FEB INCOME REPORT - $44k profit but Google updates got me!

Traffic is down on all of my sites this month.

But,

I still managed to have a record month with over $47,000 of income and $44,000 of profit.

Weird huh?

If you're wondering how I did that

And what my future plans are,

Then read on and I'll share all...

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Before I get into the details of each site, I just want to share an observation...

You may have noticed a distinct lack of income reports among the 'niche site influencers'.

I'm nosy AF and I LOVE income reports, 

So when I don't get my fix in the first week of the month, 

I notice.

Like any nosy parker would,

I pasted a few of their sites into ahrefs to see how they're doing.

Well, things aren't looking good folks!

In fact,

I didn't find one site that hasn't dropped in traffic over the last few months.

So are we all DOOOOOOMED?

Are niche sites dead?

Has AI taken over already?

I don't think so.

But if your traffic is down too, you're in good company.

February was a low-traffic month for ALL of my sites. 

But that's okay.

Because the profit is DECENT.

And I have a plan.

Now, on to the numbers...

Site One - Travel

• Articles: 491 (+27)
  
• Pageviews: 884,209 (-10%)
  
• Revenue: $44,940 (+12%)
  

Traffic is 10% down versus January, but February has 10% fewer days so I'm calling that even!

The 1 million pageview month remains elusive for this site, so I'll hope to hit that soon.

This site makes around 80% of its money from ads and the RPM increased nicely from $35 in Jan to $42 in Feb. 

Someone also booked a hotel room for 12 grand so that was another $1,200 on the sheet (fingers crossed they stay!)

This niche is my passion and it's where I'm focusing at least 90% of my efforts.

Last month I started making YouTube videos and OMG that is hard!

It's also incredibly time-consuming.

But, I know that if I keep learning and keep working hard, I will succeed.

Making some money from YouTube would be a lovely boost.

Here's my progress towards getting monetised...

For this month, my focus is on the email list.

I'm going to make some better digital freebies to give away for people to sign up.

I'm also going to give away physical products via prize draws to tempt my social media followers to become YouTube and email subscribers.

Site Two - Gaming

• Articles: 161 (+1)
  
• Pageviews: 110,242 (-31%)
  
• Revenue: $1,410 (-18%)

Google is still hating this site and pageviews dropped another 31% month on month. Ouch!

Last month I said I'd started updating the content

But I've still only done around 20% of it.

So I'm not surprised that I haven't seen any improvements yet.

The site has made me $63,00 in profit since I launched it just over 2 years ago, so I'm not mad.

Site Three - Environment

• Articles: 95 (+2)
  
• Pageviews: 34,784 (-20%)
  
• Revenue: $658 (-5%)

This site is 13 months old now and has seen a drop in traffic for the first time.

This is due to this Google update that happened on Feb 3rd/4th.

Around that time the site lost its featured snippets.

This seems to be a common thing affecting many sites as Google is getting pickier about which sites it will show featured snippets for.

As a result of the update, Google search traffic went from about 1,500 clicks per day to about 1,000.

This site has the potential to be a huge brand.

It currently gets 87% of the traffic from ads, but it could definitely be an affiliate-focused site.

I'm not the right person to drive that forward (as I'm just too busy), so I'll be selling it at some point later this year. 

It will be lovely to see someone give it the attention it deserves.

Site Four - Leisure

• Articles: 79 (+5)
  
• Pageviews: 19,165 (-11%)
  
• Revenue: $658 (+3%)

Given that February was a short month, I'm going to call the traffic flat on this one.

The site is around 50-50 ads and affiliates.

I know I could make a killing if I hire some products and review them.

And that would be so much fun.

But do I have the time?

Nope!

Unless they make a cloning machine,

(or I suddenly get the desire to manage a team of more than 5 people)

Then this one will be going up for sale later this year as well.

So, that's my income report for this month, I hope you found it interesting.

With everyone's sites getting hammered by updates, diversification is as important as ever.

Some people diversify with multiple niche sites.

Others diversify with multiple streams of income on one site.

For me, I'll definitely be moving towards the second option in 2023.

(But always keeping the gaming site as a backup in case another deadly disease shuts down travel!)

Until next time,

NSL

P.S. 

As well as the lack of income reports,

Another thing I've noticed is that there have been a lot fewer how-to-style videos appearing on niche site YouTube channels.

This is a real shame, as the techniques that work are changing so fast, 

We really need to see what's working for others!

I am, however, getting lots of golden nuggets from successful  niche site influencers via email.

Mushfiq Sarker's email is excellent.

In it, he shows what easy wins he's using to rapidly increase income.

He's sold over 200 sites and shows a new example every Friday.

I'd definitely recommend that you take a look.

Jon Dykstra also has an excellent email.

He's diversifying traffic sources with lots of techniques that I'm yet to try including Google News and Facebook.

He's just revealed his largest site to students of his course (of which I am one).

I love Jon's course and am excited to take the new modules this week.

And finally, Mike Donovan has just started to send emails from Niche Twins.

He just sold his first site for a high six figures and his first email almost brought a tear to the eye!

I'm really looking forward to what else he has to say.

Affiliate disclaimer: To cover the cost of my email software and the time I spend writing these emails, I do sometimes link to products. Please assume these links are affiliate links. If you choose to buy through my links then THANK YOU - it will make it possible for me to keep doing this.