LowFruits Case Study Site, Month 9: Website URL and Keyword Reveal!

Welcome to Month 9 of the LowFruits case study!

(Before we get to this month’s update, if you’d like to learn more about my story, I did an interview for Niche Surfer last month. Ironically, so did Paul from LowFruits—and we found out just a few days before the interviews got published!)

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming:

Nine months passed by quickly.

It seems like yesterday that I started Barbehow and committed to publishing 6 articles every month based on keyword research in LowFruits.

Wait — wait a second… did you catch that?

Nope, that wasn’t an accident. 

In the first month’s case study, I promised I’d unveil the website at the nine-month mark, so here it goes:

? In November, I launched a BBQ blog called Barbehow. ?

I know you’re curious, so go check it out; I’ll be here when you return to the tab 😉

All done? Awesome! Because 106 posts and $4,787.76 worth of content later, I’ve got exciting news to share: 

The Website Is Finally Monetized!

The website now gets more than 10,000 page views per month, so I felt I was in a good position to monetize. 

I submitted it to Ezoic (I am an Ezoic Certified Expert and Premium publisher) at the beginning of June. They accepted it in mid-June.

? The website has made its first $114.70 from 7,957 page views with an average ePMV (Earnings per Thousand Visitors) of $15.65. It’s not bad since Ezoic’s AI optimization hasn’t kicked in yet. 

I expect the highest ePMVs in November and December, especially around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. (People love to buy and gift grills and accessories.)

The team and I also started publishing affiliate posts in June (e.g., The Best X for Y). A few have already made it to page 1!

So, remember my assumptions for December, and I’ll keep you posted on affiliate earnings starting next month.

My Keyword Research Approach This Far

It’s one thing to read about my keyword research and strategy, and another to see it.

So instead of talking about how I find my keywords, I’m just going to show you the keywords on which I’ve already published content.

No matter the niche, these should give you seed keyword ideas you can use in LowFruits (AKA my favorite keyword research tool).

