Case Study👉 How YOU Can Earn $27K/Month With a Vegan Recipe Blog

The Scott Max Newsletter

In Partnership with The Early Checkout

Hi 👋, this is the Scott Max newsletter. The daily newsletter bringing you one step closer to your own thriving online business.

We analyze a wonderful, small, online business each week with a full breakdown of how it makes money, why it makes money, and its opportunities to grow. Below that, we give you the action steps to build a business like this to create freedom for yourself.

This is the best way to learn the tactics, skillset, and nuance of making money online.

Let’s get to the good stuff you'll see in this email:

• A food blog earning $27K per month

• How this blog attracts 500K monthly organic traffic using SEO

• A step-by-step learning path to build a business.

But first, let me introduce our partner for this email,

The Early Checkout

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What does this online business do? 🚀

In today’s newsletter, we will be exploring a food blog that rakes in over $300,000 in yearly revenue and is dedicated to promoting healthier living through healthy eating.

The blog provides a wealth of resources including a wide variety of healthy recipes, skincare tips, and lifestyle tips.

Those looking for healthy yet delicious food options can find a wide range of vegan and gluten-free recipes, and guides to help them make healthier choices.

As you read on, you will find a detailed analysis of the income sources for this business and the unique applicable techniques behind its success.

How does this online business make money? 💻

One of the primary sources of income for this blog is display advertising revenue.

The website features various non-intrusive ads throughout its pages, which generate income through pay-per-click or impression-based advertising models.

By partnering with Mediavine, an ad management company, this blog is provided with ad optimization tools and analytics that enable it to maximize its ad earnings.

With 500k monthly traffic, this blog generates a significant number of ad impressions, which potentially translate to higher ad earnings.

This blog also earns revenue through the sale of its hardcover books and eBooks on its website store and Amazon.

By providing visitors with the option to purchase directly from its store, this blog earns the full amount of the sales price of its cookbooks or self-help books.

On the other hand, it earns a percentage of the sales price of its books when they are purchased from its Amazon store, but leverages Amazon’s wider audience.

Another revenue generator for this blog is the sale of access to its video course. 

This course referred to as a “video training suite“, promises to explain to its students, the dangers behind dangerous foods, practical ways to transition from them, and how to make delicious recipes that contain healthier alternatives.

Thanks to its strong online presence, this blog also earns from sponsored content.

Brands within this food blog’s niche, collaborate with the blog to create content that promotes their products or services.

In exchange, the blog is compensated with a fee.

What has this business done well?🔥

In this section, we will showcase the unique strategies that have contributed to the long-term success of this business. They include;

High-Quality Content

By consistently providing valuable content, this food blog has attracted and retained a loyal audience.

It offers a wide variety of valuable resources that are perfectly suited to its target audience and this benefits not only its audience but also the blog.

High-quality content that is well-written, informative, and engaging is more likely to be relevant to users, and therefore more likely to be ranked higher in search results.

When readers stay glued or engaged to such content, it leads to longer user sessions and lower bounce rates, which are positive signals to search engines.

Lastly, high-quality content can establish a website as an authoritative source in its niche. This can lead to more traffic, backlinks, and social shares, all of which can improve a website's search engine rankings.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This blog likely uses effective SEO techniques to improve its website's visibility as it attracts over 500k monthly traffic solely through organic traffic.

These techniques include optimizing its content for relevant keywords, building high-quality backlinks, and improving site speed and user experience.

Its domain rating and backlink profile as seen in the analysis above from Ahrefs, show that the website has a high number of quality backlinks from other authoritative websites.

The significant amount of keywords it ranks for shows that its content is well-optimized for a broad range of search terms.

It targets long and short-tail keywords in its niche with low difficulty, enabling it to rank on page 1 of Google SERPs. The blog also keeps its content fresh and updated.

A Strong Social Media Presence

This food blog has a strong presence on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

It shares its content on these platforms and has built a considerable following of an engaged audience.

By consistently posting valuable and engaging content, this blog continues to leverage social media to expand its reach and attract new visitors to its website.

Email Marketing Optimisation

This blog utilises email marketing for personalized communication with its audience and offers freebies that encourage new users to join its mailing list.

The free offer is clearly visible to users upon visiting the website and it features a compelling CTA.

By promoting its products and services through email campaigns, this blog can encourage subscribers to make purchases and generate more revenue.

A Strong Personal Brand

Building a strong personal brand has helped this blog’s owner to establish herself and her blog as an authority in the food niche.

She shares her personal stories and experiences related to health and wellness, which help to build a connection with her audience and establish trust and credibility.

This approach enables the business to stand out from competitors as it attracts a loyal audience that finds the blog owner relatable.

User Experience Optimisation

This blog’s website has a simple design that is easy to navigate, making it easy for visitors to quickly find whatever they need.

Categorised content allows visitors to easily find the type of content they are interested in.

As a result, visitors are more likely to spend more time on the website, exploring different categories and discovering new content.

In addition, analysis shows that this website’s performance is above average with fast load time, good structure and optimised device responsiveness.

What this business could improve?🔥🔥🔥

Having analysed the supporting frameworks that contribute to the success of this blog, we will now identify potential opportunities that can be pursued to improve its success.

Increase Social Media Engagement

This food blog can explore social media channels, such as TikTok or YouTube shorts, to reach a younger audience and engage with its existing followers.

