The 4 Dumbest Mistakes I've Ever Made Since 2014

byJSakanee

2.9K followers

8 years ago

The past 3 years have been pretty interesting.

I've built several websites. And I'd say about half have flopped and are no longer online.

The main reason is simple:

I have made some dumb and amateur mistakes I'm not very proud of.

In this post, I will share them with you.

So why don't we get started.

1. Not Working on My Sites

For some unknown reason, I kept waiting for people to (magically) visit my sites and buy my affiliate products.

Big mistake.

When you don't work on your sites (i.e, creating fresh content), nothing happens.

So the next time you're Googling your target keywords hoping for high rankings, know this:

You're wasting valuable time.

The lesson here is...

Nothing happens when you're not working.

2. Rushing With My Domain Names

My very first domain name and website was customxboxcontrollers.com.

When I first joined WA and created the site, I didn't even give my domain name a second thought.

I loved gaming and didn't know **** about copyright infringement or anything like that. And I was excited.

I spent the next several months going through the OEC training courses here on WA and worked on the site.

I was starting to see my content up in the second and third SERPs for my target keywords. That's when I read about people getting into lawsuits because they work making money off of someone else's brand.

Then I was "NO!" My domain has a word that isn't supposed to be there. XBOX.

I wasn't really sure if there was a way to keep it going. Still don't. But I was scared.

So, in less than a couple hours, I deleted everything on the site. I didn't even think of saving any of the content. Not even the drafts I had in WordPress. (Big mistake.)

My second domain name was some long, 4-word phrase related to making money online.

It was an OK domain. But if I had spent a little more time with my brainstorming sessions, I could have probably thought of something 10x better.

So, the lesson here is...

Domain names are important. Spend at least a few hours brainstorming possible names before choosing the winner.

3. Not Focusing on Creating Reviews

Product reviews are important for affiliate marketers. Especially if you're doing the WA Bootcamp thing.

In my first WA Bootcamp site, I didn't really create any review posts for a long time. All together, I must've only had less than 10 (out of about 50 posts).

You see, for a WA Bootcamp site, its main purpose or goal is to get to join WA so you can benefit from the awesome WA affiliate program.

And if you start to create blog posts around topics that have no chance at converting readers into WA members, you might as well rethink your main goals.

So, the lesson here is...

Product review posts are essential. And are probably going to make up of at least half of your overall content. At least in the beginning.

4. Poorly Written Content Throws People Off

In my first couple dozen posts or so, I didn't care much about how my content looked. All I cared about was great on-page SEO and affiliate links.

And since I thought this way, my content was horrible. Even if the information was great, no one would've wanted to read it.

Grammar mistakes, large blocks of text, and ads after every other paragraph. At least that's how I remember it.

If you're reading this, please...

Learn how to format your content so that it is easy to skim and read. That means:

• Plenty of images.
• Short paragraphs.
• Proper use of subheadings, bullet points, and bolded/italicized text.
• And more.

Wrapping it up

I've made many mistakes over the years. But the ones I talked about in this post aren't necessarily "dumb," but they could have easily been avoided.

How about you?

What are some of the mistakes you've made that could've easily been avoided?