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I don't want a public response. Would most definitely appreciate yours. First, I wrote to Carson what I thought was a private message and found out it went public! The response
haven't visited your site, but if you pick travelling the world on trains then that would - to me - be a narrow enough niche.
but you need to plan it -how it looks to your visitors - not for you.
if the rest of your niche sites use a black font - guess what - thats what your visitors want. it's not about you, it's all about them. sorry.
so when you are writing make sure you create your articles to include them.make them really want to go on a trip - you could be advertising the accessories to accompany the trip, so cameras , baggage, shaving kits etc to get into the spirit of the trip.
if you are selling the trips then have a section on accessories - including cameras!!
do you have a cartoon world map showing the route of the train trip you are writing about - if not how does your visitor know where it goes from and to.
if you try to go against the grain - because you want to, then unfortunately unless you test it on your auience you are not going to succeed.
so start out 'normally' and when you are established then you can start to test things like font colour.
it is a difficult enough niche for you not to make things more difficult for yourself.
but at the end of the day it is your business and these are only guidelines from people who have already started on their journey - who knows you maybe right with a font colour change.
but look at your site from the visitors perspective and constantly say ' so what' and ' why that' -does it move your visitor towards buying a trip - if not change it- if it does then keep it in.
So good luck with your niche Michael.
phil
I just hopped over to your website, and noticed some rather off-putting factors right away:
- Your header image has nothing to do with travel.
- You're using colored font
- You had an ad for headphones
Admittedly, I am not an expert, but as a reader, these create an amateurish impression, rather than one of authority.
The best way to answer that is for you to look at some large, well-respected authority websites and blogs.
You'll notice that colored fonts are absent. The desired look is clean and well-spaced.
Hello Michael,
It can be confusing here when you think you're messaging someone like Kyle, Carson or Site Support and you're actually messaging the community as a whole.
This is partly to blame on the way the system is setup. As you can imagine Kyle and Carson are pretty much inundated with messages every day. As such, sending messages to the community can lead to quicker responses.
If you want to message Kyle or Carson directly go to the Help Center and then click on Kyle or Carson. This should give you the option to leave them a message. Keep in mind, it may take them some time to get back to you.
On a side-note....everyone's feedback is really just an opinion (educated or not) of that person providing it. Not everyone agrees with how something should be done, portrayed, etc. I'm sure you'll give varying degrees of weight to each response you get based on your perception of the responder's authority in relation to the subject matter.
I hope this response what somewhat helpful to you.
Thanks, Mac. The upshot is the comments are correct to the extent of my site being too young. I'm still confused that my writing about touring different place around the world is too broad. Please give me your thought on this?
Look at it like this....There is a lot of competition in the travel niche. To help you stand out from the rest, try to narrow your focus. Take travel around the world....that's pretty broad. Now take Train travel around the world, that narrowed it down quite a bit, etc. Can you think of a narrower niche that would work for you?
If someone gives you an opinion of your website (called Feedback), remember that it is their opinion. It may or may not be valid. So you take the feedback and determine do you agree with it or not. If so, you may decide to make the changes. If not, you simply move on.
If we all had the same opinion as Mr Ford, we all be driving Black Fords, which clearly is not the case. There are many car makes, models, colors, and type (petrol, diesel, electric).
You may have to narrow your travel niche. Advertising a camera in a travel niche, you might write a blog "the best camera to take with you when you travel to x" (but remember you need to do keyword research etc to be sure that you are using good keywords etc)
Follow Kyle's training and do the tasks would be my advice.
Thanks, David. Guess I took the comments too much to heart. I wrote a camera review first and then decided to advertise the same camera on a post. Your opinion, please? I also, thought that writing about touring different places was a narrow focus?
Assuming that your camera review has a buy here (or similar) wording/button at the end of it, you can have a link to that review in your other post ( going on holidays? be sure to use the xxxx camera to take those holiday pictures ) (you need to edit the words way better - this is just to explain concept)
You need to narrow your niche so that your website has that narrowed down niche "all to itself". That is why keyword research is so important.
