How to Start a Blog and Make Money Creating Mini Affiliate Sites

Have you ever heard of mini-affiliate blogs? Do you know you can actually start and make good money with mini blogs? Let's find out how to start a blog and make money with it.

Mini affiliate blogs are those blogs or websites that are based on a micro niche and usually have only 10-20 articles published on them. It's easy to start and maintain a mini-site.

The unique thing about mini-sites is that the competition for them is not much; hence, ranking them is easy and fast. If I talk about the monthly income, then it's not that huge, but yes, this can prove to be your money-making machine for years if you keep some useful tips in mind.

What is a micro niche blog?

Blogging is one of the most popular ways to earn online income. But if you want to start a blog in 2024, I suggest you work on a micro niche blog. Today, it's very difficult to get success in a broad niche. In this article, you will get a fair idea about how to create mini-affiliated sites and make a fast and better income from them.

For example, if you look at my blog, MoneyConnexion, you will understand that I blog about a broad niche, i.e. Money. I write about money-making ideas, investments, tips on saving money or anything related to money. 

Today, it takes a lot of time to get success in such a broad niche. The time is favourable for micro niches only. And you can get quick success from it.

For instance, take the example of Dog Food Advisors. You can see this blog writes about dog food only, but its monthly traffic is in the millions. You can check on SimilarWeb.

If you check another website, Sound Guys, which talks about headphones and speakers, but again, the traffic is in millions. Similarly, there are blogs that write on just WordPress themes or Resume Tips but still, the traffic is commendable.

These are just some of the many examples of micro niche websites on which you can create your content for a long time and can easily generate a decent monthly income.

But it is no magic game. Even in the case of a micro niche, it can take a reasonable time to perform well.

If you really want to make big cash during this time, then make mini blogs rather than micro niche blogs. Even if you are already working on a micro niche, starting another mini blog will be a better idea.

Let's look at some examples–

My blog, MoneyConnexion, has many topics, such as blogging, money-making ideas, personal finance, shopping and saving, etc.

>> If I only talk about ‘make money ideas‘, we can consider it as a micro-niche, and if I go deeper into this topic, then ‘make money with online survey’ can also be considered a micro niche, but if I make a site on ySense or InboxDollars (which are survey companies), then it can be treated as a mini-site.

Take another example of WordPress Themes. WordPress themes are a micro niche. There are thousands of free and premium themes in WordPress, but if you make a website on a particular theme – e.g. Generate Press Premium or Divi themes, then I call it a mini-site.

With the above examples, you might have got a fair idea about what mini-sites are. Later in this article, you’ll get an idea about its income potential.

6 Steps to Start a Mini Affiliate Blog

Let’s now see how you can make a mini affiliate site in just 6 simple steps and how it can become a source of passive income for you.

Step 1: Research Your Niche

One of the most important steps is to research your niche. You can do it in 3 steps.

1: Choose your affiliate network: 

If we talk about niches for mini sites, then there are thousands of niches available. You can get a number of ideas from Amazon only.

For example – a few days back, I wanted to buy a trimmer. There were numerous options available on Amazon, and it was getting difficult for me to decide which one was better for me. I was confused about the various brands and different models and whether I should buy a Philips trimmer or a Wahl trimmer.

Like me, there are millions of people who want to buy something but are confused about the various options available.

You can make a mini website on Philips or Wahl trimmer and clear the confusion of the people according to their needs and budget. Similarly, you can start a mini blog on protein powders, air conditioners, alkaline water pitchers, coffee machines, etc.

You can easily find affiliate programs for these niches/products on the Amazon Associate Program.

Commission Junction or Impact is another affiliate network where you can find thousands of advertisers. You should do a keen research on who are the popular advertisers and then apply for the same. Once you get the approval from the merchant, You can create a mini blog for one of the products from that merchant.

Apart from these, there are many affiliate networks like ClickBank, MaxBounty, and ShareASale. All I want to convey is there is no shortage of options for mini-affiliate sites.

2: Find out the profitability

The next step is to research the niche profitability of mini-sites. It's difficult to make money from Google AdSense with mini affiliate sites because there is not much traffic on such sites.

Mini affiliate sites have targeted traffic therefore, you can definitely earn good affiliate income even if you don't earn enough from AdSense.

