$1.6k MRR in 8 Months

In August 2020, I began building an affiliate marketing website. Over the course of 8 months, I grew the site from $0 to $1,600 MRR and then sold it for a little over $45k.

Traffic:

Revenue vs Costs:

Costs by Source:

I started by purchasing an old domain with existing backlink authority from odys.global for $1,770. I then invested an additional $14,700 in content and off-site SEO. The investment paid off, as the site generated significant traffic and revenue.

To increase the site's visibility, I focused on building backlinks through guest posting and the shotgun skyscraper method. I also created free mini tools to attract backlinks naturally.

In addition to strong keyword research and well-structured SEO outlines, I hired an agency to write the site's content. When pages started to rank, I hired more authoritative writers and YouTubers to expand on the existing content.

In February, I started working with private eCommerce brands instead of just Amazon. This proved to be a smart move, as these companies offered higher commission rates of 15-20%, compared to Amazon's 3%. This led to a significant increase in monthly recurring revenue.

January 2021: $386.91

February 2021: $1,130.31

March 2021: $1,974.98

April 2021: $2,114.84

Two resources/people that helped me were Mushfiq Sarker and Richard Patey. Mushfiq has a great newsletter you can subscribe to and Richard Patey was the host of the website investing podcast. Patey no longer is the host of the show but you can still listen to older episodes with him.