​​My Keywords

Search Query	Country	Search Volume	Features	Weak Spots(Green, Blue)
how long can grilled fish sit out	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	3,3
how long can grilled chicken be left out	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	3,2
how long can grilled steak sit out	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,3
how long can grilled vegetables stay out	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,3
how long can grilled burgers sit out	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,2
how long can grilled hot dogs be left out	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	1,3
grilling vs frying bacon	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,4
how to prevent steak from burning on grill	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	1,4
can you grill with eucalyptus wood	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,3
can you grill with fig wood	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	0,7
can you grill with wet charcoal	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	4,3
how often to flip bbq ribs	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	3,2
what australian wood is good for smoking meat	Australia	< 10	Featured snippet,Images,Videos	6,3
can you use a skillet on a gas grill	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	2,0
can you put a metal pan on the grill	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	7,0
should you wash your hands after handling raw meat	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	1,3
can you grill without a lid	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	1,1
should you grill frozen chicken	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	6,1
butchers twine on grill	USA	< 10	None	1,3
green wood for smoking meat	USA	< 10	None	1,3
sassafras for smoking meat	USA	< 10	None	1,5
why did my grilled chicken turn gray	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	0,4
should you grill chicken skin side down	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	3,1
steak turns gray when cooked	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Images	0,4
can you grill when it’s windy	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	1,2
how to tell if brats are done on grill	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	4,2
should you grill burgers frozen or thawed	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	4,0
can you grill when it’s raining	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	3,0
how often to clean a gas bbq	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	3,2
what wood should not be smoked	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,2
cherry wood for smoking meat	USA	70	Videos	0,1
can you grill with pine wood	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,2
guava wood for smoking meat	USA	< 10	Videos	3,3
japanese maple for smoking meat	USA	< 10	Images	0,6
can you grill with pine cones	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	2,2
can you grill when it’s cold outside	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	3,0
why won’t my gas grill light	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	0,1
how to tell if a burger is done on the grill	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	4,2
how to grill without lighter fluid taste	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	4,1
is chimney starter worth it	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	3,0
how to grill without burning	USA	20	Featured snippet,Videos	4,0
should you grill on a rusty grill	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	6,0
does ammonia clean grill grates	USA	< 10	None	1,5
which way should the grill grates face	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	2,2
can you grill on covered porch	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,3
electric starter vs chimney starter	USA	< 10	Videos	1,2
drying wood for smoking meat	USA	< 10	Videos	3,1
why does my chicken always burn on grill	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	1,2
can you grill without aluminum foil	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	3,1
how often to clean bbq grease tray	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	1,2
how to grill without smoke	USA	10	Shopping carousel,Videos	5,1
should you remove bark from smoking wood	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Images,Videos	2,4
brisket temperature won’t rise	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,3
does wrapping a brisket ruin the bark	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	3,4
why is my brisket bark wet	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,5
do you eat the bark on brisket	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Images	2,4
no bark on brisket	USA	70	Featured snippet	2,2
is it ok to smoke meat with moldy wood	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,5
how to prevent burgers from falling apart on the grill	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	5,3
is grilling on a balcony safe	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	4,0
how to tell if regulator on gas grill is bad	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Images,Videos	3,0
can you grill with wood instead of charcoal	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	0,3
are electric grills worth buying	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	5,1
should you grill hamburgers with the lid open or closed	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	1,2
can you use alcohol to start a grill	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,4
how to stop sausages spitting in the grill	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,3
how to grill burgers without flare-ups	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	1,1
how long does smoked brisket last	USA	10	Featured snippet	2,1
should you grill meat at room temperature	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	2,1
should you grill on a deck	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	5,1
should you grill dry aged steaks	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Images,Videos	5,0
butcher’s twine substitute	USA	880	None	1,1
brisket smells sour	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	0,6
what to do with charcoal after grilling	USA	590	Featured snippet,Videos	1,1
can you grill with black coals	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	0,2
can you leave a charcoal grill unattended	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	1,1
can you leave a gas grill unattended	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	1,2
how to keep brisket moist while smoking	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	1,2
how to keep a brisket warm after slicing	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,3
how to tell grilled chicken is done	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	2,1
how to tell if grilled steak is done	USA	40	Featured snippet,Videos	6,2
how to grill with charcoal for the first time	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	1,0
how to grill with gas for the first time	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	3,0
how to smoke meat for the first time	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	1,0
how to arrange meat in a smoker	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	0,2
grill height above charcoal	USA	50	Featured snippet	0,4
can you cook on a fire started with gasoline	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	3,5
brisket smells like sulfur	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	3,6
navel end brisket vs point end brisket	USA	< 10	Featured snippet,Videos	4,2
undercooked vs overcooked brisket	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	2,5
can you grill on biloxi beach	USA	< 10	Local map	2,2
can you grill on daytona beach	USA	70	Local map	2,2
can you grill on navarre beach	USA	< 10	Local map	2,2
can you grill on oak island b​​each	USA	< 10	Local map	3,1
can you grill on isle of palms	USA	< 10	Local map	4,0
can you use any grill as a built in	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	1,2
can you grill in the garage	USA	90	Featured snippet	2,2
how to get grill grease off of wood deck	USA	30	Featured snippet, Videos	0,2
can any grill use natural gas	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	1,2
should sausages be pricked before grilling	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	3,2
is it better to cover your grill or leave it uncovered	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	3,2
best fire extinguisher for grill	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	0,2
best grill gloves	USA	1000	Featured snippet	No weak spots
best chimney starter for charcoal	USA	10	Featured snippet	0,2
is 275 too high for brisket	USA	< 10	Featured snippet	3,3
when to remove brisket from smoker	USA	110	Featured snippet	1,2

Keyword Traffic and Content

I don’t mind the low-volume keywords.

34 of my 104 articles rank #1 to # 3 in Google SERPs, yet the site gets 11,000 views per month. 

Is my keyword research approach helpful? Let me know in the comments!

The ranked pages get from 100-250 to 500-750 organic clicks from Google per month. 

Traffic from Bing and DuckDuckGo, especially for a BBQ website, is negligible (12-100 clicks per day).

