Case Study: Whitney Bond’s long-term success with Raptive

With Raptive, there’s someone who has my back.

Whitney Bond

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Summary

• Whitney Bond started her site in 2011 and has been monetizing with Raptive since 2017.
• Her annual earnings have increased by 872.5% since then.
• She’s also seen significant pageview growth by using Topic, Raptive’s content optimization solution.

Featured Creator

Whitney Bond, whitneybond.com

Challenge

In her friend circle, Whitney Bond was always known as “the one who cooked.” So when she started whitneybond.com in 2011, she naturally focused on sharing her favorite recipes. As her followers grew, she began to realize that her site had the potential to be more than a hobby.

“Given my background in business, I thought maybe I could turn this into a business,” she said. “But there was no Instagram, Pinterest didn’t exist—nobody searched Google for recipes.”

Whitney began to experiment with ways to earn a full-time income through her site, from Google Ads and affiliate marketing to hosting private supper club events and doing cooking segments on her local news channel.

“I was so passionate about it. I knew there was something in this and I was going to do whatever it took to get there.”

Approach

From the beginning, Whitney’s partnership with Raptive was about more than just ad revenue. It was about working together to help her build a sustainable business. Whitney realized that having reliable ad revenue gave her the freedom to focus on the parts of her business that fueled her creativity, and leave behind the things that didn’t. 

“The ad revenue is better so I was able to say, ’I don’t have to accept this low-paying Instagram sponsored post gig because I’m making enough money off ad revenue.’ I quit doing news segments at the end of 2019 because it’s such a grind. I was traveling all the time; it was so much work.”

Whitney consults with her Creator Partnerships Manager, Leanne Holley, on all aspects of her business, from what’s going well to areas where she’s struggling. 

“Leanne’s been amazing. I can reach out to her about anything—ad plugins, RPMs, and more—and get an insightful response.”

There are so many things you can be doing at all times, so it’s great to have a partner who can help me prioritize.

Leanne advised Whitney to invest time in refreshing older content. To do that, Whitney relies on Topic, Raptive’s content optimization solution.

“I love that tool. I appreciate the fact that Raptive is always looking for new things they can bring to the table.” 

She’s able to easily identify areas where she can improve existing content, and even hired a new team member to update her content through Raptive’s Topic and Keyword Research tools. 

They’re not just here to provide ad revenue, they’re also invested in my long-term success.

Outcome

From the time she joined Raptive to now, Whitney’s annual ad earnings have increased by 872.5%. Every year brings new challenges and opportunities, and Whitney remains confident her partnership with Raptive will bring her the best possible results. 

“I trust that the team is doing the best for me and getting me the best monetization for my content.” 

She continues to see growth in pageviews and revenue. By leveraging Topic, she climbed in the ranks for several high-volume keywords, resulting in a 272% increase in traffic.

In December it was like Christmas morning every day.

“I’d wake up and think ‘I’m so excited to be here’ while refreshing my pageviews and checking my Raptive dashboard. Every day it was more and more. “

But for Whitney, working with Raptive isn’t just about the money. It’s about having a partner in an ever-changing industry.

“Raptive has supported me for eight years, doing things to advocate for me and other creators and giving me tools to grow, so it’s more to me than just the bottom line. But I’m also making far more than I ever did before. I’m happy to be a part of the family and excited to see what the next thirteen years will bring.” 

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