
How I monetized a blog in 30 days: what worked, and what didn't - the_bear
http://www.lessannoyingcrm.com/articles/259/How_I_monetized_a_blog_in_30_days%3A_what_worked_and_what_didnt
======
pwim
_On average we make $1 per order on Amazon, so what if instead of showing
people Amazon ads, we offer them an awesome eBook for $1._

Why not try selling the eBook at a higher price, like $30?

~~~
the_bear
There are a two main reasons why I wanted to make the eBook so cheap:

1) Think of the $1 eBook as a minimum viable product. I hypothesized that our
visitors would be willing to pay us for premium content, but I wanted to test
it first. Given how few people were willing to pay $1, I decided my hypothesis
was wrong. I realize that sometimes raising the price can actually increase
demand, but I really doubt that's the case here.

2) I didn't know how long the traffic spike would last, so I wanted to get
something out as quickly as possible. There wasn't time to create a real eBook
worth $30.

~~~
rkudeshi
Study after study has shown the biggest hurdle is getting someone to go from
paying $0 to $1. After that, the actual price seems to matter much less (ie.
if someone is willing to pay $1, they're probably willing to pay $10).

Since you're not trying to game any ranking lists (e.g. Amazon bestsellers,
App Store), there doesn't seem to be any reason to sell at a "bargain
basement" price. A quick glance at the preview recipe shows that your ebook
does have valuable content for its target audience.

As others have suggested, $9.99 or so is probably going to be a sweet spot for
you. Low enough for impulse buys, high enough to make decent money.

(The only other explanation for low sales might be the plethora of free recipe
websites out there. But you're selling to a captive audience that's already on
your website and likes your content, so it's probably going to be less of a
factor.)

------
kposehn
Give some of the other affiliate networks (Commission Junction, ImpactRadius,
ShareaSale, LinkShare, etc.) a try. You'll find better commissions through
many merchants and often better deals.

If you need help ping me at keith [aaat] zorz [dooot] com - I've been doing
affiliate marketing for years and would be happy to help.

~~~
the_bear
Thanks, I'll definitely check those out. I've used Commission Junction before
with the Groupon affiliate program and the terrible UI drove me away, but now
that there's real traffic I guess it's worth giving it another shot.

The hardest part is finding affiliate programs that sell the things my mom
actually uses in her posts. I don't think either of us would be willing to
recommend products that she isn't using. Amazon is great for that since they
sell pretty much everything that's ever been made.

~~~
kposehn
Yeah, CJ's interface is rather terrible.

Actually, check out VigLink - they do link monetization and that might be a
great alternative to try.

------
rkudeshi
I think you (and your mom) have done a great job building a site with quality
content. From the headline, I was afraid it was going to be a made-for-AdSense
type of site, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

Also, I can't tell you how much I love the design. I'm far from the target
audience, but even I think it's great. Simple, colorful, memorable.

Regarding the redesign - I think you made great choices there too. The old
sidebar was definitely cluttered and not as useful. I did like the personal
touch in the "letter" from your Mom, but I can see why you removed it. The
only thing I might suggest adding is some sort of "social proof" - the old
sidebar had the Facebook widget showing 3,000 fans which was good. A
FeedBurner widget is probably out of place, but even a blurb about the
200,000+ pins on Pinterest would be an excellent way to demonstrate the
quality of the site.

The only other thing I might suggest changing is the date-based part of the
archives. A simple list of every post title would probably be more interesting
and get more clicks. I don't have any data to back it up, but personally I
never look through date-based archives (but I'll always skim a list of titles
on a blog's archives). You could also include a short curated list of the
"best" or most popular recipes (like what's already on the homepage sidebar,
but longer or a text-based list).

EDIT: Just noticed the permalinks - you should really clean those up. Maybe
teach your mom how to customize the post slug?

Current URL:
[http://www.theyummylife.com/blog/2012/03/293/Overnight%2C+No...](http://www.theyummylife.com/blog/2012/03/293/Overnight%2C+No-
Cook+Refrigerator+Oatmeal+--+A+healthy+breakfast+made+in+mason+jars+in+six+different+flavors)!

