For me the mortgage crushing challenge or MCC is a great opportunity to test out some very efficient hands off strategies in an attempt to build up my site.

What is the MCC? The mortgage crushing challenge is a goal we set with our internal team and invited others to join in that results

This post is going to cover…

• A couple successes people are having with their site!
• My Exact 3 Part Strategy
• Results So Far

Special Note – I am very happy to say that a few people participating in this challenge are having a LOT of success! (more…)

June was a solid month. Although the results did not hit the target we were still able to push forward a lot of larger initiatives.

In particular, the team has a few big projects that are on the go and we are pushing hard on some larger goals.

The results from this month were a little disappointing! Having been growing nicely and having a string of very solid months back-back it felt like a step backwards when the final results of this month came in. However, when I sit back and look at the overall/absolute results I really shouldn’t be disappointed… but alas human psychology is cruel and regardless of the size of the earnings one key to satisfaction is growth. (more…)

May was an interesting month!

It was a month that started out very poorly and with my increased staff costs it was looking like it would be a tougher month than I would like. But… a strong end of the month for a few of the businesses really turned it around.

The team stepped up nicely and really pushed the business through the middle and end of the month.

Several parts of the business are not performing where we want them to be and we are working on making adjustments so we are more reliably hitting our goals!

The traffic to our money sites is growing very very nicely but our monetization is still weak. (more…)

It has been too long since we announced the mortgage crushing challenge (MCC) to not have an update! But today I am happy to share how each of our sites are doing.

The short story is my site is now cresting over 1k visitors per day and on a nice growth trajectory but the earnings are not as good as I would like!

It was very clear at the time that there was A LOT of interest in how we would be building out these sites.

We have been working very hard on the sites(although not putting in as much time as we would like) and not keeping people updated as much as we would have liked! So I apologize for that!

This post is to give you a glimpse into both the mindset and stats for the site so far!

If you are building out your site I hope it is going well. If you are looking for some help to get started or keep things going have a look at these options…

• Niche Selection & Building of the Site – BrandBuilders.io
• Done for You Content Marketing – ContentRefined.com
• Backlinks to Push the Site – LightningRank.com

Jon’s Update:

What does this challenge mean to you?

Adding another solid earning affiliate site to my portfolio and one that covers mortgage payments would be great!

As my other projects continue to take up more and more time it is important that I keep testing and tweaking my site creation process to keep validating what is working in this space

How many hours a week do you work on your site?

Initially, I put in about 10hrs to really map out my project and then since then I have been putting in about 1hr per week which usually consists of checking my stats, completing additional keyword research and coming up with new monetization strategies.

How did you come up with your niche?

My niche is pretty general as I wanted to try my hand at building a larger content site focusing heavily on content that could truly be evergreen. So the site covers a very wide range of topics.

What have you focused on over the last 4 months?

LOTS of content and leveraging expired domains. For me it has been about putting out a LOT of content targeting super low competition but valuable enough keywords.

What has been a big challenge with your site?

There have been 2 major issues…

1. The amount of time I have been putting into the project is sub-optimal!
2. My earnings per visitor are weak and I need to improve this!

What are you focusing on for the next few months?

More of the same to keep pushing the traffic up and then I really need to start working on getting my earnings up! But right now the focus is in trying to keep pushing the traffic up on this site so that when I do focus more on monetization I have a TON of traffic to play with.

How are you monetizing it?

AdSense and only AdSense right now. Pretty boring and its not working well!

What’s your content creation plan?

Target low competition keywords that are evergreen in nature (will be searched in 5 years time at the same amount they are now). Keep pushing out a lot of content for the site leveraging the process we use at ContentRefined.com to create content that ranks!

What is your backlinking plan?

I have only leveraged expired domains. Both PBN links (10 site done for you PBN) and 3 301 building blocks have been leveraged.

Sites Data

• Cost to Date = ~$500/month
• Earnings to Date = $256

Google Analytics

So overall with traffic going to over 1k visitors per day I am happy with the traffic growth and will keep pushing on what is working!

Kelley’s Update

What does this challenge mean to you?

My husband and I have been renting for the last few years and we want to eventually buy a house. What I hope to get out of this challenge is not only to learn more about building income websites but I also want to be able to financially help us to get a home that we can buy. I hope that by the end of the year, I will be able to build my site up enough to be able to pay for my rent and eventually my monthly mortgage when we get a house.

