1.  What’s your background and what business did you start?

Hi, My name is Kristan Hanes and I am the creator of The Wayward Home blog in which I write about alternative living like van life, Rving, buying a tiny home, or living on a sailboat. 

Before I started my site The Wayward Home in 2017, I worked as a news reporter in cities up and down the west coast for the last 15 years. I used to write blogs before as a hobby on the side which I only used to share with my friends and relatives.

In 2015, I got an offer for a full-time position as a news reporter at KGO radio in San Francisco. I only had the skills to be a News reporter and that’s what I was doing. However, in 2016, I was laid off with the entire newsroom at KGO Radio. I was lost and unsure how to make money as I was unable to get another news reporter job. I was running out of money so I moved out onto my boyfriend’s sailboat which had no bathroom, no internet, no stove, and not even running water. I was struggling and felt like a loser.

 

Kristan hanes Van

 

2. How did you develop this idea and what market research did you do?

In 2017, I was reading an article which was about Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents and was learning how she was making $100,000 a month from blogging. I had no idea at that time how to create blogs. As I investigated further, I got more and more excited to start a blog. One thing I knew was that I love to write, I love interviewing people as I was a journalist and that was my day-to-day work.

I decided to write about alternative living by interviewing people. After my research, I realized that my target audience would be the one who wants the American dream, away from 9 to 5 jobs, mortgages, car payments, and the daily grind, as the retired people who are searching for an affordable way of living or people who no longer can afford expenses to rent a home and is looking for a new way of living.

I created my entire website around the topic of alternative living. Then I started interviewing nomads and published articles on my brand new website which I had created on my own. At the same time, I was also working as a fill-in-web producer at SF Gate which is an online division of the San Francisco Chronicle. The editor loved my stories and asked whether he could republish those articles. I knew that the exposure would be good for my website so I immediately agreed.

I got early exposure to my website not only from SF Gate but across the country to other heart-owner newspapers. These exposures helped to improve my Domain Authority which was a major boost in the beginning. Within 6 months, I started getting 25000 sessions and I was eligible to apply for the Premium Ad network ‘Mediavine’.

 

3. How did you learn about Blogging? Explain.

After reading Michelle’s informative free email course, I knew I had a lot to learn about blogging that is from writing an SEO-optimized article to getting traffic on my website from different sources. I purchased the course Elite Blog Academy for $800 and felt scared to purchase it as I was unemployed and was running out of cash.

I learned my success strategies from Elite Blog Academy and was able to earn my first $500 on a private display ad within six months of starting my website. I also became eligible for the Mediavine ads network and also accomplished other goals by investing in courses and training to learn about blogging.

I took a Stupid Simple SEO course and learned about keyword research. After doing this, my website traffic skyrocketed and then I was able to hire writers and a virtual assistant to help me scale my site. 

 

4. What is the process you followed to launch your business?

Launching a blogging business is so easy. You just need to have a laptop, an Internet connection, and very little money to buy domain and hosting. When I launched my website, I took Bluehost hosting, bought a Domain name from GoDaddy, and followed the necessary steps to install WordPress. The entire expense for launching my business was around $50.

It took a little time for me to attract visitors to my website. I did not sell any digital products for many many years as I was thinking of creating a news-type site. I got most of the traffic from referrals through syndication with SFGate, Pinterest, and Facebook groups.

Creating an online business is so cheap these days that anyone can start from the comfort of their home. It’s strange how people think that they can create a successful blog or niche website with ZERO training. You need to spend money on yourself to learn and acquire the skills of blogging and SEO as soon as possible during or after launching a niche site.

 

Kristan hanes

5. What strategies have you found effective in attracting and retaining customers?

 

Having an Email list is the most important thing a business can have. I have started collecting emails from my customers from the beginning since I launched my website. Whenever I used to write a new blog post, I immediately sent an email to all my subscribers and I used to get instant traffic on my blog post.

During the launch of my first product, Niche Sites Made Easy, I did prelaunch sales to my email list with a simple cart checkout page and thought only one or two people would buy my course but I was wrong. Over 50 people bought my course at the rate of $97 and I generated a revenue of $5000 in sales within a week.

I believe that email works every time. I have always pre-launched my course and have generated good revenue each time from my email subscribers. However, it takes a little time and effort to nurture the relationship with the subscribers and then they will have full trust in you if you provide value to them. Facebook ads have also performed well for me especially when I create products that are designed for the van life community.

6. How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

I am getting almost 400,000 to 500,000 monthly readers on my blog depending on the time of the year. In 2023, I earned $350,000 from blogging which is my highest income year yet.

In my first year of blogging, I got 400,000 pageviews, 60% of which came from Pinterest and 21% from Google and I made $7000.

In my second year, I got 44% from Pinterest and the rest were from Google and I made $65000 in total.

In 2022 I made $280,000 and in 2023, I made $350,000, with 18% from Pinterest and 60% from Google.

There are many options for growth in an online business. We just need to keep working and finding different ways to increase and diversify our income. I am also planning to launch digital products very soon. All it takes is consistent efforts, creativity, and discipline to achieve the milestones.

My future goal is to hit one million monthly visitors on my website. I have also plans to publish a book on van life and create a van life course. I would love to reach 10000 downloads on my podcasts per month. These goals can be achieved by implementing the right strategy and work.

 

7. What platforms/tools do you use for your business?

I have used several tools that help my business to grow and reduce my loads of work.

Website

  • Webflow: A website builder tool to create a custom website.

Domain & Hosting

  • Godaddy: You can purchase your domain here.
  • BlueHost: It is my website’s hosting provider.

SEO

  • Ahrefs: For doing keyword research and competitors website analysis.
  • RankIQ: For finding low competition long tail keywords, headline optimizer, and optimized blog posts.
  • SurferSEO: For doing keyword cluster research.

Email Marketing

  • Convertkit: Gathering leads and sending emails to m,y subscribers 

Designing

  • Canva: For designing post thumbnails, creating social media posts, etc.

Others

  • Gusto: For HR and payroll-related

 

8. Which books, podcasts, or other resources have been the most influential for you?

  • Niche Pursuits Podcast
  • Smart passive income podcast
  • The Artist Way by Julia Cameron
  • Dopamine Detox by Thibaut Meurisse
  • The Power of Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy

 

kristan hanes van

9. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs who are just starting or looking to get started?

My biggest advice to them is just to get started as soon as possible. Once you start this journey, you will ultimately figure out in which direction you need to move. Start working on whatever online business you have thought about. Money is not the issue today when starting any business. I had spent just $50 to start my business.

You may be stuck in your 9 to 5 job but you need to take out time and work on it regularly even if the odds are against you. Consistent efforts are required if you are building any business from scratch.

Creating a blogging business is a long game. You will not see the results immediately but if you work every single day without procrastinating, definitely you will reach the level where I am right now and can live the life you dream about.

 

10. Where can we learn more about your product and services?

Website

Instagram

Twitter

The Wayward Home Podcast

 

 

Also Read:

How Sahil Bloom grew his 8 figure business on Twitter

How this man went from drug dealer to $100 million company founder

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