from $0 to $1500 per month in 9 months…up next $10k+ per month…
Posted by Ben Cook as Blog Monetization, Site News
When I first started writing for Blogging Experiment I decided I would give myself about 3 months to get it off the ground before I would start to make money off it. I figured that would give me a long enough period to build up a healthy level of content, and hopefully a decent sized reader-base. After all, some of the money making programs I’d had the most success with in the past require sites to be 90 days old before they are allowed to participate and of course, Google usually updates the toolbar PageRank once a quarter or so. Since all of those factors centered around the same 3 month time frame it worked out pretty well for me.
Believe it or not, we’re quickly approaching the 3 month anniversary of the launch of Blogging Experiment and that 90 day grace period is quickly dwindling. To be honest, it doesn’t seem like I’ve been at it for that long but I really couldn’t be happier with the results thus far. I already have a fantastic group of readers and more than 200 subscribers (I expect the 335 you see in the feedcount today to drop back down tomorrow). The blog has had two articles hit the front page of Digg, and thousands of people have visited the site. To cap it off, I’ve stuck to my posting schedule better than I expected and have accumulated 95 posts!
The one area of the site that hasn’t exceeded expectations is the amount of money I’ve earned from the site. Over the nearly three months, I’ve made right at $100 total. While I gave myself the 90 day grace period, it’s time to get down to business. To that end, I’m proud to announce that I am now offering three different advertising opportunities on BloggingExperiment.com. There’s now an extra page in the navigation at the top of the site and there’s an extra button linking to it among the ads on the right hand side of the page.
I’ll let you check the page out for yourself but it’s basically two options that are fairly common among blogs these days and one option which is really more of a product combined but that is fairly unique to this site. There may be others out there doing the same thing but I haven’t come across them yet.
I have to admit, I debated for quite a while about whether or not to include the last option. The purpose of this blog has always been to document my actions to the point that anyone could duplicate the success or failure of this blog. The obvious issue with that is not everyone will have the expertise to offer the same type of product/advertising opportunity on their blogs. In the end though, I decided that any person starting a blog will have their own individual skill set. If I limited myself to only actions that every person could duplicate exactly, I’d not only be blogging with one hand behind my back so to speak but I’d also be fooling myself.
Basically I realized that no matter what I do, there will always have to be SOME customization to make this experiment fit for you. Some people won’t have the discipline or ability to write every day. Some people will be able to crank out twice the number of posts that I do. So, in the end I decided it was the practice of offering a service that people could duplicate. Maybe someone will decide to offer homemade jewelry for sale, maybe someone else will create a course on how to train your dog, another person may sell artwork or photographs. The main principle behind all those actions is to use your blog to generate exposure for yourself and your skill set.
So, now that I’ve hopefully piqued your curiosity, feel free to check out the new advertising page. Also, I’d love to hear what you think about my choice to offer the product. Am I abandoning the spirit of the experiment in my quest to make more money blogging? Do you agree with me that it’s the practice of offering some service/product that’s important and any blogger could do the same type of thing? Let me hear it in the comments below!
21 Responses
DazzlinDonna
September 26th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
1Absolutely! Every blogger should understand his/her strengths and use those to achieve their goals. This is actually exactly in the spirit of the experiment, imo. Good luck!
Ben Cook
September 26th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
2Donna, thanks for the feedback. You bring up a good point as well. I think a lot of times people limit themselves to what they’ve seen done before or what they think they are “supposed to do” with their blog. Part of what makes blogging great in my opinion is the fact that it’s wide open. You can do whatever you want and often times, the more outside the box your idea is, the better it will go over.
Jason Peck
September 26th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
3Looks like you’re making great progress. To take the advertising page a step further, have you thought about integrating a form potential advertisers can fill out directly on the page, so you can bypass them emailing you about it? Obviously some are going to want customization, but maybe you could provide this form and a paypal button to make things as easy as possible for other potential advertisers.
Also, I’m learning a lot from Yaro’s Blog Mastermind program and couldn’t be happier with this prize from your contest. Now, just need to find them time to implement some of these changes…should happen soon once things calm down at work and I stop having to work till 11-12 each night.
Angel
September 26th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
4Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I think the prices you’re offering are a little too high. Cash Quests does reviews for $80, and John Cow offers ad blocks for $125, and they are two of the most popular blogs at the moment. As this is the introduction of advertising here, offer some incentive to first-time buyers, like bargain prices. You have to offer value for money.
Ben Cook
September 27th, 2007 at 12:10 am
5Angel, criticism is always welcome but I disagree. At $125 a month that currentlyworks out to $2.50 per thousand impressions. As for the rest of your suggestions, I guess we’ll have to see how it goes. I feel the price is fair considering the time I put in and to be honest, I don’t really base my prices on what other people charge.
Fiar
September 27th, 2007 at 9:12 am
6Ben, don’t get bogged down in a depreciated definition of “anyone.” Not “anyone” can write well. Not “anyone” can take knowledge and apply it. Not “anyone” can be disciplined enough to write regularly. Not “anyone” has the communication skills to build relationships.
If you want to set the bar that low, you need to undo the Diggs. You need to undo the interview with Muhammed Saleem. Not “anyone” would have the guts to do something like that, or maybe not “anyone” would know how to ask properly to get an affirmative response.
Don’t set the definition of “anyone” to the lowest common denominator.
The Monetizer
September 27th, 2007 at 9:33 am
7Congrats on this Ben! Monetizer would like to do the same someday and this serves as good inspiration.
