And On the Other Side of Things

38
4.2K followers
Updated

Having posted about my job woes, allow me now to be a bit more positive in regards to my site.

I had the very good fortune a couple of days ago to have a very experienced member here, who is very often posting encouragement and positivity tell me that I could contact him for some personal assistance in getting my site to perform better.

This member asked not to be named, but we have PMed each other a number of times now and he has given me some feedback and some ideas on what I could to to A) improve the visual impact of my site, B) improve traffic and C) start monetising my site.

Everything starts with traffic. While you need to have something to sell, you aren't going to sell it if no one visits your site. Doing all kinds of work writing blogs and making your site attractive is also great, but who are you making it attractive for? It's not just for fun, or personal pleasure (at least not for most of us). Traffic is king.

I have posted a couple of times about how my traffic is pretty low. It's kind of sad, actually. I've tried the usual stuff with keywords and then posting to Facebook groups, Google+ and more recently, Twitter. The result? Well, my single best post, which was rather specific to a FB group that I posted it to, managed to provide me with my highest one-day visitor count ever, at 28. Not terribly impressive, though it certainly surpassed my average of 2.

I've put more effort into keywords lately after realising some mistakes that I was making, but still have been without much success until this gentleman decided to help me. I don't have any results yet for some of what he suggested (some changes were made only yesterday), but he has certainly been able to help with traffic.

Three days ago, according to Google Analytics, I had 3 visitors. Two days ago, that number exploded to 114. I was more than happy with that. I looked up yesterdays numbers to see if it had dropped off or stayed steady and was just about floored to see 275 visitors!

Now, my main objective is to maintain and grow that as best I can, while implementing some of the other suggestions that I was given. Some of the WA training suggests that about 5% of your visitors could convert. If I could keep 200 visitors per day, with 5% of them converting (which seems a little unrealistic to me right now, but I am keeping an open mind because, hey, what do I know?) that would be 10 people per day. One of my affiliate programs suggests that they have an average sale of $75, so that would potentially be $750 per day, which might get me about $37.50 each day, or $1,125 per month.

That's not huge money, but it would be an amazing start. That currently seems like a dream to me, but some others consider it a conservative estimate, so... I just have to work at it and see what happens.

As for my anonymous benefactor, what has he asked from me? Only to offer encouragement to others and let you all know that yes, you can succeed and it doesn't have to be the usual Google route. think outside the box. Be creative. But whatever you do, don't give up and don't stop believing. It can be hard to stay positive, I know. It can be hard to trust in people that you can't see face-to-face, but WA can help you, there are people finding success online, and you can do the same.

I wish all of you nothing but the best. Now get out there and Do It!

Login
Create Your Free Wealthy Affiliate Account Today!
icon
4-Steps to Success Class
icon
One Profit Ready Website
icon
Market Research & Analysis Tools
icon
Millionaire Mentorship
icon
Core “Business Start Up” Training

Recent Comments

56

I would be interested in your traffic generating system because I'm having the same problem. Writing blogs but no traffic. How do you even know if the site we have picked is ok without traffic?

The main thing is making yourself visible somehow. I mean, with the number of people online, whatever your niche is, there will be other people interested in it. Guaranteed. You just need to let them know you're there.

What are you doing presently?

Two Niches: Way To Save Your Marriage and Fear of Flying. I have blogged quite a bit on the marriage site just began to rebuilt fear of flying site. My point is if you get no traffic how do you know the site is working.

I think both of those could be interesting sites...
Actually what I meant though, was what are you doing to drive traffic?

Nothing but posting blogs. This is where I am stuck.

This is a great improvement Craig, congrats! However, the big question is are those traffic numbers and conversions sustainable?

Hopefully.
He has a lot of great information and his niche is popular so I don't think it will go 'out of style'

That's great, I really hope so. Hopefully you can share some insights with us on this new found knowledge, Craig?

I certainly hope they are sustainable. In truth, what I am expecting is for those numbers to drop off a bit, but I will hopefully retain a decent percentage and then continue to build up from there. Even if I drop to 50/ day that will be much better than i am used to and I can focus on expanding.

In terms of "sharing knowledge" I am not sure what all I can say. Much of the advice was related to my niche in particular. However, the main thing is that he had me think about what I was doing in different ways and managed to renew my optimism. Given this, I'd say that in addition to whatever else you are doing, definitely start networking more with people who are already experiencing success.

