$1300 Event Blogging Case Study [Website Revealed]

Table of Contents

Event Blogging!! Hmm, Something I and my Business Partner did many times in the past few years. With experience, we’ve had great success as well. We made up to $30,000 from a single event !!

So, just to make it clear…

It’s still a good way to add money to your pockets.

What I believe is, EVENT SELECTION is Key to your success.

Anyways, in this post, I won’t be sharing the case study of my 5 figure event blogs, rather I will be sharing a complete study of a blog that did pretty good as compared to the amount of work we put into it.

Also, this particular event was not primarily my idea, rather it was one of my friend Rajat Garg who approached me and my partner to work together.

This case study will not contain the A-Z of Event Blogging, rather I will encourage you to analyze my URL for various factors.

[toc]

Full Case Study of My Event Blog

Hmm !!  So the event was “WWE Summerslam” (the year 2015). 🙂

Heard of it?? Well, if you know WWE, you must be knowing that every year there are over 10+ Main events conducted by WWE (The biggest being Wrestlemania, followed by Royal Rumble).

Summerslam is also a pretty good event to target so we jumped onto it.

Here are few stats that you would like to know !!

  • Site URL: www.summerslamlive.com (not linking it as I don’t want to pass juice through this post)
  • Domain Creation Date: 10th May 2015
  • Event Date: 23rd August 2015

Note: I did this event in 2015 and 2016 on the same domain. 🙂

Our main keywords were:

  1. SummerSlam Live Streaming
  2. SummerSlam Results
  3. Summerslam 2015 live stream
  4. Summerslam 2015 results

And all related keywords. (Can’t list them all)

As you can see, we registered the domain 100 days before the event. This was done so that we can add up some quality content for a month to create some authority and later start posting the main “Keyword-based” articles.

My Content Strategy 

Here’s a snap showing our first 8 articles.

We posted our first article on 21st May and then posted 4 articles in the next month. This was a mistake, now I usually suggest at least 2 articles every week to keep the site updated.

Anyways for us, it was simple as we were not having much competition from other event blogs. Most of the people were not doing event blogging on WWE and I was not aware of why there was no competition on WWE events.

Hmm, so another point I would like to bring is that our initial articles were more of informational and was basically just NEWS. I knew that those were not my target keywords and that news articles will not rank.

Then why did I post??

Well, here’s a good reason to it. I wanted Google to look my blog as a quality addition to its search engine and didn’t want Google to see it as a Blog just made to target some date specific highly searched keywords.

These news/random articles later helped me build authority.

So here’s a take from this: Whenever you start an event blog, do not start right off with the main keyword articles, instead, try writing something more interesting. 

Like, if you are planning to start one event blog on Christmas wishes, you don’t have to post your first article targeting “Christmas wishes” keyword, instead go for articles like “How is Christmas Celebrated in the USA” or “Best Ideas to Celebrate Christmas with Family”. Pick keywords that are related to your event but not the ones you are targeting. It doesn’t matter whether these initial articles rank or not. Also, don’t worry if these initial articles are having huge competition.

Our aim is to first add some quality content to make our blog look more natural instead of just a keyword-stuffed blog.

So, in total, we posted 22 articles for the event in 2015 and 26 articles for the event in 2016. Note that, the site now has 58 articles as we covered some more WWE events on the website.

I will not be talking more about the content and on-page SEO as you can check up the site yourself. (I won’t be renewing the domain, so if the domain expires, you can still check up the things at summerslams.blogspot.com

Off-Page SEO – Backlink Strategy Used

Hmm, this is something everyone wants to learn about.

One thing that you should understand that “what worked for me, may not work for you”. Also, it all depends on the competition of your event.

My event was kinda easy, so I didn’t need many backlinks. I spent less than 5$ for backlinks and my SummerSlam event blog was ranked.

Have a look at the current ahrefs stats 🙂 (Few backlinks are dropped now)

Yep, we made backlinks from less than 100 referring domains (Maybe 60-70).

Anyways, here’s the anchor cloud;

Yes, it may look a bit spammy, but that’s what worked for me. Anyways, now, I suggest NOT to make more than 20% backlinks for any particular anchor.

One thing I would like you to note is, NAKED URL backlinks help a lot. It builds a bit of trust and balances your backlink profile. We also did the same and made a good amount of naked backlinks.

What about the type of backlinks?? 

For event blogging, I usually avoid spending money on high-quality backlinks (unless I am working on something very big).

