I'm getting killed in SEO for a JV launch, what do I do if my time is short?

[Mark Gubuan]

So I'm doing only my second JV affiliate contest and I'm absolutely getting killed. I think I didn't get backlinks fast enough. What do I do now? Should I just continue to write articles and hope to get indexed? I'm not even sure if my site is getting props by the big g.

Here's what I've done so far:

1. Near perfect on page SEO
2. Web 2.0 and pinged RSS and url
3. Article Spin and distribution

I have until 3/28/2011 to get on the first page.

[JasonWright]

What is the competition looking like?

[BacklinkExcellence]

To be honest, if it's anything major you won't have much luck with just doing a few web 2.0's, bookmarks or articles. Look at your competitors and where they've got their links from. And as Jason asked, how competitive is the term? 2 weeks isn't much time for SEO but if it's not very competitive you could still have a chance.

[theseoguys]

May I ask why you set a deadline to be on first page? You should know, that not only should you NOT make first page promises to your clients, that also, you may not beable to keep them for yourself. Sometimes crcumstances are out of your control. If your site is aged, then I would be link building as fast as I can.

[BacklinkExcellence]

Originally Posted by theseoguys

May I ask why you set a deadline to be on first page? You should know, that not only should you NOT make first page promises to your clients, that also, you may not beable to keep them for yourself. Sometimes crcumstances are out of your control. If your site is aged, then I would be link building as fast as I can.

Hm, I think you misread OP's problem. To me it sounds like he's an affiliate and wants to rank on the first page for a time sensitive launch (hence the deadline). However, I agree about the link building part.

[theseoguys]

Originally Posted by BacklinkExcellence

Hm, I think you misread OP's problem. To me it sounds like he's an affiliate and wants to rank on the first page for a time sensitive launch (hence the deadline). However, I agree about the link building part.

You're correct, I misunderstood the problem. I read JV, and skipped over the 'contest'part. At least we agree on the link building challenge. lol.

[Rob Greco]

are you going after branded or generic terms?

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by JasonWright

What is the competition looking like?

The competition is looking pretty tough as in I really have no idea how long it's taking to see real results from my banklinking efforts. I'm third page at best.

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by BacklinkExcellence

To be honest, if it's anything major you won't have much luck with just doing a few web 2.0's, bookmarks or articles. Look at your competitors and where they've got their links from. And as Jason asked, how competitive is the term? 2 weeks isn't much time for SEO but if it's not very competitive you could still have a chance.

Its pretty competitive so I'm not sure if I have enough time. The sites are increasing exponentially. But I'm working on it.

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by Rob Greco

are you going after branded or generic terms?

I'm going after the top branded keywords. "review" "bonus"

[iAmNameLess]

Originally Posted by Mark Gubuan

So I'm doing only my second JV affiliate contest and I'm absolutely getting killed. I think I didn't get backlinks fast enough. What do I do now? Should I just continue to write articles and hope to get indexed? I'm not even sure if my site is getting props by the big g.

Here's what I've done so far:

1. Near perfect on page SEO
2. Web 2.0 and pinged RSS and url
3. Article Spin and distribution

I have until 3/28/2011 to get on the first page.

Not trying to dispute your knowledge at all, but is it the site in your sig? Can you link us to your site to let some fresh eyes judge your on page SEO?

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by iAmNameLess

Not trying to dispute your knowledge at all, but is it the site in your sig? Can you link us to your site to let some fresh eyes judge your on page SEO?

Yeah that's my site. IMHO, I think I have near perfect on page SEO. Sure there's some elements of human readability. But I'm trying to keep it as professional as possible.....thanks for the feedback.

[phowell23]

Originally Posted by Mark Gubuan

Yeah that's my site. IMHO, I think I have near perfect on page SEO. Sure there's some elements of human readability. But I'm trying to keep it as professional as possible.....thanks for the feedback.