According to a trend report, the hashtag #TikTokFood has been viewed over 43 billion times by individuals on the platform.

Additionally, a HubSpot market trend report points out that video content is the most common form of media used in content marketing thanks to its visual appeal.

Collaborate with Other Bloggers

Collaborating with other bloggers within the same niche can help to broaden the audience reach and increase exposure for this blog.

It can collaborate with other vegan food bloggers to create joint content, host giveaways, and cross-promote each other's content.

Offer Courses for Other Food Bloggers

This blog can create online courses that teach other food bloggers how to create and grow their own successful food blogs.

The courses could cover topics such as recipe development, food photography, social media marketing, and monetization strategies.

By offering courses, it can establish itself as an authority in the food blogging niche and generate additional revenue.

Expand Offerings

In order to experience increased revenue and growth, this blog can expand its offerings to include more cookbooks with specific recipes categorised accordingly, offering meal planning services or providing access to in-person cooking classes.

Additionally, it could create a membership program providing exclusive content, discounts, and other perks to loyal customers

Share User Generated Content and Reviews

Sharing user-generated content, such as photos of people cooking and enjoying recipes from the website or eBooks, can help to increase engagement and build a sense of community.

Encouraging users to tag the website or use specific hashtags when sharing their content can also help to increase visibility.

The Reveal, check this online business out for yourself 👀

Finally! It’s time to reveal the business we have been analysing today which is a wonderful food blog called Healthier Steps!

Healthier Steps is an initiative of Michelle Blackwood and she currently runs the blog as a business with a small team.

Michelle is a registered nurse, professional food blogger, photographer and content writer who began sharing the benefits of a vegan and gluten-free diet from her own experience with it.

Her aim is to encourage and motivate readers to adopt healthier habits by showcasing that healthy eating can be effortless and enjoyable.

She believes that her experience residing at a missionary college with international students contributed in part to the success of Healthier Steps.

This is because she spends time exploring other cuisines and creating vegan versions of them, often leading students to request her unique recipes.

Additionally, she believes that consistently putting out valuable content, SEO best practices, and outsourcing tasks, coupled with patience has been the driving force behind her business’ success.

The Takeaway, What We Learned 🎓

• Having a specific niche and providing quality content in this niche is crucial for building a successful online presence. It helps attract and retain a target audience, establish authority and credibility, and differentiate a business from competitors.

• Exploring various sources of income can help increase revenue potential, enhance brand recognition, and provide valuable resources to the audience of a business.

• Consistently publishing keyword-optimised content and an extensive array of recipes contributes significantly to the success of Healthier Steps. It’s a valuable practice that can help to attract targeted traffic, increase engagement, satisfy user’s search queries, and establish the website as an authority in its niche.

• Implementing SEO best practices is vital for increasing visibility in search results, driving targeted traffic, building authority and credibility, and providing a competitive advantage in the industry.

• Website features like a visually-appealing design, categorized content, and easy navigation can improve user experience, increase engagement, improve user satisfaction, and boost search engine rankings.

• Investing in a marketing strategy is a powerful way to increase brand awareness, improve customer engagement, and drive more website traffic. An effective email marketing strategy and a strong presence on social media help healthier Steps to reach a wider audience, grow and succeed over time.

Action Steps if you’d like to start a business like this… 👩‍💻

If you’re already up and running with an online business, keep with it and try to implement some of the lessons you might have found in this email.

If not, I very highly recommend our free course in digital marketing & business at Max Business School.

You’ll learn all the fundamental skill to build an online income like the one we did a case study on in this email.

Here’s what to expect:

Week 1 - Fundamentals

In this week, you will establish a solid digital marketing foundation. The focus will be on personal branding, but the concepts apply to other business models as well. You will explore:

• WordPress Website Development: Learn to create a professional and user-friendly website using WordPress, a powerful and widely-used platform for various online businesses.

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Understand the basics of SEO to increase online visibility and attract organic traffic to their websites.

• Web Analytics: Discover how to analyze website data using tools like Google Analytics to gain valuable insights into user behavior and make data-driven decisions.

Week 2 - How to start a business

In this week you will delve into expanding the online presence and driving traffic to your website. You will get to learn about:

• Email Marketing: Understand the importance of building an email list and learn effective email marketing strategies to nurture leads and convert them into customers.

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Dive into the world of paid advertising and explore techniques to run successful ad campaigns on search engines like Google.

Week 3 - How to grow a business

The final week will focus on harnessing the power of social media platforms for business growth. You will discover:

• Social Media Marketing: Discover how to develop and implement social media strategies to engage with the target audience and build brand loyalty.

• Facebook and Instagram Ads: Explore advanced advertising techniques on these popular platforms to reach a wider audience and generate leads.

Get started now 

Before You Go 👋

Thank you for reading.

In my next email, I’ll have another business breakdown for you.

Remember, if you know someone who might like this newsletter, sharing is caring.

If you are ready to get started with your own business, one of the first steps is always a website. Click here for our exclusive hosting deal and click here for an invite to our Max Business School community where you’ll hang out with thousands of fellow ambitious business builders.

Remember to check out the classroom tab (top left corner) for all of our free courses teaching you all you need to succeed online.

Bye for now,

Scott Max