So for Summerslam, I and my business partner (Karan Wyas) decided to go for comment backlinks. We started the backlinks process 1 month after the domain was created. We wanted the site to first get stable with few articles.

One thing you should note is, “Never start backlink creation too early.”

I’ve seen many event bloggers failing just because they are not patience enough. What many people do is, they start creating backlinks for their main keywords but they don’t even have articles for that.

How and Why will Google Rank your Event blog if your blog doesn’t even have content having the keywords???

So, first post enough content and make sure your keyword based articles are published and indexed on Google. Once done, then you can start your backlink process.

Coming back to my blog, well, as I said, it was all about comment backlinks. You can read an entire guide on Comment backlinks where I explained everything I followed.

You can use these services for your event blogs:

  • 50 Dofollow Comment Backlinks for $2 – Check Now
  • 200 DoFollow Blog Comments for $5 – Check Now
  • 32 Dofollow Comment Backlinks for $1 – Check Now
  • 132 Good Dofollow Comment Backlinks for $5 – Check Now 

Just make sure you give them 4-5 anchor texts. 😉

I won’t be talking more about backlinks, but yeah, here are few points that may help you. 🙂

  • Use tools to Scrape backlinks of other event blogs.
  • Analyze Anchor texts of ranking event blogs
  • Try to make links on pages with low OBL (Outbound links)
  • Avoid using lists shared by others. Most of them are spammed by many links.
  • There’s no fixed number of how many links you should create.
  • Focus on unique referring domains instead of creating many backlinks on the same domain.

Hmm !!!

That was pretty much it, but guess what !!!

You still want to see some numbers, don’t you??? 😛

Summerslam Event Blog Traffic & Income Stats

Note that, our blog was ranking for both Summerslam 2015 and Summerslam 2016. Here are the traffic stats for both the years.

In 2015, we managed to get over 57000 Unique sessions. 

While in 2016, we managed to get 54000 Unique sessions. 

As you can see, the stats are pretty much the same for both the years. This also shows that, if everything is done properly, then the same blog can be used every year. (2015 and 2016 had seen good number of updates from Google and we survived them all)

This year, we won’t be working on this blog as I have many other projects to focus on. So, this site is no longer being updated. 

Hmm…

Some of you might be wondering about the highest real-time traffic this blog got.

Well, being honest, I don’t know. USA and Indian Time zones are completely opposite. The event as per my local time was at 5 AM or 6 AM  and yes at that time I was sleeping.. bzzzzz !!!!

However, my partner did manage to capture a snapshot.

Not bad, huh ??

Have a look at locations 🙂

The final question!!

What were the Earnings?

I don’t have any exact data as the AdSense Account used was of someone else, however, we made:

  • $700+ in 2015
  • $600+ in 2016

In total, this blog gave around $1300. 

And here’s the final breakdown of money spent and earned.

  • $10-12 for Domain 
  • Less than $5 for Backlinks. (Earlier we used to make backlinks manually)
  • Articles were written by my partner.
  • Total time invested during 2 years: Less than 40 Hours. 

As it was not a major event or project, all work was done without disturbing our major projects. 🙂

Hmm, so let me ask you one final question. Do you still think event blogging is tough???

A BIG NO!!! Do it correctly, pick the right event and you will definitely earn well with your event blog.

This event was a different experience for me as I usually don’t do such events. After this event, I learned that such events are much easier to rank and bank. We could have made a lot more during Summerslam had I spent more time on keyword research. Moreover, I still remember that our ad placements were not that good as our CTR was quite low. We couldn’t optimize it due to the time zones.

We simply woke up with $700+ in our account 🙂 

I am wondering if I should post some case studies related to my CPA experience. Do let me know in comments 😉

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About The Author
Iftekhar Ahmed
Iftekhar Ahmed is the owner of iftiSEO.com and writes on various topics like Online Earning, SEO, Blogging etc. He has worked on many blogs and also works as an SEO Analyst.

101 Responses

  3. hey, you mentioned everything but you didnt mentioned when did you started to build the links ? how much time before the event ?

    1. Following your tips I did event blogging on Diwali and it gave me 1400 sessions. Hows that. I acquired back-links from off page strategy like image sharing, article submission etc. I ended up having 2$ in adsense
      Thanks a lot man.

  4. Hey IFTI,

    This is an awesome article to boost the mind for event blogging,may be gonna give a try. And why don’t you tried for next years?

  5. wow wow wow i shared this post on fb and bookmarked it. Do post latest happening in event blogging as well.

