CASE STUDY : Monetization of RefinanceOnline.org

[jeffcool]

CASE STUDY : Monetization of RefinanceOnline.org

I just bought a semi-developped website at Latona's auctions : RefinanceOnline.org

According to Google Adwords it has 2900 local exact searches per month with a $19.98 CPC
According to Estibot it has 4392 exact searches per month with a $20.79 CPC

Nothing to break the bank or justify a massive development plan but some decent stats in a highly sought after market (refinancing).

What took my attention before bidding is that the website was indexed #10 on page 1 of Google for "refinance online" keyword search (since then it moved up to #6 on page 1 and down to #1 on page 2).
Given that the domain is only 6 months old and has no previous history, I guess that the guys who developped it and indexed it knew what they were doing with their SEO.

From the outside, it has a nice, simple, well wrtitten and clean 4 pages + 1 home page design (feel free to have a look).
I suppose some text ads and banners can be inserted easily and nicely.

Now, I have to say that I buy and sell some domains since about one year, but I am a complete newbie in website development, SEO and monetization.
I always wanted to give it a try but without starting from scratch. This website seemed a right opportunity.

Well, now I have to start trying to make money from it... (I can hardly remember but it seems somebody told me one day it was the goal)

So, does anybody have some advice on the best way to monetize this site ?
Google/Yahoo Ads ? Cpc/Cpa networks ? Direct affiliation with some online loan companies ?

In return to your clues, I will keep posting my progress (successes or failures) with all stats and financial figures, so that the expertise of people who helped me can benefit to other beginners like me.

The idea is to use this case and this post as a "lab experiment" for forum members who are interested in following the story.

So, if you want to be part of it as a "teacher" or as a "learner", give me at least a quick feedback/reply.

 

[cantstop]

the prophet

here is whats going to happen ....you are going to get a few lucky clicks if you run ad^^^^^se you may even get a few 10$ ones .but unless you are nieve you should know that gman or your competitors will do what they can to stop the gray train.Unless you have the worlds greatest loan site gman will smart price you which means they will pay you 1 $ for clicks that they get 29$ for because they have a monopoly but don't feel too bad ;there credo is "do no harm" so they decided that you didn't deserve even 10% I guess .Any one who questions that split is dangerous and not P.C..Well ok so what if you use some other pps companies such as leadpile which pay you for mortgage and loan leads but guess what? since the bar is set as low as a limbo contest by "do no harm" they don't have to pay jack for mortgage/ loan leads..... but all they do is make gman look good by comparison.... sites that recruit actual leads ...they pay 2$ for leads with filed out form including email adress and home phone how many people want to do that and worry about sales spam??????think about it gman pays 2-10$ for 1 mortgage CLICK leadpile and similar pps programs pay 2$ for filed out online applications..yeah ok ..pointing out the pitfalls.There are many payday loan sites which will pay 10-20$ for leads but same deal extensive online applications....hope that gives you the context

 

[enlytend]

Unless you have the worlds greatest loan site gman will smart price you which means they will pay you 1 $ for clicks that they get 29$ for because they have a monopoly

Adsense accounts get smart priced because advertisers resent paying $10/click for traffic that never converts to a sale. Just business - nobody wants a negative ROI. (And btw, those high bid prices are what people are ESTIMATED to pay for placements 1-3 in the SEARCH network. Adsense is the CONTENT network - bids are lower on the content network and lots of advertisers opt out of it. )

If your sites attract good traffic that produces leads for the advertisers (on ALL the sites/pages where you run Adsense - smart pricing is at the account level), then you won't get smart priced. If they attract crap traffic, your epc's will drop. If that happens, all you need to do is remove it from the problem sites/pages and your epc will come back up.

Add more content - the kind that will attract the traffic you want. If you're getting decent traffic, affiliate programs will pay a lot more than Adsense.

 

[jeffcool]

Thanks for the advices. Very usefull.

Now, I understand I will not focus on Adsense.

I am just still wondering if this is better to have a few Adsense blocks here and there for keeping a good Google position (so that you are considered as "Google friendly") or to simply forget it (so that you are considered as a non-commercial info site) ?

Anyway, here is my plan now :

1. Find a good affiliation program (paying correctly per lead and/or having a good conversion rate) covering the 4 categories of my site (global refinance, mortgage, car loan and student loan). BTW, does anybody know where I can find some trustable user reviews about affiliates in order to figure this out ?

2. Put a simple affiliate link on each page. BTW, does anyone have an opinion of what is better : some clever text link(s) merged in the text or a nice graphic banner or both ?

 

[enlytend]

if this is better to have a few Adsense blocks here and there for keeping a good Google position

One has nothing to do with the other.

As for mixing with affiliate programs: You have to decide if you'd rather keep people ON your site and go for a payoff of several dollars per lead or risk sending them OFF your site for a few cents a click.

 

[jeffcool]

Ok, now it's clear to me : No Adsense or PPC ads of any kind. Waste of time.

I will focus on finding a good financing company having a good affiliate program.

Does anybody have any suggestion or experience in this activity area ? (I live in Switzerland, so to begin with, I don't even know which are the best/most famous US refinancing companies). Any clue is welcome.