Some feedback:
-Are you using SEO Pressor for your article SEO score?
-I tend to stray away from using 2+dashes in domain name. 1 dash seems fine. Just my opinion and experience.
-Competiton is really tough right now for this product. I am also promoting it.
-I haven't checked out your back links but do you have any TTB links (edu or gov)?
-How old is your site?
-Official launch is 28th but Pre-Launch is 17th

~Philip

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by phowell23

Some feedback:
-Are you using SEO Pressor for your article SEO score?
-I tend to stray away from using 2+dashes in domain name. 1 dash seems fine. Just my opinion and experience.
-Competiton is really tough right now for this product. I am also promoting it.
-I haven't checked out your back links but do you have any TTB links (edu or gov)?
-How old is your site?
-Official launch is 28th but Pre-Launch is 17th

~Philip

Yeah I'm using SEOPressor. I was looking at how the dashes work and don't work. And at this point I was suspecting less dashes were doing better. I don't have any .edu or .gov yet. My site is really just as old as Commission Overload. I guess I could extend my domain plan to jump over others.... Getting geared up for pre-launch right now. I'm planning on giving away a farm for bonuses because that's pretty much the only way I'm going to get sales....(Tim has taught me well).

[phowell23]

This is what I recommend doing (again this is just my humble opinion):

1. Get as many good quality backlinks as you can and as fast as you can. Focus on .edu backlinks if you can but you need a good variety of others as well. You can find many different Warriors on here offering .edu backlinks for under $25. Be sure to tell them it's a rush and you are willing to pay a little more to get it done faster. Remember, it's not about quantity it's about quality.

2. Are your SeoPressor scores 90%+ for each article? If not, get them there.

3. Throw as many free bonuses in as possible for your buyers.

Good luck!

*Edit*
I see you are ranked #10 for your main keyword "Commission Overload Bonuses". Not bad!

~Philip

[Mark Gubuan]

And now I'm ranked #2. I guess I was just being impatient

[GeorgR.]

This is the MOST RETARDED strategy ever. I say that not because i want to be offending, but because i kept doing the SAME thing <-- (depending on JV sites, product launches, promoting "xyz review", "xyz bonus"

Why is this strategy retarded?

Because 99% of the money with product launches is made from "big gun" marketers blasting to their lists of 150.000...and only the tiniest fraction of sales is made by people looking for "product name" or "product name download" etc. from organic Google traffic.

You get the occasional sale, so do i....but i still think depending on SEO for product launches is DUMB (yes, includes myself!)

Furthermore you are also competing against all kinds of sniper sites and it can get REALLY tough around launch date with ranking competition - while the guys who are blasting their lists are LAUGHING at you/me trying to think we can make big bucks with SEO and snag organic traffic.

--> You *can* promote products, sure, you CAN write good reviews. No problem. But in no way do you need to depend on JV sites and launch dates...you can promote good products whenever you want assuming that good products will also sell for a while. For GOOD IM products there is always a demand and search volume and people are looking for good reviews!

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by GeorgR.

This is the MOST RETARDED strategy ever. I say that not because i want to be offending, but because i kept doing the SAME thing <-- (depending on JV sites, product launches, promoting "xyz review", "xyz bonus"

Why is this strategy retarded?

Because 99% of the money with product launches is made from "big gun" marketers blasting to their lists of 150.000...and only the tiniest fraction of sales is made by people looking for "product name" or "product name download" etc. from organic Google traffic.

You get the occasional sale, so do i....but i still think depending on SEO for product launches is DUMB (yes, includes myself!)

Furthermore you are also competing against all kinds of sniper sites and it can get REALLY tough around launch date with ranking competition - while the guys who are blasting their lists are LAUGHING at you/me trying to think we can make big bucks with SEO and snag organic traffic.

--> You *can* promote products, sure, you CAN write good reviews. No problem. But in no way do you need to depend on JV sites and launch dates...you can promote good products whenever you want assuming that good products will also sell for a while. For GOOD IM products there is always a demand and search volume and people are looking for good reviews!

