This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
A cautionary tale of blog monetization. Welcome to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau. Thanks for tuning in. I believe we can learn as much from failure as we can from success.
That is the theme of Failure Friday. Every single Friday for the past couple of years, I've been bringing you this collection of short stories about mistakes, missteps, disasters, and of course, failure, all the things that don't go well. And you get to hear directly from a side hustler, sometimes a small business owner, somebody who's had this experience of needing to regroup a bit. So what happens? What do they learn?
How do they regroup? And what is perhaps a lesson that we can take from their story? What is some inspiration or a practical warning perhaps? Maybe today that fits actually like a cautionary tale that's what we're gonna call the episode. Something that the person learned.
Today's short story features Samantha from Toronto. She is now location independent, living nomadically, been doing that for a few years. But as you might guess, her business has had a couple of challenges as well. So in some ways, it's been good. She's been able to do this.
In other ways, she had to regroup when the situation occurred. So just let her tell the story about building a blog and what went well and then what happened to be kind of the opposite of something that is a great success and how she has adjusted. I'll come back at the end with a few words of wrap up. But for now, let's pass the mic to Samantha. [Music]
Starting my blog in 2018 was a dream come true.
I had always been passionate about travel and storytelling and sharing my adventures with the world felt like a natural extension of that passion. Over time, my blog gained traction, attracting a loyal readership, or so I thought. Maybe in hindsight, they weren't loyal. I just had good Google rankings. As my audience grew, so did the opportunities to monetize.
I began to rely heavily on ad revenue generated through display ads and affiliate marketing. By 2019, the income was promising. I managed to secure 3,000 to $5,000 per month in revenue that allowed me to focus more on content creation and less on other side gigs. It felt like I was on the path to turning my passion into a sustainable career. Then in early 2020, Google rolled out a significant algorithm update known as the Core Web Vitals update.
It prioritized page experience metrics such as loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. Although I was aware of the update, I underestimated its impact on my blog. My site, which had previously enjoyed high rankings and substantial traffic experienced a sharp decline in visibility. The drop in organic search traffic directly affected my ad revenue. By mid 2020, the effects of the Google update were undeniable.
Ad rates began to drop further due to the global economic downturn caused by the pandemic, compounding my problems. At first, I hoped it was a temporary dip, but as the months went by, it became clear that this was a new reality. My earnings were halved, and I was unprepared for the financial strain that followed. I had struggled to cover my travel expenses, my website maintenance costs, and even my basic living expenses. Desperation set in, and as I frantically tried to boost traffic and clicks, the returns were diminishing.
The stress took such a toll on my creativity and productivity. In hindsight, I guess I realized that other bloggers around me were thriving by branching out into sponsored content, offering online courses, selling merchandise, and even providing consulting services. Meanwhile, I had missed the opportunity to create multiple revenue streams that could have cushioned the blow. So, facing the inevitable, I had to make the tough decision to close the blog by the end of 2020. It was such a heart-wrenching choice, but I couldn't sustain it financially any longer.
The closure was a significant setback, but it also served as a crucial learning experience. Determined not to repeat my mistakes, I set out to rebuild my online presence with a new approach in 2021. I launched a new blog, this time with a much better business plan. I diversified my income streams from the start, incorporating sponsor posts, digital products like travel guides and e-books, and offering personalized travel consulting services. I also explored affiliate marketing more strategically, and partnered with brands that resonated with my audience.
The failure of my first blog was such a painful, but invaluable lesson. It taught me the critical importance of financial diversification and staying ahead of industry changes. The experience made me a better entrepreneur, one who understands the necessity of having multiple streams of income. The next project will be something totally different. [Music]
Big thanks to Samantha for sharing the story, and as always, never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.
I love the timeline here of Samantha's story and also what she took from it, about how to not repeat the mistakes. Like we all make these mistakes, and I think it's always like, how can we make different mistakes moving forward? Have we not make the same ones, not get stuck in that kind of pattern? So I love how she was able to adjust. Thanks to her, thank you listeners as well.
If you have a question, a comment, an update about your hustle, you know where to go, sidehustleschool.com. Notes page for every episode. This was 2,764. The podcast is on every network. Wherever you like to get your podcast, go and get it there.
It's always completely free, and there'll be a new episode every single day. Thanks for listening. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
