Don't Do What I Did!

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In the grand scheme of things and the excitement of building our online businesses we often go head long into whatever needs to be done without considering some obvious pitfalls. They only really become obvious in hindsight though - how would we know what to look out for whilst we are still learning? So my little blog today is to help you avoid the slip up that I recently had - it was very hard for me so please listen up and Don't Do What I Did!

What Did I Do?

A seemingly innocuous thing is what I did, but let me give you the back story first ...

I Took It Hard

My older brother, who I have always looked up to and always wanted recognition from (this probably goes back to a nasty math teacher who called my brother into my class when I was 7 or 8 and asked him why I was so stupid and he was so clever! Turns out I am deaf in one ear and had missed out on learning from Grade 1 to Standard 2! A whole other story) telling me that my website:

  • doesn't make sense
  • is not easy to read
  • needs more attractive colours
  • and a few more things I cannot recall

I took it on the chin. Though it hurt like crazy! Thanked him for his input and said I would give his advice some consideration.

Confirmation From SAC

In the course of the SAC, one of the recommendations is that we examine the theme we are using. Between the advice from my brother (who, incidentally, is not my target market, nor is he an experienced webmaster, just saying) and the recommendation in the training, I decided that this could be a message I need to pay attention to, so I did.

How To Choose A Theme

After looking at many, many themes, I just happened upon Kyle in Live Chat the one day and grabbed the opportunity to have a quick chat with him. I said how much I am loving my SAC journey but am unhappy with my website theme, Kyle gave me the name of a theme he recommends.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I get firsthand expert advice, I make sure I take it!

YAY! Time To Change My Theme

I made the necessary change and my site is not quite "me" anymore, but it is easier to read and navigate. The colours are not what I would choose either, but hey, maybe my brother will like this better too - even though he is still not my target market. (If you ever get to read this Boetie, I do love you :-))

Then I Noticed Something

I cannot recall the timing to be completely frank but after a while I did notice that Google Analytics was telling me that there was no action taking place on my site! None, no visitors, NADA!

Being an optimist by nature, I am shocked but willing to give this a bit of time. Maybe Google's doing something wrong - the traffic will be back soon, I am sure.

I am Also A Bit of An Ostrich

This adventure of building an online business is teaching me many things, one of them being that when i do not understand or I am fearful of something, I tend to do the ostrich thing and bury my head in the sand - just hoping it will go away!


DO NOT DO THIS FOLKS - IT'S NOT A STRATEGY THAT WORKS! I haven't learned, this is something I did previously when my WA payment did not go through, it was easily remedied but I chose the hard route by burying my head in the sand and stressing rather than facing the facts!

After Weeks Of Angst

I finally decide to pull my head out of the sand when I accept that there has to be something wrong, I'm still posting quality content to my site and nothing is happening! But you know that old doubt that creeps back into your mind and tells you, "you're not good enough" or "who do you think you are believing that you can make this online thing work? Just give it up." Yeah, those kinds of thoughts were filtering into my thoughts.

Fighting against the doubt and insecurities I decide to ask the wonderful WA community for help. Thinking, against what I know to be true, that this could be "the stupid question" that none of us want to be known for asking. Nevertheless, I post my question:

"Where do I go for help, my site has no traffic anymore?"

Cringing as I write!

Before I knew it the responses came flying in. Man, I love this community! Look at the question from Jason T:


And another one from Steve Mand:


My Cringe Becomes A Grin



And then Jason T shares the training on how to fix the challenge:


Here is the link to the training: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/how-to-install-goog...

Here is the link to my question, if you missed it, this is worth a visit because it shows how many people within our wonderful community will step up in your hour of need:

https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/search-engine-optimization/w...


Thank You's

Thank you Jason T, SteveMand and the countless other people who helped in answering my question - without making me feel like I was asking the stupid question we all fear so much.

Thank you to SIte Support too - you are all awesome! Always helpful, always patient, always kind!


What Must You Not Do?


Please, please, Don't Do What I Did:

  • Don't be an ostrich - you just lose valuable time, and give yourself more angst that you deserve or need
  • Don't avoid asking questions within the community - there really is no such thing as a stupid question!


I hope this helps someone - we all do better when we know better.


Share your learnings too - we all have something valuable to share!


Blessings always

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Recent Comments

30

Thanks for this nice post.
It's never easy to hear criticism about
our work. Especially when we put all
our heart into it. I don't think you lost your
time by not asking for help from others.
You had a precise idea and that suited you.
Then you were smart enough to listen to the
others around you who helped you realize what
was wrong with your site.
Knowing when to ask for help is a sign of generosity,
and sooner or later you would have done it because you are a very generous person.
The important thing is now and not yesterday, I will
follow your good advice if I need it.

