Hey Guys!
I'm Neal. Being new to the forum, I thought I'd share the story of my first successful affiliate site- TechUnder10. I've been a longtime contributor to /r/entrepreneur for the past few years, and have only recently discovered the Fastlane Forum, after having read MJ's book way back in 2011.
I wrote this post originally for reddit back in May 2016, after having made just under $10 in affiliate money. Since then, I've seen over 50,000 unique users, 100,000+ pageviews, and all of that without spending a dime on advertising.
The Backstory:
I'm a 20-something college kid from Toronto, and have been chasing the entrepreneurial dream since highschool. I'm a marketing student, and freelance web design while working at a gym this summer. The $12/hr is enough to live an average student life, but I'm hungry for more.
The Idea:
We've all heard of niche sites on reddit before. Stuff like ThisIsWhyImBroke and ShutUpAndTakeMyMoney make a ton of money, and provide awesome value to their customers. They feature a bunch of awesome stuff, but some of the prices are outrageous. This is where I come in.
The Business:
Last year I registered TechUnder20.com on a whim, and promptly forgot about it until it expired and someone else grabbed it. Oops. So I started www.TechUnder10.com instead. That's when I accidentally stumbled upon my niche.
Cheap tech gifts and gadgets that are geared towards me- a college kid with a bit of pocket money to spare. Having plenty of WordPress experience, I whipped together a minimalistic site, and started adding awesome products from all over the internet.
The Day reddit Crashed my Site:
I stumbled upon this askreddit thread a month ago about cheap gifts, and decided to share my newly built site. And holy shit, you guys seemed to love it (maybe a bit too much). Within a few hours, I felt the warm embrace of reddit's hug of death. My site crashed, and I had my first "Holy shit this has potential" moment. I also started /r/techunder10, which is a work in progress to say the least
Advertising:
I'm launching reddit, Bing, Facebook and Google ads on June 1st. In addition, I'm creating a weekly newsletter, Instagram, and Facebook page. The delay gives me more time to add a few hundred new products. Embarrassingly enough, I need to wait until my next payday to spend any significant money on advertising.
What I've Learned:
This is my Amazon snapshot and Google Analytics info. I'm coming up on 4,000 sessions, and 1,000 clicks on my site, with a 1.2% conversion rate. My main demographic is males 18-30 from the US. Reddit's proven that there is a market for my site, and I'd love the chance to compete with the big niche sites out there.
Coming Soon:
Stay tuned for my second post where I detail my journey to my first $1000 in affiliate money, and the lessons I learned along the way!
-Neal
I'm Neal. Being new to the forum, I thought I'd share the story of my first successful affiliate site- TechUnder10. I've been a longtime contributor to /r/entrepreneur for the past few years, and have only recently discovered the Fastlane Forum, after having read MJ's book way back in 2011.
I wrote this post originally for reddit back in May 2016, after having made just under $10 in affiliate money. Since then, I've seen over 50,000 unique users, 100,000+ pageviews, and all of that without spending a dime on advertising.
The Backstory:
I'm a 20-something college kid from Toronto, and have been chasing the entrepreneurial dream since highschool. I'm a marketing student, and freelance web design while working at a gym this summer. The $12/hr is enough to live an average student life, but I'm hungry for more.
The Idea:
We've all heard of niche sites on reddit before. Stuff like ThisIsWhyImBroke and ShutUpAndTakeMyMoney make a ton of money, and provide awesome value to their customers. They feature a bunch of awesome stuff, but some of the prices are outrageous. This is where I come in.
The Business:
Last year I registered TechUnder20.com on a whim, and promptly forgot about it until it expired and someone else grabbed it. Oops. So I started www.TechUnder10.com instead. That's when I accidentally stumbled upon my niche.
Cheap tech gifts and gadgets that are geared towards me- a college kid with a bit of pocket money to spare. Having plenty of WordPress experience, I whipped together a minimalistic site, and started adding awesome products from all over the internet.
The Day reddit Crashed my Site:
I stumbled upon this askreddit thread a month ago about cheap gifts, and decided to share my newly built site. And holy shit, you guys seemed to love it (maybe a bit too much). Within a few hours, I felt the warm embrace of reddit's hug of death. My site crashed, and I had my first "Holy shit this has potential" moment. I also started /r/techunder10, which is a work in progress to say the least
Advertising:
I'm launching reddit, Bing, Facebook and Google ads on June 1st. In addition, I'm creating a weekly newsletter, Instagram, and Facebook page. The delay gives me more time to add a few hundred new products. Embarrassingly enough, I need to wait until my next payday to spend any significant money on advertising.
What I've Learned:
This is my Amazon snapshot and Google Analytics info. I'm coming up on 4,000 sessions, and 1,000 clicks on my site, with a 1.2% conversion rate. My main demographic is males 18-30 from the US. Reddit's proven that there is a market for my site, and I'd love the chance to compete with the big niche sites out there.
Coming Soon:
Stay tuned for my second post where I detail my journey to my first $1000 in affiliate money, and the lessons I learned along the way!
-Neal
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