Making money online is all about two things: traffic, and engagement.
The more time your visitors spend on your site, the higher the revenue, which is why you should focus on getting them hooked to your content.
In recent years, a new engagement trend has been witnessing a growing following among webmasters: quiz websites.
Quizzes are not only used for entertainment, as big companies, as well as small webmasters, use them to collect information, boost engagement, and rake in money through ad revenue.
It’s easy to see why; people get hooked to quizzes easily, and they like to share the results on social media, which means that by using quizzes, your content is bound to go viral at no extra charge.
Just check the traction that some of my recent quizzes has witnessed in a short period of time:
(Also, keep an eye on the quizzes I’m going to publish over the upcoming months)
Knowing that quizzes are an excellent traffic monetization method, you mustn’t miss the opportunity to use them as part of your online marketing arsenal, which is why I prepared this guide.
By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly how you can start your own quiz website with minimal investment, so grab your notebook and keep reading.
Get a Domain Name for Your Quiz Site
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and the journey of a thousand quizzes (or any kind of website-based business for that matter) starts with a domain name.
To keep your expenses at a minimum, here are my recommended domain registrars:
NameSilo and NameCheap:
Both NameSilo and NameCheap are great domain registrars that don’t have any hidden charges. They also offer WHOIS privacy free of charge, and their domains are pretty affordable (less than $10 for .com)
GoDaddy’s $0.99 .com Domain Names:
Just search for “GoDaddy $1 domain” on Google, and you’ll get the promo right away. Keep in mind that you’re only allowed to have one $0.99-domain per account, so make sure to pick a good name before registering it. Also, WHOIS privacy is not free on GoDaddy.
Free Domain Registrars:
Honestly, I recommend going one of the above options, as they’re more reliable and look better in the eyes of social media sites. If you don’t want to spend your hard-earned cash on the domain name, here are some options to consider that won’t cost you a dime:
- Freenom.com (free .gq, .tq, .ml, .cf, ga)
- Planethoster.ca (free .ca)
When registering a domain, I highly recommend picking a good-looking brand name if you’re in it for the long haul. Additionally, try to stick with the main TLDs (.com, .net, and .org).
Get a Hosting Account and Set Up Your Quiz Site
Picking the right hosting provider is crucial when starting a new site.
Why?
Because a reliable hosting provider will ensure that your site is fast, secure, and running with no downtime whatsoever.
Here are my recommended hosting providers, both of which have pretty fast servers located all over the world and offer an excellent customer support service:
No need to pick an expensive hosting plan at the beginning, as you can start small and level up as you get more and more traffic.
Once you get your server up and running, change the NameServers in your domain registrar, install WordPress, and voila! You’re ready for launching your site!
Here’s a useful guide on how to install WordPress when getting SiteGround hosting. That same guide can be used with any hosting provider.
Once WordPress is installed, install and activate your theme of choice. This boils down to personal taste so I won’t recommend a specific WP theme. There are many options out there, many of which are free yet oh so beautiful.
After adding your theme, make sure to add a GDPR button on your site. This can be easily done using the GDPR plugin.
Without that button, there’s no way your site is going to get accepted in Adsense.
Next, you need to install a Quiz posting plugin. Although there are many options available out there, I highly recommend going with WP Quiz Pro from My Theme Shop. Not only will that plugin make posting quizzes a breeze, but it will also work seamlessly with any theme you have to keep the speed and security of your site intact.
Other Useful Plugins for Your Quiz Site
Other plugins that you must install before delving into the content creation part include:
- Wordfence, which will ensure the security of your site.
- WPS Hide Login, which can be used to change the login URL for added security.
- WP-Rocket, Perfmatters which can speed up your site significantly.
- Smush Image Compression and Optimization, which can be used to compress images for speed purposes.
- WordPress Infinite Scroll by Auto Load Next Post, to keep your visitors hooked to your site.
- Social Share Plugin, as social sharing is at the essence of quiz monetization. For this, I recommend Social Snap, Novashare, Monarch, or MashShare, all of which are extremely easy to use.
To install any of the aforementioned plugins, simply head to the plugin tab of the Wordpress Sidebar, type the plugin name, then install and activate it. Easy peasy.
Once you get all of that out of the way, it’s time to roll up your sleeve and get to the nitty-gritty of content creation!
Add Content and Create Your Quizzes
So, we’ve taken care of the domain name, set up our hosting, and installed WordPress through cPanel. Now, it’s time to get the site up and running.
What should you do first?
Niche selection, of course!
Choose the right niche, and you’ve got yourself on the right track to success. Pick the wrong niche, and you’re bound to throw all of your money down the drain as you struggle to achieve anything.
Don’t get scared, as it’s not as hard as it seems. Since we’re building a quiz website here, you need to pick a trendy niche, but not so trendy that it’s going to disappear in a couple of weeks. To do that, simply check what’s viral and trending on social media. TV Shows, Celebrities, and Video Games are just a few examples of what you can choose for guaranteed success.
Once you have your niche, it’s time for some keyword research.
Keyword research is the cornerstone of any website, as, without the right keywords, you won’t be able to gain free traffic from Google, Bing, and other search engines.
