This is brilliant!
So here is my first blog, and when I say "Brilliant" I don't mean my blog. I mean this technique for getting people to work together and interact. It's great to encourage people to actively seek out and search for others who need help, to really build a community. As great as the certification courses are, they really only scratch the surface. As I've been working on my site, I have come across a number of speed bumps, but when I put my question out there it has always gotten answered within a few hours.
What I feel good about so far is that I have been able to start writing my posts completely naturally, in my own voice, without worrying about making sure I had enough keywords in all the right places. The great blog on Hummingbird (I can't remember who wrote it) freed me up a lot. A couple of years ago I had been working with a similar program (Site Build It, which is also amazing, and as high quality as WA), but at the time it was still important to get a lot (but not too many!) keywords into your content. It made it very difficult to write naturally. I love the fact that Google is now smart enough to "understand" what you are writing. My site is hypnosisreallydoeswork.com. It's still just bare bones, but I've actually gotten farther with this in less than a week than I did with months on SBI. With SBI I never even got noticed by Google. Today, I am there! Granted, I'm in position 10 on page 12 of my keyword but hey, I exist!
I can actually work 3-4 hours a day on this, so I should be able to make good progress.
Goals for the next 3 and 6 months...I never like to talk to others about goal setting. It doesn't mean I don't have goals, it's just that if I don't make it, I am the only one who knows! But I'll risk it here. I'd like not to think in terms of money made, but in traffic, because I really do believe that my information could benefit people, so I'd like as many people as possible to see my site. So a goal of maybe 100 people per day after 3 months, and 500 per day after 6? I'm just making those numbers up, but we'll see.
I haven't gone far enough in the training, or haven't asked enough questions to know what "Add Tag" and "Success Post" mean, so I won't try.
So, I look forward to getting to know many of you folks out there!
Recent Comments
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Hi Marcy, great blog. It is amazing how quickly you can get started with WA and as you say the community is fantastic at helping when you get stuck. Working on a daily basis and adding continuous content to your site, should easily see you surpassing your new goals.
The 'Add Tag' on your posts is to help people find things quicker when they search your site. I don't know what the 'Success Post' is, it would be great if you let me know when you find out :).
All the best for the future.
Lis
The thing I quickly discovered about this place is that after everyone has made you welcome, which may take 24 hours because of international time zones, you cease to be an outsider. Acceptance here is pretty much instant, and the more you contribute the more you'll get back. Some people think I'm an old timer here, but it's been less than 3 months, and I've thought others have been around for ever, but they're just keen noobs like me.
Another lesson I learnt pretty quickly is that it doesn't hurt to be helpful. In fact, it can feel great, and as I find most other posters useful I'm sure there are many happy people here.
By the way, I wrote a post about Hummingbird, and followed it up with this blog: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/paul-dean/blog/latent-semantic-indexing-why-it-matters
It's worth a read, because you still need to keep a close eye on keywords, as Hummingbird just makes them more effective.
Well one door closes, another opens. You definitely have some incentive to want this to work which is on your side. Had you ever considered going on one of the sites that promotes people who might need some help for a good cause? I know a fruit farmer that got their crops damaged by a cold snap and they put their cause up and quite a few people pitched in to give them enough money to get past the episode. As far as knowing about doing websites for local business -- yes, I've done that for vacation rentals, Kona Coffee, a travel agency, a real estate agent. The wordpress software they use here on Wealthy Affiliate is very flexible -- I have used it many years ago -- it has the ability to change with "themes" and I believe they allow you to install add ons, and with those you can do practically anything -- but of course not all the extras you might find to install would be cost free. Out of the box so to speak should be presentable and functional although I have not really looked yet at that perk of building websites via Wealthy Affiliate as I can already whip up websites on my own. Just with any website think as if it would be you visiting -- what would you want to know and how would you want to be treated? Make the website geared to the visitor's perspective -- about how you will serve their needs, and what sets you apart so they should choose you. They like pictures so they can see, they like scans of letters so they can see authenticity. Give them knowledge about your operating hours, how to get in contact with you -- let them navigate easily. Content but content they actually can put to immediate use. Hope some of that might be helpful -- I suspect within the classrooms there is much more step by step. I am going to follow you so I can keep up with you !