In the summer of 2013, my family started a tour of the local splash pads in Ottawa. We kept the site going for a year or two, but then life got busy and Macy got older.
. We kept the site going for a year or two, but then life got busy and Macy got older.
Originally the site was an example of a WordPress website for my Grade 8 class. (We all had student blogs back then.)
Over the years, the site has sort of just sat there. A few updates here and there, but not as much as it needs. After all, the city of Ottawa keeps on making more awesome splashpads!
I’ve tried a few ways to monetize the site – from affiliate marketing links to… actually, that’s it. Didn’t work. Zero. Right now, I’m trying to see if Google Adsense ads will work on the site.
Table of Contents
Background
The site has been running for about 7 years. During that time, the summer months (July, August) get around 20,000 page views.
It’s a site about splash pads which only operate during the summer. So, it makes sense that in the other months, we see less than 500 page views.
What’s my current focus for this project?
- Install Google Ads on the site and run auto ads.
- Update the site and send to Google Search Console
- Go out with kid to new splash pads to take photos
- Update high traffic landing pages
Strategies
How to Make Money Online 2013 Project 2 Strategies to Make Money Online
I’m trying to use Google Adsense Ads on this site to make money from visitors either:
- Clicking on ads
- Or from ad impressions (i.e. every time the ad is shown)
How to Make Money Online 2013 Project 2 Strategies to get more traffic
If Google Adsense is approved on the site and starts to show ads, then I’ll put this project higher up on my to-do list.
The key will be getting traffic to the site.
- Update my key landing pages daily to see if that helps me rank in Google.
Effort
How to Make Money Online 2013 Project 2 What will Effort look like?
Assuming I can find a way to monetize the site, then I’ll need to invest time in this project. Especially since June, July, and August are the peak seasons for online traffic.
Planting digital trees might help me keep track of my computer time – I’ll have to upload the new splash pad images and update the site.
It might be easier to measure the number of posts that we can update in a week, and then we can also write about it on our FaceBook page. (Which incredibly has almost 300 followers with zero posts and updates. Bizarre.)
Optimize
How to Make Money Online 2013 Project 2 Deciding which pages to focus on
I imagine we’ll have to look at Google Adsense data to see which pages seem to convert.
Once Google Adsense is up and running on the site, we can set some URL channels to see which ones do the best.
Tinker
How to Make Money Online 2013 Project 2 Wonder what experiments to try
- I wonder if Google Adsense will generate enough revenue to make it worth while to invest time on this digital asset. After all, this is a very specific niche site that only gets traffic in the summer. My time might be better spent on other digital assets that sell all year round.
- I wonder if this could be a fun family adventure to spend time with my kid and show her the ways of internet marketing. In that case, the goal wouldn’t be to generate a lot of money, but to spark an interest and awareness in my kiddo of how the internet works…
- I wonder if this site takes off, if we could link it to our Macy And Daddy website. You know, to keep visitors interested in our story. Maybe these families would like to start a family WordPress website, or try to make money from the internet, like us.