How many hours a week do you work on your site?

Every week varies depending on the workload I have, however, I try to get in at least 2 hours a week on my site. Sometimes I would spend 3-4 evenings working on getting the content templates create for my for my writers, but usually I am around the 2-3 hour per week mark.

How did you come up with your niche?

I have always wanted to do the type of site I am creating. I had a few options in mind that were very specific but I choose a niche that will take quite a bit of ‘elbow’ work to make an impact in.

What have you focused on over the last 4 months?

Over the last 4 months my biggest focus has been on getting a good solid base of content created for the site.

What has been a big challenge with your site?

A big challenge I am currently having with my site is getting visitors to it. I have quite a few good keywords that I am ranking in the high 10-20’s that I have been trying to get onto page 1. I have started to get some link building in place so I hope I am able to see some movement from that.

What are you focusing on for the next few months?

Over the next few months I want to be able to continue to push out some quality content, while executing quality backlinks to those articles. I also want to improve the layout of my articles in order to make it more user-friendly.

How are you monetizing it?

Currently I am monetizing the site via Amazon. But due to the new advertising fee structure I may look to some other affiliate options on CJ or Shareasale.

What’s your content creation plan?

My current content creation plan has been to get a massive pillar article created and then get smaller supporting articles that can interlink the the pillar article. I also intend to do a lot more keyword research in order to find lower competition keywords in my niche regardless of search volume just so I can get more visitors to my site.

What is your backlinking plan?

I have done a variety of backlinking strategies over the last few months to try and get the site moving. I first started off with looking at some of my competitors sites to see where they were getting some of their links from to see which ones I could replicate. I did see that some backlinks were coming just from blog posting so I did the same thing. That seemed to help get the ball rolling. After that I did some research and decided to give the scholarship route a try. I sent out about 300 emails and got backlinks from 3 different schools. Not to great on the conversion but it was better than nothing. Currently I am using our Use My PBN service to help point some links to some of my articles that just need an extra little push.

During the next few months I am going to continue with the blog commenting (around 5-10 per week), possible get a few editorial links created, continue to use the Use My PBN service and I might outreach out to a few more schools with the scholarship route again.

Sites Data

Analytics

SerpFox

Maddie’s Update

What does this challenge mean to you?

• This challenge has really been about learning for me. When I started working with Kelley and Jon I had no idea what an “income website” was. I’m using this as a way to learn more about the “bigger picture” of the business so that in the end I can relate to my customers on a really real level. Some extra income is always nice too.

How many hours a week do you work on your site?

• I generally put around 2 hours a week in depending on how busy my week is. I do like to try and publish my own content as much as possible as thrive is always updating and I like to be up to date on it.

How did you come up with your niche?

• I came up with my Niche as it was something that I personally just really like. I wouldn’t say it’s a passion of mine but it definitely comes from personal interest

What have you focused on over the last 4 months?

• I’ve really just focused on getting quite a bit of content on my site at this point. I wanted to go after the obvious ones at first and I’m still working on that.

What has been a big challenge with your site?

• I know this is a really lame excuse- but time! Time has been such a struggle as I feel guilty using my time to grow something that isn’t of any use to the business. Content Refined was just launched in November and I’ve been working really hard on it. If I’m going to be on the computer working on something, it’s hard for it not to be Content Refined related!

What you are focusing on for the next few months?

• The next few months I want to focus on a better and more strategic content plan. I also want to start organizing my site a bit better as I have a lot of content and want to create some backlinking strategies with existing content etc..

How are you monetizing it?

• Well, I applied for google adsense a few weeks after I started ranking for Keywords and I got rejected, so now I’m going to apply for Amazon after I complete a full audit on my site. I have quite a few review articles on there now that are starting to rank so hopefully that will be a better strategy.

What’s your content creation plan?

• Initially I went after a bunch of the low hanging fruit for my initial round of content. Now that I can see what’s a hit and what’s not, I will create a custom content plan with about 4 different silos and build from there.

What is your backlinking plan?

• Currently I don’t have a backlinking plan. Once my site gets a bit bigger, I intend to buy a 5 site PBN package from lightning rank and get some consistent backlinking done.

Sites Data

Analytics

April was another very busy month.

Several businesses continue to perform extremely well and the increased team has definitely increased the amount of work we are able to get done.

Balancing tasks between immediate pay-off and long term growth is always tricky. Time will tell if we get that balance right!

