Affiliate Marketing Case Study Shows $12,000 Profit Last Month (on 1 site)

I have finally completed the $10,000/month affiliate marketing case study challenge, and in this case study, I am going to describe it all from how it started in month 1 to where I am today after month 6.

In case you missed the videos, let me quickly recap: I embarked on a six-month journey to take a website from zero to $10,000 in monthly PROFIT.

This journey would include search engine optimization, social media posting, and paid media buying.

The website was purchased for $3000 on Flippa for its nice aged domain and its already existing content.

All of this could have been started for much less by following the steps in the Affiliate Marketing Certification Course that we offer through Powerhouse Affiliate

Was it ambitious? Absolutely. But was it achievable? Absolutely.

Here is the first video in the 6-month playlist describing the case study. Below is a summary of the ups and downs and things learned as the case study continued.

Before I delve into the updates of this affiliate case study, let me emphasize that this endeavor wasn’t just about showcasing success.

It was also about shedding light on the sheer effort and dedication required to build a real affiliate marketing business online.

In affiliate marketing, there’s no guarantee of hitting the jackpot, but I am committed to sharing every step of the journey with you.

So, if you’re intrigued by the prospect, don’t forget to subscribe to the Youtube channel and hit the like button to show your support!

Now, let’s dive into my progress over the past 6 months.

SEO, Google Ads, & Enhancing Website Functionality

Upon buying the website from Flippa, it was obvious from Semrush that there was a need for technical improvements.

My initial focus was on enhancing website functionality.

Affiliate Marketing Case Study – Month 1: Foundation and Optimization

In the first month, my primary focus was on optimizing the website’s SEO.

I started by researching the market and tried to identify high-intent, low-competition keywords relevant to the niche. Many people talk about “high traffic” vs high intent, and I believe this is where they make their first mistake.

Armed with a list of high-intent keywords, I decided I wouldn’t start going big on content until we fixed the site issues. Shortly after I bought the site it was hit by the Google Core Update.

While it was a setback, I revamped existing content and deleted pretty much 90% of the poorly written content to make it more search-engine friendly.

This included updating good posts, deleting stuff that wasn’t part of the 5 pillars I wanted to focus on, and investing time in learning how to improve content for Google after March.

Additionally, I invested time in enhancing the website’s loading speed. I compressed images and eliminated unnecessary plugins.

So while waiting for the content plan to kick in there was no better time to start the media buying. I love media buying and I love seeing fast results so I began the work of planning my Google Ads campaign. I used our 5 step media buying checklist to accomplish this.

Profit Breakdown Month 1: Feb 27-Mar 31

Affiliate Marketing Case Study – Month 2 April: Expand Team

In the second month of this affiliate marketing project, I worked on expanding my team and improving my website’s content. I secured a valuable backlink with an authority score of 31 in Semrush, outsourcing this task for $90.

I hired a social media manager at $8/hour and an additional writer, bringing my writing team to two members to boost my content production and social media presence. This expanded team is now focusing on five content clusters.

I also prioritized technical improvements and team building this month.

To streamline communication, I created a Slack channel for my entire team, including a backlink outreach specialist, two writers, a social media creator/poster, and myself as the media buyer.

I managed Google Ads campaigns, increased budgets, and adjusted TCPA (Target Cost Per Action) to attract more converting traffic. My social media presence expanded with posts on Facebook, X, YouTube, and LinkedIn, with blog posts set to auto-post using Blog 2 Social.

Affiliate Marketing Case Study – Month 3 May: Scaling Content and Diversifying Advertising

In month 3, I started to see some results from social media with increased direct traffic due to people seeing the social media content and going directly to the domain.

We started with shorts, therefore we were not getting organic video traffic directly to the site, it was coming indirectly through direct traffic.

Content Strategy:

• I used AI to generate 50 topics across 5 pillars, and added to those to Asana for my writers. This helped streamline content planning.
• I increased content production to 1 new or updated article every 3 days.
• Implemented automatic sharing of new content on social media and email lists using blog2social and Aweber Blog RSS Broadcasts.

Advertising Expansion:

• Implemented new bidding strategy experiments in Google Ads campaigns.
• Launched Facebook Ads with a new landing page and custom audience.
• Created 10 ads for Facebook using Canva.
• Started Microsoft/Bing Search Ads to diversify traffic sources.

