The title is 100% factual, you know… And it has an interesting story behind it. Keep reading.

Every day I wake up at 5, 6… ahem, 7 and make some coffee. Maybe munch some toast and a piece of fruit. I sit in front of my laptop and do a quick scan of Google analytics for all 10+ of my blogs.

And every day, without fail, I’m surprised we’ve grown so much over the last two years. Let me tell you; it wasn’t an easy road. But seeing your little “baby” projects flourish is nothing short of amazing.

Of course, looking back, there are things I could’ve done better. I can’t complain, though: because mistakes are the ingredients of future success.

One small website, in particular, played a key role in helping me shift focus and prioritize blog-building principles that today bring me over $30k/m.

Which is a big win in my books since that’s about how much the average blog earns PER YEAR. It also happens to be the goal I set for myself when 7 years ago, I typed “how to start a blog” on Google…

In any case, that particular purchase was disastrous, with many hidden pitfalls I… fell into with grace (?) but eventually managed to turn everything around.

If you’re in the midst of a similar situation, this post can help you. Think of it as a personal journal entry of a semi-retired digital asset investor (what a mouthful!)

In May of 2020, my team and I decided to add another blog to the portfolio. We spent a big chunk of that month researching and scoping the market. It was a weird period for online businesses, and a lot of opportunities were popping up.

Alongside inflated metrics and revenue, during the acquisition period, you need to figure out how the new website will fit your current roster. Instead of randomly picking a shiny new blog, I’m a big proponent of dominating your niche.

We already had a proven formula in the parenting niche, and I was confident we could replicate the success of our first blog. 

So, on June 1st, we found our target!

Yo, stop cheating! (Background Check)

It’s imperative to dot the i’s and cross the t’s before you commit to an investment. I know; I know it’s not flashy nor super interesting. I admit it; it’s grunt work. But you still need to do it – or hire us to do it for you!

Because doing as much research as possible beforehand will save you from a few headaches and many sleepless nights afterward. I should know…  

In this case, everything looked good on paper (hint: it always does). The site had potential:

Monthly Traffic: 10-12K
Pinterest Followers: 26K
FB Followers: 42K
Revenue: $250/m

The strong social media presence, plus deep content (over 50 posts), sealed the deal. It was a small site, yet the ceiling was high. With a few tweaks here and there, we could create a solid blog.

I bought it for $6500 ← this investment would eventually (rather) quickly 10x

Red flags (The Challenges)

OK, let me make something very clear: there’s NO chance your first acquisition will go smoothly. I’ve bought and sold dozens of projects throughout the years, and there are always roadblocks.

(Admittedly, I caused some of them by micromanaging every little thing… but that’s a story for another time)

You must be prepared. That’s what will make or break your site. It’s also why I place so much emphasis on creating automated systems and blueprints that work without my direct supervision.

See, we had to deal with 3 main issues:

Weak domain. Practically zero DA. 

Low organic traffic (less than 5%). The previous owners relied solely on Pinterest juice, letting their ranking fall into the dark depths of Google!

High Bounce Rates. There was a mismatch between audience and content. It’s not enough to lure people in; you need to keep them interested.

Not to mention that ad revenue decreased by 80% after the very first month.

There was a blackhat technique involved here to inflate the original number; I’ll talk about these kinds of things in the future.

You might be freaking out right now; it sounds like a nightmare. 6k down the drain, a failed purchase! In the past, I’d have thought the same. It’s easy to fall into a self-defeating mode, right?

“Oh no, maybe I shouldn’t pursue this whole blog business idea, maybe I should pull the plug now before it’s too late, maybe I suck!”

STOP. Take a breather. Here’s what you do in these cases.

You have a bulletproof formula for turning these… minor inconveniences into huge successes. Borrowing from Jocko Willink’s powerful life philosophy:

Is the content shallow and plagiarized? Good! We have a content MACHINE producing 1000s of quality words daily.
No organic traffic? Good. Using the best keyword tools, we can quickly escape the “Google Death Sentence.”
Is the design clunky and unresponsive? Good! Our design team is faster than me gulping down a cold beer on a summer night…

See? The solutions are there. You just need to take calculated action – and some risks. 

Risk???

Naughty word, that one. Yes, dear reader, it’s an investment after all. There was always a chance this website would flop. Into the gutter, burnt to the ground, and shredded to pieces.

Fortunately, it didn’t. And I’ll tell you, step-by-step, how it became a golden goose popping golden eggs and providing some meat to spare for the weekends!

How do I revive a “zombie blog” in less than 6 months using these 3 simple steps?

Everything I’ve described so far happened in the span of 30 days. The internet can be ruthless in that regard. It can (in)validate a business idea very fast!

The conclusion was that our new acquisition is a zombie blog. 

“Wow, Forrest, what an interesting, genius term! What does it mean?”

Huh, I’m glad you asked, friend. A zombie blog is basically a rotting yet functional website filled with stale content that Google recognizes as dead. Sure, you have some lingering traffic and a social media presence, but; you’re old news, buddy.

So, at first, I thought, let’s salvage what we can and move on.

But I had a gut instinct that we could do more than that; what the hell? Let’s try to work some of our magic and transform this blog into an income stream.

Now, on to the fun part.

From my perspective, there are 3 (+1) major parameters that move the needle. The 20% of inputs are responsible for 80% of results, per the Pareto Principle.

1. SEO and SERP optimization
2. Design, Brand Identity, and Site Architecture
3. Content
4. (Backlinks)*

Let’s get more specific.