No point in using keyword "travel" because there is just no way your post is going to rank in the search engines. There is just way too much competition.
But "single mum traveling to Paris from New York with a baby under 1 year old" is much more focussed. (this I make up -- I have not done the keyword research to see if this would be a good keyword - Let's say this reveals 60 traffic (not AVG), and 25 QSR, this would be a good keyword using Jay's 50/50 rule - traffic over 50, QSR under 50. That means your post using that keyword would have a chance in the search engines.
Have a look at this training by Jay - he outlines a writing template for ranking (use it as a starting point for your template): Amplifying Your Writing Efficiency Then you repeat the process for more posts, so you have a number of posts, each one (or most) getting some traffic from the search engines. The effect is cumulative.
Both Kyle and Jay explain this in their trainings as well as numerous WA members blogs.
I recommend that you continue the training. This becomes clearer with the training and practice.
Hi - I am one of the people who replied to your original question. You didn't address it to Carson, you posted it in the Getting Started Classroom.
I gave you thorough and well-thought-out opinions on the problems with your site and how to address them. You may be interested to learn that I am a professional freelance web writer and proofreader with years of experience of working with multi-national companies.
My comments were completely valid and given in the true spirit of helping you. You cannot expect to be making money on a site which is only a month old and only has 12 articles on it, with a link to Amazon which doesn't even work.
I spent a good 45 minutes studying your site, time I now feel would have been better spent helping somebody who was genuinely interested in listening to valuable advice.
Thanks, Diane. I just checked my page and the Amazon Link works. However, please know I totally appreciate you and your professionalism and never questioned you. I never received your advice and am sorry you think I'm not interested. However, at 68 I'm here for blood. May I ask you a few questions here?
I have been told that my Orient Express post should never have had a camera ad on it; that my Sphinx post wasn't part of my travel niche and that I needed to post at least 100 posts before I make any money?
Again, I could not find your previous answer. I'm grateful for any advice you might give me about my site or anything else work-related. Thanks, Mike
My response was was on the original post. I am surprised you didn't see it as it was directly below Steve's comments. See here Full website content evaluation of my website posts? I have checked your site again and the Amazon link to the vest definitely doesn't work. You have added an image of it, which when you click on it just shows the same photo, plus a text link which just leads back to your homepage.
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I wrote to carson and it went public?
I don't want a public response. Would most definitely appreciate yours. First, I wrote to Carson what I thought was a private message and found out it went public! The response
Hum, I think all of this is like a puzzle. We just have to keep on learning from our mistakes and getting the pieces in the right place. Actually, I think a camera would be an important device to have when traveling on the Orient Express.
Keep on learning and pushing forward, you will nail it soon!
Cal
haven't visited your site, but if you pick travelling the world on trains then that would - to me - be a narrow enough niche.
but you need to plan it -how it looks to your visitors - not for you.
if the rest of your niche sites use a black font - guess what - thats what your visitors want. it's not about you, it's all about them. sorry.
so when you are writing make sure you create your articles to include them.make them really want to go on a trip - you could be advertising the accessories to accompany the trip, so cameras , baggage, shaving kits etc to get into the spirit of the trip.
if you are selling the trips then have a section on accessories - including cameras!!
do you have a cartoon world map showing the route of the train trip you are writing about - if not how does your visitor know where it goes from and to.
if you try to go against the grain - because you want to, then unfortunately unless you test it on your auience you are not going to succeed.
so start out 'normally' and when you are established then you can start to test things like font colour.
it is a difficult enough niche for you not to make things more difficult for yourself.
but at the end of the day it is your business and these are only guidelines from people who have already started on their journey - who knows you maybe right with a font colour change.
but look at your site from the visitors perspective and constantly say ' so what' and ' why that' -does it move your visitor towards buying a trip - if not change it- if it does then keep it in.
So good luck with your niche Michael.
phil
I just hopped over to your website, and noticed some rather off-putting factors right away:
- Your header image has nothing to do with travel.
