December 2012 Traffic Level Reports: What Happened at SEOSherpas

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Every month I recap what has happened at SEOSherpas, from website traffic to domain sales to all posts in-between.

I do this because I want to have full transparency with my readers who are learning how to make a living online, as well as for my clients, so they know exactly who they are hiring (and why they should hire me).

Before I get into the meat of things, I hope that you and your family had a wonderful holiday season and a happy and a healthy New Year. We ate black eyed peas on New Years Day, and apparently that’s good luck (and since we have a baby coming in 3 months, I’m sure we’ll need it! lol).

Even though I took off on vacation for 1.5 weeks in December, it was still a rocking month! The best benefit of passive income is that you can step away, live your life the way you want to live it, and your business keeps on producing.

With Christmas upon us in December, my sites tend to do very well. It’s a welcome reprieve from the precipitous traffic drop I get from September through February. But now Christmas is over and my sites still have another two months before busy season picks back up. It’s gonna be a long slog.

While domain sales rocked in November, in December I didn’t sell a single name. The last 4 months have seen such great variation between one month rocking away with mid 4 figures in sales and the next there being nothing. I’d like to put that to an end and just have mid 4 figures in sales every month (but wouldn’t we all). Regardless, with 2013 upon us, I’m going to be taking the lessons I learned in Domaining in 2012, and make it a kick ass 2013. My domaining business goal is to net $36,000 for the year, which is close to double 2012′s net. I definitely think it’s possible.

But enough generalities. Let’s show you the numbers…

What Happened in December at SEOSherpas

• OutdoorEquipment died. A total and complete failure so far for reasons I’ve had difficulty pinning down. A post on that below…
• Allyson and I took off for New York for a baby shower and to see my family. It was my first vacation since trading in my laptop for a Mac Mini and I was able to disconnect entirely. We are still sorta on vacation as Allyson doesn’t go back to work until the 7th. We’re savoring every minute of peace until it’s all over with the baby.
• Otherwise, not much. We enjoyed time with our family while watching my websites do their thing.

Posts From December

I set out to write some kick ass posts in December and judging by your comments, I believe I’ve succeeded. If you haven’t commented on any of the posts, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Below is a round-up of all posts made in December:

• How to Run a Facebook Contest
• Is Google Universal + Video Ranking Broken? Or Does Google Hate Me (aka the death of OutdoorEquipment)
• Why You Should Start a Business on a 10 Dollar Domain Name
• Web Analytics Tool, GetClicky, Acquires Clicky.com — And Why I Use Them
• Guest Interview – Spencer of Niche Pursuits interviewed me on his PodCast here. Lots of great stuff we spoke about.

Traffic Level Breakdown

Below is the traffic breakdown for a number of my websites, including the percentage increase. This is a screenshot directly from Google Analytics taken on January 1st. I’ve blacked out a few websites that I haven’t disclosed and don’t want disclosed for a number of reasons. Thank you for your understanding.

A few notes on the traffic levels:

• Bicycle Touring Guide – FINALLY. Back on track! An increase of 34.42%. The site has had its ups and downs since I purchased it back in April, but it is finally on the right track again. It isn’t making as much money as I would like though, and I’m going to begin implementing additional monetization strategies to capitalize on the traffic growth. It only made slightly over $2,000 since I bought it, with most of the income arriving in the first few months. It’s time to take it up a notch. The site should easily be pulling in $500+ per month.
• Outdoor Equipment – Even though Google destroyed the site in early December, there was still an increase in traffic from the last month by 43.60%. This is due to the Facebook contest and other marketing initiatives. Expect a huge drop-off in next months report.
• AllBestBinoculars - An increase of 6.08%, which is on top of an increase of 57.16% the previous month. Really great to see! Unfortunately, December is when this site peaks so it is all down hill from here.
• AllArtCareers – A decrease of 8.76%. I’m doing nothing for this site and am just watching it tank.
• Camping Tent Reviews – An increase of 0.86%.
• Criminology Degree – An increase of 15.61%. See Art Careers.
• Fulfilled Homemaking – An increase of 27.66%. Last month I mentioned, ‘We really need to figure out a strategy for this site and execute on it. It’s very well received.’. I echo that again now. It makes no money and it should at least be making a few hundred.
• Glacier – A drop of 0.37%.
• SEOSherpas – An increase of 135.62%. That’s what epic content does
• Snowboarding – This continues to get more and more interesting. I began this site as a niche site development where I was documenting all my work. After writing about 100 articles, I abandoned the project for various reasons, mainly due to lack of time. Since then, I’ve done barely anything to the site. Recently, I started developing a team of writers to begin taking it to the next level and experimenting more in this niche, as I still believe it has potential. I just need to make sure that I don’t build a website that sucks. More to come on that this month…

Domaining Updates

As I mentioned above, no domain sales this month. However, I acquired a number of really top-notch domain names that I’m excited to market in January.

December Round Up

December was a solid month for SEOSherpas. I’m working with two new clients that I brought on in November, which is always a thrill, and it rounded out the first full year that I’ve been in business for myself (more about my story here).

My number one goal for November was to fill out every section of OutdoorEquipment.com and launch a giveaway to promote its growth on Facebook. I’ve executed on both of those with great success.

My number one goal for December was to write more on SEOSherpas and begin marketing OutdoorEquipment.com to other websites in the outdoor niche in a similar way to my strategy outlined here. I accomplished that.

Now, my number one goal for January – Build out social media accounts for Binoculars and Bicycle Touring Guide, and begin understanding how to use Pinterest for traffic generation.

What’s your biggest goal for January? And did you meet your December? goal? Share in the comments!

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