Hahaha. I like that you're honest with yourself. I think it would help to tell you that I'm working to build credibility in the internet marketing/make money online niche and that I've seen first hand people who do make sales from SEO during product launches.

I"m not trying to win the JV contest. I'm trying to win the SEO competition. As of right now I'm on the first page, for several keyword terms and my SEO strategy is working ==> FOR SEO. Obviously, the sales game is still to start.

Any ideas for bonuses? You sound like you know who the major players are.

[jacked]

Build some blog comments, they index very fast. From our 10k blasts, you can see 600 indexed in 1 week.

[Chris Sorrell]

Going into these jv contest reliant on seo can be a dicey experience. Ye you can make a few sales here and there but bare in mind that the refund on some of these products may be around 40 - 50% so if you make 4-5 sales you may even see all those sales refunded if the product is particularly overhyped and underperforming. But, sometimes you can get a good payday out of it so good luck.

[GeorgR.]

Originally Posted by Mark Gubuan

Hahaha. I like that you're honest with yourself. I think it would help to tell you that I'm working to build credibility in the internet marketing/make money online niche and that I've seen first hand people who do make sales from SEO during product launches.

I"m not trying to win the JV contest. I'm trying to win the SEO competition. As of right now I'm on the first page, for several keyword terms and my SEO strategy is working ==> FOR SEO. Obviously, the sales game is still to start.

Any ideas for bonuses? You sound like you know who the major players are.

Just recently i was "on page #1" for several recent launches, some keywords all the way up, some more in the middle, but still on page #1.

The sales i made with this method i can count with 5 fingers. And i am not the only marketer who thinks that SEOing for product launches is silly.

I just think there are better ways. Why "compete" for the slim chance to sell for a product which is hyped for a short moment (and promoted by EVERYONE and their mama within a week) if there is countless other products where there is still people searching and looking for reviews all the time.

Yes..i did the race too (and still occasionally do it)...but it just doesn't pay off, IMO.

[GeorgR.]

Originally Posted by sorrellaff

Going into these jv contest reliant on seo can be a dicey experience. Ye you can make a few sales here and there but bare in mind that the refund on some of these products may be around 40 - 50% so if you make 4-5 sales you may even see all those sales refunded if the product is particularly overhyped and underperforming. But, sometimes you can get a good payday out of it so good luck.

Thats another issue, correct! Refunds at the moment are really HIGH since product quality seems to be on an "all time low" overall...and of course every product is hyped like its the coming of christ!

In the past it happened i also made entire sites around ONE product (better quality sniper sites if you will)..products which flopped BADLY after launch since they simply turned out crap.

And older products are usually proven..you know what's bad or good so you dont need to gamble.

[visimedia]

I think you have to put enough time before it ranks well on Google. Sooner you do the campaign, the result will be better. We can't rush our ranking, I think it takes time.

[jacked]

Originally Posted by visimedia

I think you have to put enough time before it ranks well on Google. Sooner you do the campaign, the result will be better. We can't rush our ranking, I think it takes time.

Yes this is very true. When I am promoting any time of launch I always start ahead of time and go above and beyond in terms of SEO, because you never know who will pop up in your competition.

[Rexibit]

Originally Posted by Mark Gubuan

I think I didn't get backlinks fast enough. What do I do now? Should I just continue to write articles and hope to get indexed? I'm not even sure if my site is getting props by the big g.

Speed of backlinks has nothing to do with getting indexed. You can run your site through a ton of ping services, post to a high-trafficked blog, post your link on digg or some other Web 2.0 site, etc. to get your site indexed in a few hours.

Anyway, since you posted this, you said you're on the first page so that's not really a concern - just pointing that out there for future reference.

What I would be concerned with is this:

Originally Posted by Mark Gubuan

Here's what I've done so far:

1. Near perfect on page SEO
2. Web 2.0 and pinged RSS and url
3. Article Spin and distribution

I have until 3/28/2011 to get on the first page.

