{"id":941,"date":"2023-04-06T08:46:38","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T08:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lowfruits.io\/?p=941"},"modified":"2023-04-06T08:46:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T08:46:38","slug":"barbehow-case-study-boosting-earnings-cro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/blog\/barbehow-case-study-boosting-earnings-cro\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbehow Case Study 1, Year 2, Quarterly Update 2: Boosting Earnings &amp; CRO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>My efforts to boost the site's affiliate earnings have been paying off! In Q1 of 2023, the site made <strong><em>1.35 times more from affiliate programs<\/em><\/strong> than display ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the trend of affiliate earnings is precisely where I want it to be: the site's revenue from affiliate links has been increasing MoM since January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All of this comes from only 16 best-X-for-Y posts and 1 product review. I plan to publish a dozen more commercial posts, then sit back and observe how the site will do this summer \u2014 its second BBQ season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ready for the numbers, wins, and breakdown? Read on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Win #1: Redesigning the Site to Boost Earnings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the final days of March, I redesigned the site from this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/tc2mxRhBMYxEda53YvRBSsbYMNwa6l_ZlinbN5fg1-epZqD1TovdLh9aDdV5rZ06IqUTqbHigjST7wrHmOOCtOQ-5_baEN62dKKw1HwvbDAJ8jAw51-wb5nTNnJSpxVDjL7X2Hb4F9MCwncioWkvqeo\" alt=\"affiliate website design\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/_O8tW9PBXKf9o4zxyfiZ34PszW5uRa--PwdJVnL3WwX-uXTjxAxPndSKCaT5PULJVF54VUVMDlT1Kd3Nnq3FAa3ts9txY1PBgrh88O-1dIRVmMBfbvLc-ZP9xPLYwgl-Ls4erHjLv6Wz_9MjNmCcuto\" alt=\"affiliate website redesign\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Notice that it\u2019s still using the same theme, a heavily modified version of WordPress\u2019 default <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/themes\/twentytwentyone\/\">Twenty Twenty-One<\/a> theme.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As far as Google\u2019s web crawler is concerned, the CSS style sheet has changed, but the underlying HTML markup (and, therefore, the site\u2019s DOM structure) hasn\u2019t changed all that much. (They say you shouldn\u2019t fix what ain\u2019t broken.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What <em>has<\/em> changed are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The logo<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Colors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fonts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>White spaces between elements<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Category names in the navigation menu<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sidebar content<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It sounds minor, but here\u2019s why this can make more of a difference than some of you may think:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The articles on the site are now easier to read.<\/strong> The new design uses a sans-serif font family. Sans-serif fonts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nngroup.com\/articles\/typography-terms-ux\/\">are generally more legible<\/a> than serif fonts on high-resolution screens, which everybody has these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The site\u2019s UX elements have been tightened up, meaning there's less white space between the titles, excerpts, featured images, content, and comments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This makes it <strong>easier for your eyes to quickly absorb the information<\/strong> on larger screens, and you won't have to do as much scrolling to read the text on smaller screens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These two tweaks can and probably will <strong>lead to improved engagement signals<\/strong> for users browsing the web, which can contribute to the site\u2019s SEO success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Quickly Redesign Your Site Like an Expert<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m no UX designer, but if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned from working with many outstanding UX designers over the years, it\u2019s that you need matching and contrasting colors for a design to work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I use a free tool called <a href=\"https:\/\/coolors.co\/\">Coolors<\/a> to generate color palettes (a.k.a. color schemes) for my websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The site\u2019s new color palette consists of a light pink background, bright-red links, and product boxes with bright-red buttons and dark-blue borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The background has the color of pink butcher paper \u2014 the type you wrap smoked meats with \u2014 by all means, a nice Easter egg and credibility booster for readers who know. But it\u2019s there for a reason, and that reason is called <strong>CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See, the pink background makes the <a href=\"https:\/\/affiliatable.io\/\">Affiliatable<\/a> plugin\u2019s product boxes stand out on all devices, so <strong>the product boxes