- You're using colored font
- You had an ad for headphones
Admittedly, I am not an expert, but as a reader, these create an amateurish impression, rather than one of authority.
The best way to answer that is for you to look at some large, well-respected authority websites and blogs.
You'll notice that colored fonts are absent. The desired look is clean and well-spaced.
Hello Michael,
It can be confusing here when you think you're messaging someone like Kyle, Carson or Site Support and you're actually messaging the community as a whole.
This is partly to blame on the way the system is setup. As you can imagine Kyle and Carson are pretty much inundated with messages every day. As such, sending messages to the community can lead to quicker responses.
If you want to message Kyle or Carson directly go to the Help Center and then click on Kyle or Carson. This should give you the option to leave them a message. Keep in mind, it may take them some time to get back to you.
On a side-note....everyone's feedback is really just an opinion (educated or not) of that person providing it. Not everyone agrees with how something should be done, portrayed, etc. I'm sure you'll give varying degrees of weight to each response you get based on your perception of the responder's authority in relation to the subject matter.
I hope this response what somewhat helpful to you.
Thanks, Mac. The upshot is the comments are correct to the extent of my site being too young. I'm still confused that my writing about touring different place around the world is too broad. Please give me your thought on this?
Look at it like this....There is a lot of competition in the travel niche. To help you stand out from the rest, try to narrow your focus. Take travel around the world....that's pretty broad. Now take Train travel around the world, that narrowed it down quite a bit, etc. Can you think of a narrower niche that would work for you?
If someone gives you an opinion of your website (called Feedback), remember that it is their opinion. It may or may not be valid. So you take the feedback and determine do you agree with it or not. If so, you may decide to make the changes. If not, you simply move on.
If we all had the same opinion as Mr Ford, we all be driving Black Fords, which clearly is not the case. There are many car makes, models, colors, and type (petrol, diesel, electric).
You may have to narrow your travel niche. Advertising a camera in a travel niche, you might write a blog "the best camera to take with you when you travel to x" (but remember you need to do keyword research etc to be sure that you are using good keywords etc)
Follow Kyle's training and do the tasks would be my advice.
Thanks, David. Guess I took the comments too much to heart. I wrote a camera review first and then decided to advertise the same camera on a post. Your opinion, please? I also, thought that writing about touring different places was a narrow focus?
Assuming that your camera review has a buy here (or similar) wording/button at the end of it, you can have a link to that review in your other post ( going on holidays? be sure to use the xxxx camera to take those holiday pictures ) (you need to edit the words way better - this is just to explain concept)
You need to narrow your niche so that your website has that narrowed down niche "all to itself". That is why keyword research is so important.
No point in using keyword "travel" because there is just no way your post is going to rank in the search engines. There is just way too much competition.
But "single mum traveling to Paris from New York with a baby under 1 year old" is much more focussed. (this I make up -- I have not done the keyword research to see if this would be a good keyword - Let's say this reveals 60 traffic (not AVG), and 25 QSR, this would be a good keyword using Jay's 50/50 rule - traffic over 50, QSR under 50. That means your post using that keyword would have a chance in the search engines.
Have a look at this training by Jay - he outlines a writing template for ranking (use it as a starting point for your template): Amplifying Your Writing Efficiency Then you repeat the process for more posts, so you have a number of posts, each one (or most) getting some traffic from the search engines. The effect is cumulative.
Both Kyle and Jay explain this in their trainings as well as numerous WA members blogs.
I recommend that you continue the training. This becomes clearer with the training and practice.
Hi - I am one of the people who replied to your original question. You didn't address it to Carson, you posted it in the Getting Started Classroom.
I gave you thorough and well-thought-out opinions on the problems with your site and how to address them. You may be interested to learn that I am a professional freelance web writer and proofreader with years of experience of working with multi-national companies.
My comments were completely valid and given in the true spirit of helping you. You cannot expect to be making money on a site which is only a month old and only has 12 articles on it, with a link to Amazon which doesn't even work.
