efforts were the generations of a source of income. And having finally had a taste of it, I am happy to not have made it my priority. Because the golden age of affiliate marketing, Adsense revenue and online sale generation is now behind us.
However, given the small revenue that has been generated I can now predict to some degree what future revenue could look like and also allows me to delve deeper into the ones that have paid off after having experimented with so many different methods and products.
Overall my best revenue and conversion rate have been the following:
- During the cryptocurrency boom, the highest earner was my affiliate efforts with a local crypto marketplace. However, that success was short-lived.
- The most consistent of all as been Google Adsense. Which has also fallen in some regards even though my traffic and optimisation has improved. But has still covered the costs of running and maintaining the websites and the related tools and services.
- Lastly the best conversion rate of all has been Amazon, which has given me the best rates of 5-10% conversion rate with the small traffic that I have generated to it. And it has much to do with the large 30 day tracking that the Amazon brand provides its affiliates. And perhaps the effectiveness of the product x content placements that I’ve made.
Overall
We are only in the beginning stages of growth. However, having now experienced the different aspects of content creation and the building traffic and attention on these platforms. Has allowed me the opportunity to plan ahead and know what works and what is worth pursuing in the long-run. My analytical and creative problem solving ability was really pushed during the past few years and will continue as growth and authority is achieved.
These priceless lesson are crucial in a world with limited time and finite resources.