are easy to spot for all readers<\/strong>, especially those who scroll and skim:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/VV0t5PyFtWZZ-01l8F-Sc_R_L2mHA4crVaTnb9pFVmQU-gr_lCqpF2T6ayuRvrqSl4aLh9no1tp4-_mxEfZ-u1TwQqibtVr5l8UsS3_7flvZISYd5WPJaW5uBQqKD6V5eg7KbMaKf7_E-xKpyfB4bGI\" alt=\"how to make the affiliatable plugin stand out\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Notice the presence of red, bolded links every 1-2 paragraphs under each product box:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/7BCyf1eqI_34Xne4Zu3k6BF_RCuMLnGORWpLs0Asp1iHGFfV1WoENOv8IXVTa4nX3S_fL14WooX83qL1s1Kpg7kB8ecZDU5FbP3neaHWQMXUOVy3mlttRPCDPH5ezyzG1wahH_obLk8PhzN8MUmwvUY\" alt=\"how to make links in the content stand out\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s not the color that matters here; I\u2019ll be testing out different colors to see which one works best in the coming months.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s the fact that <strong>the links stick out<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am a data-savvy guy, and I track user engagement on my websites with <a href=\"https:\/\/tagmanager.google.com\/\">Google Tag Manager<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/analytics.google.com\/\">Google Analytics<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On average, I know that 25% of the clicks on affiliate links on my sites come from these in-content links.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, if you\u2019re not doing this in your product roundups, you\u2019re missing out on \u00bc of potential traffic to retailers and partners!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can thank me later. ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve <strong>simplified the site\u2019s navigation menu<\/strong> to two self-descriptive categories: \u201cArticles\u201d and \u201cBuying Guides.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There used to be a third category called \u201cLocal,\u201d but it only has five or six posts, and I haven\u2019t gotten around to growing it just yet, so I kept it but removed it from the navigation menu. I moved the \u201cGlossary\u201d page, which provides dictionary-like definitions of BBQ terms with lots of internal links, to the footer menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The posts are sized to a maximum width of 728 px, the same as the widest horizontal ad banner I use for in-content placements (728 x 90 px). Additionally, the sidebar has a width of 328 px and an unlimited height, which can fit the widest sidebar ad banner at 336 x 280 px.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Design-wise, I have now optimized the site's earning potential with enhanced usability, conversion rate optimization (CRO) for affiliate links, and strategically-sized ad placements.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No, this won\u2019t be a game-changer. But these tweaks and improvements add up over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Win #2: ChatGPT Helped Me Get 76% More Clicks in Google<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In March, I did a little experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I asked ChatGPT to help me come up with click-worthy titles for 10 of my site\u2019s aged and underperforming posts to improve their CTR (Click-Through Rate) in Google\u2019s SERPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I used the following prompt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I am a BBQ blogger. Help me improve my articles' CTR in Google's SERPs. I'll give you the titles of the articles with the lowest CTR, and you'll generate 5 click-worthy title ideas for each. Can you do that for me?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I gave it the titles of my posts one by one, and, as instructed, it gave me back five variants for each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a bit of editing, I ended up with this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/4MH-BhNkHxtwBZ81YIO8fbrYyY5d5lam1B4j3sfpO9PKxaUMyZZRASjq25I34-Y0FntZatbexBN8ODHauwq5IJws7V0TgWpRpv3kU-4zn_6x3tASkWSPrZPJVoD2g8WOfvDG8LIGNGiahsbXgEK7uDI\" alt=\"ChatGPT experiment to rewrite SEO titles\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The results speak for themselves:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>28% more impressions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>76% more clicks&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>0.16% higher average CTR<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>+4.87 points higher position<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In the previous 14 days and with the original titles, these posts had 41 clicks, 9.42k impressions, an average CTR of 0.44%, and an average position of 29.86 in Google\u2019s SERPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the first 14 days with the new titles, they had 72 clicks, 12.1k impressions, an average CTR of 0.6%, and an average position of 24.98.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2026 All of this because I changed the posts\u2019 titles!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, there's more work to be done to bring the average position of these posts down to a level lower than 10. