Authority Site: August 2016 Report

August was a big month in more ways than one! My portfolio of authority sites hit an all-time high in revenue and I planted a lot of seeds for future growth as well.

Let's get into what went well, what didn't, and my plans for the next month.

Work  Done in August

Smarter Content Creation

After my work systemizing my content creation process, I added another layer of intelligence on top by only creating content that would drive revenue. I did an analysis of my earnings from my main source (Amazon) and found a few different products that were driving most of my revenue.

Like most things in life, doing a Pareto analysis revealed that of the ~500 products I sold last month, ~40 of them drove 50% of the revenue I generated from Amazon. Best of all, these ~40 products were being sold from posts that were quite easy to rank for and not too hard to create, provided you know what you're doing.

Well, in this niche, I do know what I'm doing. So I devoted most of August to creating similar content, knowing that it'll probably pay off in the next 2-3 months rather than immediately.​

Better Editorial Calendar

I also realized that while I may have my content creation system down pat, I didn't have a good editorial calendar. So I went ahead and created one in a Google spreadsheet. It's pretty awesome — it goes from research > ideas > outlining > writing > formatting > scheduled > promoting, and keeps everything up to date. It also ensures I have a good mix of content coming out on my sites, tapping into a mixed blend of traffic sources.

*If you're interested in seeing the editorial calendar system​, drop a comment below. That'll let me know there's enough interest to write a post about it.

Partnerships with Other Websites​

If you've ever run a website before that got even a little bit of traffic, getting spammed with infographics and linkbuilding requests is probably a familiar feeling. This happens to me at least 20 times a month, so I decided to turn this annoying problem into an opportunity:

Anyone that emailed me with an infographic or article that they wanted me to link to was rejected. BUT, I wrote back and told them I'd be happy to feature a custom-written post on my site if they were willing to work off of a post brief that I provided.

Almost all agreed. I was able to build relationships with a number of companies and brands who all provided content that was 3-4x better than their initial pitch. This is simply because they worked off of my in-depth post briefs that were complete with research, keywords, and a detailed outline.

Hired Some Writers

I finally bit the bullet and paid for more content this month. I have a bad taste in my mouth for doing this, simply because in the past I would get terrible content from people. I would blame them, instead of realizing the the problem is ultimately my own.

To solve this, I created my entire content system AND hired better writers. By paying 30% more for a piece I was able to remove 95% of the content headaches I'd run into with lower-level writers.

Content is an investment with an ROI that is VERY high if you know what you're doing — so pay top dollar for it.​

August 2016 Website Numbers

Revenue

Total Revenue: $1761.82

Expenses

Total Expenses: $615.29

Net Profit: $1146.53

Net profit this month was higher than previous months, even though expenses are higher than average. Most of this is due to the increased sales from Amazon, something that I hope continues into the foreseeable future.

In September, I'm drastically increasing my content creation and partnerships, especially around content that can be monetized via Amazon.​ Until I tap that channel for all it's worth, it doesn't make sense to spend too much time on other income streams.

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