Can this blog be monetized? Originally it was never meant to make money.

23 replies
The Blog

http://www.robotcrypt.com/

I know when creating a blog or site for monetizing purposes that a lot of work and research go into it before a domain name is even payed for. There are several strategies and different types of prep work involved.

I'm wondering if a site or blog that was never created originally for marketing purposes could be set up to make some money however.

I started this blog as a way to write for fun and creatively while talking about some of my favorite things. It was, and is, a good break from content writing for other people, allowing me to write about stuff I really enjoy, or to practice humor writing occasionally.

I attached Ad Sense but that was simply an afterthought, and I think I've made a little less than $20 without putting any work into it.

Can anyone take a look at this and see if any monetizing ideas jump out at you? Again, because I had never planned to make any money off the thing in the beginning I didn't do any keyword research or anything of that nature.

Robot Crypt is the name of the blog/site. I am unable to post a link because my post count is too low.

As explained I am making no money off the site at the moment nor do I sell anything there currently, so I assure you it's not spam. Just trying to get people with a marketing background to provide any ideas. Thank you.
#blog #make #meant #monetized #money
  • Profile picture of the author cobwab
    Join a CPA network and put some CPA banners on it like PKR.com.
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  • Profile picture of the author packerfan
    Sign up for netflix affiliate program, and occassionally mention what killer stuff is available on netflix and how folks can sign up for a free trial.

    Depending on traffic you could sell advertising.

    Amazon affiliate stuff.
    Ebay affiliate stuff.

    If you have decent traffic make some original videos stick them on youtube and embed them on the blog. Eventually you can become a youtube partner and make money that way too.
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  • Profile picture of the author steve72b
    blogs are usually hard to monetize unless you're #1 on highly desired commercial keywords or phrases
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
    I have had posts ranging from the kid from Charlie Brown's Christmas special who dances funny, G.I.Joe character profiles, humorous cartoons for shows like Game Of Thrones, and Bloodsport.

    This is what originally got me thinking about maybe doing something. It's ripe with potential video and toy ads, and that's completely organic real content that I just wrote about because I like this stuff.

    Amazon and NetFlix both sound applicable and I'll have to research their programs. Any other ideas are welcome too.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Create a sig file and put the link in there. You'll get a lot more responses.
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  • Profile picture of the author mgreener
    Hi,

    Do you have an email list? You could add a newsletter signup and send out funny stuff plus promotions for affiliate offers for things that you find interesting.

    You could also go through your posts and add in relevant offers.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
    Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

    Create a sig file and put the link in there. You'll get a lot more responses.
    Ah, thank you. I didn't feel that the site was appropriate for the content of this forum so never even thought to attach it as a signature link. I have just added it so that I can get some feedback.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    From your blog:

    A blog on comics, robots, scifi, tv, horror, monsters, and all things cool.

    This is ideal. Look at each of the topics above. Comics is a huge market as are most of the rest of those topics. The trick to monetizing stuff like this is to write really interesting, compelling posts about the topics above. Make them really good. Talk about personal experiences with certain characters, etc.

    Make people want to come back and read more. Put a feed on the site so people can get updated automatically. Offer a free or inexpensive report on one or more of the topics and build a list.

    Then, when you've established a following start putting affiliate links in your posts to the stuff you write about. Old movies. Antique monster stuff from the 50s and 60s. Plans to build robots, whatever. This blog could be a goldmine if you do it right.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
      Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

      From your blog:

      A blog on comics, robots, scifi, tv, horror, monsters, and all things cool.

      This is ideal. Look at each of the topics above. Comics is a huge market as are most of the rest of those topics. The trick to monetizing stuff like this is to write really interesting, compelling posts about the topics above. Make them really good. Talk about personal experiences with certain characters, etc.

      Make people want to come back and read more. Put a feed on the site so people can get updated automatically. Offer a free or inexpensive report on one or more of the topics and build a list.

      Then, when you've established a following start putting affiliate links in your posts to the stuff you write about. Old movies. Antique monster stuff from the 50s and 60s. Plans to build robots, whatever. This blog could be a goldmine if you do it right.
      Thanks for the feedback, I definitely appreciate it. Come to think of it I've written some e-books for clients, I could knock one out pretty fast on something I'm actually interested in and offer that free to establish a list.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I would incorporate some adsense code at the top of your blog, and at the very bottom of it. I would also focus on ways to change the theme and make it a niche site that a product from Clickbank can fit well in. What is the meaning of your website?
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
      Originally Posted by Randall Magwood View Post

      What is the meaning of your website?
      It's really a place where I talk about things that actually interest me, a lot of which falls under a type of hobbyist/nerd/geek culture.

