Wealthy Blogger Tactics Revealed – Case Study #1
Posted by Holly in Case Studies
Case Study #1 – LifeHacker
Do you want to make money online blogging? Well, last week I made a post about the Top 10 Wealthiest Bloggers of 2009 and I said that I would dive deeper into the actual tactics and methods that these wealthy bloggers use to make their cash. After much research, I have the first “case study” about one blog in particular. This blog is called LifeHacker, and offers readers resources and information to help save time and be more productive online and offline. All of the details and information in this article were all actually public knowledge – but to find them one must know how to dig deep into the code and figure out what it means. So through looking at the code of their website, I have found some very interesting and useful information. If you want to be a pro blogger, you need to know how the pros are making their money, what software they use and their tactics; so you can do the same.
Website http://lifehacker.com/
Years Old 2005-2009
Owner/Creator Gina Trapani
Topic Productivity
Featured Topics Downloads, Search, 5 Best Netbooks, Lifehacker Top 10 Hacks
Title from Homepage Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done
Meta Keywords software, productivity, technology, downloads, life hacks, hacker, lifehacks, computing, lifestyle, timesavers, health, internet, personal technology, DIY, projects, tricks, advice, backup, email, Mac, Windows, Firefox, Google, Yahoo, Gmail, keyboard shortcuts, household, HOWTO, how to’s, tutorials
Created With Custom Built
Software or Plug-ins Used
- LyteBox for Images http://www.dolem.com/lytebox/
- Facebook Connect http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php
- Site Meter http://sitemeter.com/
- Google Analytics http://www.google.com/analytics/
- Quantcast for marketing http://www.quantcast.com/
- Nielson Net Ratings Research Advertising tool http://www.nielsen-online.com/
- RegForm Software for Registration and Commenting http://webscripts.softpedia.com/script/Modules/Drupal-Modules/RegFORM-47419.html
- Feedblitz for Subscribing to RSS Feeds http://www.feedblitz.com/
Advertising
- Gawker Media http://advertising.gawker.com/rates/
- Amazon Associates Program for Advertising https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join/landing/main.html
- Double Click Advertising http://www.doubleclick.com/
Layout
Homepage is has four featured categories with images on the top fold. Then below it has a list of articles with one graphic next to each article – about 30 on the homepage. Also has Title, Recent Comment for that article, views and comments number.
No. of Posts Per Day 10-30 Posts Per Day on Average
Sources of Posts with Non-Original Content
- MakeZine “Make” http://www.makezine.com/
- VentureBeat http://venturebeat.com (travel)
- BoingBoing Gadgets http://gadgets.boingboing.net
- Cnet News http://news.cnet.com/
- Wired http://www.wired.com/
- Frugal Living http://www.frugalliving.tv/
- MakeUseOf http://www.makeuseof.com/
Characteristics of Articles
Posts are short. Huge amounts of traffic. Constant posting of new content (much of which is non-original). Format of citing source includes: Name of Article Hyperlinked [via "name of website hyperlinked" ] <–this is an example of their format for citing a post
4 Responses to “Wealthy Blogger Tactics Revealed – Case Study #1”
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Bill Vlasak
03. Jun, 2009
It appears that money makes more money,again.Outsourcing articles ,whether free or paid must work despite all the hoopla about duplicate content for search engines.These bloggers don’t care about traffic from search engines for content but rather for linking of traffic.In other words ,articles written by others from a large variety of sources can bring traffic and add to that advertising of interest to that same audience brings more traffic and more revenue and more advertising and more traffic and more money.Round and round….
They also have a huge budget for analytics and advertising and then add copious volumes of articles from many sources ,all relevant to their theme ,to get more and more unique visitors and returning visitors.
Tactics like advertising a product at a certain time of day ,expanding ads ,ad placement ,polls ,etc ,all presented in professional ways with beautiful graphics ,presented to target audiences keep readers coming back.
Even ‘outbound ‘links make them money through advertising revenues or paid analytical data.
However ,the new blogger without a large budget ,can only start by using a small portion of the above methods .Adding large amounts of articles that are theme relative seems the way to start.Make sure credit is always given to the authors or your credibility and readership is destroyed.
If you are using your blog for marketing then well placed ads and autoresponders with multiple follow-up letters linking back to your blog can help make you an authority figure [perceived at least ]
Content is king.
Bill Vlasaks last blog post..Affiliate Funnel Is A Different Way Of Thinking When It Comes To Downline Building
Holly
03. Jun, 2009
Thanks for the comment Bill. It definitely takes time to build up a blog the way they did with Lifehacker. The amount of articles they add daily is a massive. I think it’s important to add at least one a day, consistently. Then to build from there – by adding more content – unique and non-original too.
Irish Tom
03. Jun, 2009
Thanks again Holly for your information. I checked out the Lifehacker site…WOW, he didn’t set this up last week!
A lot of time and effort went in here.
I see he has a small selection of contributors for the various articles which has to help with the number of blogs he has per day.
The articles and the graphics are so very impressive.
I also looked at a few of the other top 10 sites you covered and they sure are impressive.
For us “Newru’s” (from Jenny777..we are not newbies or gurus, so we are newru’s), it is a great way to get our names out there as you say to add a blog daily and be persistant and STAY FOCUSED.
I have been working on blogs and have about eight stored and ready to go.
I am almost ready for my next web site through your good self, and I am looking forward to making steady progress to the first magic figure you achieved..$12,000.
I am also putting together my first ebook with the help and guidance of Ed Walters, the Virtual Property Tycoon.
These are exciting times and even with the economy the way it is, there are still ways to make money working from home.
Up until January this year I was working at a large Honda dealership in car sales. Working long hours, weekends,holidays and you have to take the abuse from some customers).
I pulled the plug at end of January and am now full time working from home, and even get weekends off! My wife is a very happy camper.
Anyhow, once again Holly thank you for your articles.
And thank you Bill for your input.Good points.
Kind regards
Tom
Dave
22. Jun, 2009
Excellent profile Holly! I’ve just started dabbling with Yahoo Pipes andkeyword driven RSS mashing… daunting for this ADD poster kid brain.
I’m building out some wordpress sites with basic Google analytics, and then letting them age a couple months to see what keywords/themes pop… if the stats are good then I’ll build it out…
I’ll confess though, my brains hurt from all the learning I’ve been jamming in lately/
On another note Holly, The Honest Riches 3rd Edition is WAY WAY WAY well done. The quality of that document is, and I’m not just saying this… it’s the best, most user friendly .pdf course I’ve seen, pretty much bar none.
Better than Rich Schefren’s stuff, or any of the other “Heavy Hitters”… I really must give kudos to “the chef”…
Excellent excellent content dear woman.
Great blog here too!!!
xo
peace and love