Whoa... It's been a while since I published a case study update.
No worries, though. I (definitely) haven't forgotten about this project.
We're still grinding and hustling our way to reach our goals, but I really wanted to wait till we get some real traction before I hit the 'publish' button.
That said, I'll quickly summarize what I've done since the last update and then venture in to the numbers and graphs. That's the most interesting part, right?
Things I've Done Since The Last Update
So, my last update was 76 days ago. A lot of everything happened during that time.
Let's start with complete traffic and revenue numbers for August, then September, and finally October.
Traffic - August

Earnings - August

Not bad considering that the site was 8 months old at the time. We've finally started picking up the sweet organic traction for a couple of our money pages and that resulted in a solid month.
Let's move on to September...
Traffic - September

Earnings - September

Wait, what? Did your traffic almost 2x in one month?
Yap ;).
Our revenue has also increased by 60(ish) %.
That is why it's really, REALLY important to continue working on your site after you build it (or we build it for you). Don't give up after a couple of months if you don't see any traction or money coming in - that's completely natural.
Google rewards consistency.
If you thought that September was interesting, wait till you see October...
Traffic - October

Earnings - October

Cha-ching!
This is what we've worked for this entire year.
The headline of this posts was a white lie (sorry) - we ALMOST reached four figures, but we're on the right track to break the barrier this month.
It's a lot more difficult to scale the website from $100/mo to $1,000/mo than it is to get it from $1,000 to $10,000/mo.
Now, the fun begins...
I made a couple of mistakes when choosing the niche for this case study. The biggest mistake was not paying enough attention to seasonality.
This is an off-season period for our site, and that's the main reason why we'll (probably) fail the case study.
I'm currently working on fixing that by adding a couple of silos that focus on this specific time of year, so that we can completely bypass the seasonality in 2018.
To wrap up this update, here are a couple of screenshots for 2017 so far:
Traffic - 2017

Earnings - 2017

Everything looks great and the project is progressing nicely.
I have a lot of plans for this site and I won't stop working on it till we reach (at least) $300k valuation somewhere in 2018.
I hope that you enjoyed this update. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comment box below.
Till next time...
Wow! What a progress! Congratulations!
Who writes content for your web site? I’m struggling to find any decent writer on Upwork.
From 28 tested writers only one was close to meet my requirements and I’m not asking to write Hamlet.
Thank you!
Our own team of writers (they handle the content for our clients) handles all our content.
It was tough to find and vet them, but it gets easier with time (practice and systems).
Do you offer article writing service?
Yeah, but only for our clients. We don’t offer it as a standalone service.
Hi Andrew! Great to see the website progress! I see you’ve started the edu backlinking campaign recently. Do you handle all the outreach yourself or you have a team and systems in place for doig this?
I awarded my 1-st scholarship this year. Scored around 70 referring domains but wouldn’t run it again.
I do 99% of everything for this site myself, that included 😉
Nice, congrats!
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the update. Great to see the progress!
Can you elaborate on the link building campaign you implemented? Types of links? Numbers? Etc?
Also, how many keywords are you ranking for with that much content?
Thanks,
Brian
Hi Andrew,
Congrats on the earnings! Can you share what link building you have done over the last couple of months?
Thanks, Stew
Def interested in your process here. Also, was this your “slick” link building campaign? Or just a part? Interested in this part of your process.
Hi Brian,
it was a campaign to build EDU backlinks. I’ll probably cover it in-depth in one of my next posts.
The site is currently ranking for 16k+ words. That number is growing by 200-300 on a daily basis.
Hi Stew,
it’s was a targeted EDU campaign + a lot of guest post outreach and sponsored placements. I’ll cover it in-depth within the next couple of months.
Hi Tyson,
it was just a part of the bigger campaign. I’ll do a short write-up in the coming months.
Great post. I have really learnt a lot from you. Thank you for keeping us on track. However, if you can be more detailed on the link building outreach in future would really appreciate
Nice! Looking forward to it. Thanks, Andrew!
Hey,
Did You promote the products or It is From organic search.
Great Figures mate
Hi,
85% of the traffic is from organic search.
Awesome results man! I don’t regret beeing a client of you when I see what you and your team are able to do:)
How much would you have spent on this website by now if you were buying/paying full price on your own services if you understand what I mean?
Hi Jon,
eh, that’s tough to say. There’s a TON of content and a lot of different link building strategies applied. I think between $20-25k.
Considering that I can flip the site right now for $25k (ish), I’m happy with the ROI.
Excellent post and amazing progress!! congrats. Looking forward to the detailed link building report.
When’s the next update? Excited to see how this is progressing. Thanks, Andrew!
Thanks, Russell!
Hi Tyson. I’ll publish the next update probably late 2017, early 2018.
Hello. I was referred to your website by Chris Guthrie (upfuel.com). I want to build an Amazon affiliate website, but I’m having problems with niche selection and content planning. I’m interested in information technology, computer and web design. I’m familiar with WordPress. Could you help me build a successful website?
Hi Peter,
yes, we can definitely help you out with the setup. Feel free to check out this page:
https://www.brandbuilders.io/choose-affiliate-site-package/
Let me know if you have any questions.
Hey, Is it the same process of building niche site that you follow while building site for your clients at brand builders.io?
Hi Jake,
yes, it’s pretty much the same.
Hello,
I found some minutes ago this great case study. I am subscribed to brandbuilders and looking back to my emails I sow only now your email sent 6/12/2016 in which you reveal your case study. The link to subscribe is expired. Is it possible to have another link to subscribe to have the site revealed? With the site, the case study and all the comments is really easier to understand the process.
Thank you
Hi Paul,
thanks for stopping by.
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to access/see the site now when the CS is wrapped up. The site is growing into a real authority site and I want to keep it as private as possible to reduce the potential risk of people doing shady things.
Hi Yevgen, I can help you with content writing. I’m myself a client of BrandBuilders and adding content on these website just work well. Contact me if you want to do a free test article 😉