      Besides writing about stuff I think is cool, there really was no absolute meaning or agenda for the site.

      As stated earlier I had never even thought of making money with the site. LOL, I know that might seem odd on this forum, but that's what it was.

      Basically I'm just kind of wondering if there is a way to make a little money with this blog without compromising the fun I have with it, or going full blown sales happy with it. A sort of balance.
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  • Profile picture of the author ConnerHogan
    Don't change anything about the blog. The readers enjoy it for what it is. I suggest getting it ranked. The high flow of traffic will run up the ad sense. On top of that, you could create something, like a book of jokes, or a video of you doing stand up, and sell it for real cheap. $5 ought to do it. Take the 5 dollars, and times it by a % of your traffic. Instant income.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
    I guess I'll start off small and not too intrusive.

    Applied to be an Amazon affiliate a little after I started receiving replies in this thread and I was thinking it would take a few days for approval, but it actually only took a few hours.

    Now I'll just read over how to play with the links and see if I can add them to older posts as well as future ones I do. For example I have some posts that still get regular hits that are towards the beginning of my run like a Charlie Brown Christmas post, and I see now Amazon sells some Peanuts stuff.

    Thanks for all the suggestions. This was definitely the forum to turn to for answers.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
    Well, while I'm studying up on some of your suggestions I decided to add amazon product links to every post that were appropriate. I don't know how well they will do, but I must say they don't look too intrusive at all and almost seem little more than an added graphic that goes with the post. For example I had an entry about a guy dressed like Bobba Fett involved in an I-Hop brawl, and directly underneath now is a Bobba Fett mask.

    In fact they look way less intrusive and distracting than the Ad Sense stuff I have had up. I'm considering getting rid of Ad Sense altogether, but I guess I'd be throwing away $20 already earned from it.

    Either way, a lot of stuff to think about and play around with. Thanks again for all the suggestions.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
    Anyone know what "other clicks" means in the Amazon Clicks & Conversion Summary report page? I have some of those but 0 actual Product Link clicks.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
      Originally Posted by MikeyDreamboat View Post

      Anyone know what "other clicks" means in the Amazon Clicks & Conversion Summary report page? I have some of those but 0 actual Product Link clicks.
      Does anyone know about this?
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      • Profile picture of the author raiko
        Hey Mikey,

        You might consider eBay Partner Network as well. It works well for retro items especially. Things Amazon doesn't carry. You're posts on Warriors Three and the GI Joe toys would be good candidates. You can customize the EPN ad to show those type of items. Click through rates are usually high if the items match the post content.

        You could always run Amazon for a while then EPN and see which performs best.
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        • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
          Originally Posted by raiko View Post

          Hey Mikey,

          You might consider eBay Partner Network as well. It works well for retro items especially. Things Amazon doesn't carry. You're posts on Warriors Three and the GI Joe toys would be good candidates. You can customize the EPN ad to show those type of items. Click through rates are usually high if the items match the post content.

          You could always run Amazon for a while then EPN and see which performs best.
          I will definitely look into this.
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  • Profile picture of the author timb98133
    I would recommend CPA or adsence. Those are the 2 that work best for me!
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  • Profile picture of the author Tech19
    Do you have any sort of analytics setup to give you an idea of what type of traffic you are getting? If you don't, get that installed so you can see how people are getting to your website and gear your marketing around that. For instance, if a ton of people are reading your post on the Charlie Brown Christmas, then at the bottom of the post you just link to the "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" sold through Amazon. Just an example.

    Don't change what you are doing or the purpose of the site just to sell stuff. Start with working in text links within your content as those have a high click through rate, and aren't blatant advertisements like adsense.

    As far as the "other clicks" in Amazon. That includes if people click on "recommended products" or homepage, product categories, things like that.

    Actually, It looks like you are already doing something like I mentioned above, let us know your results!
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  • Profile picture of the author YasirYar
    I second the notion that you have to analyze your traffic. Once you figure that out, you can work on a more effective plan to monetize it accordingly. I don't believe a website has to be created with the intention of earning from it to actually earn from it
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  • Profile picture of the author dukestravels1972
    How much are you making from the netflix adsense banner by the way?
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeyDreamboat
      Originally Posted by dukestravels1972 View Post

      How much are you making from the netflix adsense banner by the way?
      $0

      A little under $20 total with AdSense.


      I'm about to get rid of AdSense.
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