It Looks Like I Have Failed Miserably- Update
Hey everyone,
Thought I would give an update...so I've been here at Wealthy Affiliate for 4 months now and everything was going really great with my site!
I started to see results and my pages were getting indexed. I then discovered I was going to broad and so decided to narrow down my audience.
Everyday I see people here at Wealthy Affiliate asking about niche ideas and if their niche is narrow enough.
I decided to focus my blog on helping people find niche ideas for their blogs to write about. When I went to Jaaxy and searched in the terms "how to blog about 'insert topic" the results seemed pretty promising.
Most keywords had a zero QSR and average monthly searches of 50+. After finding this out I got rid of a lot of the content that wasn't relevant and started writing posts everyday.
Most of my posts had the same format but different information. For example my posts "how to blog about Alaska" and "how to blog about Arizona" had very similar layouts just different information (cause that is what people were searching for in Google).
Shortly after I made this change my Goolge rankings completely disappeared from Google Search and my page impressions started to drop.
On average I was starting to get around 40 impressions a day, but now I have dropped down to 1-2 impressions per day.
The last couple weeks I have just been hoping that it would get better, but it hasn't. I decided to do some research this morning on my site and found out that most of posts are omitted in the Google search results.
After looking up why pages get omitted it is because if Google thinks there could be duplicate content it hides it.
Since all my posts start with "How to Blog About (insert topic)" and that is in all of my meta-descriptions and titles I think Google thinks I am posting very similar and duplicate content.
After asking talking with a higher ranked member here he suggested that I would need to make my titles a whole lot more unique and totally different, while changing the format of my content.
The only problem is that there aren't really any other keywords I can use as a title that get searched.
Also the way the content is set out I'm not sure how to change it to me more "unique".
I have couple 404 errors according to my Google Analytics. So I am going to try and fix those to see if it helps, but I'm certain it isn't going to. :(
It looks like I am going to have to completely restart, which is soooo painful. I won't lie, when I discovered that I will probaly hav to restart this whole process I just wanted to curl up in a ball in cry.
Actually I have felt like that all day, and still fell like that.
I have been working on this website for 4 months now averaging at least 3.5 hours a day on it. Someday was 6 hours. It is literally the worst feeling in the world.
It's gonna be hard to rebuild if necessary but I think I might know how to do it properly this time.
Anyways...I just wanted to share this becauseI know a lot of people lately have been posting succes articles, but not many people have been posting the struggles they've had.
If you are struggling or feel like you have failed, just remember that there are others out there facing the same problems!
In fact, most of the people who have succeeded have failed miserably at some point. I just hope that this second time around I will be able to get it right.
*UPDATE* 11/06/2018
I just want to say thanks everyone for the supportthis last day! It has really helped me do my best to look at this positively!
I think one of the hardest parts about yesterday was having to tell my wife because I wans't sure how she would react.
Me working on my website everyday hasn't been too easy for her since we are newley wed. Thankfully she reacted like all of you said at least I had f learned a lot and that I would do better the next time around!
She was very supportive which has been very helpful! Anyways I have an idea of how I want to proceed!
Honestly if there wasn't such a great an supportive community here it would have been a lot harder to keep on going on.
But I know I can do this! I have to.
All the Best,
Chris
Recent Comments
108
Curl into a ball and cry? no you don`t, I have given up a site (tore it down and started again)that was 1 year old, making sales, several posts on page 1 of Google. did I curl up and cry, no it`s for the best. So keep working. If you decide to cry, remember that after the crying is done, you still have to get up and write content.It`s for the best.
Things will change and your site will start being ranked again with your new posts.
I hope this does not sound harsh, it`s the reality in online world, you do something you feel is right but then you feel unsure because Google is showing something different but you know what, things can only get better.
Be strong and soldier on.
The greatest of all time stumble and fall. Failure leads to success in your case if you had 40 at one time you were doing good. I would think it through and do what works Good luck to you
If it makes you feel any better, I've failed to get any real success here for the last 4 years lol.
