I’ve already taught you how to buy a website in 5 steps and because I like to teach by example I’m documenting what I do after I purchase a website in a case study. In the first part of this case study I talked about my plan to first focus on increasing the income on one of my recently acquired websites called CopyCatCrafts.com. Here is the list of items that I planned to do:

How I Planned To Increase The Income For This Website

1. Split test Google Adsense vs Rivit Media using OIOpublisher

I didn’t end up doing this because I spoke with my account rep at Rivit Media and she was able to use my Adsense code as back fill when they don’t have enough ads from premium advertisers to use. It became quickly apparent that Rivit Media would continue to be a good source of income for the website when they have the ad space to sell (I’ll get to that in the results).

2. Test Vibrant Media in text advertising

I did get around to installing Vibrant Media in text advertising on the blog and in August so far it has out performed Adsense (see results below)!

3. Use CPC advertising in more locations

I was pretty busy in August with other projects so I didn’t get around to testing Adsense and other forms of advertising in other locations until just a few days ago when I added in a 468 x 60 banner ad just beneath the title of the blog post. I may remove this because so far it hasn’t converted very well and I sort of prefer the minimal advertising that was on the site before.

4. Contact craft supply companies for private advertising deals / joint promotion deals
5. Add Amazon affiliate links on the old blog posts that are related to physical products
6. Optimize high traffic pages with better targeted advertising
7. Start monetizing the email list

Didn’t get to these tasks. I was too busy to work on them and yes I realize that every day that goes by that I don’t complete these tasks I’m leaving money on the table.

Month 1 Income Results: $560.46

August Income Total So Far: $560.46 (With 7 days left)
Estimated August Ending Income: $672.55

Adsense $78.18 (New Income Source)

Vibrant Media $182.77 (New Income Source)

Rivit Media $299.51 (Pre-Existing Income Source)

Income Analysis:

I only did 1.5 things on my list of 7 tasks and the income for the website still went up thanks to the two new income sources from Adsense and Vibrant Media. I expect that if I finish the list of things I planned to do but never got around to the income could rise at least an extra $100 – $200 a month or maybe even break the $1,000 per month barrier. Some days Rivit Media contributes just a little bit of money because the ads aren’t running and the backfill Adsense ads are going instead, so it’d be nice if they always had advertisers promoting because the income is significantly higher on those days.

The best part about this website is that it’s basically passive income for me. I’ve spent more time writing these case study blog posts for UpFuel.com than I have spent working on CopyCatCrafts.com.

Why I Love Buying And Selling Websites

I set a goal this year to buy $100k worth of websites and if I can keep finding good websites worth buying I should easily be able to meet my goal. Part of the reason why I started buying websites is because I want to grow my business faster and just like Fortune 500 companies one of the fastest ways to grow is through acquisitions. I’ve been applying this methodology to my business this year and it’s been very effective so far. I generally don’t share websites that I buy on this blog for obvious competitive reasons but I hope this shows you one way I’m making money.

You can get started buying websites at any price point too, last summer I bought a site for $500 that’s made me around $5,000.

New Copy Cat Crafts Case Study Updates:

Update: I’ve gone on to share multiple new case study update since publishing this post in August 2011. Be sure to read them all below to see how I was able to take this website and generate more money with it:

Introduction – How To Buy A Website
Part 1 – Two strategies to employ after you acquire a website
Part 2 – How I drastically increased the income (You are reading this right now)
Part 3 – Long term income case study results
Part 4 – $4,000 Investment Paid Off
Part 5 – How To Buy Websites And Profit In Less Than 12 Months