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nevertheless, the fact that I got pretty significant gains with ChatGPT\u2019s help shows the immense value of <strong>using generative AI tools as a sparring partner<\/strong> for your sites\u2019 SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ll update another 15 posts in April, then 20 or 30 more in May, and tell you how it goes in next quarter\u2019s case study update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Metrics over Time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/Kei_xTivWYPo1TyUI80D46TBtO8sr9k3j_jk89oFlPfkhAotsx6qDm_aO_-dyNidSaoHW7BNPL4NOcnkjAMyulEXo18aWkYHPNseTv_3kYHHIHbkjEhrzqGLmFO1dMohZormq_QIwI08_-Bam3gya3w\" alt=\"\" title=\"Chart\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Traffic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ezoic Big Data Analytics<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The site had 43,048 visits and 48,499 page views in Q1 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Month<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Visits<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Page Views<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>January 2023<\/td><td>14,546<\/td><td>15,829<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>February 2023<\/td><td>13,365<\/td><td>15,437<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>March 2023<\/td><td>15,137<\/td><td>17,233<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Google Search<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The site had 31k clicks and 1.29M impressions in Google\u2019s SERPs in Q1 2023 with an average CTR of 2.4% and average position of 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Month<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Clicks<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Impressions<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Average CTR<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Average Position<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>January 2023<\/td><td>9.87k<\/td><td>435k<\/td><td>2.3%<\/td><td>18.4<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>February 2023<\/td><td>9.84k<\/td><td>413k<\/td><td>2.4%<\/td><td>17.7<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>March 2023<\/td><td>11.2k<\/td><td>451k<\/td><td>2.5%<\/td><td>18.1<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Earnings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>From January through March, the site made a total of $930.96, of which $402.89 (43%) from display ads and $528.07 (57%) from affiliate programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Display Ads<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Month<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Earnings<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>ePMV<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>January 2023<\/td><td>$142.89<\/td><td>$10.28<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>February 2023<\/td><td>$121.54<\/td><td>$9.09<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>March 2023<\/td><td>$138.46<\/td><td>$9.15<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Affiliate Programs<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the product boxes have buttons to other retailers or D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) brands, once again Amazon Associates was the highest-converting affiliate program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Amazon Associates<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Month<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Earnings<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Conversion Rate<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>January 2023<\/td><td>$74.69<\/td><td>10.42%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>February 2023<\/td><td>$101.37<\/td><td>8.5%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>March 2023<\/td><td>$346.83<\/td><td>11.56%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other Affiliate Programs<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Quarter<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Affiliate Program<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Earnings<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Q1 2023<\/td><td>Impact.com<\/td><td>$5.18<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>[ratemypost]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My efforts to boost the site&#8217;s affiliate earnings have been paying off! In Q1 of 2023, the site made 1.35 times more from affiliate programs than display ads. And the trend of affiliate earnings is precisely where I want it to be: the site&#8217;s revenue from affiliate links has been increasing MoM since January. All [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"am_check_title_format":false,"am_check_permalink_format":false,"am_check_check_categories":false,"am_check_image_links_new_tab":false,"am_check_links_new_tab":false,"am_check_flifdn_i_zdilyghwmc3q":false,"am_check_bw5lhchtaays6phnuxaab":false,"am_check_7xjfkeyllswtlb8m4geli":false,"am_check_mmpyavkpnvqakyoa0pswp":false,"am_check_nwzd0q2luski4upg5xkib":false,"am_check_phrpfzy7iv6_4sb6gtmfe":false,"am_check_dt_uokjr34nmlp5i4mai5":false,"am_check_ck0ix72zhwrmtntdo09mi":false,"am_check_m0uc7nzckg1x33rffydya":false,"am_check_joaqzpt1pujl4bkkyurpx":false,"am_check_wmavsh39a3yxl49ptxfe7":false,"am_check_v_r5yh0urz2icvtljws0m":false,"am_check_00ob2jv86fnniwqec_pzr":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[156],"class_list":["post-941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-studies","tag-case-study"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}