Website Bought For $4,000 Paid Back In 7 Months (Case Study Part 4)
I’m happy to report that I’ve officially paid off the CopyCatCrafts.com website that I purchased for $4,000 in the middle of last year after just 7 months and now all future income is just gravy. In this post I’ll show you detailed income results from this website along with what I’ve learned from running it so with that said let me jump right into the income results for this site:
7 Months Later – Website Investment Paid Off
(See past blog posts on this case study: Start Here, Then Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3)
When I first bought CopyCatCrafts.com for $4,000 it was only generating roughly $100 – $200 a month in profit (which at first glance looks like I overpaid), but after making improvements that I’ve documented in earlier blog posts mentioned above, the income average for the past 7 months has settled at around $670.18 with a peak number of $980.76 in November. As of January 1st, 2012 the website had generated $4,105.06 in total profit which was enough to cover my initial investment of $4,000 (sweet!). Now that January has come to a close I can see that even during historically one of the lightest months for advertising income (January) the site still managed to make me $586.19 which is all the better considering my initial investment is already paid off.
Rivit Media Total Income: $1,281.07
Rivit Media is a banner network specifically for sites focused on DIY, unfortunately the best months were July and August whereas November and December they didn’t seem to have any premium banner campaigns. So the income could have been much higher, but when Rivit Media doesn’t have any of their own banner ads they use Adsense instead. I may look for a new banner network especially after the traffic grows even greater for this website.
Google Adsense Total Income: $1,139.40
Every single month Adsense income has grown which is great news especially since I expected it to drop off after November and December. I could still be more aggressive and put in a 336 x 280 Adsense unit right beneath the title of an article, but there is a fine line between making money and using too much advertising that can hurt the user experience. This website is less focused on Google organic search traffic and more reliant on users sharing the website so I try not to be too aggressive. One ad unit I’ve considered removing is the top 728 x 90 block which is never clicked and to end the article with an Adsense unit inside the content. I will do more testing with Adsense moving forward.
Vibrant Media In Text Advertising Total Income: $1,909.13
The in text advertising income from Vibrant Media has generated roughly double what Google Adsense has provided with only January seeing a drop in advertising income from Vibrant Media where the advertisers have less budget to spend. By looking at the graph above it should be obvious how important it is to use multiple monetization methods because at various times of the year some methods will work better than others.
Vibrant Media Display Advertising Total Income: $361.65
This isn’t currently active on the site right now, but it’s basically a little bar that you see at the bottom of the page. When the year gets further underway and Vibrant Media has signed more advertisers to use this advertising method I’ll resign a contract with a preset eCPM rate for using the bar on the site.
Total Expenses $700 for 7 months of content
Update: So it turns out writing a blog post at 2:00 AM in the morning I forget things like expenses hah hah.
Expenses for the site are only $100 a month to pay a writer $25 an hour – she does a great job and because of the nature of the content on the site it only takes her roughly 4 hours to do all of the content for the month.
So when I take the income less expenses it’s more like paying the site off in 7 months, but in either case as of Feb 1st all future income is gravy. Because I pay someone to write the content it should be worth mentioning that I’ve spent more of my time writing these case study blog posts on this blog than I have spent working on the website.
Now I have a roughly $600 income stream coming in and still more opportunities to grow the website.
Overall Income Impressions And Future Plans For CopyCatCrafts.com:
There is still more money to be made specifically with the email list and I could also test out more banner advertising platforms, sizes, locations etc. to improve the income even further. I’m also working on another side project for this website that will increase the income even more. As always I’ll share my income results in future blog posts to let you know the results of my testing.
