2011 was an absolutely amazing year and I have so much to be thankful for that its hard to know where to start!
When I look at what was accomplished in December of this year, who I’ve met, and the projects I have on the go, its hard to believe that just a year ago I’d barely build my first niche site; much less have any idea where I’d be today.
And, in case it isn’t painfully obvious, none of this would have been possible, were it not for you – the reader of my blog.
2011 Recap
Niche Sites
Building niche sites is how I got my start and how I made my first $1,000 online. Prior to building niche sites, I’d never heard of WordPress, I’d never heard of Adsense, I knew nothing about SEO, I’d never heard of a VA, and I barely new what an affiliate was.
In other words, I didn’t know a bloody thing about online marketing.
Its for this reason, that I’m such a huge advocate of using niche sites to get your online business started. By starting with niche sites, you are going to learn some pretty important skills and once you are armed with these “foundation skills” where you decided to go after that is pretty much up to you.
For example; Pat Flynn, Spencer Haws, and Chris Guthrie all started with niche sites just like I did, and, like me, each of them has leveraged the skills that they learned from the niche site business to create products and build relationships that have helped them to see their online incomes skyrocket well beyond what they would have ever made if they only built niche sites.
I’m equally sure that none of them would be where they are today if they’d not started with niche sites.
If I hadn’t started with niche sites, there is no way that I would be involved in all the things that I’m now involved in – nor would I have been able to make the contacts that I have.
For those that are wondering, I am still actively building niche sites. I have launched 30 of them in the past 90 days and plan to launch more in the future. Of these 30 latest sites, 43% of them are on the first page of Google, and all but the 9 newest ones are already making money.
Online Income Lab traffic report
Just one year ago, no one had ever heard of this blog. My daily visits were less than 10 people, and I’d be willing to bet I accounted for 9 of them!
111 posts and 29,215 visits later, the Online Income Lab now has a US Alexa rank of 13,215! And, as you can see from the image below, the growth in the last two months has been quite something.
A natural by-product of the popularity of the blog, has been the growth of my mailing list. While not yet huge by any stretch of the imagination, the organic growth rate is definitely indicating that there is still plenty of opportunity in the future.
As you might guess, for a blogger, there is no asset more valuable than a mailing list because with it, I can reach out to my audience at any time while NOT being dependent on Google to send me more traffic. If you have any ambitions to become a blogger, start building a mailing list yesterday.
Over the last year, I’ve have written quite a few posts. Some of this past year’s most popular posts include:
- Adsense Site Case Study: How I Got to Page One in 30 Days
- Adsense Experiment 001: How I Boosted My Adsense Income 35% in One Day
- Why Adsense is a (much) Better Investment Than Stocks
- Do You Have Enough Personal Desperation?
- How FREE Stuff is Killing Your Business
Niche Site Mastery
When I originally built Niche Site Mastery back in May, I did so because I needed a place to store all the training material for the VAs that worked for me. Up to that point, I’d been using just drop box and screenshots. As my own skills evolved, I quickly realized that video-based training would be far more effective that just static screenshots; not to mention, faster to produce.
Obviously, I had hoped that NSM would also be something that others would want access to, but at that point, I really didn’t have a clue if anyone would ever pay me for access to the training material I’d created for my VAs – especially given how competitive the MMO niche is.
As you can see below, NSM started off slowly (no surprise there) and has steadily grown ever since.
NSM has also helped quite a number of other people get their start online. For example, Matt Newton went from nothing to about $2,000 a month with Adsense in about 90 days. Could he have done with without NSM? Matt’s a smart guy and he’s very motivated, so I suspect so. I just helped him get their faster.
What isn’t shown in the graph, but is important to mention, is that when you decide to become a product creator, all sorts of amazing doors begin to open and the opportunities for future growth become rather staggering; which is something I will discuss in my next post.
My Podcast
I created the Online Income Lab Podcast originally with the idea of driving more traffic to my blog. While it has been very helpful in this regard, what I didn’t realize was what a powerful networking tool it would prove to be.
I also had no idea how much people would love listening to the stories of how each of my guests had gone on to achieve their own success. Every time I publish a new episode, I am blown away by the comments and emails that I get afterwards.
Obviously, getting so much positive feedback only makes me want to create more killer episodes featuring smart, talented entrepreneurs as my guests, and you can expect me to continue to crank out more in 2012.
Despite being the best networking tool I’ve ever discovered, I would have to say that the podcasts greatest value has been what I learned by interviewing all those guests. Its been said that the best way to become an expert at something is to teach others, and having been exposed to the ideas that I have, I am in total agreement.
For example, back on episode #6, my guest was Nate Rivers – guy who’s making a killing with niche sites that promote his own video training products. Ever since I learned of what Nate was doing, I have been fascinated by it and I’m now only a week or two away from launching my own video training niche site that teaches people how to start their own offline business.
Assuming I get the same results as Nate has, you can rest assure that I won’t be stopping at just one. In fact, I’m willing to bet that I will be able to achieve a full-time income from this one strategy alone.
