Odd Traffic
Ok, Short blog post tonight. I know I've probably said that in the past but this time I mean it... I think..
So I have 2 websites that I have bought domain names for, set up here at WA.
First Site
One of them is my main niche site. A site I have been dumping excessive hours into. It consists of something like 111 comments, 26 pages, 9 posts. I have written everything on this site with great care and I have spent considerable time analyzing and making sure it is SEO friendly, to the best of my current abilities.
Even with Google Webmaster Tools showing a higher average ranking position every day, as well as jaaxy showing better and better positions for my targeted keywords within articles, most days this site is lucky to break 20 sessions, occasionally getting sessions per day in the low 30's, and often only getting single digits... I do admit that it's been getting between 3-6 organic (google) based sessions but there hasn't been any noticeable consistency to this. No steady rise..
Second Site
The second site is an Affiliate Bootcamp style site that I had set up when I first started. I'm not saying it is a bad idea for a site, it's just that I don't believe it is the best time for me to be creating the best content possible for this site. So when I was green here at WA (I know I am still very green, but I mean really really very much exasperatingly green), I was all gung-ho about starting a site to get WA referrals.
I set up my three theme pages and wrote two or three articles for the page and I have since let it sit. I am not sure how long ago I wrote the last bit of content for this site, but I don't believe that I added anything in november. I have received comments as it has been sitting from WA members (about 1/wk roughly) and I have responded to them accordingly, but aside from that... nothing.
What makes this worth blogging about?
I've been getting inconsistent traffic to the second site but traffic non the less. Furthermore, I find it odd that I have damn near no bounces on this site.
Site I have poured my heart and soul into - 41% Bounce Rate
(Yeah, I laughed writing the line above.)
Site I created by sneezing - 6% Bounce Rate
(Practically.. I mean, it really didn't take much.)
Now, to be fair, the traffic to the second site has been much direct and the rest pretty much WA with a couple from buried G+ posts. (buried by posts from my main focus site)
So, it's pretty safe to say that there isn't much traffic that would be converting to WA referrals here.
Honestly, I'm not really sure what to make out of comparing this data. Is there anything to be learned from it at all?
Is there a little hint I should be taking that aquarium sites are not all that popular and that creating a site based on tips for online cash flow should be my focus?
Pretty goofy if that is the case since I know plenty about the niche I have been placing my focus on and have never made any money building websites or through online marketing. This seems like a pretty big detail for giving advice on the subject. I mean, I know the people reading my site don't have to know that I haven't made a dime doing what I am teaching them, but that seems a little messed up, right?
I guess that is part of the reason I decided I should wait to build that site out any more than I have. I'm an honest individual and I'd like to be successful at online marketing because I learned it and actually got good at it. Not by being deceitful and tricking people into believing they should trust me when I don't actually know what I am talking about.
Or is that what makes a talented online marketer? I really don't believe that is the case. If I had to, I've done debt collections before... "so fake it til you make it" is a motto I'm all too familiar with and doing it through the keyboard would be much easier than through a phone.
Really guys? I do have the ability to be great through less than respectable ways like this but if you've followed my blogs so far at all.... I think you know better than to believe that I'm going that direction. I know that I also possess the skills to do it right, through hard work and learning! I know it's all going to pay off in the long run but back to the POINT OF MY BLOG TONIGHT!!
What are all these stats about?
(2 damn paragraphs.. thats all I wanted, thats all I planned on doing. I said SHORT BLOG... sorry bout that. You all know me when these fingers hit the keys!)
Recent Comments
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Is there a little bit of an offshoot that's still aquarium related to tweak the site?
Haven't had one in years because we put it in the family room when we first moved here, Problem---previous owner had converted garage into family room and it was a little cool in the winter. The heater on the aquarium was not adequate therefore the poor fish died. Had to explain that to the kids.
Now I know you probably have covered heaters but winter is here again. Maybe somewhere in this there are new keywords or ideas or just something about explaining to children the results of improper maintenance of an aquarium.
Also consider that I've only been with WA since November and I probably don't know enough of what I;m talking about. Good luck and best wishes.
Hi Barbara!
I actually haven't covered heaters in detail yet, thank you for the idea!
The concept of winter being good timing to talk about the subject didn't even occur to me since I run mine year round to control the heat. As for the garage aquarium, I didn't think of this because I live in Minnesota and having an aquarium in a place that is not typically heated isn't something that anyone I know, does. (being that the temp is usually lower than 60 degrees about 7 or 8 months of the year.
Thank you very much for the ideas!