No Matter What Google Does There Will Always Be Websites Making Money
I believe there are a lot of opportunities to make money in this space because regardless of what Google algorithm changes may come about in the future whether it’s Panda, Koala, or the infamous Sloth Bear update as long as there is an internet there will be websites making money (obviously the later two Google algorithm updates I made up). As I’ve said before, one of the main things I look for when I buy a website is how much work it will take for me to run it. Ideally I try to find websites that require minimal upkeep or that can be outsourced to run with minimal involvement from myself. If every time I bought a website I had to write all of the content for it I’d never be able to fully scale this business model and neither would you. So look for opportunities where you can leverage your existing capital to buy a website where you don’t have to take care of all of the content creation yourself and/or find websites that don’t require constant updates.
Your Action Required:
Like me on Facebook so we can talk about buying and selling websites:
I’d also like to know what you think of the website, the case study and anything else in the comments below. Additionally, if you have some suggestions to improve income beyond the obvious tactics I’ve mentioned above and in past blog posts I’d love to hear those as well.
P.S. I also wanted to let you know that I’m off to a great on my 2012 goals (Last month I bought a website for $10,000 so I only need to invest another $90,000 to meet my 2012 goal)
Got something to say? Click here to reply
Great job!
Now you can easily sell the website for $10k+. It is surprising to see that other ad networks have over performed adsense. I think it is wise to test other networks on websites with larger traffic.
KrisN´s last [type] ..Free WordPress Installation
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 9th, 2012 at 11:22 am
Yah I could probably sell for around that mark, but I would rather build the income well beyond $600+ per month to several thousand per month so that I can be looking at a mid 5 figure sale – or – just use the monthly income to pay my Tesla Model S performance car payment
(kidding of course, at this stage of life and business I’m far too practical to buy an $85,000 car.
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I’ve been “window” shopping on Flippa for about 2-3 months now, made a couple bids, but haven’t gone all the way yet, it will happen soon though. Thanks for sharing all your buying websites tips, they are very helpful.
Jamie Northrup´s last [type] ..Top 10 WordPress Themes from January 2012
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 9th, 2012 at 10:50 am
Hey Jamie,
Glad I could help share some advice based on one of my website buys.
Chris
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Sheldon Reply:
February 13th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
Flippa is filled with emarketers trying to flog u sites at ridoculous prices
Sheldon´s last [type] ..Tablets popular for christmas Gifts
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Greetings from Phoenix! Going back to Seattle next week for the final packing and then we have a one way ticket back here. Still need to sell the house in Redmond after that though.
I don’t see anywhere you mentioning your expenses from the writer you hired? Maybe I missed it as I just skimmed things.
I guess I need to listen to the podcast on SPI to find out were you buy these domains.
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 9th, 2012 at 10:51 am
Hey “Jack”
Nice to hear from you again hah hah. Yah let me update the blog post I pay her $25 an hour but the content is very quick for her to put up so it ends up being $100 a month. As of now it was already queued through the end of March.
Chris
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Interesting case study Chris and nice to see you made your investment back quickly.
I haven’t tried Vibrant media before but it certainly looks like I should test it on a couple of my sites vs Adsense.
Adding your own products sounds like it could do really well based on the type of visitors the site is getting and there is a lot of potential for “craft” related products.
Neill´s last [type] ..We Now Have a Forum!
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 9th, 2012 at 10:51 am
Yah, adding a DIY how to get started eBook is one of the ideas I’ve been working on and want to pursue. If it gets done I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.
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How much time did you spend improving the site to increase the income? What about other expenses? If you include those when is your break even point?
Artur´s last [type] ..Paczki in Phoenix – Mardi Gras, Fat Thursday and Where To Get The Polish Pastry
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 9th, 2012 at 10:52 am
Hey Artur,
Going to update the blog post – I didn’t spend anything to increase the income the only thing I spent was $100 a month on writing.
Chris
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I assume you (of all people) have tried Amazon affiliate links? If so, how’d they work out and if not, why not?
Like someone else said in the comments, I’d be interested in hearing how much you pay the person (people?) who creates your content.