Website Optimization:

• Completed the deletion of low-quality posts to improve overall site quality.
• Stopped actively pursuing backlinks to focus on other growth strategies.

This month showed a shift towards scaling content production, diversifying advertising channels, and leveraging AI for content strategy. I focused on optimizing existing ads while expanding into new advertising platforms like Facebook and Microsoft/Bing.

Affiliate Marketing Case Study – Month 4 June: Expanding Video Content and Refining Social Media Strategy

In the 3rd month, we saw increased paid search, Instagram short videos, referrals, and organic traffic. With increased conversions, Google ads are also improving, giving the algorithm what it needs to work on a TCPA bid strategy.

Social Media Optimization:

• Upgraded TikTok to a Business Profile and added a website link, improving brand visibility and potential traffic.
• Implemented UTM parameters for better tracking of social media performance.

Video Content Expansion:

I invested in Invideo.io ($249) to create long-form videos for YouTube. I published 4 long-form videos on YouTube, focusing on product sales presentations. I stopped using Invideo as the quality wasn’t great, and it was slower than hiring someone to do videos based on AI scripts.

I instructed the social media manager to link all Youtube short-form content to these long-form videos, creating a better opportunity to get organic traffic back to the site.

Affiliate Marketing Case Study – Month 5 July: Maintenance and Optimization

I’ll admit July was a bit slow in getting things done. I was also preparing for Affiliate Summit East in NYC and spent the end of July and the start of August in NYC on vacation.

However, traffic still ran on Google, Bing, and Facebook ads. In June my Microsoft ads lost money and in July they broke even as a result of a new landing page. I decided I would try new a new ad for August.

Paid search did increase and we are also seeing about 40-50 visitors a day from “direct traffic”. I feel this has a lot to do with our social media posting as well as email campaigns where people may see our brand and then go type it into their browser.

There were no major changes to strategy, but I did test some landing pages and ads on the paid campaigns and discovered some great new performers that increased profits moving forward.

I’ve produced high-quality long-form videos at a fraction of the previous month’s cost. I found a video editor on Upwork who would produce three 5-minute videos for $100.

Affiliate Marketing Case Study – Month 6 Aug: Scaling & Maintaining a Multi-Channel Approach

In August, the final month of the 6-month case study, the website achieved significant milestones:

• Profit for August was $12,940!
• Google ads optimization led to increased revenue with lower spend.
• Bing ads became profitable after previous losses and break-even periods.
• Facebook ads revenue nearly doubled, despite losing access to one ad account.
• Organic search traffic began recovering after a Google algorithm update.
• The email list grew to around 12,000 subscribers.

The final month of this six-month case study showcased remarkable progress across multiple fronts.

Google Ads optimization yielded impressive results, with revenue increasing despite lower overall spend. This demonstrates the power of feeding Google the conversion data to improve your bidding strategies. By focusing on high-intent audience segments and refining ad creatives, the campaign achieved higher ROI while maintaining cost-efficiency. Leveraging Google Ads campaign tips 2024, such as utilizing enhanced bid strategies and exploring Performance Max campaigns, helped maximize reach and conversions. This approach underscores the importance of staying ahead with the latest tools and strategies to drive measurable growth. By leveraging strategic budget management tips, businesses can allocate resources more efficiently while still achieving significant growth. Harnessing the power of real-time analytics and refining campaign focus ensures that every dollar spent delivers maximum ROI. This approach not only boosts revenue but also solidifies a sustainable path for long-term success in the ever-evolving digital advertising landscape.

Microsoft Ads, which had previously struggled to break even, finally turned profitable, after the new ads performed better in August. Facebook Ads saw a near doubling of revenue, and 4 times the profit from July.

On the organic front, the website began recovering from the March Google algorithm update, with search traffic showing improvement. This proves we must maintain high-quality content and SEO practices, even in the face of temporary setbacks.

Social media over the course of the 6 month case study has proven to help increase traffic to the website. We focussed mainly on YouTube shorts, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.

YouTube emerged as the standout performer, with 55,000 views and proving to be the most effective channel for brand awareness.