Technical SEO & Speed

One of the most glaring mistakes the previous owner made was ignoring basic SEO etiquette. The content was all over the place, lacking a clear voice and direction.

There were a lot of broken links and a chaotic structure, making navigation even harder.

Also, backlink building was nonexistent ← (more on that later)*

What we did differently:

We ran a comprehensive audit on all fronts, identifying mistakes and correcting them where possible.
We quickly created a brand voice with specific instructions for our writers to follow.
We managed to interlink various areas of the website to establish a cohesive digital environment.

Speed improved tremendously, and we started seeing a decline in bounce rates. 

Design & Branding

Design SELLS. Every single blog I own has a distinct… “vibe” to it. 

A grave misstep newbies make is mass produce blogs using premade stock themes. Sure, they’re cheap… but they’re CHEAP.

That becomes an even bigger issue when you’re dealing with a site in the parenting niche.

What we did differently:

Redesigned the whole thing from scratch. This time, our design team stepped up and created a custom build that fits our vision.
Restructured clunky pages
Added a personal touch to the logo, fonts, digital signatures, etc.

We enhanced the user experience tremendously while also increasing our perceived authority – that’s a BIG plus if you’re building an authority blog.

KW & Niche Research

For better or worse, in order to make blogging a viable business model, you need a content strategy. 

Long gone are the days when you could pump out a couple of posts per month and expect exponential growth. Google’s algorithms can be volatile, even vindictive to solo writers who simply can’t keep up! 

👆🏻I learned this the hard way…

While the new blog had a bunch of decent content, it was too broad, too vague. We needed to niche down even more.

What we did differently:

We dissected the existing GSC data to find the big movers
Got bad and dirty with keyword research – you should see our excel spreadsheets – to slice and define our audience
Identified the two main sub-niches we’d focus on
Created a content calendar to produce 1000s of words per week – without Forrest (← this guy) writing a single one, by the way

Our timeframe wasn’t 3-4 years, no. We wanted fast results to understand if the initial investment was green or red. 

And oh boy, ‘twas fast!

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*Caveat: Link Building is (90% of the time) a BIG priority of mine

Yes, this particular site didn’t require a lot of backlinks. BUT… that’s usually not the case. I’d argue link building is, alongside content creation, the cornerstone of an effective website makeover.

This is why my digital agency places a huge focus on creating long-term link building strategies, made-to-measure for your brand.

One thing I learned quickly was that you can’t just spam links. There’s a method. But that’s a post for another time.

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The To-Do List I Never Finished

Now, you might be thinking, “wow, this is a lot of work without even knowing if there’s a payoff at the end of the road.”

And you’re right! It is a lot of work. My monthly to-do list was HUUUGE. But you wanna know a secret?

I did, nada. Zero. Nothing. 

That’s the beauty of this whole blog portfolio thing. I had one job; to ensure the big picture vision was being fulfilled and facilitate operative communication between the executives. OK, that’s technically two jobs, but you get the point.

In plain words:

Push my team in the right direction within an acceptable time frame.

What? Did you think one person can:

Write 25-30K words of content per month.
Co-relate traffic data for further research and content planning
Maintain and grow social media
Fix and improve technical SEO, design, marketing
Send emails, answer comments and private messages

I thought so.

Having said that, none of this matters unless we get the results we want. Right?

The Before and After (The Payoff)

We noticed that the displayed ads weren’t up to par with the kind of quality experience we wanted to provide. So, for the next few months, we decided to shut off all potential income-generating channels.

Zero ads. Zero products. Zero affiliates.

The point was to get this zombie site healthy. More specifically, our goal was to hit Mediavine-level traffic while maintaining a good reputation!

(I’ll write an in-depth post about why we choose Mediavine as opposed to Ezoic or Adthrive. Stay tuned)

Instead of taking the easy road, we kept our heads down. We did the work. And it paid off!

In May of 2021, we reached 50k organic traffic without employing spammy link building techniques, private blog networks, or spinning content.

By the end of summer, not only did we accomplish our original goal, joining Mediavine and generating enough revenue to cover the initial investment…

The blog became a solid income stream, with enough powerhouse to fuel future purchases.

Here’s “The Before and After”:

Organic Visits: 760 > 109,851
Social Visits: 5,766 > 28,396
Overall Visits: 6,865 > 145,250
Pageviews: 8,466 > 161,626

“This is great, Forrest. But what about the little green pieces of paper that can afford you freedom and peace of mind?”

Yes, indeed, that’s what money CAN do for you if you let it work FOR you. In this case, that’s exactly what I did.

The blog, in the parenting niche, a highly competitive niche, by the way, went from:

$0 in March of 2020 

To

$3,219.92 per month in March of 2022

One for the books!

I don’t know about you, but I’m quite satisfied with that. $3k per month is enough to oil and maintain the machine, and then some…

Think of it like this:

If your monthly business expenses are $X amount and help create an income stream allowing you to cover that X, then everything else is a very welcome BONUS!

Because no matter what happens, that one site is covering your a**.

And that’s the beauty of running multiple blogs. Like stocks, you’re diversifying your portfolio.

Of course, no stock, large-cap, mid-cap, crypto, ETFs, etc., will have that kind of ROI. Something to keep in mind.

OK, what’s next? Let’s see.

Well, I think I’m going to walk for a couple of hours. Listen to a podcast. It’s 1 pm right now, and I’m pretty much done for the day. My team will take care of the rest 😉