Due to my own stupid mistakes, I'm on my 4th Bootcamp blog. It's now 13 months old but no big breakthroughs yet at 286 posts lol. Hopefully, traffic will pick up as I write more content.
As infuriating and upsetting as it is, all we can do is learn from our mistakes and start over.
Neil
Thanks Neil!
That does make me feel a little better haha! I've definitely learned a lot this time round.
Hoepfully this next time round will be better!
That is a bummer Chris. I am so sorry to hear you are having a rough time. Don't assume you need to have a super narrow niche though. That is good for some people and some topics but not always the best course. Some of us feel it is better to choose a topic that we are very interested in and that is broad enough to provide an abundance of article ideas. it is a trade off and can take longer to rank but the benefit is you won't get burned out and will never run out of topics to write about. It would also be easier to find a wide range of keywords which are not similar. I do posts with "Best...", "Review of...", "How to...", as well as using the names of the products themselves and using the names of the conditions they treat or problems they cure. Since I am in niches that I am interested in and have a lot of experience in, it is easy to come up with topics to write about.
I like your idea on how to choose a niche. It seems TOO narrow to me however. What affiliate products would you sell? Are you promoting WA? If so, than it might be a good angle but it seems you may need it to be a bit more broad.
This may be of interest to you: Generalization vs specialization in choosing a niche and domain name. I really hope you find the right mix that works because I like your idea.
Jessica
Thanks Jessica,
I read your post and really liked it. I think I might have to go a bit more broad. Luckily I can use my same domain name as it is not narrow at all.
Good! I prefer the broad approach. There is quite a division among members however. Some prefer narrow, some broad. It can work either way.
How long did it take when you took the broad approach? What are all the different things you blog about??
I would like to know! I started off broad, I'm really passionate about financial fitness, personal development etc.
What would be the best way to go about blogging all these things. Should I start with one and add another later?
I am at quite the crossroads about what I should do.
It is always hard to compare how long things take on different people's sites since life gets in the way! We can have a great site but if we take weeks or months off due to life circumstances it can destroy our traffic and sales and the great site is now dormant.
I am definitely part time at this. I have a regular job and it happens to be a good job with great benefits and nice boss and co-workers so I want to keep it! Good jobs are hard to find! I also have a ton of health issues that slow me down. My husband and I also have rental properties to manage as well. We own and manage one building and manage a second now too.
So, I don't want my timeline to influence your decisions. If I could spend more time on my sites I am sure they would have become profitable much sooner.
On my first site I focus on cat health and behavior products. Some of the supplements are made for dogs too but I focus on cats to keep the niche a bit narrowed down. I use a few dog keywords however to grab a bit of that pie as well. I write about:
Supplements for tooth and gum health, immunity, upper respiratory infections and more,
High quality cat food that I recommend for sensitivities and overall health,
Superior cat litter (pine not clay). At first I wondered if this was off topic for my niche but it is not since the clay litter can cause health problems and the pine is naturally anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, odor controlling etc.
Anti-anxiety products to fix cat behavioral problems like peeing where they aren't supposed to.
Natural calming aid/sedative for travel, vet visits and other stressful times.
Cleaning products for cat messes around the house.
Natural cleaning solutions like borax.
Home remedies for cats such as using apple cider vinegar for upper respiratory infections.
Over the counter products for cats such as Pepcid AC Original Strength cut into quarters for acid indigestion.
Miralax for cat constipation
Huge, affordable cat tree that is the best value I have found
Space saving furniture such as a wall mounted cat play area for apartments and small homes.
How to help pets in Hurricane Michael, How to help pets in Hurricane Florence etc.
Cat food allergy vs. sensitivity and intolerance.
So you see it is a VERY eclectic list of topics. I would be bored to death with a narrow niche. Because they all fall into cat health and behavior it seems to work for me. I hope to develop an authority site for all types of cat issues.
My second site is all about human health problems due to nutrient deficiency and my recommended supplements and other natural products to help them. It is called Nutrient Cures.
There I write about;
Why we have nutrient deficiencies (soil depletion, stress, poor diet, processed foods etc)
Why we need more magnesium (deficiency causes high blood pressure, heart disease and many common ailments). Stress leaches it from our system and the body will take it out of the bones in order to keep the blood level high enough to keep us alive. This is why regular blood tests do no good at finding this deficiency.