The /blog/ and date parts also feel bloated and entirely unnecessary. I don't
usually like blogs that omit the date in the permalink, but recipes in
particular are the perfect "evergreen" content that wouldn't need it. Heck,
you could probably even kill the post ID.

Suggested improved URL: [http://www.theyummylife.com/overnight-no-cook-
refrigerator-o...](http://www.theyummylife.com/overnight-no-cook-refrigerator-
oatmeal)

I think it's as simple as /%post%/ on WordPress's permalinks options page.

(If you're worried about breaking existing links on Pinterest, there are many
WordPress plugins that help you redirect the old URLs.)

I don't even know/care about the SEO of it, I just think shorter, cleaner URLs
would help with remembering, bookmarking, and sharing links.

EDIT2: Just checked the source and realized it's not WordPress. What CMS is
the site running? Movable Type?

~~~
the_bear
Thanks, I'm glad you like the site! You make a lot of good points. Here are
some thoughts/questions:

Regarding adding social proof to the site, I'm thinking that the non-post
pages need a slightly different sidebar with an extra box forsocial buttons.
The posts themselves have four social buttons on the left, so you see how many
people like the post rather than how many people like our Facebook page. Do
you think it would be overkill/confusing to have both on the same page?

I definitely agree that the date archives aren't all that useful for most
people. I know a lot of sites have those and I'm guessing that it's so there's
an easy way for someone to browse every post from the beginning of the site.
This would only appeal to the most obsessed readers, so maybe it's better to
just leave that out. To be honest, almost no one clicks on the archives so
that's not near the top of my list of things to address, but I'll definitely
keep your advice in mind for when I get to it.

As for the CMS, it's a homemade system. I know most people think it's crazy
not to use an existing CMS like WordPress, but I like working on little side
projects like this. It also made it really easy to build some cool
customization like the recipe printing feature. You're right that I made a
mess of the permalinks. That format is a holdover from a much earlier version
of the CMS that I didn't bother to improve before launching The Yummy Life.
I've added that to my list of things to address in the future.

Thanks again for all the feedback!

------
Mz
How old is the site? And how frequently do new blog posts go up?

Thanks.

~~~
the_bear
The first post went up in August 2010. The domain is slightly older than that,
but not much.

Right now there are one or two posts per week. My mom used to post more
regularly but we found that it's more effective to focus on quality rather
than quantity. It's generally pretty easy to predict in advance which posts
will be popular, so she just puts more effort into those and leaves out the
filler.

------
justhw
from ux point of view: the scrolling amazon bar really annoys, you should
position it fixed..

Great design though.

~~~
the_bear
Thanks! I've gone back and forth on the scrolling animation. There's
definitely a balancing act between trying not to be annoying and trying to
make money. At some point I'll have time to do a real A/B test and come to a
more informed decision, but for now I'm thinking that the site is so free of
the normal distractions (no pop-ups, only one section of ads, no video, no
flash crap, etc.) that I'm comfortable being in-your-face with the scrolling
animation. I'm on the fence though, so I guess I'll need to give it some more
thought.

~~~
B0Z
Personally I only think it's annoying if you're only skimming the article and
scrolling fast. What about pinning the affiliate images fixed above, but
scrolling a smaller, less intrusive "Find all the ingredients for this recipe
here". And possibly instead of scrolling, fade it in. (Just my $0.02)

~~~
the_bear
That's a great idea. It actually solves a big problem that you might not have
even thought about. One of the challenges with having the ads scroll with the
page is that it means the ads can't take up much vertical space (because small
screens wouldn't ever be able to scroll to see the bottom section of the ads).
This means that we only show a maximum of four affiliate links per page which
sometimes isn't enough to cover the core ingredients. With you idea we could
have as many affiliate links as we wanted without losing the ability to find
the ingredients after they've scrolled down.

I'd guess this would lower the click-through-rate, but it would probably
increase the average orders per click, so it might work out. Thanks for the
idea!

