CC.com Case Study: The First Steps

As I wrote yesterday, I’d like to share more about the things that I started to do to monetise my blog site, Chrysalis Creativity (abbreviated to CC.com) as a way to chronicle my $100 challenge adventure. This way, readers might be able to learn more about this process of making money online.

So, here you go.

After I declared my intention to make money from the blog site, I looked at my existing “inventory” and analysed what I was already doing and what else I can do. This is not exactly a step-by-step procedure, but it might be something you would like to think about when you check your own online money making ventures.

1) I do realise that the site has the benefit of having a Google PR of 4. So, it’s not starting out from scratch (something that people who are new to building blogs and sites will have to do). Since, it’s also linked from some of my existing projects/sites, it’s already receiving some online “juice”. But, for some reason, it doesn’t have any Alexa ranking. Yes, if you’re a “newbie” to this, you will realise that part of the work is to find ways to increase links, rankings and such.

2) I deliberately wanted a three-column format for the blog – to maximise content and ad areas. So, I kept the existing template and just adjusted some of its colours and formatting.

3) On ads, I realised that I was only running 2 blocks of AdSense (a banner, near my logo; and one skyscraper, in the first right sidebar). So, I decided to add one more skyscraper ad underneath the existing one. I’m not sure if this is a good move or not, but I thought it was worth trying, seeing as I still have plenty of white space around.

4) I decided to keep the Chitika* ad in the rectangle box on the top right hand side, even though it barely made money before. But, I’m re-thinking this, as I’m not sure if this is the best way to make the most out of this prime spot.

5) I also kept an ad to one of the affiliate products that I’ve been promoting in the sidebar (a myHelpHub product). When it was first released, I managed to make some money from sales, but I haven’t made any sale from this for a while now. So, I’m also wondering whether or not to keep it there or to think of another way to make use of that spot.

6) The next step for me was to sign up with PayPerPost (PPP) – and tell my readers/visitors about this move. I then added the affiliate button to my sidebar, as well as participated in the “Review My Post” programme that they have by adding this button to my template. This enables readers to review my blog entries on PPP and make money by doing so. I’ll write more about my experience with PPP so far in another blog entry.

7) Since I was already part of Text Link Ads* (TLA), and had experienced mild success with the programme in another blog, I decided to give it a go for CC.com. I applied and added the code to my sidebar. And, because I’m running WordPress there, I was eligible to sign up for TLA’s Feedvertising programme. So, I did.

And, guess what? Within 24 hours, an ad was sold for the blog! Just small cash, but it was good to see something like it happen nevertheless. Showed me that sometimes, we don’t really make use of the right money-making tools.

A couple of other things that I did for CC.com that are not necessarily directly related to making money, but hopefully gave the blog some additional value: Added some sense of community in it via MyBlogLog and started tracking its stats better via Technorati and Statcounter.

Anyway, I’ll post any other updates on this. And hopefully, I’ll be able to report a month-by-month update on the cash returns.

If you’re doing the $100 Challenge, I hope you’ll share your process too.

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* Affiliate links