You are welcome. There was some heat but not well insulated. Added another radiator. Room still has that damn dark paneling.
Haha, I suppose the endless list of projects is just part of the beauty of homeownership!
Thanks for sharing this great post and congrats on your low bounce rate. Mine sits in the 80's Keep up the good work!
Thank you for sharing the results I need to be blogging a bit more been working on other things, I have one focused on self employment and WA the other one is my first as I felt it would be nice to do something I knew whilst I learned all this building online stuff
I think it's a good approach. Learning about the business before attempting to teach others is wise. (In my opinion)
Thanks for sharing Katie!
I agree which is why I am only now promoting WA,, as 18 months later feel like I now understand the core principles
Fascinating! Thanks for being so candid about your results. It just shows that massive effort is not always rewarded and lots of content does not automatically mean more traffic. I am also working on 2 websites - one for WA and one personal niche - and my gut feeling is that the WA site will do better simply because everyone is interested in making money, but only a few will be interested in a specialist niche.
Please don't go down the 'trickery' path - it's already too crowded!
The thing I like most about the WA community is the underlying honesty and integrity that shines through everything I have read.
Ah, I believe you have understandably mistook some (or quite possibly most) of what I had to say.
A bit frustrated, maybe yes.
Bitter, not so much.
Though there may be less interested in a particular niche, the competition is also MUCH higher in the making money niche. Not to steer you one way or another, but consider how many people at WA alone are making websites about making money. Then consider all of the other sites that are teaching similar strategies to have websites built targeting them.
Money making audience - Very large
Money making website competition - SWEARWORDS worth of HUGE!
I will not be traveling the road of deceit and imitation, I can certainly promise you that! The road of trickery is crowded, as is the road of money making websites. (Not to say that you can't find keywords, market it and do well. But crowded, non the less.)
As I said in the post, I have indeed been being rewarded steadily with better and better page rankings. Unfortunately, better page rankings do not mean instant traffic and success and I still have a ton of work to do in order to keep these rankings crawling up the ladder. (It's still a much faster climb than a corporate ladder!) So I am being rewarded, it just takes time to see the full effects of the big picture... or at least this is what I believe.
I too have grown on the wonderfully honest atmosphere presented within the community here and will have no part in becoming the problem seen so many other places!
First things first dude, that bounce rate is fricken amazing!
Most blogs sit in the high 70s-90s because people only read the newest article then leave, that's kinda the point of blogs, I have seen youtube videos from sites that have 30,000+ visitors per month with some pages getting up to 94% bounce rate, you obviously have VERY targeted traffic which is amazing! Mine is about 80%, even though my visitor numbers are far greater, the quality isn't there so in short quality over quantity is the way to go forward man, keep plugging along, use some sweet social media marketing tips and you'll be a millionaire before you know it (lol if you use Amazon affiliates you better hope you live to you're 3000 in that case haha).
I have also experienced the same thing, my site-rubix version of my current site freedomweightloss.net hasn't been touched in over 6 months and all the stats are down except for the Site trust, that is 10% higher than my current blog that has been getting all the visitors and all the posting action, go figure?
Thanks for the perspective Aiden, that helps my understanding of this business quite a bit. Though I agree with you as far as the amazon % goes, this brings up 2 points worth mentioning..
1- The best affiliate rate through ANY site that sells aquarium equipment that I have been able to find is only 10%. Including the major pet chains as well as several pet websites. None of the actual manufacturers of these products has an affiliate program that I am able to find.... Does this simply mean living with 10% where I can get it until I grow my site to be an authority and then attempting to strike a distribution type deal with manufacturers?
2- Is utilizing amazons brand to draw clicks as a young site and reaping the low percentage rewards of potential sales that could include practically any products through that readers amazon session, a beneficial strategy? (run on sentence much, self?!)
Haha, these are very valid points Zach!
The main reason I am with Amazon for the majority of my affiliate links is because of brand loyalty and trust, there is no one retailer on the internet more trusted (or makes more) than Amazon.
Amazon is a giant that is growing by the second, their revenue is insane, people love and trust Amazon, their Kindle platform is a hugely popular (even though it's just a remake of iBooks or any other ebook that has been around forever) platform for distribution of reading material, their products are usually fulfilled by their own warehouses so you don't have to worry about terrible sellers not delivering goods like on eBay or other websites. There is a guarantee with Amazon that you will get a fantastic experience, or your money back.
A lot of affiliate programs that you use that earn you 10% (and you can earn 10% on Amazon too, you just have to sell a ton to get there, I am up to 6.5% (or maybe it's still 6%) currently, it goes up per so many sales as an incentive) are not as trust worthy, think about the last time you went to buy something online, saw the website and thought "hmm.. nope" then went to Amazon or somewhere you trusted and got the same product and probably paid more.
