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).
February is traditionally a challenging month in the Internet Marketing world. For one, the month is shorter, limiting the amount of business that can be done. For another, my sites thrive in the spring and summer months. February is their Kryptonite. Traditionally, it’s a belt tightening month for my sites. And that held true this month.
But success on the domaining side of things helped balance everything out. While my diversification can, at times, be overwhelming in just the sheer amount of work to be done, it’s months like these that I’m thankful to be so well diversified. Let’s get into the nitty gritty…
What Happened in February at SEOSherpas
- Content production here stalled. Sorry about that. I’ve been on a roll writing content up until February. But life and business just got in the way. Our baby is due at the end of March, so we’ve been nesting a lot
- My websites continued to grow in traffic at a solid rate.
- I realized the value of Pinterest traffic. For a long time, I’ve wanted to experiment in obtaining more Pinterest traffic. Only recently, when I analyzed the engagement of Pinterest traffic, did I realize how valuable it is. The screenshot below of recent traffic shows that Facebook traffic is slightly more engaged in my site. However, Pinterest traffic is 91% new visits while Facebook traffic (non-mobile) is only 57.6% new visits. Great way to get more traffic and spread my brand.
Posts From February
Below is a round-up of all posts made in January:
My Niche Site Income
Last month I started a new section here where I broke down the income from my websites that I’ve documented their development of here. In case you forgot, here are all the posts in this niche site development series:
In Case You Missed It:
- Want to Make Money Online? You Better Bring Hard Work
- How to Mind Map & Find Topics For Your Website
Instructions on Beginning a Blog or Website (& Making Money From It)
- Choosing a Niche & Performing Keyword Research with Market Samurai (video tutorial)
- Installing WordPress
- Learning From My Mistakes When Choosing a Niche
- Crowdsourcing a Logo Design Through 48HoursLogo
Maintaining & Growing That Website
Please note: I don’t optimize my AdSense ads as much as possible. I put them in the sidebar to promote a good user experience. AdSense earnings would likely be 4-5x their amount if placed in the optimal position (top of content, blending in), but I care more about my users and social sharing than an extra 50 bucks via AdSense. OutdoorEquipment
- Avantlink – $0.00
- Third Party Affiliate Programs – $5.99 (businesses that own affiliate programs but don’t operate on a big platform)
- AdSense – $0.01
- Amazon – $6.27
- Total – $12.27 (Last Month: $0.57 | Difference: $11.70)
TheSnowboardingExperts
- Avantlink – $131.30
- AdSense – $9.62
- Amazon – $0.00
- Total – $140.92 (Last Month: $79.59 | Difference: $61.33)
Bicycle-Touring-Guide
- Avantlink – $91.62
- AdSense – $33.80
- Amazon – $15.84
- Total – $141.26 (Last Month: $214.98 | Difference: -$73.72)
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 February 1st.
A few notes on the traffic levels:
- Bicycle Touring Guide – A slight drop of 1.87%. That’s OK though. The previous two months had a combined growth of 60%. I’m hoping to see income take off this busy season.
- Outdoor Equipment – Another massive drop. Down 30%. Lots of internal debate about this site. For now, it exists.
- AllBestBinoculars - Binoculars stabilized after a drop of 27% last month and grew slightly this month: 1.75%.
- AllArtCareers – YAWN. Dropped 19.85%.
- Camping Tent Reviews – Another bump this month. Up 11.25%. Since the New Year, that’s a growth of over 20%. Nice to see.
- Criminology Degree – YAWN.
- Fulfilled Homemaking – Again: ‘We really need to figure out a strategy for this site and execute on it. It’s very well received.’
- Glacier – An increase of 2.54%. Combiend with January’s increase, the site is now up 20% since the New Year. Aligns with Camping Tents’ bump. Nice to see.
- SEOSherpas – An increase of 8.22%. Since December 1st, that’s an increase of over 200%. THANK YOU for your support.
- Snowboarding – An increase of 11.07%. That’s almost an increase of 110% since the New Year. Likely will start seeing this site go down as the season ends soon.
Domaining Updates
**I’m considering putting an end to this section. As my business continues evolving, I feel as if this is less worthy of public knowledge. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments area. Do you find this section helpful? Inspiring? A waste? **
January’s domain sales both came in the last week. February had 2 sales: One on the first day of the month and one on the last day. Funny how these things work out. OK. Here are the details:
- 2 Word, GEO.com (AdjectiveNoun.com) – Bought for $69 in December 2012, sold for $750.
- 2 Word, .com (AdjectiveNoun.com) – Bought for $209 in January 2013, sold for $2,750.
I use BuzzStream to streamline my sales and marketing process. Click here to learn how I use BuzzStream to create a list of end-users and market my domain names to them in a time-efficient (and cost-efficient) manner. In January I was a little shy of my goal. In February, I was a little over it. Didn’t completely balance out, but came close.
February Round Up
February was another solid month here at SEOSherpas. Generally, I hate my online businesses in February, but it worked out OK. Looking forward to March and the start of busy season here with my outdoor sites!
My number one goals for February were to: Figure out Pinterest, execute on my OutdoorEquipment fix strategy, write a few awesome posts on BuzzStream and develop my new site, BrilliantBaby.com.
I half succeeded on all of them. I think I’m taking on too many goals and not fully executing on enough
Now, my number one goal for March - Finish the development of BrilliantBaby.com and fully transition Glacier over to WordPress (About 75% there so far!). Oh, and have a baby .
What’s your biggest goal for March? And did you meet your February goal? Share in the comments!
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Unless you are making $$$$ from these sites, I don’t think it makes much of a sense to post them here.
Best of luck though!
Thanks, Sid. They are domain names that are bought low and sold high. A sizable portion of my audience is Domainers, so I’ve been posting that segment for that area. Plus, it keeps me accountable to myself. It isn’t fun posting about my sales in a month if there are none lol.
My biggest goal? To bring my site back from Panda. One of my main site has hit rock bottom since last year, and this year I am completely free — which means more time will be spent in front of the computer.
Good luck! Panda can be vicious! I’ve successfully brought a few back.
I am in favor of the domain section. It’s always fun to see what people are doing with domaining, in my opinion.
More domaining please.
Congrats on your domain sales.
I would be interested in hearing about your domain sales provided the information include more tidbits about how you went about selling them.
Thanks, Jen.
I’ve written a very detailed tutorial on how I curate a list of end users and market my domain names to them in a very cost-efficient and time-efficient manner. That tutorial is here.