SEO first attempt - Im very excited :)

[Adam Smith]

Hi all. This is my first post here but iv been a guest here for a little while.

I know it is best to start of small, but I feel i've bitten of a huge chunk for my first project.

The key word I want to target is Best Iphone 5 Cases. I did not target Iphone 5 cases as this would be a mammoth task.

I am going to go through step by step on what I have done so far - ask for you input - and keep you all upto date on how it goes. I have at least a few months to solidify my site at the top and possibly branch out for a few more keywords.

Step 1. - Research!

I've read it a million times - your initial keyword research is the most important part of the process. I dont have any fancy tool for this, just the free google Keywords Tool.

I did a search for Iphone 4 cases - almost 250,000 'exact' searches a month. Now if I was ambitious I may have tried to target that key word - but lets be honest, this is my first project.

'Iphone 4 covers' seemed temping with almost 15,000 'exact' searches a month, but again I thought I could be setting myself up for disappointment.

After alot of thought I came to the conclusion that 'best iphone 5 cases' would be a great starting point. Through my research, 'best iphone 4 cases' have an 'exact' search of 8,000 a month, and google Keyword Tools marks it as Medium Competition.

After reading quite a few articles on how many clicks I could receive being at the No.1 position on google, I estimated that I would get around 4,000 visitors a month. If my site then converted 10% of these into sales (it is quite a high conversion rate as I think 'best iphone 5 cases' is a buying keyword. People are likely to be looking to buy the best cases) I would now be looking at 400 sales a month. With the average case around $35 and an average affiliate getting 15% ie $5.25, I predict the site, for that keyword along could be making around $2,100 a month. I decided I would go for it.

Step 2. - Action

I headed over to purchase my domain name. Again from what I have read on here, its important to have your keyword within the domain name so I went for best-iphone5cases [dot] come

I quickly set up a Wordpress site and installed the following plugins:

- All in one seo pack
- Easy Google Analytics for Wordpress
- Seo Meta Tags
- Simple Google Sitemap XML

I also headed over to google and registered the site for Webmaster tools and submitted the site map.. and to google analytics and linked it to my account.

So now I have a site ready to go, with a great domain and all the On-page SEO ready - now I needed content. I headed over to Fiverr and found a great writer who I paid to create 5 unique articles - each based on a different aspect of the iphone 5, but all linked to cases.

Once completed I uploaded them to the site and BAM.. I now have a fully optimized site ready to be indexed and start ranking.

Again I headed over to Fiverr and bought 2 gigs - one was to submit my site to a few social links to get it indexed and the other was 70 high PR links. In the meantime I downloaded Market Samuri and began using the SEO competition tool to check out the backlinks some of my competition had - and obviously get the same! For the next few days I went through each site in the top 10 for 'best iphone 5 cases' 'best iphone 4 cases' 'iphone 4 cases' and 'iphone 5 cases' and used the same links on my site (not all of them, but PR 2 and above). I again headed back to Fiverr and purchased around 7 more gigs - all to build backlinks to my site - now from what I've read it is unsafe to add a ton of backlinks to a site straight away, but I intend on letting the links be found naturally and not to ping anything - this way once I have purchased a few gigs, the links will continue to be found for a few months.

So this is basically my journey so far.. Currently my rankings look like this:

'Best iphone 5 cases' - (best iphone 4 cases - 8,000 searches a month)

1. A hubpages.com article
2. Videos from youtube
3. techradar.com - an article regarding iphone 4 batteries???
4. iphone5casetore.com
5. ME!!!!!

'Iphone 5 cases' - (iphone 4 cases - 250,000 searches a month)

I am currently on page 4, 5th from the top.

I have managed to create all of this, and achieve these results in 12 days - that is when the domain was registered.

I look forward to your questions, advice, and general comments on what I have achieved so far - is it good, can I expect my site to move further, would you have done anything differently, have I missed out some obvious step... etc.

I will be looking to update this post on a regular basis with how the site is doing for both keywords.

Thanks, Adam

[Adsman68]

Iphone 5 cases or Iphone 4 Cases ?