Have a wonderdful day!
Ingrid

Hi Ingrid
As always, I love the way you see the world, you are amazing!
Sorry for the delay in responding, I only just saw your comment now.
Blessings as always
Louise x

Thank you for your beautiful answer.
Never apologize for the delay, we all have things to do and lives to lead. It doesn't matter if you don't respond to a comment quickly. The important thing is that you get to touch people in the heart with your talent for writing.

Blessing!!!

Thanks Louise for sharing your feelings/ experience. This is definitely something I can relate to. Help is always out there. In my short time at WA I have benefited from this great community a few times already.
Cheers!
Vincent

Hi Vincent
I am glad you appreciated this blog - it's quite amazing how much we can learn from each other in this wonderful community.
Enjoy the journey - it's a fun one.
Blessings
Louise

Thats me ostrich mentality alright!! Good advice get it sorted ASAP, sleep easy and move on

Thaks for the post

Hi Kevin
Yeah, that ostrich thing is too easy to do and so unhelpful! Glad I'm not alone in this. I need to break the habit. Half the battle is in acknowledging the problem - we're nearly there! ☺️
Blessings
Louise

Definitely not alone!

Kevin

Thanks for sharing your lesson learned with us, Louise.

You're a master of story telling. I truly enjoyed the read.

Hi Fran
Thank you so much. Was my pleasure to share.
We need a catch up soon.
Blessings
Louise

Whenever you want. Fighting some demons atm. Hehe.

The WA community is so helpful. I'm glad they figured out your problem for you.

Thank you, Mickey
We are so fortunate to be here.
Blessings
Louise

Hi Louise,
One of the shining examples of the wonderful Wealthy Affiliate community is that someone has had a similar experience that you may be having at the time and knows the answer.

Your article is a wonderful reminder to us all that the WA Community is there and someone, (I am confident) knows the answer.

Best wishes for your continued success in your business.

Bill

Hi Bill
Too true. We have everything we need at our fingertips. I just have to learn to get out of my own way 🙈
Blessings
Louise

Being able to ask questions of the community and contact Site Support are two huge features of WA.
Glad you got it sorted out, Louise!
C & P

Thank you so much, Colette and Philip
You also helped if memory serves me correctly :-) Thank you and bless you always.
Louise

I agree that if in doubt about something not working, don't hesitate to ask questions to site support or others. Recently something I could not figure out, I did it that day, and in less than an hour site support gave me the answer.

So is the traffic better now?

Hi William
Yes, I can see the traffic now. I suspect that it never went away, I just could not see it in analytics. Now it must just grow and start resulting in an income :-)
Thank you so much.
Blessings
Louise

Hi Louise.

Yep. As some advert or the other here in the UK says, "it's good to talk". This is especially true of technical issues. Too many here are too busy protecting their fragile egos to ask for (or indeed, accept) help.

Glad you've got all that sorted out and you're back on the up and up.

Regards,

Hi Tayo
Oooh, I never thought of that as an ego issue - that will definitely encourage me to ask sooner in the future.
Thank you for stopping to read and give me another kick up the bum, haha!
Blessings
Louise

.
"give me another kick up the bum"
Oh dear. My reply has gone wrong completely. I did not mean **you** when I was writing about certain people whose egos are paper thin. Here's what happened:

I offered to proofread someone's website once because they had made some basic errors—quite innocently, she's not a native English speaker—and she took umbrage because I hadn't PM'd her!
Well, paint my goose blue and smack my bottom with a slice of lemon, I was astonished. I flipped it around in my head and considered what I'd do if I was on a Chinese site, making mistakes in Mandarin and someone said, "I'll proofread your website for you." I think I'd be ecstatic. But there you are. Ego.

I hope this demonstrates that I never meant **you.**

Also, erm, I have never kicked you anywhere... Or, as Black Adder might put it, "I don't recall having the pleasure." 😜

Sincere apologies for any misunderstanding.

→ ⓣ ⓐ ⓨ ⓞ ←

Haha! No, no, I haven't taken offence. You are quite correct when you say ego - I just never thought I had one, clearly, I do.

I love your reply, you have given me such a good belly laugh!

Thank you Tayo, no apologies necessary - still laughing!

Thanks for your blog! I shall keep it in mind.

My pleasure to share - hope it helps :-)
Blessings
Louise
PS Blow a kiss to the mountain for me and happy voting tomorrow

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