You're not providing enough backlink diversity and are leaving a huge footprint for those links you do have. In like 5 minutes I tracked down your entire backlink profile, even those not showing in siteexplorer. Granted, I developed a program to do that, but it's not going to be hard for Google to check your site in a manual review soon.

Work on minimizing your footprint, change up how you build credibility for your 1st and 2nd tier backlinks, and maintain a consistent link velocity (how fast you build your links) and you'll be much better off.

[TomScarn]

Actually rexibit provided an excellent answer, from what I can see your backlinking efforts are not up to par with the competition. See his comment and move from there.

[BobbyWalker]

hey Mark...product launches can be some really stiff competition.

i just recently had a super aggressive package developed specifically for product launches in the IM space...

i'm paying $800 per month and it supports 6 websites...

Best case scenario is you start your backlinks 60 days before the launch with your web 2.0 sites and your high quality articles, then tier your profile links, forum links, blog comments, etc..

I'm doing this for Local Mobile Monopoly and I'm currently hovering around position 5-10 on the first page of Google...results are already over 4 million!

There is some major SPAM going on with some of these sites, in fact I found a guy linking to images for some Japanese image site and he had like 1000 Do Follow links from it!

This could also get you banned too, because it looks very unnatural..

I think the mode of thinking is just to capture the first week of the launch traffic and then it doesn't matter.

But I've found that on high profile launches like Mobile Monopoly, you can make money for months after the launch...

A good example of this is Coen Mayes..he's been #1 for Mobile Monopoly for awhile and he's still making money every day. I confirmed this when I was talking with Tim Donovan..

I think the best method for doing launches is to create yourself an authority site and then link all of your launch pages to this...

Once you get established where Google trusts your site, you'll find that you can rank higher using less backlinks than a new site who's specifically targeting product launch keywords...

But in the end, no matter what, you have to tier your links starting with your highest quality articles and web 2.0 sites as your base..

Thx,
Bobby

...

Originally Posted by Mark Gubuan

So I'm doing only my second JV affiliate contest and I'm absolutely getting killed. I think I didn't get backlinks fast enough. What do I do now? Should I just continue to write articles and hope to get indexed? I'm not even sure if my site is getting props by the big g.

Here's what I've done so far:

1. Near perfect on page SEO
2. Web 2.0 and pinged RSS and url
3. Article Spin and distribution

I have until 3/28/2011 to get on the first page.

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by jacked

Yes this is very true. When I am promoting any time of launch I always start ahead of time and go above and beyond in terms of SEO, because you never know who will pop up in your competition.

Yeah right now, high PR sites are writing like a paragraph and ranking high. Sucks, but I'm new so, I'm still learning.

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by Rexibit

You're not providing enough backlink diversity and are leaving a huge footprint for those links you do have. In like 5 minutes I tracked down your entire backlink profile, even those not showing in siteexplorer. Granted, I developed a program to do that, but it's not going to be hard for Google to check your site in a manual review soon.

Work on minimizing your footprint, change up how you build credibility for your 1st and 2nd tier backlinks, and maintain a consistent link velocity (how fast you build your links) and you'll be much better off.

No here's some constructive criticism. I have no idea what the implications of a HUGE footprint is. Are you talking about where my links are coming from? As in, they only come from a handful of locations, when it looks better if they come from thousands of locations?

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by GeorgR.

Thats another issue, correct! Refunds at the moment are really HIGH since product quality seems to be on an "all time low" overall...and of course every product is hyped like its the coming of christ!

In the past it happened i also made entire sites around ONE product (better quality sniper sites if you will)..products which flopped BADLY after launch since they simply turned out crap.

And older products are usually proven..you know what's bad or good so you dont need to gamble.

Well, I'm sure you've heard about Commission Overload. I stand behind what I've seen inside the course and for "most" people, it will be well worth $97.

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by BobbyWalker

I think the best method for doing launches is to create yourself an authority site and then link all of your launch pages to this...

