How This Blogger Earns $1K/month from Affiliate Marketing
This is an interview with Lisa van der Velde of Sassy Boss.
Hey, Lisa. Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.
Hi Lidiya, I’m a web & graphic designer and I also help non tech women start a blog over at Sassy Boss.
How (and why) did you get into web design and online business in general?
I had studied graphic design and then when I needed a website for my freelance business I figured I had to learn web design as well.
Beside building my own website, I could now also offer web design services to clients.
How long did it take you to become self-employed?
I had a baby at the time, so in my spare time I did some small design jobs for friends and family.
Once I created my website, I started to get clients through that. So I gradually grew into it.
How did you find new clients to grow your business in the first years?
I mainly got new clients through my website that I had optimised for local SEO. So if someone was searching for web designers in my area, my website was ranking number 1 in Google.
I also got some referral clients by old fashioned word of mouth.
What steps did you take to generate consistent revenue?
Mostly through my website ranking number 1 for web design in my local area and word of mouth.
When and why did you start Sassy Boss and who is it for?
I started Sassy Boss in 2019 because I wanted to create a passive income stream. Sassy Boss helps other women start a blog and grow it into a profitable business.
Because I had struggled quite a bit with WordPress when I first started with web design, I figured there had to be a lot more women that struggled with this and other technical issues.
Many tutorials written by guys can skip over certain tech steps, but in my blog I try to cover the steps more in depth.
How did you grow your blog traffic in the first year?
I started using Pinterest marketing and I used some basic SEO that got some of my posts on page 1 of Google. I also participated in Blogging Facebook groups.
How do you make sure your content gets noticed in such a crowded niche?
Non stop promoting on Pinterest and SEO are my two long lived traffic sources.
How many page views do your currently get per month?
With the recent Google update my traffic has dropped to 17K sessions per month… 🙁
What are your top traffic sources?
Pinterest and SEO.
Do you create only optimized content?
I mostly create SEO optimised content but if there is a topic that is truly helpful for my audience but I know it won’t rank in Google, I’ll still create it and promote it on Pinterest.
How do you find the right topics to cover?
I just think about all the questions my audience would have and then find the best long tail keywords for this topic.
What’s your keyword research process like?
I use keyword research tools to find topics with enough search volume and low competition and then I try to write the most comprehensive post on this topic that answers all my reader’s questions.
Sometimes I’ll check what keywords my competitors are ranking for and then I’ll try to write a better post on this topic.
How long did it take you to monetize the blog?
After about 3 months I made my first affiliate sale.
What blog income streams do you currently have?
On average I’ve been making per month:
- Affiliate marketing ($2000 AUD)
- Digital products ($100 – $200 USD)
- Sponsored content ($0 – $200 USD)
(Since the Google update this has dropped a bit in January and February.)
What are your top tips for affiliate marketing?
Writing helpful content for a very specific target audience and mentioning relevant affiliate products that will help your reader solve their problem.
Do you think any blogger can earn from it regardless of their niche?
Your niche is definitely important, not every niche is easy to monetise. But if you know your target audience is in need of something that you can give to them (in the form of a digital or affiliate product) then you could have a money making idea.
Also read: 50 Lucrative Blog Niche Ideas to Consider
Is trust necessary to earn from affiliate marketing?
Yes trust is definitely important. I build trust by consistently offering quality content and emailing my list once a week.
What are your most important blogging activities?
Pinterest marketing, keyword research, content creation and email marketing.
How many hours per week do you spend on blogging tasks?
It depends, some weeks only a few hours and other weeks around 30 hours.
What’s next for you and Sassy Boss?
Since the helpful content update, I’m trying to bring my traffic back up. I’ll try to get it up to 20K sessions so I can apply for the ad network SheMedia.
I never wanted to put ads on my website but with affiliate sales dropping as well, ads could provide a more consistent blog income.