How I Made $332 From One Post!

Yep, you got it right, its $332 I made from one single post! And now as I look back I feel I could have made at least twice more than that!

If you are a reader of this blog, then you may have came across my post titled – Get Unlimited Bandwidth & Storage with Dreamhost. It was about a very limited, once-in-a-lifetime kinda offer.

I not only host this and many other websites/blogs with Dreamhost but also actively use its affiliate program. But $332 with one single post was unthinkable. Well it happened with me and here is my analysis but first let me show you screenshot of my Dreamhost reward panel.

As you can see there are five $47 and one $97 reward entries in 7 days window i.e. from September 5 (when I made post) to September 10 (last day to fetch ‘unlimited’ offer). Now lets do some simple math : 5x$47 + $97 = $332.

Apart from this jackpot, I have been always successful with Dreamhost affiliate program because…

1. Dreamhost is really best webhosting service overall. Mind my use of word “overall” as its unfair to compare performance of Dreamhost with a dedicated server solutions.
2. Dreamhost is beyond a webhosting service. There is a large community of Dreamhosters, who runs dedicated forums, wikis, blogs where you will find lots of information as well how-to guide on every single topic related to webhosting.
3. They have nice affiliate program which not only pays your webhosting bills but also generate lots of hard-cash if used smartly. By the way I was not aware about this fact while signing up for Dreamhost. I was not aware about promo-codes either! It still hurts to loose those $97 in discount. 🙁
4. Above all is about Dreamhost’s greatness but what I think works best is the fact that I am promoting something which I use myself. 🙂

I was sure about nice response to that post about as it was really a great offer. But at the most I was expecting 1 or 2 signups. And now when it brought me $332 via 6 signups, I feel I underestimated it because…

1. I don’t use “Featured Post” like option as Darren Rowse use on Problogger. I am sure that in this special case, it would have helped me get at least 5 more signups.
2. I did not use service like Digg, Stumble Upon to promote that post.
3. I know some people who were thinking about switching to Dreamhost from long time. I guess I should have mailed them that article.
4. I could have written a follow up or reminder post on say September 9, with title like “Last Day to Grab Unlimited Webhosting” or something like that.
5. There are popular forum related to webhosting. I could have used them.

Well opportunities are countless. Next time, I may follow above 5 points only to discover more of them at the end of the party.

Anyway my purpose of posting this story is to tell you that affiliate programs do work if used smartly. Also  there are more ways to monetize your blog beyond Google AdSense! 🙂

Link: Signup for Dreamhost (promo code included in link)