The other thing you can do if you want to increase your authority and your sales margins is use private label products, these are products that companies create and they slap your label/brand name all over it and send it to you, there is private label versions of EVERYTHING, you obviously pay them wholesale pricing for your fishtanks, order (I don't know quantities) 100, send to Amazon so they can fulfil the order, then you get the whole sale commission when you sell an item, not just 10% and it's your brand you're promoting, you'd be surprised at how many companies out there are selling the exact same product but with different marketing strategies to make you think one is better than the other.
Wonderful, I couldn't agree more!
Heck, I think the only awesome amazon feature you left out was prime. 2 day shipping on a ton of items and quite a few price breaks too! haha.
I have yet to get advice that is anything less than incredibly useful yet Aiden. Keep on dropping those knowledge bombs as they come my man! I gotsta learn ta be a marketer!
Haha, you've got my number man, flick me a private message anytime :).
I've seen Amazon prime but never bothered to look into it as a lot of items don't ship to my country/town lol. I just purchase Kindle books from Amazon thats about it, everything else is relatively cheap to source locally or via our national version of eBay (www.trademe.co.nz) but I suppose it sounds like a good idea as long as it's on every product, not just some.
That kind of put me off with Kindle Unlimited "ALL the Kindle books you can read for $9.99 a month!" I thought I was dreaming, as an avid reader, this would save me a bundle!
Then I learnt that it was only on selected titles, they add more periodically but the majority of them are (or at least were when I looked into it) old books that don't interest me, about made up tails in far away lands lol. I'd rather read how Zach made his first billion dollars on WA :).
Don't ever hesitate to reach out man, I'm only a PM away.
Absolutely man, and I'll be able to afford the best ghost writer to write the book for me, once I've got that many zero's stacked behind the 1!
I'm sure I'll be reaching out, though lately you've been able to offer the answers before asking the question even crosses my mind! haha.
Later on buddy, I gotta get a little sleep every day or three!
Haha, I also have tips for writing a book (I'm currently writing one) give me a PM when you wake up and I'll share my secrets for your book success to haha.
It's getting there, I certainly don't mean to come across as "complaining" or "whining". I just drop in here and slam out a little frustration on the keyboard, then (as you suggest) go back to doing what I'm doing.
Baby steps... I like to think I've learned to walk but I've got wobbly knees and they buckle when I attempt to break into sprint!
Yet another dumb metaphor by Zach Colestock ;^)
How long has your main aquarium site been up and running? Don't forget that sometimes these things will take time, it's not a linear progression upwards, perhaps it just needs more time and to keep doing what you are doing? How would I know, I haven't made a bean from a website since 2001 when I was selling "actual" things that I shipped myself :) Maybe it's not time to change things, but to keep things going and keep pushing through. Personally, I like your aquarium site, it's easy to navigate and interesting, even for someone who isn't particularly interested in fish or aquaria. When I browse sites in niches that interest me, if there is a "shop" tab at the top, I often look in there to see if there is something I would like to buy (well yes but I'm a girl, so I'm always shopping), so maybe collecting all the products you are promoting and putting them in a shop would help? I'm sure others who are experienced (I don't say "more experienced" as I'm not at all) will have better insights. Good luck! :)
Thanks a lot Clare! I guess I was mostly venting and I'm not all that upset about not monetizing at this point. It was more in terms of my frustration seeing 6 sessions on the site I've been working on and 8 on the other about a day apart... somewhere around 3-5 days ago. I guess I left that little detail out and maybe there is more to the post. Needless to say, it's going to take a lot more than a couple of frustrating figures to get me to back down! Stubborn might as well be my middle name and if it turns out 3 years from now that I have a dead niche (apparently the unicorn of the niche world as every niche is a good niche from what I hear), I'm going down with the ship! Writing articles for MY dead niche website as the captain of that ship! haha
ok that may have been a little dramatic, but it's supposed to be funny! smile!
And I thank you for your compliments and the store idea. I'll likely keep on with the reviews alone at least until I have more items reviewed, but down the road I can see some potential there. :^)
(Oh and, am I the only one that puts noses on punctuation faces? I never see anyone else do this..)
Ah, no need to reply to my question in the message now if you don't want.. I asked a second too early!
Glad you enjoyed it! I seriously had every intent on keeping it that short.. but I should certainly have known better.
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Thank you for sharing your activities.
My pleasure :^)