Christina Marie had a while on her fingers, so she determined to start out a weblog. As she was notably keen about magnificence, Very Easy Makeup was born.
She didn’t know something when she began, however little by little she discovered about affiliate marketing online, search engine optimization, and every little thing else you must know to construct a profitable area of interest web site.
As she likes to experiment, she went on to create a number of different websites and YouTube channels in several niches, from cruising and Halloween to girls’s trend, although her make-up web site is her major enterprise.
Christina Marie has been driving the rollercoaster: from points together with her internet hosting to affected by Google’s updates, her philosophy is straightforward: be thankful for the small stuff, preserve your eye on the prize, and keep it up.
As we speak she’s incomes $5k, nearly totally from Amazon Associates.
Hold studying to search out out:
- What different web sites she created
- How she constructed up her make-up web site
- Which of her new web sites had been a flop
- Her different sources of earnings
- Her high advertising and technique suggestions
- Her ideas on search engine optimization
- Her strategy to key phrase analysis
- How she creates content material
- Her favourite sources and instruments
- Her principal problem
- Her biggest accomplishment
- The largest mistake she made
- Her recommendation for different entrepreneurs
Meet Christina Marie
My running a blog title is Christina Marie and I’m an outgoing, lively, and energetic particular person.
I like going out with buddies and I might name myself an effectivity queen. I simply get issues accomplished actually rapidly.
I began my blogs to form of preserve me busy at evening and fill within the time on the weekends within the early mornings or afternoons once I had further time on my fingers and bought bored.
Why She Created Her Website(s)
I created Very Easy Makeup because of a man good friend of mine who owns a digital advertising firm. I used to be telling him about how I missed the artistic and strategic facet of selling, as I used to do model administration, and the way I didn’t get that in my present job, which is technical venture administration, imagine it or not!
He prompt I begin an internet site doing magnificence and make-up product evaluations…and that’s how I bought began!
My recommendation for brand new bloggers is to essentially simply get began!
I actually simply signed up for internet hosting with Bluehost, purchased a URL that was accessible, and began typing away and writing 4 to five articles. Then I purchased an internet site theme from Etsy and went from there!
As for concepts… I’ve so many concepts!! I by no means run out. I want I had time to write down all of the articles that come to thoughts.
The enterprise began with me writing about make-up and wonder merchandise from Sephora and Amazon.
So, I wrote about issues like my favourite eyelash builder, or my favourite blush for blondes. I wrote guides about “very straightforward make-up” suggestions for learners and made very straightforward make-up tutorials too.
However then I noticed that the issue with the theme of “very straightforward make-up” is that you just run out of issues to speak about. Additionally, I’m truly not an enormous fan of make-up or magnificence merchandise I discovered. I take advantage of what I like and that’s it. Whoops! I assume my first thought wasn’t sensible.
So I slowly began to increase my subjects.
Not the perfect for having a distinct segment web site, however I wrote about various things for enjoyable. That’s what I love about having my very own web site. I can write about what I would like, once I need.
As a good friend stated, it’s form of like throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks!
So I wrote about methods to bleach your hair blonde, about my favourite music, about outfit concepts for fall, about the perfect swimsuits to cover a stomach pooch (an concept that I bought from a girls’s Fb group!), about wedding ceremony visitor outfits, about Halloween costumes, and about low-calorie meals to eat at fast service eating places.
I used to be actually all over the place.
From this, I discovered what didn’t work (like my articles about my favourite music) and what did work (like hair articles, Halloween costume concepts, and low-calorie meals). Then, I used that to spring off and create MORE web sites! Sure, extra web sites!
It didn’t appear to make sense to have wholesome consuming tips about a girls’s trend and wonder weblog, so I created a brand new web site only for that: The Jeans Fit.
It didn’t appear to make sense to have a ton of Halloween costume articles on a magnificence weblog, so I created a brand new web site with Halloween costume concepts: A Plus Costumes.
It didn’t appear to make sense to have cute child garments or matching household swimsuits on a girls’s trend/magnificence weblog, so I created a brand new web site with household outfit concepts and cute child garments: Cute Munchkin.
And it bought complicated having articles like the perfect plus dimension wedding ceremony visitor clothes and the perfect wedding ceremony visitor clothes on one web site, so I created an internet site only for curvy trend: Curvy Styled.
I don’t write for most of the web sites that usually… I spend most of my time on my make-up and Halloween costume websites, however I like having totally different websites to “play,” have enjoyable, and experiment with.
I even created a males’s trend web site referred to as Garments 4 Guys which I don’t work on anymore, but it surely’s on the market! It’s completely horribly accomplished, but it surely was a enjoyable experiment.