I spent a good 45 minutes studying your site, time I now feel would have been better spent helping somebody who was genuinely interested in listening to valuable advice.
Thanks, Diane. I just checked my page and the Amazon Link works. However, please know I totally appreciate you and your professionalism and never questioned you. I never received your advice and am sorry you think I'm not interested. However, at 68 I'm here for blood. May I ask you a few questions here?
I have been told that my Orient Express post should never have had a camera ad on it; that my Sphinx post wasn't part of my travel niche and that I needed to post at least 100 posts before I make any money?
Again, I could not find your previous answer. I'm grateful for any advice you might give me about my site or anything else work-related. Thanks, Mike
My response was was on the original post. I am surprised you didn't see it as it was directly below Steve's comments. See here Full website content evaluation of my website posts? I have checked your site again and the Amazon link to the vest definitely doesn't work. You have added an image of it, which when you click on it just shows the same photo, plus a text link which just leads back to your homepage.
See more comments
Hi Carson, I'm writing as I don't know where else to go. How can I receive a content evaluation of my posts? I'm not making any money and truly need the help of an expert. Whil
Hi Mike - I know you are expecting a reply from Carson, as the community apparently can't answer your needs, but I have some thoughts.
As far as I can see, your site has only been up for a month. It generally takes a minimum of 3 months, and more realistically 6 months before you can expect any income.
There are only 12 articles, you need probably around 50 to be seen as an authority and be ranked highly by Google. Some of the articles are less than 1000 words which is the minimum you should be aiming for.
When it comes to your Amazon items, one of them is a very expensive pair of headphones which bear no relevance to anything on your site, let alone have a review. Your ScotteVest item doesn't even have a clickable link to buy it. Where you have said "click on the Amazon link" it actually leads back to your own home page.
To be honest, I am confused by your site. It is just a random collection of travel facts and doesn't appear to have a narrow niche, which is one of the first things we are taught here.
I don't suppose you will like what I have said, but its genuinely offered in the spirit of helping you. All the best, Diane
Thanks Diane. I don't have to like what you or anyone else says but it's my desire to clean this up as I want to be in this business for a long time! Therefore, appreciate your comments.
Please tell me how to remove the picture of the Amazon product as I have tried unsuccessfully and am unable to do. Also, the camera link is on the post and not on my page. Please comment on my focus as I had thought that travel tours were sufficiently focused for my niche. Thanks, Mike
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Full website content evaluation of my website posts?
Hi Carson, I'm writing as I don't know where else to go. How can I receive a content evaluation of my posts? I'm not making any money and truly need the help of an expert. Whil
Hi Mike - I know you are expecting a reply from Carson, as the community apparently can't answer your needs, but I have some thoughts.
As far as I can see, your site has only been up for a month. It generally takes a minimum of 3 months, and more realistically 6 months before you can expect any income.
There are only 12 articles, you need probably around 50 to be seen as an authority and be ranked highly by Google. Some of the articles are less than 1000 words which is the minimum you should be aiming for.
When it comes to your Amazon items, one of them is a very expensive pair of headphones which bear no relevance to anything on your site, let alone have a review. Your ScotteVest item doesn't even have a clickable link to buy it. Where you have said "click on the Amazon link" it actually leads back to your own home page.
To be honest, I am confused by your site. It is just a random collection of travel facts and doesn't appear to have a narrow niche, which is one of the first things we are taught here.
I don't suppose you will like what I have said, but its genuinely offered in the spirit of helping you. All the best, Diane
Thanks Diane. I don't have to like what you or anyone else says but it's my desire to clean this up as I want to be in this business for a long time! Therefore, appreciate your comments.
Please tell me how to remove the picture of the Amazon product as I have tried unsuccessfully and am unable to do. Also, the camera link is on the post and not on my page. Please comment on my focus as I had thought that travel tours were sufficiently focused for my niche. Thanks, Mike
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Hi Kyle, I have posted two articles to my site and to social media in the last 7 days. Why has my ranking gone up which is negative to my standing? Please let me know. I'm inde
Hi Mike - are you talking about your ranking here at WA? That has nothing to do with your website. It just reflects how much you interact with the community.