Tristan´s last [type] ..How My First Kindle eBook Became a #1 Bestseller (and 5 Other Things I Learned)
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 9th, 2012 at 11:03 am
Hey Tristan,
Yes I tried them during the Black Friday time period and Adsense performed better. As I’ve advocated numerous times before, you should never force Amazon onto a site where it won’t work as well as some other monetization method. This site is specifically very focused on earning money in passive ways (i.e. contextual advertising) as I mentioned in one of the other comments that’s why I’m looking at doing a DIY crafting book and selling that although the crafting / DIY niche is often more interested in learning and doing things themselves so I’m not quite sure how it will sell.
$25 a an hour (she’s a great writer)
4 hours a month to do the month’s worth of content
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Hello Chris,
Thanks for putting all this information up for us! You’ve answered the expense question already but perhaps you could expand on this maintenance cost a little in future posts? After you’ve purchased the site and increased its ranking how do you continue to post good content? It is as simple as hiring a VA giving them marching orders and letting them go?
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 10:42 am
It can be that simple. In this case I hired someone who I knew was doing a great job on the site already. Generally speaking on higher quality sites I try to hire US based writers because of the additional quality but depending on the site sometimes you might not even need to hire anyone.
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Nice website. I found your site thanks to Pat (smartpassiveincome.com) nice interview on his podcast.
Edgar´s last [type] ..Google Adsense Case Study
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 10:43 am
Thanks Edgar, glad you liked the interview
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Hi Chris,
I have visited your site copycatcraft. Sorry if I have asked a stupid question but where are the in-text ads from Vibrant network?
It is quite surprising that Vibrant is earning more money than Adsense in your site. How about info links? It seems to be a more famous in text ads. At least it is easier to get approved than Vibrant.
Thanks for your great information!
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 10:44 am
I don’t like infolinks because they generate less money (in my experience) than Vibrant Media.
Chris
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Adrien Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 4:32 am
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your reply.
I am trying infolinks and to be honest, the payout is really really low. It is about 10% of my adsense earnings and it SEEMS hurting my adsense performance too! Do you experience this? I mean in text ads affecting adsense ads.
But can you tell me where are the in-text ads in the site? I really can’f find them…
Adrien
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 16th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
I don’t use Infolinks – I use Vibrant Media.
My preference is:
Vibrant Media > Kontera > Infolinks
The sites won’t display if you aren’t in their demographic as I believe they target based on location
Hi,
This website gives the most actionable points that I have ever seen on some other similar websites.
To be honest I don’t understand what to comment because your approach is out of the box and I have never tried it.
I have subscribed to your blog so that I can get to the same plane of thinking as this blog is.
Atul Tayade´s last [type] ..Choosing Catalyst Theme Framework
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I haven’t used Vibrant Media and definitely love to try out. Adsense is paying very low CPC on some of my Product niche sites.
I’m still ramping up my niche site business. Hopefully, I have some budget to buy and improve sites as you do. When I get to that route, definitely will ping you again.
I’m sure that there are skills involved to know what to buy and how to improve the income. Thanks, Chris!
Kent @ Niche Marketing Tips´s last [type] ..MMO Monthly Report January 2012
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Wow. Good stuff. I was wondering how far in the internet business were you when you first thought of buying another website and make it even more profitable then it already is?
I mean, this is not a beginners thing, you have to know what you’re doing.
Great job
Mitja´s last [type] ..Basic Habits of Successful and Unsuccessful People
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 10th, 2012 at 10:47 am
Hey Mike, first site I bought was back in mid 2010 but it’s really all the same. I can just look at a website and tell whether or not they’re making the most money they can from it.
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Jason Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 6:53 pm
So in a way are you saying you have to have already succeeded with monatizing websites to be able to tell when someone else isn’t doing a good job?
Jason´s last [type] ..Changing WordPress Themes
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 12th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
Hey Jason,
Not necessarily. It isn’t rocket science to know that putting an advertisement in a more prominent location will result in a higher click through rate and greater amount of earnings – the old owner knew this as well. There are reasons for and against aggressive advertising (especially with a website that has a strong community) if you’re just getting search traffic and no repeat visitors than by all means be more aggressive.