And imagine it or not, I even began a relationship web site for males. I gained’t checklist the web site as a result of it’s embarrassing, however I discovered that males don’t search the web for relationship recommendation like girls do, in order that web site was form of a flop.
One other “enterprise” that I’ve began is as a Holland America YouTube professional. That is one other instance of me not being targeted, experimenting, and simply seeing what works. I posted 4 or 5 YouTube movies on my Very Straightforward Make-up YouTube channel, they usually took off!
After which I used to be considering, “Hmm… It doesn’t actually make sense to have 70-year-old males subscribing to a YouTube channel about hair, make-up, and cute outfits for younger girls.”
So I created a brand new YouTube channel only for cruising, referred to as Cruise Tips with Christina. It’s not making me any cash but and YouTube hardly pays in any respect, but it surely’s plenty of enjoyable and I get pleasure from it.
Perhaps someday Holland America will wish to do a partnership with me!
How A lot She’s Incomes
Imagine it or not, nearly all of my cash is made on Amazon Associates by way of their affiliate program. My conversion fee varies, however at instances it’s as excessive as 15%. I’m averaging $5k per 30 days in the meanwhile.
I additionally generate income through advertisements with Mediavine on my make-up web site and thru the purchasing app, LTK. Nonetheless, Amazon continues to be the most important driver of my earnings.
It actually took me a stable two years to start out creating wealth on Very Straightforward Make-up. It’s a gradual recreation.
I do know that there are folks on the market who speak about making hundreds of {dollars} after just some months. My recommendation for bloggers beginning out is that these are usually not the bulk! Simply probably the most profitable folks speak about how a lot cash they make.
My objective once I began running a blog was simply to make sufficient cash to pay for espresso and possibly a breakfast sandwich on the espresso store as soon as every week. I used to be actually not making any cash after I began, even after 6 months of going at it.
It’s embarrassing to confess what number of hours I spend on my enterprise every week. It’s astronomically excessive. If I had been paid hourly, I’d undoubtedly be making lower than minimal wage.
I in all probability work on it at the very least an hour a day and generally as much as 5 hours a day. Throughout Covid, I couldn’t sleep very nicely, so I might get up at 3 am and work on my web site for a stable 5 to six hours earlier than beginning my work day, after which I’d work on it once more at evening.
How A lot Visitors She’s Getting
As I handle just a few websites, the visitors varies considerably. A number of years in the past, I used to be getting 50k visits to my make-up web site a month. Then, I had a internet hosting supplier make a mistake on my web site with a redirect and my visitors plummeted. I nonetheless haven’t recovered! My different web site visitors varies, too.
My health and vitamin web site was getting round 15k visits a month. Then Google had one other algorithm replace and my visitors dropped once more. My Halloween costume web site is simply beginning to develop visitors.
I assume the theme is that my visitors has been all over. It’s actually a tough recreation for bloggers now with all of the updates, and I’m lucky that that is extra of a interest for me vs. a supply of earnings.
For instance, I used to have an article about methods to use Wella T18 to bleach your hair blonde. The article was getting round 25k views a month and now it will get lower than 100.
Using the Google algorithm curler coaster just isn’t my thought of a enjoyable experience!
Christina Marie’s Advertising and Technique Suggestions
For my advertising technique, I take advantage of Pinterest, Fb, and YouTube. Pinterest might be my high advertising technique after search engine optimization, however I get only a few clicks to my web site by way of Pinterest.
I want to share with you my general enterprise technique, and some issues I’ve discovered alongside the way in which.
Listed here are my technique suggestions for brand new bloggers on the market:
- Ensure you like it
After a internet hosting firm tousled a redirect on an internet site, my visitors plummeted. I actually went from 50k visits a month to round 10k visits a month (or much less) and there have been days once I truly misplaced cash (as a result of folks can return issues on Amazon, after which they take again the cash).
The one factor that stored me going was that I like creating content material.
- It’s okay to sort out social media and your web site directly
I do know that some folks say you need to keep targeted in your web site and never attempt to sort out an excessive amount of social media (like YouTube, Fb, Instagram, and your web site) .
I even learn to simply focus in your web site and to not get distracted with issues like YouTube instantly, particularly because it has little ROI.
Nonetheless, I’m so, so glad that I didn’t observe that recommendation! Considered one of my hottest YouTube movies was made just a few years in the past, and I’m so glad that I created it vs. ready till later.
My recommendation is to simply do it! Attempt new issues, too!
- Simply DO IT!!
A few of my first Very Easy Makeup YouTube videos are horrible high quality. Actually.
A few of my pins on Pinterest had been ugly.
And the articles that I wrote years in the past are undoubtedly by no means going to rank on Google. However guess what?