Once you get established where Google trusts your site, you'll find that you can rank higher using less backlinks than a new site who's specifically targeting product launch keywords...

But in the end, no matter what, you have to tier your links starting with your highest quality articles and web 2.0 sites as your base..
...

yeah, I realized that when these other "trusted sites" popped up this weekend with nothing more than a video and two paragraphs. My other site for a different niche helped with backlinks.

I don't understand the tier completely. Do you have any resources that can teach me this process?

[JamesMSpacey]

Don't know if you have a portfolio of articles that don't relate to your current project - but if you do go and edit them and swap out the links in them for links to your current site then resubmit. They'll probably be reviewed (if it's a manual directory) in a couple days for an edit, then when they're up, ping them.

[JamesMSpacey]

PS. If you're planning on doing this kind of thing regularly, invest a couple K in an authority site for sale you can chop and change a bit for this. You've already seen what these sites can do in a short time.

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by JamesMSpacey

Don't know if you have a portfolio of articles that don't relate to your current project - but if you do go and edit them and swap out the links in them for links to your current site then resubmit. They'll probably be reviewed (if it's a manual directory) in a couple days for an edit, then when they're up, ping them.

Nice. I'll have to do that.

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by JamesMSpacey

PS. If you're planning on doing this kind of thing regularly, invest a couple K in an authority site for sale you can chop and change a bit for this. You've already seen what these sites can do in a short time.

Great advice. Thanks!

[Rexibit]

Originally Posted by Mark Gubuan

No here's some constructive criticism. I have no idea what the implications of a HUGE footprint is. Are you talking about where my links are coming from? As in, they only come from a handful of locations, when it looks better if they come from thousands of locations?

Somewhat.

• Type: blog, forum, web 2.0, article, news, rss, ping, stats, etc.
• Country: It'd look rather suspicious to have 1,000 links suddenly pop up from Asian guest books when your site isn't hosted in an Asian server.
• IPS: need to be as diverse as possible. Preferably on many different C-Blocks.
• Name servers & Whois info: It'd look really suspicious to have the same DNS servers used on those sites you have links from and even more suspicious if they were all owned by the same person. DNS servers are the go-to for Google cracking down on content farms.
• URL for the link: how natural does it look to only link to one page?
• Anchor text: how natural does it look to only have the same text used in a link?
• Content: how natural does it look to only have the same type of text around that link?
• Other people: how many other people posted on the same page you did and with what kind of content? If you're posting to blogs, forums, Web 2.0's, etc. where others have spammed it to death and you're posting on the same sets of pages as them over many sites...

That's just a small list to ponder on. There's a ton of other considerations.

The main thing is: you need backlinks to rank, but you want them all to look natural, like a human was writing them for the very first time. You also have to screen all those pages you want links from and make sure that there's not a footprint left by others that leads back to you.

If your site looks like a shady "here today, gone tomorrow" site, then it's going to be treated as such. Right now, your backlinks look like that, and so does your copy. You can change that by making your site look much more authoritative by minimizing that backlink footprint.

[ericsimmon]

Depends on your budget & resources available. May be buy some high PR backlinks.

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by Rexibit

Somewhat.

• Type: blog, forum, web 2.0, article, news, rss, ping, stats, etc.
• Country: It'd look rather suspicious to have 1,000 links suddenly pop up from Asian guest books when your site isn't hosted in an Asian server.
• IPS: need to be as diverse as possible. Preferably on many different C-Blocks.
• Name servers & Whois info: It'd look really suspicious to have the same DNS servers used on those sites you have links from and even more suspicious if they were all owned by the same person. DNS servers are the go-to for Google cracking down on content farms.
• URL for the link: how natural does it look to only link to one page?
• Anchor text: how natural does it look to only have the same text used in a link?
• Content: how natural does it look to only have the same type of text around that link?
• Other people: how many other people posted on the same page you did and with what kind of content? If you're posting to blogs, forums, Web 2.0's, etc. where others have spammed it to death and you're posting on the same sets of pages as them over many sites...