To take care of the keyword research and find some hidden gems that you can use to rank your quizzes on top of Google search results, create an account on Semrush, my recommended keyword research tool.
Keyword research is a full SEO suite that you can use for a plethora of other tasks, making it a great app to have in your arsenal.
Here’s an excellent keyword research guide put together by SEMrush.
So, now that you’ve picked your niche and researched your keywords, what’s next?
It’s time to (finally) create the quizzes!
To prepare the quizzes, you can either hire an affordable writer from Fiverr or write the content yourself. If you decide to take care of everything yourself, here are some tips as to how you can write the content:
- Check Wikipedia
Wikipedia includes everything there is to know about different subjects, including games, shows, and celebrities. Anything on Wikipedia can be turned into a quiz.
Example:
Leonardo Da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452.
Becomes:
When Was Leonardo Da Vinci Born?
- 1452
- 1458
- 1563
- 1607
Unleash your creativity to the fullest here!
- Check Quizzes from Other Sites
Search for your “keyword + quiz” on Google and see which questions your competitors are using. Avoid Copy/Pasting quiz questions, as that will get your account banned on Adsense. Instead, write every quiz in your own words.
Voila! Now rinse and repeat until you have a considerable number of quizzes ready to be published (30, at least), and publish them using the plugin I recommended above!
Here are some extra tips to keep in mind when writing your quizzes:
- Make sure that the quizzes are neither too hard nor too easy.
- Write lengthy descriptions for your quizzes for SEO purposes.
- Set the internal pages of the quiz as no-index using your quiz plugin of choice (for SEO purposes).
- Use proper images (I’ll get back to that in a second).
- Make sure either your quiz plugin or theme supports adding ads to the quizzes.
Don’t forget to use images when publishing the quizzes on your site, as they’re essential for user experience and Adsense approval. When adding images, make sure to use only copyright-free ones to avoid putting your ad network account at risk.
Here are a few sites for royalty- and copyright-free pictures that you can use at no risk:
- Unsplash.com
- Pexels.com
- Canva.com
- Freepik.com
- burst.shopify.com
- depositphotos.com
- dreamstime.com
You can also use free images from Wikipedia, as long as they’re part of the Wikimedia Commons project. As for other media assets used on Wikipedia, you can check the license of each of them individually.
Extra Tips for Your Quiz Site
Don’t forget to use Smush (the plugin that I mentioned earlier) to compress your images and minimize their size to optimize the site speed).
Besides quizzes, make sure to add the essential website pages, such as Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, and About Us. Those are also critical for Adsense approval
If you’re willing to go the extra mile, you can publish some blog posts to increase your chance of getting accepted on Adsense.
Adsense and Traffic for a Quiz Website
Although Adsense is not the only ad network that you can use, it’s by far the most commonly-used one, and the safest as well, considering that it’s from Google. That’s why I’m only going to talk about getting accepted by Adsense.
To get accepted by Adsense, you need to publish at least 30 quizzes on your site. The more, the merrier, of course, so don’t you skimp on content, especially if you’re only going to publish quizzes on your site. Besides, you need some traffic for Adsense approval, and the more quizzes you have, the more visitors you’re going to get.
Now, how can you attract visitors to your site to get accepted easily on Adsense?
Social Media
Share your quizzes on social media sites, such as Facebook profiles, Subreddits, Pinterest boards, and Instagram pages.
Facebook Groups
Share your quizzes on Facebook groups in your niche. The key here is to find relevant groups, so if you’re publishing quizzes about Lenorado Da Vinci, for example, look for art groups and such.
SEO
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a great way to generate traffic from Google and other search engines at no extra charge. Here are some tips to make sure your quizzes and pages are optimized for search engines:
- Optimize your site’s speed.
- Use proper tags (H1 for the main headline, then H2 and H3).
- Use H3 or H4 for the conclusion.
- Add a meta description. Make sure it contains the keyword.
- Add your keyword to the URL.
- Add the primary keyword in the first 200 words of each quiz.
- Make sure each quiz has at least 500 words of content.
- Add some outbound links to authority sites in your niche, such as Wikipedia.
For more real-time SEO tips and guidelines, make sure to check the Yoast SEO plugin.
Once you have a good number of daily visitors, it’s time to apply for Adsense. Before doing so, make sure your website is working perfectly and that no image/link/post is broken. Also, make sure to add the ads policies mentioned in Adsense policy to your Privacy page.
When applying for Adsense, add your full domain (https://www.domain.com) and use your professional domain (name@domain.com) upon signing up.
Once you get approved, you’ll get a code that you need to add in the header of your site. If your theme doesn’t have an option to do that by default, simply install the “Insert Headers and Footers” plugin by WPBeginner.
Voila! Your quiz site is now complete!
Final Thoughts: Can You Build a Quiz Website on a Budget?
Quiz sites are an excellent way to earn some side revenue that can turn into passive income, and they certainly can be created an maintained if you’re on a budget.
If you don’t have an initial investment for the domain, hosting, and the other initial expenses, you can check my other guide on how to earn money from surveys.
Now that we got all the excuses out of the way, it’s time for you to start hustling!