What have I been up to lately? Trials and Errors!
Good morning to all here at this wonderful Wealthy Affiliate Platform! So I figured I'd give an update of my site and what I've been doing lately.
Maybe some of you have suggestions or ideas that will help me improve whatever it is I'm doing here. LOL.
My first Campaign
I started my first marketing campaign the first week of February. It only ran for one week because I was testing it out and wanted to see the results.
I did it through Pinterest because that seems to be where most of my traffic comes from.
When I started, I was at 939 monthly views. When I it ended I was at 3.2k views. Wow!
For one week of advertising a measly $10 for that week, and my views went up that much!
Now I look at it, it's still at 3.1k with 4 saves and 7 clicks. Now I'm not sure what the conversion rate would be with that amount of views to know if this is good or not, but it's better than before so I'll take it.
I haven't done it since but plan on setting aside some "marketing only money" and I feel $10 a week could be doable.
IDEAS?
Amazon Associates
I did my 6 months with Amazon, didn't make any sales so of course I had to re-apply and remove all links from all posts that had them.
This is okay because I am not sure I even like them, nor the look they give my site.
So I went through some other sites to see what they were doing.
I figured, since I have recipes on some post, I could promote the ingredients they would need. This seemed like a great idea, but I feel I was going about it the wrong way.
I found that some sites don't even promote their ingredients. They just add links throughout the content that is relevant.
So I think I 'm going to scratch the Amazon visual links I had, and instead try to add relevant text links within my content (not the recipe), keep the recipes the same with some added highlights and hopefully this will keep my posts cleaner and more presentable to the users.
IDEAS?
WP Recipe Maker
So I came upon this while doing some research and thought, this would be great to add to my site! I figured since I have recipes on my site, why not? This would be perfect right?
People could "jump to recipe" and "print recipe", nutritional facts, serving size, etc.
Not. I realized that the information that you are able to add through editing, i.e. buttons and such, was way too much for what I needed.
I mean it's coffee, and you come across a recipe for say my Caramal Apple Latte, you should know that this is not going to be the best nutritional value right off the rip. LOL
I again looked at some other sites to see if they used a recipe template for their coffee drinks.
Some did and some did not.
I really like the look of how I write my posts, and did not at all like the recipe maker.
So I decided to keep them the way they are and just tweek them a bit to add highlights (bold text and italics) to make the "points" stand out more.
Hey, the less plugins the better right?
I find that if I can do something without adding a plugin, that's my path. Plugins are my last resort for anything, and the less the better.
IDEAS?
Landing Page
Some of you may remember me asking about landing pages a cpl weeks back. I wasn't sure what they were or how to use them.
Well, everyone was very helpful and I figured it out. I added a category description for a couple of my "topics" and I like it. Just wish there was a way to add images also. There is not.
It's not a landing page per say but it's the idea I had in mind of introducing my users to the "section" they are in.
I still haven't done it to my homepage ( static ) because I'm just not sure what I want there yet.
Which leads me to my last topic.
Email Sign-Up
Yes! I did it! I joined Aweber and created my first email sign-up form which is live on my sites right sidebar.
I must say I love when I can edit things to look exactly like my site!
It took me a bit to figure it out, but the results are amazing!
I do not have a subcriber list, but this is the point right? To build one!
I also edited my "confirmation email" and my "thank you" email.
Too bad I can't edit the confirmation email. But oh well, for free I'll take it LOL!
Now I wait and hope my users like me enough to want to "Stay Connected!"
I also found that I can create a landing page for my email sign-up and have it shared to my social media. So that's another "next" on the list.
Round Up!
So there you have it! This is all I've been up to the past few weeks. Testing my marketing campaign, starting email sign-up and learning about landing pages, deciding how to better use Amazon Associates, and deciding how to use or whether to use a recipe maker plugin.
This has been quite the journey for me since I have started here at WA. Everyday I learn something new and realize that there is so much more for me to learn. Everything is a learning curve no matter how small it may seem.
I'm not sure what I'm doing next by the day, I always have a game plan but things don't always work out the way I want. So I piece things together and do one thing at a time. I always get something done so that's a good thing.
If you have any suggestions on how to better implement any of these aspects I would be very appreciative if you left them in the comments! I am always looking for new ideas and ways of doing things much more efficiently.