That's just a small list to ponder on. There's a ton of other considerations.

The main thing is: you need backlinks to rank, but you want them all to look natural, like a human was writing them for the very first time. You also have to screen all those pages you want links from and make sure that there's not a footprint left by others that leads back to you.

If your site looks like a shady "here today, gone tomorrow" site, then it's going to be treated as such. Right now, your backlinks look like that, and so does your copy. You can change that by making your site look much more authoritative by minimizing that backlink footprint.

I gotcha. Thanks for this. I definitely appreciate this reply because it all makes sense and the bottom line, is that we all need backlinks and long term results will always be better if they occur in a natural way. You know. The way the inventor of the internet intended it to be. We're all humans anyway. We are humans right?

[SB274]

Hey Mark, don't worry, we will rock this thing. If nothing else, it will build credibility. I got your back too. Here is to a successful future.... (p.s. this is a new profile)

[johnyeo90]

Originally Posted by sorrellaff

Going into these jv contest reliant on seo can be a dicey experience. Ye you can make a few sales here and there but bare in mind that the refund on some of these products may be around 40 - 50% so if you make 4-5 sales you may even see all those sales refunded if the product is particularly overhyped and underperforming. But, sometimes you can get a good payday out of it so good luck.

I agreed with it..i got sales by using sniper sites, promoting the launching products but i get refunded around 69%~for every 3 sales i made, there are 2 refunds -==

[GeorgR.]

Originally Posted by johnyeo90

I agreed with it..i got sales by using sniper sites, promoting the launching products but i get refunded around 69%~for every 3 sales i made, there are 2 refunds -==

Because you are promoting MOSTLY only based on the nonsense hype "This product is the best thing since sliced bread" as you read on JV forums.

That's why i said: "Promote PROVEN and GOOD products" and not the overhyped products just because they are launching right now.

I wouldnt write all this if promoting via Sniper sites and product launches would have made me a lot of money - but in fact it has NOT, despite many good Google rankings for product names at launch day.

For every 3 over-hyped products there are maybe 15 around which are already proven and good and which have good and steady search volume.

Again, i simply think that this strategy ultimately doesn't pay off compared to the work put in....its lists where the money is made for new products and not SEO.

[troyy55]

Originally Posted by Mark Gubuan

No here's some constructive criticism. I have no idea what the implications of a HUGE footprint is. Are you talking about where my links are coming from? As in, they only come from a handful of locations, when it looks better if they come from thousands of locations?

Hey Mark, check out JJ's site for his forum which goes into detail about 'footprints' left on the net. I've even posted there on this. He developed an awesome software (actually two, FootprintFactory is the more powerful one) that quickly finds high PR do follow sites instead of doing it manually. He had an WSO recently, and might still be active. It was for RBLSE and it was cheap-like $10-$15. Footprint Factory is the way to go though.

Rapid Backlink Scout LE - The Offer


Hope this helps you along...Good luck to all of us messing around with this launch. Well, at least we have Commission Overload, right? Pure Gold!!

Troy

[Mark Gubuan]

Originally Posted by troyy55

Hey Mark, check out JJ's site for his forum which goes into detail about 'footprints' left on the net. I've even posted there on this. He developed an awesome software (actually two, FootprintFactory is the more powerful one) that quickly finds high PR do follow sites instead of doing it manually. He had an WSO recently, and might still be active. It was for RBLSE and it was cheap-like $10-$15. Footprint Factory is the way to go though.

Rapid Backlink Scout LE - The Offer


Hope this helps you along...Good luck to all of us messing around with this launch. Well, at least we have Commission Overload, right? Pure Gold!!

Troy

Thanks for the info. Yeah my site got SLAPPED. I can't help to think that it was the footprint. One minute 1st page #2 ranking, next minute G-O-N-E. *&^% I guess I'll never know.

[r4nd0m12345]

Just use Yahoo! siteexplorer to check the links coming from your competitors and mimic them