Angel, I’d have to disagree with you on price choices. If someone’s willing to pay for it, then the price is right.
Angel
September 27th, 2007 at 10:28 am
8How do you know people are willing to pay that much? I mean, if they are, then great, but we’ll have to see.
Ben Cook
September 27th, 2007 at 10:32 am
9@ Fiar, you make an excellent point. Maybe I should change my goal to be document every step so that it’s easily followed and can be examined and perhaps duplicated. Because you’re right, taking it down to the lowest common denominator is just not realistic and wouldn’t be useful to anyone. Very good point and thanks for your input. I hadn’t really thought of it quite like that.
Ben Cook
September 27th, 2007 at 10:40 am
10@ Monetizer, in the end that will be the true test, will people be willing to pay those prices. From my previous experiences on other blogs, I’d guess yes.
@ Angel, you responded quicker than I could but I agree with you, we’ll just have to see. I must admit though, my spine stiffened a bit and it was hard not to take your previous comment as basically saying that my services aren’t worth the prices I settled on. However, it’s never good to dismiss criticism just because it might hurt your pride so I ended up thinking about your comment quite a bit. This may actually be a good topic for a post but basically I don’t think the prices offered by others should dictate what I or any other blogger charges. Basically the decision comes down to “Is this service/product/whatever worth this price?” Now if the person has limited funds and it comes down to a one or the other situation, it may be that the cheaper price wins out.
However, when entering a new market, there are several different disruptors you can use. Price is obviously one of them (be cheaper than everyone else) but you can also use quality (be better than everyone else) or even features (offer more than everyone else).
In the end though, the proof will be in the pudding.
Fiar
September 27th, 2007 at 11:42 am
11document every step so that it’s easily followed and can be examined and perhaps duplicated.
That’s exactly where I think your focus should be. Make sure that you direct any “how to” type information on the basis that the reader may be clueless, and need even the basics outlined, but don’t limit yourself wondering whether “anyone” can do it.
An example would be, if you did a post on how to upgrade Wordpress, you might want to start with “What’s an FTP and how do I use it.” In fact, that was the first thing I needed to learn when I moved from Blogspot to my own domain.
However, all you can do is document what you did, and explain how you did it. After that, it’s out of your hands. I would say, don’t focus on the idea that “anyone can do it.” Focus on in depth documentation.
As far as your prices, I wouldn’t say they are too high only that they are out of *my* range, but so is a Jaguar. Enough people buy them to keep them in production. Good luck.
Pops
September 27th, 2007 at 11:56 am
12As for prices: while other blogs may have a bigger name and a larger audience, they also have more competing ads. At JohnChow.com I count more than fifteen! If you can find companies that are looking to target blogging start-ups, I think your price point is reasonable.
Tim
September 27th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
13@Pops, that’s a good point really, you would be more “featured” here. (at least for a time)
Angel
September 27th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
14I see what you’re saying Ben, but as someone who would be interested in buying, I have to compare what i can get here with everything else in the market. As a blogger with a limited budget, I have to compare everything and look at what’s best for me. It’s not about not having faith in your service, but with everyone offering more or less the same thing, I like at these factors:
How old the blog is
How many RSS subscribers
Page Rank
Comments on each post
Readership figures
And ultimately, the likely benefit to me.
I’m not selling you short — I read here every other day — but if I’m to buy something, I have to weigh all these factors up.
I noticed you don’t offer text links. I actually tried to buy one here through TLA but your ad says the link will only show on one page. Why not offer text links private for $15 or $20 a month?
Ben Cook
September 27th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
15@ Angel, I agree, with a limited budget you have to consider all those factors. I considered selling text links and was pitched a pretty cool idea but haven’t quite worked out the details just yet. I’ll be sure to let everyone know when it becomes available.
Also, when buying text links, depending on your purpose and goals with it, you might only want the link to show up on one page because it’s less obvious to Google etc that it’s an artificial link.
Thanks for the suggestion and certainly thanks for the input. It’s always better to have both sides of an issue represented and discussed.
Tim
September 27th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
16@ Angel, I’m not proposing that you do this on the comment section, but if you are interested then make an offer. The art of negotiating is after all the way business gets done.
Angel
September 28th, 2007 at 6:22 am
17Yes you’re quite right Tim. I might just do that.
Derek Eugea
September 28th, 2007 at 8:15 am
18Heres to the natural evolution of your site. Cheers!
Ben Cook
September 28th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
19@ Angel, I just read a post on John’s site and it says the ad blocks (the 125×125) are $500 per month and my prices are definitely cheaper than that
Edit: Nevermind, just re-read your original comment and you said John Cow, not John cHow lol. In that case though, I’m closing in on the Cow’s subscriber count and have no problem having the same prices as he does. It’s a quality blog (really like the new look) but I feel this one would offer value as well and as someone mentioned, I am currently offering two fewer spots.
Ben Cook
October 1st, 2007 at 1:12 pm
20Well… I hate to admit it, but I was wrong. When calculating the price per thousand impressions I forgot to divide the total number of impressions over the three months. So in actuality the price was more like $5 per thousand impressions which while not bad, is more than I was shooting for. I’ve chopped the price of the 125×125 ads in half to drop the cpm back to the $2.50 range (actually $2.40).
Reader Discussion: Social Media = Lowest Common Denominator? | Blogging Experiment
October 10th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
21[…] goal of documenting this experiment and making it something that could be replicated. Fiar left a comment saying I shouldn’t “set the definition of “anyone” to the lowest common […]
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