Hey guys!
This was originally posted to /r/entrepreneur on July 26th 2016, two months after my initial post, and one month after I went viral. Here's what happened.
History:
21/M/Toronto. I've an entrepreneur since highschool, and I'm just starting to get the hang of it. My most recent gig was a web design company I founded called Toy Soldier Marketing. Fast forward a couple years, and I've stumbled upon something new.
Desperation is a Great Motivator:
I got fired on Friday. $12/hr at my local gym is the most I've ever made at a normal job. The "marketing" role I signed up for turned out to be event promotion, which wasn't exactly my cup of tea. With no more paychecks coming my way, I'm going all in with TechUnder10.
The Business:
Speaking of which, TechUnder10 is the home of curated tech gifts and gadgets for all under $10. The amazon affiliate marketplace is saturated, but I managed to find myself an untapped niche. The site's currently ad-free and as minimalist as it gets.
Accidentally Going Viral:
I came across an /r/askreddit thread looking for "the coolest gadget you can buy for under 10$". Naturally, I saw it as an awesome opportunity to share my site. Oh boy, was I right.
I hit 128% of my monthly bandwidth in an hour, and on the night of the NBA finals, I spent the hours juggling bandwidth to weather the insane traffic storm.
I thought I had made it. I thought this would last forever. Time to pay off my college loans and move out of my parents' place, right?
The Reality:
Wrong.
The next day I hit 5000 new sessions, then 1000, 500, 300, and well, you get the picture. I also got a 1-year ban from /r/askreddit for breaking their advertising rule. Whoops. My income dropped from $50 an hour to $50 a week. But I was still thrilled. I just got my first taste of the potential this business had. Hell, I even got a couple buyout offers thrown my way.
Analytics:
Over the past two months, I've hit 30k users, 60k page views, a session duration of 2 minutes, and 88% of those are new sessions. I've been earning a 5.2% conversion rate on Amazon, which is steadily increasing.
I'm giving this project all I've got. As mentioned in my last thread, the blog, reviews, and Facebook ad campaign are all underway. New products are added often. After a long chat with an old classmate now turned banker, I've made a list of what I this business needs to boom again.
An Update:
As of March 1st 2017, Amazon changed their affiliate payment system, meaning us tech affiliate sites are now earning 0.5-1% on most products, as opposed to the previous figure of up to 8.5%. This means I've taken a large pay cut compared to my previous numbers, and as a result, have put TechUnder10 on the backburner.
For Sale:
As I've diverted my focus back to web design, I've decided to sell TechUnder10. It's been an amazing ride, but I feel as though my focus is better put towards something that can consistently cash out, without an intermediary having control of your payout.
If anyone's interested in the site, I'm all ears. Thought I'd share it on TFF before I let that information out anywhere else.
This was originally posted to /r/entrepreneur on July 26th 2016, two months after my initial post, and one month after I went viral. Here's what happened.
History:
21/M/Toronto. I've an entrepreneur since highschool, and I'm just starting to get the hang of it. My most recent gig was a web design company I founded called Toy Soldier Marketing. Fast forward a couple years, and I've stumbled upon something new.
Desperation is a Great Motivator:
I got fired on Friday. $12/hr at my local gym is the most I've ever made at a normal job. The "marketing" role I signed up for turned out to be event promotion, which wasn't exactly my cup of tea. With no more paychecks coming my way, I'm going all in with TechUnder10.
The Business:
Speaking of which, TechUnder10 is the home of curated tech gifts and gadgets for all under $10. The amazon affiliate marketplace is saturated, but I managed to find myself an untapped niche. The site's currently ad-free and as minimalist as it gets.
Accidentally Going Viral:
I came across an /r/askreddit thread looking for "the coolest gadget you can buy for under 10$". Naturally, I saw it as an awesome opportunity to share my site. Oh boy, was I right.
I hit 128% of my monthly bandwidth in an hour, and on the night of the NBA finals, I spent the hours juggling bandwidth to weather the insane traffic storm.
I thought I had made it. I thought this would last forever. Time to pay off my college loans and move out of my parents' place, right?
The Reality:
Wrong.
The next day I hit 5000 new sessions, then 1000, 500, 300, and well, you get the picture. I also got a 1-year ban from /r/askreddit for breaking their advertising rule. Whoops. My income dropped from $50 an hour to $50 a week. But I was still thrilled. I just got my first taste of the potential this business had. Hell, I even got a couple buyout offers thrown my way.
Analytics:
Over the past two months, I've hit 30k users, 60k page views, a session duration of 2 minutes, and 88% of those are new sessions. I've been earning a 5.2% conversion rate on Amazon, which is steadily increasing.
- I'm ranked 1st Google and Bing for "Tech Under 10".
- Both M/F 18-34 from major US cities visit the site the most.
- There's no limit to how many products can be listed.
I'm giving this project all I've got. As mentioned in my last thread, the blog, reviews, and Facebook ad campaign are all underway. New products are added often. After a long chat with an old classmate now turned banker, I've made a list of what I this business needs to boom again.
- A faster dedicated server to increase load times and handle traffic.
- Someone to constantly populating new products, while I focus on growing the business.
- Funds to run a larger social media marketing campaign.
- A mentor to make up for my inexperience in the business world.
An Update:
As of March 1st 2017, Amazon changed their affiliate payment system, meaning us tech affiliate sites are now earning 0.5-1% on most products, as opposed to the previous figure of up to 8.5%. This means I've taken a large pay cut compared to my previous numbers, and as a result, have put TechUnder10 on the backburner.
For Sale:
As I've diverted my focus back to web design, I've decided to sell TechUnder10. It's been an amazing ride, but I feel as though my focus is better put towards something that can consistently cash out, without an intermediary having control of your payout.
If anyone's interested in the site, I'm all ears. Thought I'd share it on TFF before I let that information out anywhere else.
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