SEO Results From a Beginner Who Started From Zero (feat. BowTiedLemming)
A beginner's journey in SEO
For today’s post I decided to tag in BowTiedLemming to give an update on the results he’s getting with SEO. If you’re a beginner then this should give you a good idea of what to expect with your first site.
Lemmings here.
If you haven’t been living under a rock then you know that at the end of my rookie year in the Jungle, I decided to go all in on SEO. And by going all in, what I really meant was: I made a commitment to myself that for one year I wouldn’t change from SEO to a different WiFi Money avenue like I had done for so many years prior. For once, I would see the woman in the red dress, and I would simply walk past her.
Like most toons in the Jungle, I had long known about WSPB, and probably also like most toons in the Jungle, I really didn’t accomplish jackshit. By the end of my rookie year, I told myself that I might as well commit to one thing because nothing had worked so far and starting and stopping was definitely 100% of the reason.
This is a free article. If you’re not already a paid subscriber, upgrade to get access to full-length SEO guides, Q&A sessions, and premium business content not found anywhere else. If you’re already a paid subscriber, carry on.
How I Chose My Niche
This is laughable. I did absolutely no research on my niche. And by I did absolutely no research, I mean, I did not look up keywords, I did not look up competitors, I did not look up affiliate programs - I didn’t do any of that shit and that’s because at that point I didn’t even know how to do that.
Even now I’m still learning. But I wanted to “just start.” Had heard some rumblings about outdoors-y shit, and camping, and sustainability, and figured I’d make my money off the very people the Jungle hates: bug eaters. Didn’t quite work out, and since I didn’t know what I was doing, my niche worked its way into… outdoor tools, we’ll say… the more I learned and the more I evolved as an SEO.
Pro tip: if you are new to affiliate marketing, you may as well pick a topic you enjoy. Take the “just start” mentality and write about something you are actually passionate about. The chances of your first website being successful are supposedly dismal, and you won’t be like me writing about grass for a fucking year. You also won’t be as eager to pay content writers either because you won’t be bored to death writing dumb articles. Seriously.
First Few Months
The start of my website I thought I was hot shit (so nothing has changed). I was really grinding it out: researching, writing and publishing… one article a week, lol. And the first articles I wrote, I was using Jasper (I don’t use Jasper anymore except for HARO).
It wasn’t until I got a few months ahead on articles that I upped my output to a whopping… two articles per week. Some of y'all will be writing 1 article a day for months straight. Couldn’t be me. Not then at least. But I maintained my consistency because apparently Top G likes that.
According to my CMS, my site was created on 06Jun22. I know at that point I was still fucking around and hadn’t yet committed. Also according to my CMS, I switched niches and went full tilt into my current niche on 29Jul22.
Small wins kept adding up, giving me the motivation to keep going. Not to dick ride, but this is pretty easy and even commonplace if you are following Tetra’s work (see Grappler, Mara, etc.)
By September 3, I had built my first backlink via HARO
By September 10, I already had a keyword in the Top 10
By September 18, I had over 1k impressions (which I thought was cool)
By September 18, I had multiple keywords in the Top 50
End of September/early October was hired for some writing gigs (made $500), again, using what I learned from Tetra + natural writing ability
By Mid October, I had breached Top 3
By End October/November fell off a bit but hired a writer whose helped me maintain two articles per week
End of 2022
By the end of 2022, I had the following stats in GSC:
Is this impressive? No, but I thought so.
On top of that, in early December, Tetra did a consult on the site and urged me to press on because he believed the content was good (I thought he was going to shit on me). He also urged me to monetize the site more because at that point I hadn’t done too much.
A few weeks later, another SEO in the jungle said the same thing. They told me:
“Keep grinding. Doesn’t have to be 24/7. But just commit to it and keep going. Don’t change course.”
Some of you know, I was/am going through a bit of a tough time. Another friend in the Jungle gave me a phone call late December/early January that meant more to me than that person knows. They encouraged me to press on, and to keep going because WAGMI.
And press on I did.
Early 2023, I started pumping out content outlines, and got my writer booked for months in advance. Due to the circumstances, my mindset was very “fuck it, let’s try it” when it came to experimentation.
I no longer hesitate when it comes to buying backlinks, trying difficult keywords, hiring expensive writers because now was the time to go all in on this SEO business (well okay five years ago would’ve been better). I got an LLC up and running. I posted more money pages, and have more on the way. I declared 2023, the Year of the Lemmings, and I haven’t looked back since. I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore because over the long run, my trajectory has been up. Here are just a few of my keywords now:
Don’t leave your SEO strategy up to chance. Create detailed workflows that help your articles rank, improve your visibility in Google, and skyrocket your organic traffic with Surfer SEO.
Total Earnings So Far
At this point, I’ve made close to $1000 using what I’ve learned from Tetra and even though $970 in service based cash is pretty sweet, the $30 I made from actual affiliate sales had me smiling like someone who just ripped a fat line of coke in a bathroom stall under the club, or even in the club provided there are no bouncers around. I’m serious, you know that feeling you get in your jaw when you are smiling ear to ear? Well anyways…
Here are the receipts:
Exhibit A: Aids
Exhibit B: Share A Sale
Total: $28.76
Like I said before, the $28.76 means more to me than all that service based worked because it took so fucking long to earn. It was an incredible feeling, I encourage each and everyone of you to delay your gratification long enough so you can feel it too.
It means so much because my keywords are ranking, my traffic is increasing and now the cash is coming in. There is no other conclusion than that my SEO is getting better and better. I know I could make more if I pushed the service based stuff, but at this point that’s more for fun and to help other struggling cartoons.
My real focus is the website. My real focus is to make money while I sleep.
Year of the Lemmings
As I said before, this year is my year. I declared 2023 the Year of the Lemmings and I really believe I’m going to hit personal bests like no other year in history. Thanks to Tetra, I’ve been shown the potential of SEO, and I have double and even tripled down on my commitment. Thanks to my accountability partner, I’ve stayed the course. We continuously push each other to keep each other working hard towards our goals, and helping each other as we go.
As for the stats, here is where we currently stand:
It’s only been 7 - 8 months. In that time, I feel like I have accomplished quite a bit. The future is bright friends. You don’t have to be a psycho starting out, just stay consistent and in time you will be the psycho you wish to be. Slowly and surely, keep working hard, and you will, more and more, let yourself become…
Lemmings.
Update - I have made another sale since writing this guest post for Tetra a few days ago! The sky really is the limit. Tetra really does know his shit. It really is the Year of the Lemmings. And if you don’t know, now you know.
"You don’t have to be a psycho starting out, just stay consistent and in time you will be the psycho you wish to be."
Swoon.
Crushing it, Lemming
Great stuff guys!