BML - Edition 31

My website's first revenue stream

I've been telling you the story of my first online business, a website for beer brewing enthusiasts. Today's story is about how I made my first dollar.

It happened by accident . . .

I got the website off the ground by writing. I wrote educational articles, blog posts, PDFs, and emails. I wrote a ton.

The writing paid off and brought me website visitors and email subscribers. My subscribers trusted me and appreciated my recommendations on techniques and equipment.

I had plenty of those recommendations, too. And that's an important point. Because these days, when building your online presence, you've got to take a stand. 

What do you stand for? 

What do you recommend? 

What do you recommend against?

I see so many smart and skilled business owners getting passed over simply because they fail to speak up and publish what they believe in.

So, I saw an opportunity to provide good information to homebrewers. I'd show them how I do things and they could choose to follow my advice or not.

If you're familiar with my Five Lightbulbs framework, you'll recognize this "way of doing things" as Lightbulb 3. In the framework, we call Lightbulb 3 Your Approach.

When we implement The Five Lightbulbs for businesses, an important step is defining the product or service's approach. This gives you a way to stand out from competitors and also gives you a North Star for your future content efforts. 

Your approach to solving your customer's problem becomes the main topic you write about and the thing you argue for.

I started my homebrewing website years before The Five Lightbulbs, so back then, I wasn't thinking in terms of Lightbulb 3. Yet, I still followed this philosophy of sharing my brewing approach and explaining the "why" behind why I do things.

For example, back then, most homebrewing articles recommended a new homebrewer purchase two plastic buckets. I showed them how to only use one bucket. Each of those little tips was part of my overarching methodology.

Now we get to the affiliate sales.

So, you define your approach, and then you can take a step back and ask, "What tools will my customers need to implement my approach?"

As mentioned, my method for brewing beer involved particular tools. Literally. It involved a carefully curated selection of buckets, hoses, pots, bottles, and other brewing gadgets.

I didn't sell gadgets—I was a content creator. But do you know who sold brewing gadgets? Online retailers.

I reached out to an online beer brewing retailer and we formed a partnership. I said to them, "Yours is the only beginner homebrewing kit I recommend because it fits how I teach."

I began to sell their homebrewing kit over my website.

Pause for a second and notice how this is different. Most website owners would tell their readers, "I tested ten different homebrewing kits and found the best."

I said, "Here's how I recommend you brew beer, and here's the homebrewing kit that best fits my method."

See the difference? That's the leadership your readers want.

On with the story . . .

The retailer gave me a personalized URL to track sales. Each month, website visitors would read my kit recommendations, click over to the retailer, and buy my recommended kit.

The retailer paid me a monthly commission for my sales. 

When I got that first check, I couldn't believe it. I had earned my first dollar in my online business. Could I make more?

I formed more partnerships, and soon, my affiliate revenue grew to $1,000 per month. I was pumped—this was becoming life changing money. 

Maybe I could run my website full time? 

Affiliate marketing wasn't even my main idea for revenue, either.

Selling other company's products taught me an important lesson about marketing. It's not about you, it's about your customer. Take a 360° view of their life and don't restrict your focus to your product.

I learned that my product is not my #1 asset. My trust with my reader is. And the crazy thing was that my readers began to ask for my recommendations.

Success is not about your product, but your trust and relationship with your reader. Make sure to never break that trust.

Here are some good questions to journal on:

1. When my customer buys from me, what else do they buy?

2. What does my customer buy before coming to me?

3. What does my customer buy after me?

4. Who else is serving my customer?

5. What else does my customer need to accomplish their goal?

To this day, partnerships are a significant part of my business. No surprise, since partnerships are about people, and being one of my newsletter subscribers, you know we're all about the human touch.

Reach out to people and form partnerships. It's one of the most rewarding things you can do in your business.

Next week, I'll talk about my website's second revenue stream. This next one opened a door to a world that would define the next decade of my life. 

It's still a big part of what I do today.

Talk next Monday,

Billy