Niche Site Project #1 (Month 33 Update)

September 2022 Niche Site Summary

It was another crazy month of Google Search ranking updates. The useful content update dropped at the very end of August, then we had a core update on Sep 12th, and another product review update on Sep 20th.

All three within a 30 day period. FUN!

These updates were pretty underwhelming early on, but right around mid September the SERPs started to shift in a meaningful way.

Personally, I saw a TON of movement on my site. I was losing, then gaining, then losing positions again for several days in a row.

It’s hard not to get caught up in this – constantly checking Google Analytics to see the fallout.

And while I did my fair share of that, I’m proud to say that I mostly just put my head down and went back to work.

I published 48 new articles in September – 24 on site 1 and 24 on site 2 (my new site). That makes September 2022 my best content month EVER.

My motivation came from two places.

First, I lost some rankings for several keywords during the recent Google updates. These keywords were largely unrelated to my niche – I didn’t have a ton of topical authority. Luckily this has only resulted in a slight drop in traffic.

But the majority of my motivation came from baby #2 – expected April 2023!

niche twins ultrasound month 33 update site 1

When I had my son Declan 15 months ago, I found myself working harder than ever – baby #2 has only amplified that. (If you’re having trouble finding motivation, go and have a child! Just kidding. Sort-of. It does work.)

He/she (we aren’t figuring out the sex until birth!) is a big part of the reason I started a second site this month. Site #2 is less than 30 days old now. It has 24 posts live and 2.33k impressions.

Granted, metrics this early on in a site’s journey are mostly useless. But I will say seeing so many impressions in the first 25 days has me really excited. (And yes, about half those clicks are from me.)

So, after all is said-and-done, my site survived this latest round of updates. I have a bit of work to do to make up for some lost pageviews, but overall I feel great about this outcome.

It means I get to enjoy Q4. And you know what that means…

As a reminder the green bars below represent some loose projections on future earnings of my site through the end of the year, as we head into what is historically the highest ad rate period. If these projections hold, the site will double its TOTAL earnings in just a 4 month period.

niche site project 1 projected earnings

My projection for September was spot on. Let’s see about the rest of the year…

Below are the terms of my deal with Ezoic. Others have similar, if not identical terms. Do your own due diligence.

1. A guaranteed revenue floor based on my time with AdThrive (8 months, starting back in October last year) 
2. A guarantee that I’ll make 15% more with Ezoic (and a sizable payout if I don’t)
3. Access to their premium ads at zero additional cost
4. A separate, additional financial incentive after 6 months, paid monthly so long as my traffic continues to grow month-over-month 
5. Direct access to account management, support, direct brand sales etc. 
6. 30 day notice to cancel this contract at any time

Traffic

From August (780,696) to September (761,256) the site had a 2.52% decrease in pageviews.

Google Analytics – September 2022

  • Users: 564,110
  • Sessions: 663,756
  • Avg. Session Duration: 00:55
  • Pageviews: 761,256
  • Avg. Time on Page: 06:15
Google Search Console Niche Site Project 1 Month 33

Google Search Console – September 2022

  • Total Clicks: 553,000
  • Total Impressions: 11.7MM
  • Avg. CTR: 4.7%
  • Average Position: 11.9
google search console niche project 1 month 33

Earnings

From August ($42,775.11) to September ($42,270.52) the site had a 1.19% decrease in earnings.

Ezoic Display Ad Earnings – September 2022

  • Total Ad Earnings: $41,837.52
  • ePMV: $59.42

Amazon Associate Affiliate Earnings – September 2022

  • Total Affiliate Earnings: $433.00 (previous $467.55)
  • Clicks: 4,170 (previous 4,887)
  • Conversion: 10.31% (previous 11.44%)
Amazon Affiliate earnings niche site 1 month 33

Historical Data

mike site summary september 2022

mike headshot

Always Be Publishing #ABP

6 thoughts on “Niche Site Project #1 (Month 33 Update)”

  1. Thank for the update and inspiring. One quick question. Do you write what you love/passion or is the motivaiton more to build something sustainable and hence the financial aspect?

    Reply

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