[Adam Smith]

Im trying to rank for iphone 5 cases - in the hope that when the iphone 5 is released ill be in prime position to sell cases for it

[Adsman68]

Lol,

I have done the same for another iphone 5 keyword and even an iphone 6 keyword which gets 110,000 exact for the iphone 4 equivalent. Speculate to accumulate and all that : )

[Adam Smith]

Like they say - you've got to be in it to win it lol how are you ranking at the moment?

[Adsman68]

Not even got the sites up yet !! Probably get the 5 keyword up soon.

[Adam Smith]

I hope its not in the case market lol

[Adsman68]

Lol no, your ok with that !!

[Adam Smith]

In all seriousness though.. how do you think I have done so far? and would you have done anything differently?

[Adam Smith]

I put quite alot of effort into describing my path up to this point and would love some feedback on it?

[MichaelG469]

I'm new to all of this as well, but from a "buyer" and "reader" standpoint. I'd get someone (or do it yourself) to do some graphics for the header for you that is somewhat iphone related. Also you have a "sample page" tab thats not being used, so investigate the purpose of that.

Congratulations on your ranking!

[CloptonCapital]

I would focus on finding a reliable/competitive dropshipper now and also start selling iphone4 stuff just to avoid the opportunity cost of dead time

[AndyBlackSEO]

I heard Apple are skipping iPhone 5 and going straight to iPhone 6. Jus' kiddin' guys :-)

Yes, planting a seed for the future is a good method. Age, authority and backlinks can only be a good thing to get ranked highly... so getting a solid ranking early on before the stampede comes is a good way to go.

[jep]

Great achievement my friend..mib sharing the 7 giggs you got from fiverr? :-)

[GMM]

My 2 cents worth, get your customers to opt-in to a mailing list on your website. The sooner you start a list the more profitable you'll be in the future. Just make sure to keep in touch with your subscribers, and send them free wisdom (not just information) e.g specify that cover A is more suitable for purpose B, not just that cover A has 1 , 2, 3 and cover B has 2, 3, 4, or tell them about a new phone that is due for launch and give them a comparison against the current model and what type of customer will benefit from an upgrade. That way they'll stay loyal to you and when you send out a mailing with new products or specials they are more likely to buy from you. Chow chow, Kevin

[L41db4ck]

Which affiliate case selling company gives 15%?

[Steve Crooks]

I've just registered presidentsheen.com in anticipation of Charlie's move into politics! Am I onto a winner?

[Adam Smith]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I'm new to all of this as well, but from a "buyer" and "reader" standpoint. I'd get someone (or do it yourself) to do some graphics for the header for you that is somewhat iphone related. Also you have a "sample page" tab thats not being used, so investigate the purpose of that.

Congratulations on your ranking!

I dont see the "sample page"?? Where is that?

I would focus on finding a reliable/competitive dropshipper now and also start selling iphone4 stuff just to avoid the opportunity cost of dead time

Do you think once I have ranked highly enough for iphone 5 cases, with a few more articles and another link building campaign it would be easier to rank for 'best iphone 4 cases'?

My 2 cents worth, get your customers to opt-in to a mailing list on your website. The sooner you start a list the more profitable you'll be in the future. Just make sure to keep in touch with your subscribers, and send them free wisdom (not just information) e.g specify that cover A is more suitable for purpose B, not just that cover A has 1 , 2, 3 and cover B has 2, 3, 4, or tell them about a new phone that is due for launch and give them a comparison against the current model and what type of customer will benefit from an upgrade. That way they'll stay loyal to you and when you send out a mailing with new products or specials they are more likely to buy from you. Chow chow, Kevin

Great idea. At the moment the site isnt getting much traffic, but I will be sure to put an opt-in mailing list on there - especially with Aweber offering the first month for just $1.

Which affiliate case selling company gives 15%?

Case Mate offer a 15% commission my friend

[CloptonCapital]

Originally Posted by bestiphone5cases

Thanks for the comments guys.