My first 2 full time staff were a huge success and I am trying to grow my in house team rapidly adding 3 additional summer co-ops to determine the right size/makeup of my in house team.

This report covers the results of the business during April!

The Business “Divisions” For My Online Business:

1. Money Site Portfolio
2. AuthorityWebsiteIncome Blog
3. Services – Web Development, Content Marketing & Link Building:
   • Domain Finding Service (buy domains that meet my metrics)
   • Done for Your Private Blog Network (let my team build you a personal PBN)
   • LightningRank (get access to the most powerful PBN available!)
   • Brand Builders (FBA Branded Site Creation & Affiliate Site Creation)
   • Content Refined (Your in house content marketing team)
4. Amazon FBA Business
   • Brands 1-6 – All have specific targets for 2017
   • ListingEagle – Amazon FBA Hijacking and Suppression Monitoring
5. Put Outside Capital to Work Efficiently in the Online Asset Space

Key Successes

1. Content Refined Continued Success & Self-Reinforcing Competitive Advantage – ContentRefined.com continues to grow at a rapid rate with ever improving systems/procedures. I think it is becoming clear that there is a gap in the marketplace for a reasonably priced content writing service that focuses on the effectiveness of the content to drive results and not just $/word. As we continue to geek out on the data we are uniquely positioned to collect we will continue to drive a gap between our contents performance and competitors. This is a unique opportunity where our competitive advantage of being a systems/data driven marketing first content marketing service becomes self-reinforcing as we grow (since we get more and more data).

2. Money Sites – With a reorganization of my internal team Kelley has taken over the running of my portfolio of sites and is doing a great job here! Although we didn’t see the earnings jump we really want it was a solid month.

3. BrandBuilders Turnkey Sites – The turnkey sites continue to be in HIGH demand! We sold out in a matter of hours and are continuing to scale again… you can get on the early bird list here.

4. Traveled Drove & Flew With 3 Kids Aged 4 and Under! – For any parents of little ones out there that have pulled off any trip you can relate to this being a success! My wife and I traveled to Florida with our 4yr, 2yr and 4 week old… 8hr drive and 2hr flight… no crying or screaming on the plane (although I am sure I aged from the trip).

Key Failures

1. Singular Focus? Every once in a while I get tempted to rethink if my diversified approach makes sense! I am not planning to make a change but wonder if I am leaving an opportunity under-realized due to my split focus.
2. Vacation Productivity – I was able to keep things moving but was not as productive on my vacation as I had planned!
3. 80/20 – Due to both my decreased hours (vacation / new baby) and increased demand on my time (3 new staff) I have slipped a little in my email response time and realizing I am likely not working in the sweet spot of the 80/20 principle.
4. Amazon Stops Selling Product – One of the FBA business I was growing and was showing promise had all the products pulled by Amazon (all the products in the category, not just mine!).

2017 Business Goals

Below is my businesses main goals for 2017…

Part 1 – Passive Authority & Niche Website Income Profit/Loss

3 Goals in 2016 for my Website Portfolio Business

1. Everyone Win at the Mortgage Crushing Competition

Apr Update – The site is doing well with a solid increase in traffic. I need to improve my earnings per visitor but happy with the start of the site. To get to the target of this site crushing any mortgage payments I have to stay on it!

• Traffic = 6,233
• Earnings = $31.27

2. Buy 1 Site Per Month

Apr Update – Some interesting sites came my way this month but I decided they were a little too unstable for me to purchase. Although I didn’t buy a couple I was able to get them into the hands of some others who did buy them (I am definitely not a broker but if I can connect someone I will).

• GOAL = 1 New Website Purchased
• ACTUAL = 0 New Website Purchased

If any readers are looking to sell their profitable site(s) VERY QUICKLY let me know by emailing me. I can let you know in 12hrs if I am interested and complete the purchase in 24-48hrs – Contact Me Here

I have found the right sellers are those…

• Looking to sell FAST (under 24hrs has been accomplished!) (shorter time for due diligence on my end increases risk for me)
• Not wanting to spend a lot of time on the sales process (analytics and income proof is all I need)
• SEO done to the site can be questionable and that increased risk will be reflected in the sales price
• Site being associated with a banned Amazon Associate is still possible to sell (but STEEP discount!)
• Understand that the benefits of the bullet points above means the sales multiple will be lower than if you went a more traditional route

If you have a profitable website you are looking to sell fast please let me know

3. Scalable New Site Creation Strategy adds $5k to Portfolio

Apr Update – Although the graph looks rough! The results are still promising and we will be working hard to really increase the earnings per visitor. Overall I am impressed with the strategy and the majority of this trend is the result of one site taking a seasonal nose dive.