  7. Thanks ifti Bhai for sharing it with us …i want your help to rank my event like you ..can you please suggest me bett way for it? Waiting For your reply …
    Reply

  8. how to legalize these event blogging site under one corporation?
    and buying a domain and hosting the sites for short span of time does it require time to legalize? if not then how? please share the process..
    And how to structure these site (for example : i have 4 websites) under one business name?

  9. summerslams.blogspot.com please edit domain setting for this blog i really want to read articles on your website it shows an error when i try to visit it.
    You’re about to be redirected

    The blog that used to be here is now at http://www.summerslamlive.com/.

    Do you wish to be redirected?

  10. Hey Ifti…

    I am working on an event and want to give a try to your SEO Clerk mentions but there are only PayPal and Pyaza options available for payment. Its 3rd June today and the event is on 16 June. Is there any option to pay via credit/debit card. As I don’t have money in PayPal and never used Pyaza.

  12. but at that time ~2015 event blogging not as popular in bloggers and no one targeting this kind of niche topics for blogging. but now, these days, competition is very high. though good post @ifti clearly descriptive.

  13. Hi,
    You tell about backlinks which are paid, is really true and is ahrefs is any trial version for new users when I click on trial then it tells me to fill up payments details.

  17. Wonderful Article, Looking for more clarity on Link Building Strategies as a Case Studies for newbies.

  18. I have been planning on optimizing my event blogs which i have posted for special events in my company and i would be posting more for future events , Thanks for your guidance 🙂

  22. Great to get the idea about the Event Blogging from this Case Study of yours. Now thinking of selecting 4-5 events in a year to have a go for it. And the best part is that I can give the tough job of creating backlinks to someone else on SEOClerks as they are also cost effective 🙂
    Once again thanks for the case study and all the best for some more events 🙂 (Y)

  26. I have only question that did you collected all your backlinks from relevant website or only from irrelevant website or 50-50. Please do answer this query and waiting for your response soon

  27. I did an event blog last year and failed but after reading this article, I want to start an event blog again! 😀 Btw Amazing post. 🙂

  28. Event blogging was quite easy and earning money from it was decent.. but now a days event blogging is not cup of tea to make money..
    Google has become smarter and it penalises blog ahead of the event..
    Don’t you think the same ifti?

  29. Thanks a lot Iftekhar. I want to try event blogging but I don’t have an adsense account. Can you please tell me where I can buy a adsense account and what are the things that I need to keep in mind while purchasing an Adsense account. Thanks.

  30. Great case study again sir. Really loved the way you explained everything this time. Now I know how it works. And yeah also share your CPA case study. Waiting for it!

  33. Hello Iftekhar,

    You always make the transparency on your blog posts, Always honest to share the valuable guides.

    But this one is ultimate, No one shares the web URL though and doesn’t make a transparency to such level. I am not active in blogging, but recently got back into the game and will surely follow your guides.

    Thanks again and keep sharing stuff like this case study.

  35. Hello sir,

    I tried IPL Event Blog, publish good and unique article build backlinks but failed not get ranked little bit disappointing with my work.

    and i was heard without PBN and sitewide we cant rank our blog is it right or wrong?

  38. Thanks ifti Bhai for sharing it with us …i want your help to rank my event like you ..can you please suggest me bett way for it? Waiting For your reply …

  39. As i love WWE and now going to make an site by implementing all the above steps and thanks a lot Iftekhar bhai.

  40. Awesome case study Iftekhar. Have learned lot of things about event blogging from this case study.
    I am planning to give it (event blogging) a try. I’ll try to implement things that i have learned from here.
    Will defiantly share my experience with you 🙂

    Thanks
    Amar

  41. Hello Ifti,

    This was really a great post. I was still wondering if we should focus on the events which has less than 100k search. Thanks for clarification.

  43. Thanks for the share loved reading the article.I’m going to try one event. This was one hell lof a motivational article.

  45. Well Written Article With Good Content Attention ..
    Congrats for your Work
    I will Wait for your CPA CASE Study.
    I Just Subscribe to Your Website.
    To Get CPA Case Study Specially

  46. Great article bro. Will follow this ideas in my event blog. In the same manner can you please write a post for long time bloggers who struggle to get organic traffic..

  47. With the above case study, it seems very easy, I really cannot judge as I have not created any event blog till date, planning to but lots of commitments. Working alone is very time consuming, never worked with partners as most of them are just new to this industry. And I don’t want my time to spent explaining them rather than working on something important.

