The Blooming Oasis
I've currently set up a new website known as The Blooming Oasis. This site is all about gardening and the traffic has started to flow, so I was wondering if you wouldn't mind popping over and letting me know if there is anything I could improve on.
Since Monday I've had new things happening with plugging the site and its started to bring in on average about 80 visitors a day with about 15-20 clicks through to amazon but the only trouble is. I've only had one purchase.
Is there anything on the site which could be done to improve things? I have thought about placing a Google add within the text like I've seen before on other blog posts.
I would very much appreciate any feedback on improvements to this site.
Check it our here at http://thebloomingoasis.com/
Thank you
Morgan
Recent Comments
36
Morgan,
First of all, I LOVE the name and look of your site, it's fantastic. Great job!
Gardening is a fascinating niche to me so, I'm excited you asked for some feedback.
I am a consumer that is interested in gardening and have been researching "starting my own home garden" for few years. The number one reason I'm interested in my own garden is the value and nutrition of growing and harvesting my own organic produce and herbs.
If I run into a site that is not "organic" based. (i.e. no pesticides, herbicides and using organic soil, composting and seeds). I just keep looking until I've found one. I think if you do some research you will see that this seems to be a trend that is picking up momentum. Perhaps due to so many celebrity and local chefs, speaking more openly about using Organic produce. It's getting to the point that they are growing their own produce on site or using local farmers just so they can control the quality.
The ONLY reason I suggest modifying to organic is that IF you have a visitor that is organic, you are not catering to them, to many "things" need to be changed if they want to follow your advice chemical free. BUT if you're visitor is a non-organic gardener, it doesn't matter if you use chemicals or not. Following along is much easier, no modifications needed. They can still follow you and your advice, and just use their chemicals of choice. I hope that makes sense.
There are many areas you could go with adding organics to your site:
1. Vertical Gardening - less disease and easier to "fit" on smaller plots of land.
2. Raised garden beds (I see you already have a post on these, this could be easily modified to fit in "organic" customization by adding use organic soil, untreated wood, and "protect" the bottom of the box BEFORE you put in the soil so no contaminated soil reaches your plants.
3. Using organic seeds (and heirloom varieties at that)
4. Composting
5. Natural pest repellents
6. Layered or 'Lasagna" gardening
7. Container gardening
8. Benefits of chemical free produce
9. No "frankenfoods" or GMO's (this is a HUGE battle in California right now)
10. Added nutrition from using nutrient rich organic soil and composting.
Not sure if any of these ideas interest you. Just wanted to stop by and offer you some luck. Thank you for letting me take up too much of your time...LOL :)
p.s. If you are skeptical about using 'organics" and just don't "get" it. Take a few hours to watch the documentaries, "food matters", "hungry for change" or forks over knives" (all available right now on Netflix). It may help you understand why so many people "make such a big deal" about organics.
Good Luck!
Patty
Hi Patty,
Thank you so much for all your feedback, I'm glad that you like the name along with the layout of the site. I wasnt sure if it would ruin it by adding in a logo instead of just the name.
Its filled me with much excitment on this matter. I had been thinking about creating a section for orgainc gardners as a lot of people now only want to focus on Organic. This is something which i will be creating for the future of the blooming oasis.
The only reason I had previously not gone ahead with it, is because of the compition I had found with it. It had kind of scared me to try espically as its something Ive never done.
I've got netflicks so i will have a watch of those later on, might give me some ideas for some articles.
Thank you again for this imput about The Blooming Oasis I'm very much appricated.
Morgan
Hey Morgan.
It might also be worth bearing in mind that your target audience, the more *casual* gardener, especially if they're based in a zone with a freezing cold winter, probably won't be in a buying mood until the weather turns in a month or so.
Just a thought!
Rich. x
Hi rich,
I think i'm starting to learn that :) I've been looking on google trends and gardening dosnt really start until next month, So I will continue to add things and plug the site as much as possible so its ready for when everyone starts to get into their garden.
Thank you rich
Morgan
You are using OriginMag theme right? Great choice, I just installed that one too. Use the theme to your advantage. Here are a couple of cosmetic suggestions I have for you:
1. Go to Settings->Reading and change number of posts displayed to 9 or 6 instead of 10, it will make the grid on your homepage 3x3 or 3x2 instead of 3,3,3,1 which looks a bit weird. (This won't help with your sales though...)
2. Use the WPZOOM shortcodes button within the visual tab to make some "Buy now" buttons. You have a link on your growing tomatoes indoor post that says "click here to buy" or something. Make it a big buy now button instead. Don't be afraid to let your visitors know where you want them to go.
It might just be that you are getting visitors who are lookign for information not products. What are your biggest keywords etc? What are your most popular pages? Read Kyle's training about the customer purchase lifecycle if you aren't sure what I mean. https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/the-customer-purchase-lifecycle
Also, like Beverley said, be patient, people might need a bit more time to trust you.
Thank you for that Dom.
I wondered how I was able to change the ammount of articles on the homepage, I was looking within the WPZOOM settings. It does look a lot better now.
I completly understand how you mean with the button idea but the trouble I have is I dopnt understand how to create one. I've looked around the WPZOOM and can't seem to find visual tab. Forgive me if I've over looked it.
With the recommendations towards where I want the reader to go, Ive always felt off put about openly trying to get the reader over to amazon. I think now I will try a bit harder.
I'm currently trying to add pintrest to the site so people will be able to pin posts and I'm also trying to wrap google adds within the posts but struggling at the momment.
Thank you again for your thoughts
Morgan
Hey Morgan.