Additionally, the email list grew to 12,000 subscribers, providing a valuable asset for future marketing efforts.

These efforts across multiple channels highlight the effectiveness of a multi-channel digital marketing strategy and set a strong foundation for future growth.

This six-month case study has demonstrated the potential of affiliate marketing and provided valuable insights into the realities of building an online business from scratch.

Reaching the $10,000 monthly revenue goal is a significant milestone, but the journey has offered numerous lessons that will shape future strategies and growth.

Conclusion and Valuable Lessons Learned.

The impact of Google’s algorithm updates on organic traffic highlighted the importance of adaptability.

Despite seeing a drop in impressions from the March core update through July, we continued to create quality content, which appears to be starting to pay off.

The Power of Optimization was evident in the Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Facebook Ads campaigns. Continuous testing and refinement led to increased revenue even with reduced spend.

This underscores the importance of setting up campaigns and actively managing and improving them over time.

By utilizing multiple traffic sources (Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, organic search, and various social media platforms), this project will continue to mitigate risks and build real organic value over time.

Quality Over Quantity in Content

The focus on creating content designed for sales rather than just traffic proved effective. This strategy led to increased revenue even when traffic numbers dipped. One important thing to take away here is that keyword research should focus on user intent and conversion-focused content.

Our efforts on social media, particularly YouTube, may not have directly led to immediate traffic, but it certainly increased brand awareness.

This was evidenced by the growth in brand-specific searches over time.

SEO vs. Paid Media:

Throughout this case study, both SEO and paid media demonstrated their value. Despite initial setbacks from Google updates, our persistent content creation strategy shows signs of recovery and promise for future growth.

On the flip side, paid media proved to be a powerhouse for immediate results. Every month, I increased ad spend and made more profits by optimizing and improving ads, landing pages, and targeting.

The ability to drive targeted traffic on demand and scale efforts quickly made it the primary revenue driver in this campaign.

Quite frankly, it is often the primary revenue driver for all new campaigns within the first 6 to 12 months of building out a website project like this.

As we have said, SEO takes months and sometimes years to see impressive sales and results.

Google and Facebook ads, in particular, showed better returns as more conversion data was shared to their platforms using CPV Lab Pro.

Future Expansion Plans:

The next short-term goal is to take this to $20,000 monthly profit.

The long-term vision for this project extends far beyond the initial $10,000 monthly revenue goal.

The ultimate aim is to transform this website into a highly valuable, sellable asset in the seven-figure range.

It is possible with a content site in the niche I am in now. Here is just one example on Flippa.

To achieve this ambitious target, the focus will shift towards creating a more self-sustaining operation that can function efficiently with minimal hands-on management from a potential buyer.

This means I must focus on developing a small, well-trained team capable of maintaining and growing the site’s performance.

Central to this strategy is a significant emphasis on boosting organic traffic.

While paid media has driven immediate revenue and rapid growth, organic traffic is key to enhancing the site’s long-term value proposition.

It offers greater sustainability, lower ongoing costs, and demonstrates the site’s authority and stability to potential buyers.

Therefore, I will continue to optimize the paid campaigns. Still, there will be a major focus on managing freelancers in the short term and, eventually, full-time dedicated people to focus on SEO efforts.

Plans include increasing content production, possibly doubling the number of articles produced per month.

With the profitability of Google and Facebook ads there’s room to scale these channels further and introduce Youtube and Tiktok ads.

Email Marketing Optimization

With a growing email list, future efforts will focus on optimizing email campaigns to drive more revenue from this channel.

I want to find someone on a revenue share model. I would see them managing and maintaining the email list. This would likely be someone I know locally, as I would like to start with a hands-on approach and work together in a strategy to really grow this channel.

While the current channels have proven effective, exploring new traffic sources could uncover additional growth opportunities.

In conclusion, this case study has not only achieved its initial goal but has also laid a solid foundation for future growth. The lessons learned over these six months provide a roadmap for scaling the business further.

While challenges are inevitable in the dynamic world of affiliate marketing, this project has demonstrated that with persistence, continuous learning, and strategic adaptation, significant success is achievable.

The journey from zero to $10,000 per month is just the beginning, and the strategies employed here can serve as a blueprint for aspiring affiliate marketers and digital entrepreneurs.