Some of this past year’s most popular episodes include:
- Session 004: An Interview with Chris Guthrie on Making Money with Niche Sites
- Session 006: An Interview with Nate Rivers – Niche Site Wizkid
- Session 014: An Interview with Noob Rock Star Matthew Newton on How He Got to $1500/Mo in Under 60 Days
- Session 017: An Interview with Justin and Joe of AdsenseFlippers.com
Thank You
As you can see, I have a lot to be thankful for in the last year. Its truly been the most amazing year of my life! Yes, the financial rewards that have just recently started to arrive are very nice and I’m extremely grateful for them; however, I’ve never had a job or run a business that was as fulfilling and as much fun as this one….and NONE of this would have happened if you didn’t start to read my blog, so for that, I am extremely grateful!
In my next post, I’m going to share with you my plans for 2012. I’m definitely going to build more niche sites and continue to grow this blog as well as Niche Site Mastery, but that’s not all! I have several projects that I’ve blogged about before that are coming to life very soon, so stay tuned to see what I’m hoping to accomplish in 2012!
What Do You Think?
As always, your thoughts and opinions are important to me and the only way that we can engage in a discussion if for you to share them in the comments section down below. I read every one of them and look forward to hearing what you have to say.
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33 Responses to 2011: Year in Review
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Who’s Trent?
Having sold his last business for over a million bucks in 2008 by the age of 38, Trent has since immersed himself in the study of internet marketing by going out and doing. Continue reading...
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Trent
2011 was your launching pad!
2012 – cant wait to see it explode!
Thanks Matthew…wait till you see some of the stuff in the pipeline
Looking forward to seeing what you have planned for 2012. I’m hoping for some awesome podcasts, as that’s been my favorite part of OIL in 2011.
Keep up the awesome work!
Thanks so much..and yes, many more killer podcast coming soon to an ipod near you
Congrats dude! You’ve put in tons of hard work over the last year and you definitely deserve all the success.
Thanks Kane!
I like this post. Giving people the fundamental skills with niche sites is a perfect message. Now only if you can change your podcast intro lol. (Call back to my comment from your other blog post )
I’m a fan since day one. Not always going to agree on topics but I like where you’re going. Congrats on the success and please continue to help people succeed.
Thanks Bo…continuing to help people is very high on my list, indeed.
Awesome post. Congradulations on the success! I’ll be honest, if it wasn’t for your free e-book I wouldn’t have launched any sites. After I read it I went ahead and launched 2 and your posts inspired me to take action. I know it’s not 50 sites but a starts a start. Thanks again!
Bojan,
A start is more than most people ever do and you should be exceedingly proud of yourself for that. Most folks, sadly, are paralyzed by fear and doubt, and that is why they have a job/life/spouse that isn’t what they REALLY dream of.
First step is always the hardest
All you ever hear is “but I don’t know which topic to pick” .. or something like that. Just an excuse for inaction.
By building a website you have jumped the biggest possible hurdle! Keep it up.
I LOVE HOW YOUR SITE IS NOT CLUTTERED, EASY TO SEE EVERYTHING AT ONCE. I THINK I AM IN INFORMATION OVERLOAD. KEEP IT THIS WAY…………..I GO TO OTHER GOOD SITES AND SEE A MILLION THNGS TO CLICK ON. THEN I LEAVE………..PERIOD.
STAY ORGANIZED AND CLEAN LOOKING….I WILL JOIN SOON
Hi Trent
Congrats with the amazing results from 2011. You have always delivered value information on every topic. Now this year it will be very exciting to see the growth and new income streams and idea.
Cheers,
Christoffer
You must have a crystal ball, because this year, I plan to add new income streams that have the capacity to grow substantially with very little effort. More to come very soon
Congrats on a great year Trent! I’m looking forward to reading about your future successes and I hope you keep pumping those podcasts out – you have a great style
I’ve listened to your interview with Matthew about 6 times so far – its great inspiration!
6 times? Wow, that must be a record. Clearly, Matt is a rockstart and is worth listening to!
Haha. Wow! That’s surprising. Also a little bit humbling
lol, i realise that might have come across a little bit stalker-ish but seriously, the way you guys talked about getting processes in place helped me form a certain frame of mind in my approach to niche sites.
Although at the moment I’m only outsourcing the content to TCA and doing the rest myself I have been able to get my time-invested down to two hours per site, including keyword research, ordering content, setting up the web site and submitting my article marketing. Thats thanks to the “process” frame of mind you guys have drilled into me in that podcast and of course all the other great info from your blog/other podcasts.
Since 20th Dec I’ve set up my first 40 sites, creating them in batches of 10. Now they are on autopilot and I just need to find the patience to wait for them to rank! In the meantime I’ll churn out as many more sites as I can (it’s really addictive! lol).
Thanks again guys, and thanks Trent for your hosting/NSM offer
Keep up the great work!
