Unlocking RPM with Aimee Shugarman & Courtney O’Dell: Mediavine On Air Episode 11

Greetings content creators and welcome to another episode of Mediavine On Air, the podcast just for you.



RPM, or revenue per mille, is often mistakenly thought of as the amount or way that a website earns. While this is not the case, RPM is a math equation that provides an overall picture of how your website is performing.



We had two amazing Mediavine publishers on the Summer of Live in 2019, talking about ways they’ve optimized their site and content to maximize their earnings. And since their tips are evergreen, they’re every bit as applicable today as they were a couple of summers ago.



Courtney O’Dell of Sweet C’s Designs and Aimee Shugarman of Shugary Sweets are Mediavine OGs and on top of delivering real talk about earnings, they are also both just a blast to spend time with.Now, let’s make it RAIN!







Helpful Resources



What is RPM — and How Mediavine Calculates it.What is Header Bidding? — Learn how bidding on ads has changed over the years. Ad Revenue By The Seasons — Why does spending differ throughout the year?Google PageSpeed Insights — Check your site speed and site health using this tool from Google!*Since filming this episode, we've found that Jump to Recipe can impact revenue for the better!











Transcript



[MUSIC PLAYING]



JENNY GUY: Hey. It is Thursday. It is the Mediavine Summer of Lives, and I am so excited about today. We are unlocking RPMs with two OG Mediavine publishers. They've been around since almost the beginning. And they are going to give you all their tips, tricks, and and strategies [INAUDIBLE]



So if you guys would go ahead and introduce yourselves first. I'm here with Courtney and Aimee. Courtney, you want to go first?



COURTNEY O'DELL: Sure. I'm Courtney from Sweet C's Designs. And I have been with Mediavine since just after Mediavine started. I think I'm number, like, 75.



JENNY GUY: And Aimee, would you give the same thing?



AIMEE SHUGARMAN: Yeah. I am Aimee from Shugary Sweets. And I have been with Mediavine maybe number six?



[LAUGHS]



So 2014. From the very beginning as well.



JENNY GUY: That's so great. And will you tell me about your blog first? Your brand? Kind of that journey in a nutshell?



AIMEE SHUGARMAN: Sure. So I've been blogging since 2011. And I mainly do sweets. But a few years back I ventured into savory as well. And surprisingly those do much better on Pinterest. So yeah, that's it.



And your blog's name?



Shugary Sweets.



Excellent. And Courtney, same question to you.



COURTNEY O'DELL: Well, I actually started off as a craft blogger. And really quickly branched into food, because everyone has to eat. And I realized I was really lazy, and didn't love doing crafts all the time. So I still do a little bit of lifestyle stuff.



I branched out into a lot of travel stuff. I'm always traveling. And I'm still doing a lot of food. So I have really bad ADD, so my blog kind of does too, and I just kind of-- if I'm into it, I write about it.



JENNY GUY: I really love that, and I'm going to-- so since I have you guys captive for an hour, we're going to talk about RPM. But other things. So I just want to branch out.



Courtney, some people say you have to niche. And you just said, you don't niche at all. So tell me how that works, and what you would say to someone who said you can't niche and be Successful?



COURTNEY O'DELL: I honestly wouldn't worry too much about it. If you don't feel into your blog, nobody is going to feel into it. So I have gone through periods where I'm writing what you're supposed to write. Where you're writing so-and-so copycat recipe, or this, or that, or--



I tried forever to get virals. Just-- I'm not good at that. If my heart's into it, it's not going to happen. I am a lot of things. I'm really bad at being fake.



So you have to be really, really into something. You have to show Google you're an authority on it. And you have to get your readers really excited about something you're excited about.
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