Have you ever been on a car ride that took you across a desert? That is how I have been feeling of late. I entered WA almost a year ago and I saw signs that pointed me to success. I knew that it would require learning new skills and applying them, but I was not sure how long that it would take. With a full tank of fuel (ambition) and course plotted I set out on my new adventure.

I took on a niche that I could really be passionate about and built a website around it. I tried to be methodical about colors and font sizes. I wanted to give my readers a pleasant experience as well as informative. I tried to think of issues that would be important and engaging. Researching each topic was important to me because I did not want to publish any more theories and misinformation. My niche has had more that it's fair share of that already.

Having my new site, still a siterubix, recognized by google was exciting. Figuring that I was on my way to a successful affiliate marketing site. Months went on and still I was not seeing any google ranking when checked with serp. I questioned many WA associates and sought advice from others. Comments would come in telling me how they appreciated the website. But still no google ranking.

Ever feel like that? I finally was given some constructive criticism that I started to put to use. Purchasing a domain name seemed ticky-tack to me but I did it on advice that was given and appreciated. Tweaking keywords to fit the low hanging fruit as Kyle mentioned, was worked on.

About 2 months ago my home page, domain url, finally got a number. Yes it was high but it was a number and not a zero. I finally got some confirmation that I was headed in the right direction with encouragement to continue. Today I checked again with a different checker, Search Engine Genie. The first 2 pages that I checked were at zero, a big fat 0. Feeling devastated, I almost did not continue. The home URL checked out and had moved up. Feeling some life coming back, I pressed on. I checked 9 pages/posts and 4 had numbers and one was actually a 3! I examined those that were not ranked and found that they were older pages that needed the keywords reworked except for a post that was only 2 days old.

I have learned to keep my mouth closed when negative thoughts want to blurt out something less than helpful. Stay the course, don't be afraid to ask questions. I read in an old book, "never get weary in well doing". But those signs on the trip through the desert are more frequent and giving me the confidence to work all the more.