Different forms of magnesium and their benefits (magnesium glycinate, taurate etc.), lotions, liquids, capsules, powders for different needs.
Immunity boosters
Arnica gel
I plan to add in the future: posts on zinc, Vit D, B, C, K, potassium, treatments for dealing with bursitis, tendonitis, muscle pain, back pain and more.
So, once again...very broad. I don't have many posts on that site yet.
My niches are really broad but I think there are ways to be successful in many different ways here. The most important thing is to pick what you are interested in.
I think you could combine financial fitness with personal development. Don't try to do multiple sites right now though. I waited almost two years to start my second site. I am really struggling to juggle both of them. I am not doing it well at all and both are suffering for it.
You could start one and plan on adding another later or combine the topics from the beginning. It also depends if you have a regular job and how much time you have to put into this.
Good luck!
Jessica
I'm not sure if you need to entirely "rebuild" your site. It seems like you just need to modify and repair some pages.
I would start with fixing the indexing errors. For this, I would look at your plugins and download: Google Analytics Dashboard for WP (GADWP)
This helps with you index better by establishing a better sitemap. My errors dropped from 50% to 0%. This helped keep my impressions high.
The next thing would be to look at your keywords to see if you get switch them to something that wouldn't count as "duplicate" content.
All of these things are a few modifications and should only take a few hours. All is not lost!
The thing is I can't find anything to switch my keywords to. When I search "how to blog about Alaska" in Jaaxy nothing that is similar gets searched each month.
I've tried "how to start a blog about Alaska"
I just can't think of any variations for it besides those two things.
I think you're making it too complicated. I just searched "alaska blog" in Jaaxy. Here is what I came up with. I organized it by QSR.
There are a ton of possibilities out there. I also recommend playing with the alphabet soup feature on Jaaxy if you're feeling stuck.
You haven't failed Chris!
That's something called learning curve.
We all have paid our fees. Is part of the game!
The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything. Life is all about evolution.
So don't be hard on yourself! Take a break if you need, clear your head and pedal to the metal!
That is true Zed!
I think I might take a week to figure out how I want to proceed and then keep on keepin on!
Thanks I really appreciate it! How would I go about getting rid of old content on my site so I can focus on something else without crazy things happening lol?
You don't have to eliminate all that content Chris. Just try to find some ways to improve your current content.
Make a research, check out a few well ranked articles and/or sites that are related to a given topic or content piece and you'll find a lot of valuable ideas. Here are some simple questions ... What are they doing well? What are they missing? What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses! Put your answers on "paper" and you'll have your new article
Also, you might want to check this out How to write the perfect blog post
One more thing about your current titles Chris ...
They contain stop words and Google usually filters out stop words, like ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘of’ and ‘for’, etc
They won't be considered at all ... So a title like
how to blog about [Alaska]
will be seen by Google as
blog [Alaska]
which is not a very unique and descriptive title from an SEO POV
See more comments
Hey Clittle
Don't give up! With Google they don't read your content they have a really complicated algorithm to find and index the most relevant content.
With your title issues. I wouldn't use How to as often if you can help it. But is you do add a little jazz or spice to the end to get people interested. I think that google will still rank for the keyword your trying to rank for.
Example: How to Blog about Alaska- the landscapes and culture
or
Example: How to blog about MOM- THE MEAT LOAF!
Ok! the second one was a joke I thought was funny! I hope you understand. By adding a little more to your title to peek interest changes the title tag but not the keyword you are seeking.
I could be Wrong but this is what works my posts.
Don't try to put content out just to put content out. Just remember the people reading are people. they want value from what they read. take your time and be thorough with your topic.
I hope this helps. I have only been doin this for about 3 months now and am learning more everyday.
Best wishes
Thanks!
I don't think it was just duplicate titles. Most of my posts had other similar content (that was relevant) because I didn't want people to click through to a different page.
I do have the different endings for my titles, I think it was duplicate content within my posts that killed me.