I dont see the "sample page"?? Where is that?



Do you think once I have ranked highly enough for iphone 5 cases, with a few more articles and another link building campaign it would be easier to rank for 'best iphone 4 cases'?



Great idea. At the moment the site isnt getting much traffic, but I will be sure to put an opt-in mailing list on there - especially with Aweber offering the first month for just $1.



Case Mate offer a 15% commission my friend

Yeah it will be easier because iphone 5 and iphone 4 are all but the same keyword. I'm not saying you would make much plugging iphone 4 cases, but its something while you wait

[Adam Smith]

Just an Update on where I am with the iphone site

Keyword: "best iphone 5 cases"
Google: Page 1, No. 2

Keyword: "iphone 5 cases"
Google: Page 1, No. 6

Expected Visitors (based of "best iphone 4 cases" and "iphone 4 cases"):

"best iphone 4 cases" - 9,900 Exact
"iphone 4 cases" - 246,000 Exact

If I maintain these positions and do not move any higher (which I cant see happening):

"best iphone 5 cases" = 30% of all searches so 2,970
"iphone 5 cases" = 5% of all searches so 12,300

Total visitors per month = 15,270

If I then convert 5% of these visitors, and the average commission per case is around $5 then the site should be making $3817.

Id appreciate it if you could tear my figures apart, as this is my first proper website I have put alot of effort into and I dont really know how to estimate visitors correctly

Ohhh I forgot to mention, total expendature on the site so far is around $100 and I expect to pay about $150 to have a theme modified to actually sell the cases when the phone is launched. I imagine Im going to spend around another $100 outsourcing a bit more SEO work taking the total expendature to around $350.

Thanks, Adam

[thebitbotdotcom]

I just launched 100 blogs about the i-phone 6 and 7...just kidding...

[Adam Smith]

A few weeks on and another update:

Cheap Iphone 5 cases - 1,900 exact searches a month - rank 1st - 46% CTR - 874 visitors
Cheap iphone 5 case - 320 exact searches a month - rank 3rd - 19% CTR - 60 visitors
iphone 5 cases - 246,000 exact searches a month - rank 4th - 17% CTR - 41,820 visitors
best iphone 5 case - 27,100 exact searches a month - rank 3rd - 19% CTR - 5,149 visitors
griffin iphone 5 cases - 3,600 exact searches a month - rank 2nd - 29% CTR - 1,044 visitors
Best iphone 5 cases - 9,900 exact searches a month - rank 2nd - 29% CTR - 2,871 visitors

Total Visitors - 51,819 per month

All of the above is based of the equivalent iphone 4 searches using Google Keyword Tool for exact searches. The CTR rate is an aprox. which was taken from a study of what percentage of pages are clicked in relation to the rank on google.

I am estimating that I will convert between 5 and 10% of these visitors as they are searching for buying keywords.

5% = 2,590 Sales
10% - 5,181 sales

The average commission from each sale is around $5

$5 x 2,590 = $12,954
$5 x 5,181 = $25,909


Considering this is my first proper attempt at SEO I am fairly excited for the launch of the iphone 5

Before I drive myself wild thinking about those profit figures, could someone please run through my numbers and pick holes in them.. if any? Do you think a conversion rate of 5-10% is achievable. Also what are your views about putting Adsense on the site aswel due to the potentially high number of visitors?

[masterjani]

Placing one or two adsense 250*250 banners works well.

[MarkThompson86]

You are off to a terrific start!! I am highly impressed!

Keep up the great work and you will see amazing results!

[Andy Hart]

iphone5?? Theres rumors the next iphone will be iphone 4S, but still traffic is traffic

[JohnsonML]

Man, that sounds like an awesome start! I just started a few days ago and thought I was making good progress until I read this!

I think the professional quality of the site alone will definitely help conversions. Just out of curiosity, do you have a prior background with WordPress or web design? I feel like so much of my time is taken up on the learning curve for these things, but maybe I'm just technologically challenged. :\

[MrWonton]

Great start! Preemptative site building is something I'm doing myself at the moment, although your niche is much easier to monetize!