I suppose you cannot share more specifically what he told you to boost your traffic numbers?

I can only share the things I know. lol

These results are pretty dramatic and they are mainly a result of what he has done, not me. He was able to guide people to my site.

Now, I have been finding higher-quality keywords, so perhaps that has helped a bit. Hopefully it has, because that would mean it will be easier to sustain, but the bulk of my new traffic is definitely from him, not me.

One sample idea that he gave me, however concerns my lack of images. My site deals with, amoung other things, comics and superheroes. I have been *extremely* reluctant to use images because of copyright issues and not knowing the exact legality of it all. A suggestion was made that I could encourage people to submit their own art,

This works on a number of levels: it adds visual flair to my site, it creates engagement with visitors and it can generate some traffic if those who submit their work link to it or send friends and family to check it out. That wouldn't give me an immediate, massive jump, for sure, but it is an example of how he is encouraging me to think of unique approaches.

I am still in the process of digesting this all and figuring out how best to proceed, but I will absolutely post about things that I try and whether they work or not.

This kinda reminds of the time someone here gave me an immediate blueprint of how to boost my Facebook "Like" numbers. He got it started (don't know how) with the first 10 "Likes" in 2 hours. I had to take an action every time someone would "Like" me. Then I picked up more.

The "Likes" increased by 400% in 2 hours. And 1200% in one day. Unbelievable. Unfortunately, once he no longer contributed his "following" to me, new "Likes" weren't sustainable.

Not that I care, as Facebook "Likes" on a page is not a metric I really care about.

That is great!! I am so happy for you Craig.

Can you tell us anything about what he recommended/you did to improve your traffic so much? Any hints? I am sure many would love to know!

Jessica

I'm sure much of it is stuff that you guys already know, but which I either overlooked, or maybe couldn't see how to implement. Some is also about cosmetics changes.

For example, he stressed the need for my niche in particular to have a more visual element. This is something that I pretty much new already, but he gave me some ideas on how to get around what I saw as my limitations. These are things that will hopefully help me with retaining visitors, and having them return.

In regards to generating the initial traffic, that was his doing. He was able to guide people to my site. In that regard, it's really not anything I have done, though he has given me ideas for offline interactions that might help people find my site. The real test will be getting them to come back while continuing to attract new visitors.

Ok, thanks Craig. I saw your answer above as well. I need to add more images to my site too. They way I found to get around worry over using 3rd party images is to take my own pictures. Since my cats are great models it is pretty easy. I take them, compress them with tinypng.com and then use them in my posts.

However, lately most of my posts only have the Amazon link images. I need to add my own photos of the cats and or the products like I was doing in the beginning.

When I started on Twitter I learned that posts with pics get waay more views. So, If I posted a link to the cat food my one cat benefits from due to allergies I added a cute picture of him in the Tweet and said something like "It works for this guy" at the end of the Tweet. For a post about cat anxiety drops I added a picture of my other boy who gets them. For a post about upper respiratory infection treatment I added a picture of my girl cat who recently needed them and recovered nicely.

It seemed like a way to add a genuine touch to the Tweets and grab attention.

The art concept on your site sounds similar and I am sure will really help.

Jessica

That sounds great. I *just* started using Twitter (like, a few days ago) so I am learning the ins-and-outs, but I'll get there!

I'm so excited for you since you were feeling so down for quite a while.

They say just when your are about to give up...that's when things happen and they did with you!

Your adviser is very kind to have helped you in such a huge way.

I can't wait to see what happens now.

I see your first sale in the near future :)

Thanks. Yes I was down a bit and considering doing this niche, but I wouldn't quit altogether.

My helper is awesome.

I how to be able to pay it forward one day.

Can I be the one you pay it forward to!
Joke.

You know I'm happy to help out any way I can.
Which is somewhat limited at the moment. Ha ha

Ha Ha :p

For a great reason!

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Very good this.

Nicely done!

Thanks. It's Not so much me as it is the gentleman helping me, but now it's on me to keep it going!

Good work on the traffic. Great WA community

Thank you for sharing your story!

I am excited for you seeing increased traffic! That is wonderful.

Thanks! I have a great opportunity here if I don't blow it!

Great inspiration, man!

See more comments

Login
Create Your Free Wealthy Affiliate Account Today!
icon
4-Steps to Success Class
icon
One Profit Ready Website
icon
Market Research & Analysis Tools
icon
Millionaire Mentorship
icon
Core “Business Start Up” Training