Hey Steve,
Good to hear that you are thinking “process” because that is key! Congrats on getting so many sites built, I hope they all turn out to be winners
Trent – congratulations on your success this past year. You have been very generous with your time and information as well as the podcast interviews which I really enjoy. Good luck this coming year. Best regards, Mary Chicoine
Thanks so much Mary. Comments like yours are a big part of where my motivation comes from!
Trent, I really owe you. Your podcasts have been amazing. I loaded them up on my ipad and I have listened to them multiple times, and they have taught and inspired me. I actually found you from you from a podcast you did with Spencer Haws, I found Spencer from a post from Pat Flynn, and I found Pat from a blog post I read from Chris Guthrie. You turned me on to Nate Rivers from your podcast. Small world. The names I just mentioned are the best I have found for building a real business on line.
Since listening to the podcast with Nate Rivers I have begun my first “Video Tycoon site”. I purchased his course based on the excellent interview you did with Nate, and I really like Nate’s NO BS approach/attitude to building a business.
I have just published my 10th niche site, with The Content Authority writing 100+ articles for me in 3 days (including rewrites). Thanks for the tip they are EXCELLENT. I have a part time VA helping and I will hire a full time VA in two weeks to help me with the Video Tycoon product sites. That model is brilliant! I will keep you posted on my progress and one year from now I look forward to sharing my own 2012 progress report.
I am working full time still and my approach is that I participate in the stock employee purchase plan at my company, and I invest the full amount back in to my Niche Business. I am building 15 niche sites a month, and with even a modest return I will be doing MUCH better than the stock market would return to me. AND its truly a blast. The advise I share to any others wanting to launch a business like this is treat it like a business! I have dabbled in this for years, but until I treated this like a real business, I haven’t had the true commitment, motivation and perspective needed to push through all the natural hurdles that present themselves. Also, having a VA is essential. That has been the real equalizer for me.
Thanks Again Trent. I am truly grateful for your straight forward, honest, transparent approach to business. Its an inspiration, and a model for how us newbies can replicate the same. Kenny
Wow Kenny, if I was running a contest for “Awesome comment of the year”, you’d have just won it, my friend.
To hear that I have inspired you is a huge compliment. To hear that you are serious about your business, focused, and are taking massive action inspires me! Anytime you are ready to share some results, drop me a line and you can guest post or be on the podcast.
Cheers,
Trent
Trent, I will do. I look forward to sharing some great results in 60/90 days. I’ll keep you posted
Kenny
Trent – Congrats. This is my first comment and I just started with your content a couple weeks ago. Great stuff so far. I look to follow your foot steps. Thanks! – Brad
Hey Brad,
Welcome to the OIL community. I think you’ll find there are some pretty smart people to interact with and I look forward to hearing more from you.
Hey Trent, I have to say that I am sooooo glad I found your blog! Last summer, your blog quickly became my favorite site about internet marketing. I’ve learned so much more from you than anyone else and your advice has helped me to choose a direction to go in my own endeavors. Your podcast is top notch and the best part of what you do IMO.
I feel that I’ve just made it over the hump where most beginners quit. That feeling of giving up was hard to overcome but I made my first $1000 online in 2011 and that is more than enough motivation to keep me going. I launched my first Adsense site a couple weeks ago and just launched my first virtual product today. A lot more are in the works.
I agree, 2012 is going to be a great year! I look forward to consuming all that you have in store for us!
Harlan,
Thanks so much for such wonderful feedback. I can’t tell you how much hearing stuff like this makes me feel
The fact that you’ve made $1,000 online puts you in a very small club (relatively speaking) and from here, you can go wherever you want to go, so long as you stay focused and do the work. Bravo!!!
Hello Trent,
I thank you for this awesome blog you’ve been using to teach others…..i congratulate you on your amazing achievements within one year!….I intend following your business model, but i’m having a challenge joining your niche site mastery forum…..this because my country Nigeria is not listed amongst the countries within clickbank’s payment/order page…..i really want to follow your business model online…i’ve sent you a mail on how you can help me overcome this challenge…..but i’m yet to hear from you……i hope you read this and pls tell me how you can help me access your site……also paypal does not accept Nigeria within their site…..and this is the payment medium most VA’s use for receiving payments…..i’m really keen on starting a business online….and since stumbling into your blog, i’ve found a model that really works!….so help me anyway you can…..pls send me an email, so we can discuss further…..overall i say a big THANK YOU!
Hi Albert,
I did receive your emails but didn’t reply because I thought it was some kind of scam, lol! Sadly, I don’t have a solution for you on how to overcome the paypal issue.
Trent, this 2012 is going to be a great year for you. I see you started with a great determination and hunger for success – here you are repeating it. One thing is this, do not stop the hunger for success. When money comes, it’s good to take the best trip in the world but never neglect writing posts yourself here.
Sheyi
Hey Sheyi,
You needn’t worry about me losing my fire…its got plenty of room to grow yet
Alright. Hoping to read more mind-blowing interviews and success from you.
You brought one thing to my knoweledge “You dont need to make millions online before you have a membership site”!
Sheyi