To find profitability, you have to keep three things in mind-

1. Monthly Searches on Google
2. Product Price & Affiliate Commission
3. Demand of the Product & Conversion

Let's Check all three key points in detail-

A. Monthly Searches on Google:

We depend mostly on Google search traffic for mini-sites. So, you have to do keyword research on how many people search for the keywords related to your chosen niche. You can use Google Keyword Planner for free for this research.

For example, you can search for Philips trimmer and select traffic in India. You will notice a good amount of searches for that particular keyword. You can also opt for Philips Hair Trimmer for a mini-site. You can also take the example of the Wahl trimmer it is popular in the US and has huge amount of searches there. That means it has good potential.

You should keep the criteria of a minimum of 500 searches for mini sites as there are many other long tail keywords present other than the main keyword, and including both of them can actually result in good monthly income.

B. Product Price & Affiliate Commission:

After doing research about searches, you should look for the product's average price and commission. For example, the Philips trimmer's average price is between 12$ 48$. When you do product research, only you get an idea about the product's average price. You can find out about commission either from the advertiser’s website or affiliate network.

C. Demand of the Product & Conversion:

This means if people search for the product and visit your website, then how much conversion will be done? Conversion depends on your landing page as well as different external factors. This can also happen that the visitor might just be searching about the product with the intention of buying it, but then, looking at your landing page, he changes his mood.

Hence, you have to work effectively on your landing page and create an attractive one. You can check Amazon for ratings and reviews to get an idea about the demand. Including this, you have to research on Quora, Reddit and other social sites about what and how much people are discussing about the product.

3: Repeat for more Niches: 

If you just want to earn a monthly income with less time and less headache, you cannot just earn enough from a single website. I have dozens of websites. Some earn $100 and some $200. But it is not necessary for every website to become successful.

Because I have relevant experience, 5 out of 10 websites work well for me. For example, I started working on – sewing machine niche and alkaline water niche. But the alkaline water niche failed, and the Sewing machine was a success, and it was giving a good $400 monthly back then.

So if you make 5 sites, 2 or 3 websites will work well for you, and if you take an average of $100- $200, then monthly, you can earn around $400. Your work is directly proportional to your income, i.e. you work more, you earn more. Therefore, you have to research more mini-websites and repeat the same process.

Step 2: Start a Mini Website

You can start your mini-site in 6 simple steps-

1. Choosing a domain name:

If we talk about the domain, then I will advise you to buy the exact domain name, or the domain name must include the main keyword in the domain. Exact domains like philipstrimmers. in for India or philipstrimmers.com for the US.  If you cannot find the exact domain name, then you can add any of such words as –

>> BestPhilipsTrimmer.in

>> HairTrimmerReviews.com

>> AllPhilipsTrimmers.net

>> MyTrimmerReviews.com

2. Choosing a web hosting:

To create mini websites, you need to buy WordPress hosting, and such hosting should be affordable and handy for beginners. Suggested hosting in this Criteria are Hostinger or BlueHost. you can choose any one from the two options as they are both highly preferred

3. Install a theme:

WordPress hosting has thousands of themes. You can choose free themes from WordPress hosting. There are many attractive premium themes, too. If you can afford it, you can install GeneratePress Theme. It's very lightweight. Usually, the GeneratePress theme goes well for every website. For high affiliate potential on a product, you can use Elementor Pro, which gives the best conversion results.

4. Install Important Plugins:

Now, to build your website, you need to install some plugins.  There are some suggestions below that I personally prefer and that most professional bloggers use. You can search these WordPress plugins in your WP dashboard and install them accordingly

1. SEO – Yoast / Rank Math
2. Jetpack
3. Cache plugins – Autoptimize / WP rocket / Wp super cache /W3 Total
4. Image Plugin – Imagify / Smush It / ShortPixel
5. Pretty Link – Affiliate link management tool
6. Insert Headers and Footers
7. Contact form – Contact form 7
8. Backup – Updraft
9. Amazon Affiliate Plugin – Genius Link / AAWP 
10. Landing page builder – Elementor
11. Site Kit – Google Analytics & Search Console

5. Professional Logo:

Another way of giving your website a professional look is creating a logo for it and using it on the website. You can search on Google to find amazing websites to design your logo or if you want a professional logo, then you can hire someone for the same on Fiver only at a minimal cost of $5.

