Project MMO Case Study: Beginnings

I finally decided to go for this very first MMO case study to start writing some helpful, insightful, and hopefully entertaining content for this (business) site. People are curious about how others do things, especially when it comes to making money online. So why not shed some light on one of my current projects?

Currently, I have over 200 domains that I have to either sell, use for something, or get rid of. These are all domains that I have bought over the last two years with the intention of both making some sort of income from them and making them starter niche sites and selling them ASAP for a profit.

The game was fun, and it still is, but the problem is that it’s getting a little bit boring for me now doing the same thing over and over and over again. Also, the domains I’m buying these days are either expiring or requiring renewals (the good ones only), and they’re not cheap.

So it’s time to change things up a bit, and that’s where this case study comes in. From now on, I will use this site to regularly document my progress on this project and others like it.

I will also be detailing my methods, what works and what doesn’t, as well as sharing any tips or advice I may have. This should be an interesting little case study, so stay tuned!

A Brief History

Back in 2020, I followed a famous blogger living in Europe writing about blogging, freelancing, content creation, etc. That blogger later launched a course about making money online for newbies, and I decided to give it a shot. I followed the course, but I didn’t learn anything surprisingly new since I’ve been blogging since 2016.

However, the blogger mentioned that they would start a new WordPress site to document their progress—just like any other beginners—so that people could relate to it, like, seeing something created from scratch and growing into a money-making thing.

I didn’t follow the project (and I bet most students didn’t), but the domain stuck with me for some reason. Months later, it seems like the blogger finally abandoned it (but still has the course). So, when I last saw it on a domain marketplace selling for only $9, I decided to buy it.

This is how Project MMO was born.

Some General Information

• Domain: Less than $30. I bought it precisely this time last year (2021) and paid for two years.
• Niche: MMO, the women’s approach
• Budget: I aim to pay zero to very little for everything. I write the content myself & use a free WP theme.
• Strategy: Recreate old content, post new content, apply for Ezoic, and affiliate marketing, then eventually flip it
• Project goal: Sell for a profit or create something that generates at least $500/month in income

When I bought the domain, I was super excited because I knew that it had the potential to be an excellent little project. I was also hoping that maybe, just maybe, I would stumble upon some sort of magic formula for success with this one.

But alas, here we are almost a year later and I just started working on it again a few hours ago. So, it’s still very much a work in progress.

What I’ve Done So Far

I can say MMO (Making Money Online) is a very competitive niche ATM. So, to thrive on this project, I knew that I had to be a little bit creative with my content strategy.

The first thing I did was head straight to Wayback Machine and try to recreate all the old blog posts (the blogger had a handful of popular posts that got a lot of traffic back in the day). I used the exact URLs from the archives to put the posts back on my site. This was a pretty quick and easy way to get some initial content onto the site, and it didn’t cost me anything.

The next thing I did was rewrite all content (5 posts) from the original copies. The original writing was pretty short and needed a lot of editing and improvement, so all of these took me a couple of hours to complete.

From there, I went through and updated all the images, links, etc. to make sure everything was still relevant. Then, I created one new blog post, which was actually published on my other site, but it’s more suitable here than on that site. A simple 301 redirection did the trick.

The last thing I did today was to secure social media accounts and a Gmail account. This will help with branding and allow me to share the content with others easily.

So, that’s where I’m at so far. I still have a lot of work to do, but it’s coming along nicely.

What’s Next?

The next thing on my list is to start using basic SEO techniques to help the site rank higher on Google. I’ll also be working on creating more content, both new and old.

Since I’m a Jasper’s Boss Mode user, the content writing will be a piece of cake. And recently, Surfer SEO has just launched a new FREE plan for new sites, so I’ll also be using that to help with the SEO.

Eventually, I’ll be looking into ways to monetize the site. Right now, my main focus is getting the content up and ensuring the site is running smoothly. But once I have a decent amount of traffic coming in, I’ll apply for Ezoic, a program that allows you to monetize your site with ads. If I’m accepted, that will be a nice little passive income stream.

I’m also going to be looking into affiliate marketing and other ways to monetize the site. I aim to eventually earn $200 – $500 per month from this site.

Wrapping Up

So far, I’ve spent $30 for the domain (2-year subscription), $0 for the WordPress theme, and $0 for the Surfer SEO app. That’s a total of exactly $30. Not too bad, right?

Of course, there’s still a lot of work to be done. But, I’m confident that with a little bit of time and effort, this site will eventually become a success.

I’ll be sure to keep you updated on the progress of this site. In the meantime, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment below. I’m always happy to help!