You’ll be able to’t study till you make errors, and generally these poorly made issues (like my horrible pin and my horrible YouTube video) take off!
- Take an search engine optimization Course
I want I had invested cash from the get-go to take an search engine optimization course. I paid for the Silly Easy search engine optimization course by Mike. His class was nice!
Subsequent, I’d prefer to take one of many lessons from Earnings College. For those who don’t have cash from the get-go, that’s okay. You’ll be able to study a ton from YouTube. Neil Patel is an effective begin.
- Google content material earlier than you write it
I write about magnificence and trend loads, which implies that I’m usually competing towards huge publishers like Byrdie, Good Housekeeping, and Marie Claire.
Now, Google is displaying an increasing number of advertisements and retail websites. So now I keep away from writing content material the place I’ll be competing with advertisements (for instance, to purchase a cute wedding ceremony gown on the high of Google) or with huge publishing corporations or with retailers. I’ll simply by no means win!
See what content material is rating earlier than you write it.
- Write content material with 0 searches
There’s this idea of zero quantity key phrases, that are key phrases that Semrush and Ahrefs present as having a zero search quantity. However, if you happen to begin typing a phrase into Google… Google auto-completes it!
Because of this folks are the truth is looking for it!
I found this once I was engaged on my health/wholesome consuming web site and began typing in “lowest calorie desserts at…” and it crammed out Kaspa’s! I used to be like, “Kaspa’s”? What’s that?!
It’s truly a dessert restaurant within the UK! However I did my analysis, wrote about their lowest-calorie desserts, and bought actually good traction on the article!
- Broaden exterior of your weblog
I haven’t accomplished this but, but it surely’s a technique I wish to get to in the long run. I’ve seen different bloggers do it, the place they begin with a weblog and now have their very own product line.
I believe the principle method to generate income on this recreation is to not depend on your weblog. Use it as a place to begin, however actually the cash is in having your personal product, and promoting that.
So possibly I’ll get to that time someday, and that shall be my manner of constructing my manner again into model administration and being the large boss woman of my very own CPG product.
- Experiment
You by no means know what’s going to work! And that’s one factor I love about having my very own weblog.
I don’t should get approval from anybody, a finances from anybody, or fear about whether or not one thing is in keeping with the model or not.
Experiment with TikTok, experiment with YouTube, and check out a brand new subject to write down about. You by no means know what’s going to work!
- Develop as you go
The beauty of running a blog is that you just don’t have to start out huge.
I began with no search engine optimization instruments, tremendous low-cost internet hosting, and a fundamental web site theme, and that works!
Now I pay for actually good internet hosting, Semrush, and a nicer web site theme, however you don’t want all of that from the get-go!
Ultimately, I’ll outsource writing to others, pay folks to edit my YouTube movies, and pay for extra analytical instruments or a digital assistant to handle my Pinterest technique, however for now, I’m good, and you may be too!
- Have a number of websites
I like having a number of web sites. When one plummets in visitors, it’s good to have one other web site to work on for some time to distract your self.
Plus, I’ve discovered it useful for A/B testing, like a brand new web site template, or for testing technical glitches!
For instance, I attempted out one internet hosting supplier (after which left them) they usually added a “www” earlier than “veryeasymakeup.com” however not earlier than “thejeansfit.com.”
I requested them to take away the www as I had seen the visitors drop for my make-up web site. They stated that the www didn’t matter, but it surely did!
It’s good to have a number of websites, not just for variety but in addition for testing out technical glitches or to see if a Google algorithm replace impacted all your websites or only one.
- Bonus tip: Take a break!
This isn’t a lot a technique for running a blog however, moderately, a technique for anybody operating their very own enterprise.
Take a break! If you take a break, artistic concepts movement to your thoughts. I’ve additionally discovered that working much less hours forces you to prioritize and deal with what offers you probably the most bang on your buck.
The Significance of search engine optimization
search engine optimization is every little thing.
I’ve accomplished Pinterest, YouTube, Fb, Twitter, and Instagram, however on the finish of the day, showing on web page #1 in Google is the principle driver of my visitors.
I’d prefer to get higher at driving visitors to my web site through Pinterest and YouTube, particularly with all of the algorithm updates, however I haven’t cracked that code but.
Key phrase Analysis
After I began running a blog, my keyword research strategy was principally simply writing about what I beloved or typing phrases into Google and seeing what auto-populated.
As we speak I nonetheless give you articles that I wish to write which might be associated to both trend, magnificence, and hair; nevertheless, now I take advantage of Semrush to see how aggressive the time period is.
