A couple of weeks ago, I shared how I declined a five figure offer for the niche site I built from scratch publicly here on the blog, because I felt there was still a lot more room for growth, and possibly an even higher offer in the future.
The lovely thing about this particular niche (the security guard training niche), is that every single state in the US has a different set of rules and procedures for becoming a security guard. In addition, each state will obviously have different training facilities and companies that could benefit from high ranking pages on my site as well.
This made understanding what content to create almost automatic.
Before I hit #1 in Google, I had written about 15 articles that were just about security guard training in general, and then 11 state specific articles with their respective requirements, procedures and links, etc.
After those 26 posts were published, I stopped creating new content since I was super stoked about meeting my goal and I focused completely on monetization and optimizing Adsense ad placement.
Despite not creating any new content, my Adsense earnings were steadily climbing each month, as well as my traffic.
Renewed Energy and Action
I was ready to let the site sit on autopilot since it was earning about $800/month for virtually zero hours of work, but after getting that 5-figure offer and reading all of your wonderful comments about what you would do if you were in my situation, I decided it was crucial that I hold the site, continue to add content, fill it out, and bring it to its maximum potential.
My first obvious step would be to finish writing the requirements for the 39 remaining states that were missing, which was something I was already thinking of doing anyways.
I decided to find a qualified writer on Elance, which I’ve used for several one-off jobs in the past some some good success (including iPhone applications).
Here is the exact project description I put up on Elance, for your reference:
Hi there,
My name is Pat Flynn and I own http://www.securityguardtraininghq.com, the #1 ranked security guard training website in Google.
Even though the site is ranked #1, it is still missing some information that I need someone to do research for.
Here’s the deal:
In the security guard training industry, every state in the United States has a different requirement / prerequisite when it comes to what kind of training and experience one must have before they are able to get hired as a security guard.
For some states, there are no training requirements and the only thing you need is a high-school diploma or GED equivalent. In other states, there are a certain number of hours of training required before one can get hired, and in other states there are other requirements beyond that.
I need a person to do research in all of the missing states (states not yet covered on http://www.securityguardtraininghq.com) and figure out what is required before one can become a security guard, and write a brief, but accurate, step by step article on how one can become a security guard in that state.
There are websites out there that do have this information, but many of those websites have inaccurate and/or outdated information, which is why I’m looking for someone who doesn’t mind making phone calls to security guard companies in each of the missing states, and asking them directly what needs to be done, or at least use what they say as a starting point (for example if they tell you to go to a certain website in that state for more information) so you can complete the step by step guide.
Currently, I have complete information about the following states:
* Alabama
I need you to help me get the rest so I can complete this website. I’m looking for someone who is, like I said, not shy about making phone calls and getting accurate and complete information. I’m looking for someone who is a hard worker and writes well (Decent English writing skills required, please).
Here is an example article about the state of Arizona’s security guard training requirements:
http://www.securityguardtraininghq.com/security-guard-training-arizona/
If you can help me out, I’d really appreciate it.
Thank you, and I hope to work with you soon.
-Pat
Within 12 hours, I had several people place bids and offer their service, and I chose one person based on experience, portfolio, and a quick back and forth on the message board.
The total bid was $876.71, which equates to about $22 per article. The price may seem a bit high, but a few things justify the price in my head:
- It’s an investment.
- I’d be adding 150% more content on the site.
- I wouldn’t have to do the research and writing myself. I know how much my time is worth.
- The articles would be finished much faster than if I wrote them myself.
- I know it’ll pay me back once these posts get indexed in Google and I begin to receive long-tail search traffic, just like I have been with the existing posts on my site. To reiterate, more than half of the search traffic coming to my site (57%) comes from search terms other than my target keyword.
I view any content posted online, not just on niche sites, as seeds. Every new seed that you plant can become a new opportunity for people to find you, and possibly an opportunity to earn money too.
Within 2 weeks, I received all 39 well written and researched articles, posted them on my site (thanks to a VA) and the site looks a lot more complete.
I’m lovin’ it.
A Record Day of Income
A couple of days after the site was up with all 50 states included, I had my highest earning day of income (from this site, via Adsense) ever: $90.48
I think it was only a coincidence that I just put up these new articles, and two days later I had a record day of earnings because it should take some time for Google to index these pages and for some of the keywords within these pages to be found by others. But, even so, it was very encouraging to see the site pushing the $100/day mark, and I can only hope that the daily income grows even higher.
If I could get to at least $100/day, that’s $36,500 a year, which definitely trumps the $10,000k offer I had just a few weeks ago.
I’ll keep pushing, for sure.
What’s Next
The site is now complete with training requirements for all 50 of the US states.
So what’s my next move?
Actually, these 50 articles that are on the site now are only for “unarmed” training – and there’s a whole new set of training requirements for each individual state for “armed” security guards, or guards that carry firearms.
I now have another opportunity to fill the site with 50 new articles, for armed training, which is what I’ve already started to do. I hired the same writer from Elance to complete 48 articles (I already had articles for California and New York posted), and they should be finished and posted within 2 weeks.
I’m so excited to see where this takes me. It automatically raises the value of the site, and I envision a boost of residual income in the near future as well.
I’ll definitely keep you posted, as I always do.
Keep planting seeds.
———————
As always, I just wanted to thank you for subscribing. This blog is a success because of you and your support. Here’s to your online success!
Become a Fan of the Smart Passive Income Blog on Facebook and join the conversation!
Thank you so much!
Niche Site Update – New Content, Record Earnings and What’s Next
Related posts:
- Niche Site Earnings and Directory Listing Update
- Niche Site Duel 007: Ranking and Traffic (and Earnings!) Update
- Niche Site Duel 004: My Content Strategy
- Niche Site Duel 003 – How to Setup a Niche Site: Before You Add Content
- Niche Site Duel 012: An Experiment and Income Update
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
