Yuna The Lab: The Inspiration Behind the Brand

Yes, Yuna The Lab is named after my beloved yellow Labrador Retriever rescue, who served as the face of my business. I adopted Yuna shortly after relocating to Seattle in September 2018. As a novice dog owner, I felt an urge to chronicle her daily adventures, leading to the creation of Yuna The Lab—a passion project aimed at documenting her antics.

What began as a hobby soon evolved into an online affiliate marketing business. I invested my free time outside my software engineering career into Yuna The Lab, aspiring to share my dog care experiences, improve my blog's Google ranking, and generate some passive income.

The business was structured around three primary components, each serving a distinct role:

1. A website/blog (previously yunathelab.com) focused on dog care topics, which became the main revenue generator via affiliate links.
2. A Pinterest account (currently still active, but possibly facing deletion), which significantly drove traffic to my website.

The overall business strategy was straightforward: attract visitors to the website and encourage them to click on affiliate links.

Chapter 1.1: Analyzing Performance Metrics

How did Yuna The Lab fare in terms of performance?

Content Creation: A Look at My Output

Over three years, I produced the following:

• Website: I authored 100 blog posts, totaling over 250,000 words, with some articles reaching lengths of over 9,000 words.
• Pinterest: I crafted 111 unique pins promoting about 40 articles on my site. As of January 2022, Yuna's Pinterest account was still growing, despite broken links, with 779 followers and a peak of 320.9k monthly viewers.
• Instagram: I posted 874 times, maintaining a daily upload streak for nearly two years. At its highest point, Yuna's account boasted 11K followers, partly thanks to Facebook ads.

Traffic: How Many Visitors Did I Attract?

Utilizing Google Analytics provided insights into my traffic numbers, starting from June 2020. Despite my consistent content updates until March 2021, I witnessed a sharp decline in traffic after halting new posts.

Revenue: Understanding My Earnings

My income stemmed primarily from Amazon Affiliates and various CJ affiliates. At its peak, Yuna The Lab generated around $20 to $25 monthly in affiliate revenue, a modest sum compared to my expenses.

Chapter 1.2: Evaluating the Outcome

Did Yuna The Lab fail? While a peak of 3.9K visitors and $26.79 in revenue may not seem impressive, it was a valuable learning experience. Here are some key takeaways:

Lesson #1: Target Affordable Traffic

One of my most detailed articles aimed at a competitive keyword, "new puppy checklist," which had 3,600 monthly searches. However, it was challenging to rank against established sites. In contrast, targeting a less competitive keyword, "why do dogs chase squirrels," with only 210 searches allowed me to achieve a top ranking.

Lesson #2: Embrace Multiple Platforms

Starting on a single platform may seem appealing, but success often requires diversifying. I utilized Instagram for personal engagement and Pinterest for traffic generation, but managing multiple platforms increased my workload significantly.

Lesson #3: Active Effort for Passive Income

While the idea of passive income is alluring, my experience demonstrated the necessity of ongoing effort. Inactivity led to a dramatic drop in traffic and revenue.

Lesson #4: The 80/20 Principle

I realized that a significant portion of my time was spent on social media tasks, which yielded less impact compared to content writing. Adopting a more balanced approach could have improved my overall performance.

Lesson #5: Knowing When to Move On

Ultimately, I chose to close Yuna The Lab as I began to see more potential in my freelance writing business, ItsXandery. This decision was driven by opportunity costs, as my focus shifted to a venture with greater growth potential.