• Traffic – 26,044
• Earnings – $163.04

PRIMARY GOAL – OVERALL INCOME FOR WEBSITE PORTFOLIO GROW TO $15k/MONTH CONSISTENTLY

Apr Update – Decent results for the portfolio, it fell a little short of the 10k target but still solid results!

Part 2 – Authority Website Income Blog Profit/Loss

3 Goals in 2015 for AuthorityWebsiteIncome.com

1. Post Once Per Week

Apr Update – Second month in a row where I fell short on my weekly posting goal. Definitely going to beat myself up on this metric… need to push hard to deliver great posts. Last month I had one very interesting post published regarding a cool new tool that can constantly monitor your websites speed!

• Plan = 4
• Actual = 3

2. Systematic Promotion of my Content and Building of my List

Apr Update – No Progress  – One of the team members joining will have it on her plate to help develop and execute and improved strategy here by the end of the summer

3. Increased Intelligence with Email Automation

Apr Update – No Progress – Need to carve out a dedicated workday to go through this!

PRIMARY GOAL – GROW TO 30k VISITORS PER MONTH

Apr Update – 13,175… Lots of work to do this year to hit this target! I will continue pushing!

Part 3 – Services Business Profit/Loss

1. Systems First Focus

Apr Update – Each business had new procedures created for them!

2. com – Quality and Efficiency Improvements

Apr Update – Work has begun on a complete new backend system for LightningRank management and are testing out new systems we will be ready to offer to existing clients soon.

Visit LightningRank.com for Link Building Services!

3. ContentRefined.com – 20k MRR by June & 40k MRR by End of Year

Apr Update – Maddie is doing an exceptional job delivering fantastic customer support and articles! We (and a new summer intern) are working hard to setup the data tracking to keep pushing the science of content marketing forward. See the post at the start of May here… rank content in Google with certainty.

• Planned MRR = $16,000
• Actual MRR = $25,432

Visit ContentRefined.com for Content Marketing Services!

4. BrandBuilders.io Structurally Well Setup & New Offering Launched

Apr Update – Achieved – expect a very interesting case study soon! The TurnKey affiliate sites ready in 24hrs are selling out in a handful of hours every time we launch!

PRIMARY GOAL – SYSTEMATIC GROWTH!

Part 4 – Amazon FBA Business

• Brand #1 – HG – Running Lean and Spinning off Cash
  • Apr Update – Running lean and profitable. The business is still being driven by an affiliate site that drives a lot of traffic (100k/month)!

• Brand #2 – CF – Quarterly Dividends Ahead of Baseline
  • Apr Update – Continuing to run lean and profitable
• Brand #3 – NT – Path To Strong Market Position and Successful Pillar Product
  • Apr Update – Turned around a little last month… still not a great business!
• Brand #4 – CK – Systematic Growth to $20k/month Profit
  • Apr Update – This was our first full month back on Amazon, it started to grow again and getting some decent organic sales now.
• Brand #5 – PC – Successful launch and $5k/month Business
  • Apr Update – We are now selling! Consistent but small organic sales!
• Brand #6 – SE – 4X Value Expansion with Dream Team!
  • Apr Update – The first test shipment is going to arrive in May and the goal is to make our first sale in May!
• com – Hijack and Listing Suppression Monitoring Service
  • Apr Update – Staying flat, churn = new customers right now. Great service I still use to be notified when my listing gets suppressed so I can go in and fix it right away!

Part 5 – Put Outside Capital to Work Efficiently

Apr Update – Expect a BIG case study on this

Overall Income Update

Original Monthly Net Income Target (original goal $15k/month reliable income by age 35)

• Target Net Income = $10,925
• Actual Net Income = $49,617.53
• 2017 Average Net Income = $46,593.96

Gross revenue is a vanity number for my business and I do not share it.

Final Comments

April was a very solid month. Just based on the timing of a few things there are some structural challenges to keeping this pace up for May. I am going to try and keep pushing the business forward while taking care to keep laying a strong foundation of procedures and team members.

April the in-house team doubled with summer students and I am excited to see how I can leverage their brains and enthusiasm to help out the business and this audience!