    Though I am planning to working on Event Blog some time this year. If anyone interested in joining me it would be nice experience. Note – I have zero knowledge on event blogging.

  48. This is the first case study I have read which looks real. Thanks Ifti Bhai for your great support.

    You have helped giving the list of dofollow back link survices.

  51. Such a nice post bro, but I want to learn about Event Blogging. Do you have any post related to it? I am newbie to event Blogging. 🙂

  52. This was a really informative case study for me. The time difference becomes a problem for all event bloggers 😛 Thanks for the effort. BTW, can I register your domain after it expires? ?

  56. Iftekhar bhai you are the one who helps a lot of people…. Thankxx to you for such an great great articcle. I am going to start event blogging ver soon… thanks bhai Thankxx a alot…

  57. Thanks Iftekhar Bro for sharing this Case Study. I wanted to start a Event Blog but have no idea but after reading this article I’m going to start a Event Blog. You have cleared all my doubts & Covered all the points.

    Thanks for sharing your amazing experience.

  61. Hi,
    Your posts are a great source of guidance for bloggers and a source of inspiration.

    This post is another one of your informative posts.

    Thanks for sharing.

  65. Thanks to share. It is perfect timing for me. Because I am also working on Event blog. 1 month remaining. So, Plasse suggests me, Can I strict with a comment or use web 2.0.

  72. Ifti Bro, I Just Just Did El Clasico 2017 Event. I did not get rank well but still manage to get 20k Visitor .. Targeted Live streaming Keywords. Put Adsense Codes Just 3 Hours Before the match Start But Google disabled Ad serving on my blog Because of Live Streaming … So Is there any to play safe by targeting live streaming keywords in our Blog ??

  74. Hi Ifti,
    Great post indeed. This is the first post I have read on your blog and it sure did help me to plan for my upcoming idea for the event. Well, your writing is super smooth and the information is easy to digest.
    Thanks

  75. Things have changed a lot in 2017. I must say in 2017 particularly. I used to do events in edu niche where no one was involved to compete with an emd. So there used to be very few sites with same keywords and competition used to be under control. Even
    On few occasions I had outranked the news websites on the day of event.
    But now google has turned its stratagy and showing strictness over the link building methods.
    But as you know there are still few golden technics to go with.
    Cheers for the case study.

  76. One of the great event study. I also want to do this but right now inly focus on long term blog. I bookmarked this page for my further reference.

    Thanks for sharing your amazing experience with us.

  77. Its very to see this post, because it covers all the important points on event blogging.I recently started working on event blogging, but due to lack of knowledge, can’t do anything. Now you helped me.Thanks for this post.

  78. Very well explained.I am very motivated by this case study and now I’m ready to step into event blogging.I am searching for new events and I hope I succeed in this journey.Its worth giving a try.

  79. Wow :O

    Iftekhar Ahmad !! You’re my inspiration brother, Karan Vyas you rock man 🙂 You really did a great job !! Thank you so much for this most awaited case study. Learned new thing for event blogging. Now it’s time to implementing 🙂

    waiting for CPA case studies as well. MashaAllah. 😉

  81. Great to know about the website the thing is you select the niche now it will a new competition for others.How to find such event like a month, week, 15 days not one-day event like independence day, holi please guide if you can?

  82. Hi ifti, it was awesome article as always, it would be great if you post a well detailed and indepth articles on Facebook targeting and retargeting audience on theirs interest.

    Thanks ☺

  83. Great Case study… these types of posts motivated the new bloggers like me to work hard..you also shared about this event in BlogX… ? Keep it up Iftekhar Sir.

  89. Nice Case Study Bro…learned a lot via this post….After reading this Case study everyone is gonna select WWE events for event blogging for sure….#Keep touching milestones brother………

  91. This article was very helpful to me. I want to earn some money from blogging.and i found some helpful things like how to get comment backlinks and need to write more articles before starting to get backlinks.
    thanks

  96. hello Iftekhar Ahmed brother I just read your article this is really nice I have one question that if we only make the web 2.0 than it is possible to rank event ???? or any suggestion thanks!!

    1. Well, I don’t think it will rank with Web 2.0 Submission or Directory Submission because it’ll take time and there are tons of Website there. I will suggest to go with Comments Backlinks and Also if you can Guest Post ( yeah I were looking like a fool cuz I say Guest Post but it may help you definitely if you want to increase authority and taking the blog for long term).

  98. I love WWE and Ifti, I am the second guy to read it ( You have already read it right ). A huge profit from a small investment.

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