We Profit $3K/Month From Our Site That Shares Traffic And Income Updates Of Our Other Niche Sites
Hello! Who are you, and what business did you start?
Hey! I'm Mike Donovan, and my identical twin brother Keith and I started Niche Twins in May of last year (2022). Niche Twins originally started as a place for us to share detailed monthly traffic and income reports for the blogs (niche sites) we owned.
We built up a following on Twitter, sharing similar details, but we found ourselves wanting to share more (and Twitter just wasn't the best medium for that). Over time as Niche Twins got more visibility, we started to partner with affiliates across various services and software offerings in the blogging space. We also started selling ad space for our weekly Newsletter.
Today, NicheTwins is earning a little over $3,000 a month.
What's your backstory, and how did you develop the idea?
The idea for Niche Twins came shortly after I started to find success with my first blog. By year two, my site was earning over $20,000 a month. After seeing my growth trajectory, Keith decided to go all in and build his own niche site. He published well over 100 articles in just a few months, and in 6 months, his place hit 50,000 pageviews earning $2,300.
Right around that time, I called Keith up one morning and told him there was an opportunity to start a similar business together. We would begin by just sharing monthly income reports for each of our respective sites. If we could build some interest, we'd figure out the next steps. Keith was immediately on board.
When one of us is overcommitted or needs a reset, the other pushes the boulder up the hill.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
We quickly got to work, coming up with the name (thanks Keith), buying the domain, getting WordPress set up, creating a logo, and applying for affiliate programs.
The beauty of niche sites is the upfront expenses are meager. Cloudways allows you to host multiple locations, and since we already had a server spun up, those expenses were covered. We wanted a powerful theme and decided to pay for GeneratePress Premium, our highest cost.
Our all-in expenses came to $386.63…split two ways. And that was our version of splurging! Most niche sites can get off the ground for under 100 bucks.
- Domain (Go Daddy - 5-year plan) - $80.87
- WordPress Theme (GeneratePress Premium) - $249.00
- Logo (Fiverr) - $56.76
We had already learned many of these setup skills from building and running our blogs so that we could turn things around fast. Within 30 days, we were living.
Working together on the initial version of Niche Twins was a lot of fun. Because we were so close, we were able to be brutally honest with one another throughout the process. If something looked or sounded off, we'd give each other a hard time about it. It was always lighthearted and usually ended in a good laugh. But it was an effective way of iterating and getting to something better.
Describe the process of launching the business.
Just before launch, I had gotten exposure from several other reputable sites and podcasts in our space. They were profiling some of the success I saw with my tech blog.
I knew that this mini press junket could likely generate some quality backlinks if we could get Niche Twins set up in time. So with this primary goal in mind, we both committed to not over-engineering the launch.
On May 7th, 2022, we shared our side project with our Twitter audience for the first time.
It turned out to be a great decision. The foundational links of our brand-new site had just been built with minimal effort. We quickly landed a bunch of highly relevant backlinks, including one from a DR90 site! Timing is everything…
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
Since we launched, we have made a concerted effort to build Niche Twins on the foundation of transparency and authenticity. We continue to share what's working and what isn't without ever trying to position ourselves as experts. The reality of the niche site world is you will encounter wins and plenty of losses. We share both, and our audience seems to resonate with that.
The saying "Most people overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a year" has rung true.
As mentioned, most of our focus early on has gone towards continuing to build our Twitter following. Through sharing our journeys and providing consistent and (hopefully) helpful content to the community, we've built our combined Twitter audience to over 43,000 followers.
During the first eight months of the site, we exclusively published monthly income reports covering our blogs. In the process, we generated an average of 4,800 sessions a month to Niche Twins in 2022 - nearly entirely via Twitter-generated social traffic.
That traffic led to conversions across several of our affiliate programs, resulting in Niche Twins generating a total 2022 income of $20,744.17. Toward the end of the year, we decided to form a joint LLC (Twin Publishing, LLC), running us another $819 in expenses and bringing our total net profit to $19,538.54.
For a period where we both had very little free time to give, we viewed this as a big success…but we also knew we were barely scratching the surface of the site's potential.
How are you doing today, and what does the future look like?
In 2023, we're ramping things up a bit.
This year's fundamental goal is to diversify our traffic sources and income streams. To that end, Keith started publishing informational posts on the site while also kicking off our Youtube channel.
In parallel, I sold his blog for high six figures and used the occasion to send out our first ever Niche Twins newsletter at the beginning of March: "1 blog. Three years. 7 figures in profit.” This newsletter is sent out every Friday morning.
It's early, but our metrics are starting to heat up. Month-over-month traffic diversification is already beginning to look promising.
Our newsletter is pushing 4,000 subscribers with a 57% open rate, and ad spots are beginning to fill up. We're on track to clear $4,000 in profit this month, and it truly feels like we are just getting started.
We plan to continue to build momentum on all of these fronts this year, with the long-term goal of establishing reliable revenue streams via our newsletter, affiliates, site display ads, and digital products.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
Shaan Puri and Sam Parr from the My First Million podcast discuss "window and door opportunities". Window opportunities offer a clear line of sight to their future potential and value. Door opportunities, on the other hand, are more of a black box. They represent the unknown.
Niche Twins started out as a door opportunity. There was no grand plan. We knew we wanted to work together and felt strongly we could build something valuable over time. For us, that was enough.
Window opportunities may be safer and easier to say yes to - but we've learned firsthand the value of pursuing the unknown with the right partner.
Knock on more doors!
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
The most important platforms and tools we use for Niche Twins are:
- Hosting – Cloudways
- WordPress Theme - GeneratePress Premium
- Keyword Research - Semrush and Ahrefs
- Newsletter - ConvertKit
We don't have a bad word to say about them. All have been instrumental in keeping our business alive and growing.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
Spencer Hawes and Niche Pursuits have been a North Star for us. Spencer paved the way for countless niche site owners. In many ways, Niche Twins aspires to follow in the footprints he's been laying down since 2011.
Beyond Niche Pursuits, we've learned from and been inspired by Jon Dykstra, the Income School guys (from the early days), and, more recently, the My First Million podcast.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
The saying "Most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a year" has rung true. With full-time jobs, growing families, and our own personal blogs, finding free time to work on the site has been challenging.
There is so much more we both want to accomplish daily. But as we approach the end of year one, the foundation we've built with Niche Twins is becoming clear.
So if there is any advice we could offer other like-minded side hustlers, it's this…just get started. It's easy to overwhelm yourself trying to envision some perfect end-state of your business. Instead, accomplish whatever little bit you can today and iterate along the way. Tiny daily habits begin to snowball over time.
On a personal level, building this project and working towards a shared vision with a brother and a trusted business partner has been incredible. When one of us is overcommitted or needs a reset, the other continues to push the boulder up the hill.
We constantly bounce ideas off each other and elevate each other's game. Above all, we're having fun doing it. Not everyone is as lucky as we are and get to start out with a twin. If you're fortunate enough to cross paths with your business twin, find a reason to work with them.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We're making every effort to only publish high-quality content on the site. Brick by carefully laid brick…even if that means a slower growth trajectory in the near term.
We have said that who knows what the future might bring? For now, we feel the best way to accomplish this is to generate 100% of the content ourselves. We always love connecting with other content creators, so give us a shout on Twitter!
Where can we go to learn more?
- Teaching people how to launch, grow, and monetize their online side hustles at NicheTwins
- Mike on Twitter
- Keith on Twitter
- Mike’s story “1 blog. Three years. 7 figures in profit.”
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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