I select key phrases with a quantity of at the very least 50 and a key phrase issue of lower than 20. Then, I kind the phrase into Google to see what exhibits up. If a big weblog (like Popsugar or Byrdie) seems, I don’t write the article.
Her Content material Creation Course of
I’ve principal “buckets,” or classes, for my girls’s life-style weblog: magnificence, trend, swimsuits, holidays and occasions, and life-style.
Below every of those umbrellas, I’ve sub-categories like hair and make-up below magnificence, Amazon trend finds and wedding ceremony visitor outfits below trend, and Halloween costumes below holidays and occasions.
Then, I write articles that fall below every class. It actually is dependent upon my temper or what’s missing. Ultimately, I’ll in all probability delete whole sections on my web site that aren’t performing and slender down my area of interest/focus.
Presently, I’ve over 640 articles on my web site.
Christina Marie’s Favourite Assets
I like Earnings College, Matt Diggity, Neil Patel, and Brian Dean for search engine optimization tips about YouTube.
For podcasts, I get pleasure from listening to The Running a blog Millionaire and Area of interest Pursuits.
For enjoyable, I actually get pleasure from listening to How I Constructed This, by Man Raz. That’s the place I discovered that you just actually have to like what you might be doing if you happen to’re going to be a profitable entrepreneur.
I additionally like The Small Enterprise Massive Advertising Podcast with Tim Reid. He’s a enjoyable man in Australia who’s so satisfying to take heed to!
Her Go-To instruments
Probably the most helpful instruments I take advantage of are my laptop computer, my Logitech ergonomic keyboard, my wi-fi Logitech mouse, and my two giant laptop screens. And naturally, quick web!
YouTube is tremendous useful for studying methods to do issues, and WPBeginner has articles which might be nice for studying methods to do issues on WordPress, too.
I additionally use Canva (the paid model) and Semrush, however that’s about it!
Her Most important Problem
These Google algorithm updates are a ache within the butt at instances!
However I’d say the most important problem was when a previous internet hosting firm tousled… huge time.
I requested them principally to “copy and paste” Very Straightforward Make-up to A Plus Costumes in order that I might copy over the plugins and the customized coding adjustments I had made to my web site. As a substitute, they did a redirect from one web site to the opposite.
The end result? I utterly misplaced all of my visitors on my make-up web site. I went from making actually good cash to nothing in a day.
Google utterly recrawled my web site, articles that used to rank stopped rating utterly, and new articles from my web site began to rank as an alternative, however nowhere near the volumes that my prior articles had been receiving.
It was actually devastating, and I nonetheless haven’t recovered 2 years later. It was heartbreaking to go from making actually good cash to dropping cash every day. Let’s simply say I’ll by no means return to that internet hosting supplier, and I’m glad to be with who I’ve now, which is BigScoots.
Her Best Accomplishment
After I began out, simply having the ability to arrange an internet site was an enormous accomplishment.
Proving to myself that I’m able to determining the technical particulars to create an internet site and to have an article present up on Google within the search outcomes—that was an enormous accomplishment.
After that, getting greater than 10 guests to my web site was an enormous win, and the primary $5 I made through Amazon Associates was additionally an enormous win. You actually have to understand every little thing!
After that, attending to 1,000 subscribers and monetizing my YouTube channel, Very Straightforward Make-up, was an enormous win.
Most not too long ago, I went on a Holland America cruise and three totally different {couples} acknowledged me from my YouTube channel, Cruise Suggestions with Christina, and stated that they watched my movies and beloved them!
That made me actually proud and utterly made my day. The truth that folks acknowledged me and located the content material useful was an enormous accomplishment for me, particularly since I really feel like I’m simply winging it with YouTube.
What She Needs She Knew When She Began
I want I had identified extra about how search engine optimization labored.
I spent plenty of time writing articles like,“The High 10 Christmas Sweaters for Ladies.”
Now I do know that I’ve no likelihood of ranking for these articles, particularly now that Google is displaying retailers for one of these search time period vs. a high 10 checklist.
I’ve so many articles that ought to in all probability simply be trashed.
Her Most important Mistake
The beauty of running a blog is that you may’t make any “huge” errors, because the upfront funding to start out an internet site or a YouTube channel is minimal.
I didn’t do issues as effectively as I might have to start with, however I really feel like making errors, writing just a few “crappy” articles, possibly having an modifying mistake in a YouTube video, or by accident deleting a put up is a part of the educational course of.
Her Recommendation for Different Entrepreneurs
Ensure you’re keen about what you’re doing.
There are various ups and downs when constructing a enterprise, and if you happen to aren’t keen about what you do, will probably be very tough to have the perseverance to work by way of the exhausting and irritating components of constructing a enterprise.
You want ardour and pleasure to get you thru!
