Site Recap
Between 2010 and 2011, we acquired 5 content sites, mostly through several separate transactions.
The biggest was wetheadmedia.com which featured hundreds of articles on plumbing and gardening.
Other sites were in various niches:
- topcakedecoratingideas.com
- Monumentallifeinsurance.org
- serpentinebeltdiagrams.com
- Techieblogger.com
The acquisition cost totaled about $26K.
The businesses used a number of different monetization methods including affiliate and advertising. They generated a combined total revenue of over $40k and we held them for about 1-2 years on average.
By 2012 we were able to sell the sites for $80k. Along with the $120k generated from revenue over this time, we generated a total of 200k.
This case study will drive into exactly how we did this.
What We Did to Grow the Site?
As this project began back in 2010, we no longer have the exact figures on what we invested. However, as we recall, it was under $10K. These are the methods we used to grow the site and increase revenue.
Improve Google Ads Positioning
This was one of the principal ways we used to optimize revenue. We worked on improving the quality of our ads, landing page, search and bids to improve the positioning of Google Ads.
Diversify Revenue
We also focused on diversifying the revenue streams of the sites.
We mainly did this through:
- Affiliate programs
- Private ad sales
Add More Content
We also worked on improving and adding more content to the different sites. Through doing this we managed to increase traffic.
Build backlinks
We also worked on building up the backlink profiles of the sites to increase their authority. We cleaned up broken and low-quality links and added more high-quality links.
Results
So what were the overall results?
We sold all the sites as a portfolio for a combined total of $80K in early 2012. The sites also generated combined revenue of over $120K in the period that we owned them.
This was a successful venture.
Hey Michael,
I saw this post on namebee.com, and it caught my attention! Did you reach out to them to add you, or did they do it?
I also wanted to say that this is a nice case study! That’s what it’s all about! Can you share how much money you invested in growing the sites? Or was it just your time that you “invested”?
Goran, thanks! This was 10 years ago, so I don’t have the numbers, but as I recall it was under $10K.
You might be wondering why we are publishing such old deals, the reason is due to NDAs and privacy we can’t post our more recent ones publicly.