The pages that haven’t ranked yet are either: 

1. New articles less than 6-9 months old, or 
2. Articles that need attention (they may have missed the search intent)

My website content plans and keyword research are plain and simple. The majority of my website content is informational posts:

• “Can you [X]”
• “Should you [X]”
• “How to [X]”
• “When to [X]”

I’ve published well-research content by authors who grill and smoke meat as a hobby. It’s doing well with readers and search engine crawlers alike.

Initially, I prioritized as many posts with blue fruit keywords as possible. 

Blue fruits represent user-generated content, so they’re easier to outrank, even for a new site with a low Moz DA / Ahrefs DR score:

• Quora
• Reddit
• Forums

Now the site is gaining authority, I go after green-fruit keywords with higher competition because they have a higher search volume.

When your website is new, target keywords with many blue low fruit icons.

An Important Disclaimer

I know 99.9% of you guys and gals who follow this case study are better than that, but just to put it out there for the 0.1%: I use Copysentry to proactively identify copyright infringement, and my team is quick to file DMCA claims and Google content removal requests for legal reasons.

So draw inspiration, but DO NOT copy. 🙂

My Theme and Plugins

If you’re technically curious, my website is powered by WordPress. 

It uses a modified version of WordPress’ default Twenty Twenty-One theme with the Twentig plugin.

Under the bonnet, I’ve installed:

• The Affiliatable plugin
• Antispam Bee (a free and lightweight Akismet alternative)
• Ezoic
• Media Credit 
• Yoast SEO

I love Yoast SEO because I can disable date-based archives and add no-index tags to my category, tag, and author pages.

(You also get extra control over the site’s titles and meta description tags.)

LowFruits Tip of the Month: Extract Competitor Keyword Ideas

(Note: You must be a LowFruits subscriber to be able to extract keywords from your competitors and use the “Perfomers” filter.)

Did you know that you can use LowFruits to get keyword ideas from your competitors?

It’s one of my favorite LowFruits features!

When you’re running low on… err, fruits, log into LowFruits:

• Open a keyword report
• Go to the “Competition tab”
• Find websites that rank next to you in the SERPs 

Filter by “Performers.”

You’ll get websites with a Moz DA below 20 and high traffic. 

Then…

• Add the relevant websites to a list

• Go to the “Extract” tool in the left-hand sidebar
• Run an extraction

When you’re done, you’ll get so many new keyword ideas that you’ll have a new problem: you won’t know which keywords to write content for first!

Metrics Over Time

P.S. Thanks for reminding me that I had forgotten to include the Google Search Console stats for the Month!

The site got 6.68k clicks and 291k impressions in June 2022. Up from 3.15k clicks and 162 impressions in May 2022.

Traffic

Time Period	June 1, 2022 – June 30, 2022
Monthly Pageviews	11,000
Avg. Engagement Time	0.48 s
Engaged Sessions / User	0.52
Pageviews / Published Post (PPP)	105.7

Source: Google Analytics

Content

Rankings

Date Checked	June 10, 2022
Avg. Position (Google, USA, Mobile)	7.15
Avg. Position (Google, USA, Desktop)	6.56
Positions in Top 3 on SERPs	34 (+5 Month-over-Month)
Positions in 4-10 on SERPs	19 (-6 Change Month-over-Month)
Positions in 11-100 on SERPs	8 (-4 Month-over-Month)

Source: Ubersuggest

Heads-up: I’m running out of keywords in my Ubersuggest Lifetime subscription. So starting next month, I’ll be switching keyword tracking over to SERProbot, where I’ve been tracking my other sites for a while now.

Earnings

Time Period	June 1, 2022 – June 30, 2022
Total Revenue Since Start of Site	$114.70
Total Revenue YTD (2021)	$114.70
Monthly Revenue	$114.70 Of which $114.70 from display adsOf which $0 from affiliate commissions
Monthly Revenue / Published Post (MRPP)	$1.1

Who I Am

Hey!

My name’s Dim.

Thanks for reading (or skimming) this far.

I started my first site in 2007 after I stumbled upon a blog about making money online. I’ve been buying, growing, and selling sites ever since.

These days, I own an indie media company and run an email newsletter for online publishers called “Publetise.”

Don’t be a stranger: Subscribe to my newsletter at Publetise.com and get my best strategies and tactics delivered to your inbox once a week.