Chris
[...] Chris’s latest update on MMOTI about his $4k purchase [...]
Hey Chris,
I am still a beginner with AdSense but I recently acquired a small site that was already earning. ROI will be about 7 months if I do absolutely nothing, but there’s some additional long-tail keywords that I can rank for that should boost up the income (hopefully).
I found it best to avoid Flippa like the plague when buying (selling is great though). I actually bought this site privately after I approached the owner. He just happened to want to get rid of it. Another man’s trash is another man’s treasure I suppose.
Andre Garde´s last [type] ..SECockpit Adds Social Indicators To The Top 10 Competition Analysis In Keyword Research
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 12th, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Hey Andre,
Congrats on the buy – I do think there are some decent sites on Flippa but you just really gotta do the homework to find them
Chris
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Can you suggest any good places to find copy writers or content writers? all
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 13th, 2012 at 12:42 pm
TextBrokers.com for writing
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This is really opening my eyes to something I hadn’t considered before. I have enjoyed reading your case studies and talked about you on my blog… hope thats ok
Diane
Diane Corriette´s last [type] ..Internet Marketing Strategy – Buying Websites
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It’s really impressive that you are making so much money. It’s my dream to earn like this also. Right now i am not earning much. Lets see if can turn the tables in the future
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I found myself browsing on Flippa back in November randomly one day and ended up getting serious on a site that I thought was way under value and had so much potential. It came with a huge mailing list and several thousand followers on both Facebook and Twitter. I bought it for about $2500 and have already made back $1600 with Clickbank. The main problem is that the site does not have great SEO so I have been paying AdWords for traffic. Still makes a profit though. I am currently redesigning the site and hopefully will improve the SEO dramatically so I don’t have to pay. The new site will likely rely more on AdSense and Amazon so we’ll see how it goes! I haven’t emailed the list yet so I can’t wait for that!
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 13th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Well if you improve the SEO and were making money while paying for traffic might as well continue doing them both
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For a moment I thought buying website doesn’t mean adding content to them. How wrong I was. 7 months of content at $100 each month.
On the bright side, with the graphics and current design that amazing, $4k for a site like this is a steal.
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What a great case study. That site looks fun too.
Kelsey´s last [type] ..Self Storage Investing in the News
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Hi Thanks for sharing. thanks for pointing out the things that a blogger must have to be successful
Vernette Carbon´s last [type] ..Prescription Drug Overdose Killing Celebrities…More Americans Than Car Accidents
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Hi You have a great post. And I really learned a lot from what you have been pointing out. I like your Ideas
Vernette Carbon´s last [type] ..Hagee Says – Stay-At-Home Dads Go to Hell
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A comprehensive article,well magnified but i feel that one requires a comprehensive examining of few things before buying a website
Jessi@work from home´s last [type] ..The New Era’s Future : Earn money selling online for Beginners
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Great Post, its so refreshing to see someone disclose so much detail.
The numbers really tell a story, I’ve even noticed some products that are beging flogged don’t even provide a video walk through of the software.
You mentioned you were lookign for another Banner Advertising site.
BuySellAds.com – I’ve bought some ad space from these guys for banners on some niche sites at approx 50% less than Adwords Display Ads charged with approx $1 per click from non-niche site.
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Chris Guthrie Reply:
February 22nd, 2012 at 12:54 am
Yah good call on BuySellAds – I’ve never had much luck with them but perhaps with all the traffic this site gets it will work.
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Thanks for sharing such a great post. I understand that your websites sell because you have great content. Is there any more advice that you would like to share for somebody interested in developing an online business.
Edd @ Domed Stickers´s last [type] ..Designing A Brand Logo
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Hello, I am very impressed with your experiments, and now I want to start something like you. I know it takes a lot of effort but a journey of thousand miles starts with a single step. I have created a blog of mine as first step.
Farhan
farhan@make money internet´s last [type] ..Yes, there are Sites like Mechanical Turk (MTurk) …!
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