6. Add important pages:

More than this, you can add standard important pages. For example- the About and Contact page or privacy policy and terms and conditions pages. If you are creating more than one mini-site, then you can add the same pages to every site with a few changes.

Step 3: Publish Content

The most significant work after this is to write content. You just have to make 10-20 pages, and in some niches, only 5-10 pages will work. For instance, in Philips trimmer, you can write reviews for its high-selling products, or if you are creating a website on Philips trimmer, then you can cover best-selling trimmers from the range. Keyword research will help you decide which keyword you have to use to make 10-20 pages. 

Now, to write content, you have to do keen research. Your website can rank for the long term only if your content is engaging. For this, you have to dig out some time and do proper research so that viewers are satisfied with your content and also share it.

If you’ll create your content for almost 2500+ words then it will be easier to rank. If you do not wish to write content on your own, then you can hire someone to write it for you. There are many websites like Fiverr, Indeed, Quiker, and Upwork that are best for it. Only for 10$, you will be able to get decent to high-quality content. 

There are more websites for the same, for example- iWriter, TextBroker, and HireWriters, where you can get good writers.

Step 4: SEO

You do not need to have expertise in SEO for mini-sites. I have researched 500+ sites, and I am speaking on the basis that one who makes mini-sites doesn’t focus much on SEO.

Basic SEO knowledge can work in mini-sites. In the coming article, I will guide you with the exact steps that you should follow for mini-site SEO. 

You already have a keyword list and good content, as well. You just have to do On-Page SEO before publishing it.

Rankmath will help you in doing On Page. Well, I don’t follow Rankmath much, but if you’re a beginner, you can take its help. 

After doing Onpage SEO, you should focus on Offpage. That means you have to make basic backlinks for your mini-sites. 

But if your content is rich and your page is done with proper care, then backlinks might not be needed for ranking your website and it will rank without it. Otherwise, you can create backlinks. Don't be stressed by the work, as even a 10-year-old kid can create it, so the creation of backlinks is not that difficult. 

Step 5: Income Potential

It is difficult to say how much income you will be able to earn from mini-sites, but if you consider 100$ at minimum from a site, then from 2-3 sites, you can earn 200$ to 300$ easily. 

In this article, I have mentioned examples of InboxDollar and ySense surveys like companies. I have earned more than 10 million from ySense only. Yes, I didn't make any mini-site on ySense, and most of the promotion was on MoneyConnexxion, but if you create a mini-site on ySense and promote it on your website, then you can easily earn $250-$300.

Just like this, InboxDollar gives 2$-3$ for every US signup, so if you create a review site and target the US and if there are 100-120 joining in a month, then you can earn a good income of 200$-300$.   

If you consider Philips Trimmer as an example, then searches are high for the keyword, but not every search results in conversion. For example, if your site gets traffic of 10000 and 1% is the conversion rate, that means 100 transactions.

For every order, if you get 2$ affiliate commission, then you can earn 200$ without fail. More orders mean more commissions and, eventually, more income. Now you can have a fair idea that mini-sites are also a source of earning big.

Step 6: Maintenance of the website

Just like I mentioned earlier, mini-websites don't need a lot of maintenance, but they can give long-term income. Long-term means almost 2-3 years. They can prove to be your income source. Some of my websites even run longer on Google than just 2-3 years.

To make your ranking stable, you need to do the following tasks :

1. Keep monitoring your competitors: If you ignore your money-making site, then someone else can snatch your traffic. You have to keep checking whether some other competitor is coming to outrank you by creating the same mini-sites as yours. Or any other authority site can outrank you on the same topic. If you notice any of such threats then you have to work on the next two key points.

2. Update content and make it Fresh: Update your content. Yes, updating content really helps in keeping your site rich. Look for what better content you can add, like any new feature, images, price change, review and many more, which can upgrade your content. Doing such practices can help you maintain your site rank.

3. Create 2-3 Backlinks every Month: You can create 2-3 backlinks every month to maintain your mini-sites. If you easily get a decent guest post link, then that is more than perfect. 

Conclusion

Following the 6 steps above, you can easily make many low-maintenance mini-sites. Also, if only 2-5 sites turn out to be successful, then you can earn good money with them. Gradually, you will gain experience in it, and your success percentage will automatically increase. Also, you can earn monthly income from your successful mini-sites, or you can sell them on Flippa for 30-40 times more value than they hold.