Have an awesome weekend everyone!
Thanks
Angela
Recent Comments
22
Wow, you have been productive, Angela. Good for you!
I'm on the fence about Amazon. Am about 3 months in, have one sale from a friend who was on my site, unbeknownst to me, yet the sale did not get 'recognized' by Amazon.
Landing pages are best when you can customize your page template to show full, not contained, in my opinion. That means your header or footer won't show, and it's a separate page not in you menu. That's the technical side.
Aweber has a landing page you can create, go to your aweber dashboard and select landing page. They do offer a tutorial, and there are a few you tube videos you can follow as well.
Do you have any tips for creating the aweber email? Mine looks clunky!
Pinterest - that's my next thing to do, after I finish with my current task. What I know could fill a thimble, yet I do know there are some good trainings here on WA. Click the search (magnify glass icon) and you'll see some upgrades (thanks support, Carson & Kyle) that make searching a little easier.
WP Recipe plugin.
An excellent plugin! For recipes...
However, I know that the plugin can be made to fit whatever coffee recipe you could create, AND you could then put together a pdf of your top ten coffee recipes. One for each season, or best holiday coffees, the list goes on.
I had used the WP plugin for one of my first sites I created and it does not drag your speed, nor clutter your site.
I no longer use it because that site is gone, and I don't have...wait...I CAN use it for my painting site...wow, see? Redresh the brain and old becomes new!
Great work Angela, hope these ideas help you and or help you to come up with your own version.
Rudy
Thanks so much Rudy!
I never thought of making my pinterest pins take them to my email sign up. They go straight to the post on my site and then the email sign up is on the right for them to see on every page.
I feel like if it takes them straight to email sign-up form like you suggest, then would they get pissed cuz they just wanted to see the post? or somehow would they be able to get to the post from that page? That parts a bit confusing.
I'll have to check out those tutorials to see if they explain that part.
Tips? Well, I just changed the colors (i.e. font color, button color, etc) in the editing section.
To make it not as clunky I would maybe check the "padding" . You can access this in the elements section of editing your sign-up form. They have all sections available to edit like header, footer, body, links, labels, you can also change the border (and how wide or narrow you want it).
I would go in and play around with it to see how you like it to look. It took me almost half a day to figure it out and get it just right for my site.
The WP Recipe Maker, you like it? I didn't see how it could work for coffee recipes.
It has all those boxes that I don't need and don't want them on there. I don't know. Maybe I'll go back through and look again, maybe it won't be so bad after all. I do like the idea of having a list of "my favorite coffee drinks", or similar, like you say so maybe I won't throw in the towel just yet LOL.
That's crazy that Amazon didn't recognize the sale you made. It makes me think of something I heard when I first came here. That amazon will know if a "friend" buys from you and won't count it as a real sale because they feel it was forced or suggested by you.
Not sure how all that works but it makes sense that a computer could track the sales and track their friends through all the platforms out there.
I feel like it's a fine line with them and I'm not a big fan either LOL.
Thanks for the tips and ideas! It is appreciated! : )
Ps. I will definitely check out those pinterest tutorials also. I always forget about those. So. Many. Tutorials. LOL.
Good Luck to you also!
Angela
Re sales, I felt the same way-
"I feel like if it takes them straight to email sign-up form like you suggest, then would they get pissed cuz they just wanted to see the post?"
Take a deep breath and just do it!
Remember the 3Ws rule:
Some WILL
Some WON'T
SO WHAT? Move on...
(Ha! Note to self...like Aaron said in his post, take our own advice...lol)
WP recipe. You can modify the plugin and not use all of those boxes...I think this would be helpful to have a recipe card for sharing holiday coffee flavors etc.
There used to be a bartender app for non-alcoholic drinks. I'm sure you could find an app for non-alcoholic coffee or w/alcohol, (BTW, I'm not promoting to add the booze).
Think out of the box...
Go organic...Fair trade. Did you know that fair trade standards are HIGHER than the US regs for organic? In US, to be designated organic, only 70% of rhe added products have to be organically made....fair trade is 90%.
Re padding. When I was a student learning how to code, I learned how to set the margin and padding sizes.
Since then, I've found that the settings are still valid for padding and margin settings. If you need to add padding, use no more that 10px for the sides.