Thanks, Diane, then please tell me, why my ranking has diminished after adding over 80 people that I'm following during this last week?
It consists of 3 categories - helping, creating and activity. Helping means answering other members questions as quickly as possible. Creating is writing blog posts or training. Activity is welcoming new members, responding to comments and being in live chat. To be honest, there is nothing to be gained by a high ranking. There is no monetary value to it. It just shows you are a trusted member who can be relied upon to help others and give accurate information.
I do have another question? I have a google badge which says I'm ranked. However, I can't find my post on google as I can on Bing and Yahoo. How do I confirm this?
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Rank increasing but publishing why?
Hi Kyle, I have posted two articles to my site and to social media in the last 7 days. Why has my ranking gone up which is negative to my standing? Please let me know. I'm inde
Hi Mike - are you talking about your ranking here at WA? That has nothing to do with your website. It just reflects how much you interact with the community.
Thanks, Diane, then please tell me, why my ranking has diminished after adding over 80 people that I'm following during this last week?
It consists of 3 categories - helping, creating and activity. Helping means answering other members questions as quickly as possible. Creating is writing blog posts or training. Activity is welcoming new members, responding to comments and being in live chat. To be honest, there is nothing to be gained by a high ranking. There is no monetary value to it. It just shows you are a trusted member who can be relied upon to help others and give accurate information.
I do have another question? I have a google badge which says I'm ranked. However, I can't find my post on google as I can on Bing and Yahoo. How do I confirm this?
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I still can't find the blog where the author listed advertisers for affiliate marketers? Can anyone be kind enough to help me? Thanks, Mike
Hi! Mike
The only post I know is the training on Affiliate programs. How to Find Relevant Affiliate Programs Regards
Smart
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I'm looking for a blog post which specified advertisers?
I still can't find the blog where the author listed advertisers for affiliate marketers? Can anyone be kind enough to help me? Thanks, Mike
Hi! Mike
The only post I know is the training on Affiliate programs. How to Find Relevant Affiliate Programs Regards
Smart
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Looking for a list posted to WA site with 10 advertisers
Hi there... If I understand it correctly, this is part of Level 3. Not sure what 10 advertisers meant though, but here's Kyle's training, hope this helps. Understanding Affiliate Programs & Networks
This isn't part of lesson 3. I read a blog post authored by one of our members which detailed a listing of merchandise advertisers (like Clickbank, SharASale, Ylli) where I could apply to as an affiliate marketer. I'm frantically looking for this post. Hope my question is clearer now. Do you know of this list as it was published either the past Wednesday or yesterday?
I may have missed that post here. If I somehow come across it, will let you know.
By the way, in case it helps, there's a live webinar in a couple hours by Jay about "Affiliate Promotions". I will need to listen to the recording tomorrow.
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Where can I find a good list of advertisers?
Looking for a list posted to WA site with 10 advertisers
Hi there... If I understand it correctly, this is part of Level 3. Not sure what 10 advertisers meant though, but here's Kyle's training, hope this helps. Understanding Affiliate Programs & Networks
This isn't part of lesson 3. I read a blog post authored by one of our members which detailed a listing of merchandise advertisers (like Clickbank, SharASale, Ylli) where I could apply to as an affiliate marketer. I'm frantically looking for this post. Hope my question is clearer now. Do you know of this list as it was published either the past Wednesday or yesterday?
I may have missed that post here. If I somehow come across it, will let you know.
By the way, in case it helps, there's a live webinar in a couple hours by Jay about "Affiliate Promotions". I will need to listen to the recording tomorrow.
See more comments
Hum, I think all of this is like a puzzle. We just have to keep on learning from our mistakes and getting the pieces in the right place. Actually, I think a camera would be an important device to have when traveling on the Orient Express.
Keep on learning and pushing forward, you will nail it soon!
Cal
Thanks, much, Mike
You're welcome