Advice?

Keep working on those sites! Even though you're ranking well now, the big players may make it v.hard to hold those rankings.

Don't watch Adword's competition metric too closely, it's for PPC rather than organic.

Personally I'm always pessimistic when I make earnings predictions; this means I wo t be disappointed if the site doesn't convert as well as predicted.

Good luck!

[Adam Smith]

Hi guys, great to hear the positive feedback

Andy Hart - im sure even if the next iphone is called 4S then at some point there will be an iphone 5 - or people will just take to calling it an iphone 5

JohnsonML - I do have a little experience with wordpress - I purchased the theme, and I am having a nice header made from fiverr.com. I had to pay someone to do the programming to import all the iphone 4 cases - but included in the price is another update when the iphone 5 is launched to incorporate those products too.

MrWonton - Great advice - iv subscribed to a monthly high PR packet download so each month im adding 50+ high PR backlinks as well as anything else I can get my hands on
Out of interest what kinda preemtive sites are you working on?

Once the iphone has launched then I will go back over everything I have spent on this site and list it. So all the fiverr gigs Iv used, any warriors ive used and the totals for all.. and hopefully by then Ill be seeing some kind of ROI

[Adam Smith]

Just another quick update:

iphone 5 cases - 4th - iphone 4 equivalent gets 246,000 exact searches a month
iphone 5 case - 4th - iphone 4 equivalent gets 165,000 exact searches a month
best iphone 5 case - 5th - iphone 4 equivalent gets 27,000 exact searches a month
best iphone 5 cases - 2nd - iphone 4 equivalent gets 9,900 exact searches a month
iphone 5 skins - 5th - iphone 4 equivalent gets 8,100 exact searches a month
iphone5 cases - 4th - iphone 4 equivalent gets 8,100 exact searches a month
iphone 5 skin - 5th - iphone 4 equivalent gets 4,400 exact searches a month
cheap iphone 5 cases - 3rd - iphone 4 equivalent gets 2,400 exact searches a month
leather iphone 5 case - 2nd - iphone 4 equivalent gets 2,400 exact searches a month
unique iphone 5 cases - 3rd - iphone 4 equivalent gets 1,000 exact searches a month

and a few others which are ranking in the top 5 but the iphone 4 equivalent gets less than 1000 searches a month.

I have just finished another round of link building for "iphone 5 cases" "iphone 5 case" and "best iphone 5 case" so over the next few weeks would hope to see a slight movement north for those.

How do you pro's think i'm doing.. also if on average if I get $5 per case sold.. using the above numbers, what do you think the potential income for this site is going to be.

As mentioned before this is my first serious attempt at SEO and it looks like im on to a great thing. Iv done a couple of my own sums and come up with:

Converting 1% of visitors - £2,433 per month profit
Converting 5% of visitors - £12,164 per month profit

How far of are these figures in reality?

[Adam Smith]

today i made my first sale

1 customer bought 3 iphone 4 cases totaling over $100 and i recieved $17 in commission... makes for lovely reading coming home from a hard day at work I couldnt wait to call my gf and day to tell them whooooooooooooo

[nasuryono]

Congratulations on your first sale!

-Andrew

[Tuffy22]

Isn't SEO addicting? Great job...especially considering this is your first go-around.

[Adam Smith]

Originally Posted by Tuffy22

Isn't SEO addicting? Great job...especially considering this is your first go-around.

Its totally addicting

To think that its possible to make money doing nothing while iv been working all day is amazing.

Thanks for the congratulations.. im super excited for the iphone 5 to launch.. iv just finished reading some articles and some say July 2011, some say September 2011 and some say next year lol

[jrpt]

Good job bro. Way to plan ahead and be ready for dday.

One word of caution: The big case sites with tons of seo juice and traffic won't let you sit ahead of them once there is an actual iphone 5, believe me. So its really really importnt to get an email list started for the days where you might be #1 before they bury you.

[Adam Smith]

More sales while I slept last night.. another $10 whooooooooo