You can adjust header height by customizing. Customizing offers a static view- headers, titles, font type. This is where setting a margin for the bottom of header and top of page will blend the meeting of both.
Re Amazon, eh...whatever...it either is or it isnt... I prefer to go directly to the product company and use their affiliate program.
Looking forward to see what you've done with the place..er, I mean site...grin.
Rudy
Hahaha! That's a great attitude to have! I will have to inherit that one : )
Funny story...
I actually wanted to own a coffee bar at one point and was going to incorporate alcohol in almost all my coffee drinks. I will get there with this site one day. I am laying my foundation first and then I'll get to the good stuff! (he he he)
Organic vs Fair Trade? A future post maybe? Probably : )
There so much to write about coffee it ridiculous. I start at the roots and branch out piece by piece.
I will keep playing with the recipe maker for now, you convinced me to give it a second chance : ) maybe I'll fall in love with it LOL.
I did submit my site for feedback like Richard suggested. I sometimes forget that's there. I give but always forget to ask.
I wish there were a more specific way to request what you want feedback on within your site though. Instead of the choices they give you.
But hey, we'll see what someone says about it, good or bad.
Angela
Keep asking the right questions. I know what you mean though...I wish there was an 'other' option- a block to add what feedback you wanted...
Move through at your own pace, Angela, you will do just fine!
Hi Angela
It looks as if you are doing great.
Are you offering something for free on your email signup form?
Also, have you submitted your site for feedback at WA?
:-)
Richard
The giveaway is really a good idea, Richard, especially for someone who can put a bit of money for marketing (getting some PLR works)
I had never thought about doing a giveaway, don't know how nor do I have the means. But that is interesting.
I did notice however, my users increased during my campaign and a bit after. Now they are going back down, BUT, the time spent on my posts have increased over a minute more then before.
I feel the quality of the user at this point, is more important than the amount of users I actually get. Make sense?
And I have no idea what a PLR is. I'm working on my baby steps right now and don't want to get to ahead of myself, into something that may be able to wait until a future time.
No problem Angela... I will have a little time later today to answer those questions.
:-)
Richard
Hi Angela
I promised I would get back to you today.
I saw that Phil has already given you some feedback elsewhere on what a free giveaway could be, with some examples. Ask more questions about that if you need to.
PLR stands for Private Label Rights. Many people sell articles and other digital products with the right for the purchaser to use the content for what they want. Full PLR rights give you the right to use it for yourself, re«write, add your own name as the author and even re-sell.
Some people use PLR material to produce digital products that they sell as their own product or give away for free.
The free giveaway is offered in return for the prospects email address. So the landing page, in this case, has a signup form with an advert for the free product (often referred to as a lead magnet).
So when someone enters their email address and/or any other information requested in the form the following processes take place (this is the simplest version):
- their email is added to your autoresponder;
- They are sent a Thank you Page (that you set up) which is typically used as a brief thank you (of course), introduction to you and your services (i.e. something about what they can expect from you) and sometimes (not always) link to a sales page or to another advert (can be OTT);
- The Thank you page can include a link to download your free product or
- a separate email is sent with that link (your free product needs to be placed somewhere online where the prospect can easily download it from.
If you know all this already ... that's great.
If not, I know you'll have more questions. Just ask them ...
:-)
Richard
You have done a great deal. I am sure you learned a lot in all that work. I learn the same way by giving different things a try. Keep going.
Thanks Jim! That is the only way for me. If I don't try how will I know? So yes, this is ALL a learning curve for me : )
Wow, Angela! You have certainly been busy! Keep up the excellent trial and error work! You will do very well, I suspect!
Jeff
See more comments
A lot of food content sites like working with Etsy.com.
Etsy sells all sorts of spices, cookware and bakeware, as well as the perfect serving pieces.
You can also link to products in your instructions. For example, new cookie sheets or perhaps a mixer or crock pot. Merchants like Hamilton Beach are great for that.
And yeah, you don't need Amazon. They don't treat their publishers very well at all.
Wow. Thank you Jeannine!
I never would have thought about those as affiliates. There are so many out there to think up, it can be challenging at times.
I really like the idea of adding links in my instructions also instead of in the recipe. And I'm pretty sure Amazon is out LOL. I do not like them at all.
Thank you for these great ideas!
Angela