There are two "tabs" where you enter text for either a Post or Page. To access the shortcodes, just use the black WPZ icon on the Visual tab of the editor. http://d.pr/i/ATU0
If you're looking for a Pinterest solution, consider installing: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/pinterest-pin-it-button/
Hope this helps!
Rich. x
Thank you for that rich, I've managed to install the plugin and now I have the Pin it button, but its on its own at the bottom. The share buttons which are part of the theme are towards the top on the side, is there a way to add it up there so all the share options are together?
With the tabs I'm sorry but i still can't figure it out, could it be as my theme needs to be updated?
Thank you
morgan
Hey Morgan,
If you click this link http://d.pr/i/ATU0 you'll see the text entry window for a Post or Page. To the right hand side are two tabs, Visual and Text. Make sure you're on the Visual one. Then just position the cursor where you want a button, info box, columns, etc. and click on the small WPZ black icon.
The theme doesn't support adding plug-ins to the social sharing at the top. It would require the developers to add custom code for each and every plug-in.
Rich. x
Hey rich,
Thank you for that, I knwo exactly where that is. Am sorry didnt think that was the button.
I think with the share buttons then, I might have to look into getting a new plugin and turning off the one with the theme as this will only do G+, twitter and facebook.
Theres one called tweet and like I think, would you advise using this one?
Also I was wondering is there a special code i need to add in when placing a google adsens add within text so its wrapped around the text, do I do the same as i do with amazon widgets?
Thank you
Morgan
Hey Morgan,
I wouldn't focus too heavily on social networking. You can waste a lot of time creating *noise* not sales. I've ditched most of my social sharing, even Kyle's recently closed his FB account. Pinterest is image based not text, so it's often worth associating a share adjacent to or beneath an image.
Rich. x
Ok thank you fro that rich, I can see why as there never really anything going on with the social media side of things. I won't focus al my energy on social media, I will continure to create backlinks towards The Blooming Oasis.
Do you know about getting the text to flow around google adds?
Thank you
Morgan
Hey Morgan,
You can could float them in an iframe (like you did for Amazon on ATF) or use a column shortcode, etc. just see what works best.
Rich. x
Hi Rich,
Thank you for that, I will have a little play and see what works best, as at the momment its sitting before the text with lots of space around it.
Morgan
Hi rich, sorry I forgot to ask you. WIth the amazon links with the banners. Can we just change the size so it fits into a space better or do we need to search for the correct size?
thank you
Http://www.kettlebellexerciseswomen.com. You can see I use the theme buttons on the right and the pin it buttons down below, it works fine IMO. Just do "the big four" for shares. In WSS you must have been exposed to a lot of different themes and buttons and some look ghastly. Keep it simple
Thank you dom, I've looked at your site and i love the way it looks. I've had a play around with the top 10 electric leaf blowers and placed in some buttons. Would you be able to have a look and let me know what you think.
I'm having an issue with placing a google add in at the top with the text wrapped around, how do i go about doing this?
Hi Morgan well done for getting this new site up and running. You've obviously done a lot of work. You're worried about the number of sales - well it doesn't always happen immediately - so be patient. I do think though that in some of the posts you actually make recommendations. One of the articles I read - went through (something like a mini axe) and then at the end you had an amazon widget - but personally I then wouldn't bother If I've read the article I want to know which you recommend.
Beverley
Hi Beverley,
Thank you, I think the patience is something I need to learn :) I can see how you mean about that article and I will be changing it. It can be rather misleading the way its been set-out.
Have you got my email with my last task?
Thank you
Morgan
Hey Morgan,
I'd suggest putting this link http://thebloomingoasis.com/ in your post. :P
Rich. x
Thank you for that Rich, I completely over looked placing that link in there. It might help as I'm asking people to view the site. :)
Hope your well
Morgan x
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you are so on the right track. One of the biggest complaints is not having enough traffic, and you are getting good traffic, you just need to convert them, I would imagine that if you keep contact with your visitors, keep them engaged, informed, updated, send them emails etc. they will convert. you should get advice from kyle or Carson, see what they recommend, but you are definitely on the right track my friend. Catchy name by the way, I totally love the name, your site is terrific. Please don't stop, cause you are on the right track!
Thank you Crazy Guru,
I'm so glad that you think i'm on the right track, I'm putting all my effort into this site so hopefully things might boom when it comes into the spring properly.
I'm thinking of adding in a newsletter addition to the site, as I don't have one set up yet.
I'm currently trying to back link as much as possible and place my website address on pretty much every gardening website which generates lots of traffic so people ca either click through or copy and past the address.
Thank you again
my pleasure! you could look into this video for email list and also try this link for your newsletter http://mailchimp.com/
Thank you for that, I might just have to sign up as at the moment i'm using mad mimi, Which one would you advise to be the better one?
I haven't tried mad mimi but check out their site and do a comparison
Never, ever use Mailchimp. Their terms and conditions specifically forbid affiliate marketers from using them. I know someone who lost their entire account and lists without warning. I added a list of Mailchimp's *excluded* users from their t&c's in the comments of Dom's MadMimi training here: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/setting-up-a-free-mailing-list-with-madmimi Rich.
I've just been on and deleted my account, think i will stick with mad mimi for now until I get too many subscribers
Thanks rich :)
You can upgrade your MadMimi account if its facilities satisfy your needs, otherwise switch to AWeber. Rich. x
Think i might just upgrade with madmimi once things start to pick up as I would of got the hang of using it. Would you advise that aweber is a better to use?