Joe Stewart

Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control. There's nothing you can do but try to get back on track. I'm kind of in the same boat. I'm trying to balance time between my offline business, which is becoming busier because winter's over, and getting this in motion.

I completely forgot to create the two portfolios of 10 articles each at EzineArticles.com. I'm also waiting for my helper to get me the rest of the contact information for the lists of sites I sent her. She's usually really good about keeping in touch, but she's been AWOL for the past couple days. I hope everything's okay.

Anyway, I'll get those portfolios set up, get the actual message I plan to send written (I forgot to write that too) and the contact information I have already and get ready to start. I'll still have to wait for EzineArticles.com to approve all of the articles, though. I can't believe I forgot that! Oh well. I'll just send the first emails without them. That'll give me a reason to follow-up with anyone that doesn't reply or says they're not interested.

Stay focused, Alast. Stuff happens. Don't let it get you down. Remember how Brittany's first couple months went? Between having problems of her own and procrastination, it took her time to get things going too. Actually, she got so off track that when she finally did get herself in gear she started a brand new thread.

Anyway, back to work I go.

Joe

My New "Share All" Blog Is Coming Soon! Online & Offline Marketing, More!

http://www.UnCENTSored.com

Alast

Thanks for the advice Joe!

DAY 16

I sent 17 more emails today. I am moving into more.. broad and popular niches which relate to my niche. I really think this could generate me quite targeted traffic if published.

In addition, I am still getting traffic without doing anything, so it's clear that syndicating articles does work, and is working right now for me.

Herberto

How many subscribers are you at now Alast? Still wanting to give this a go if I ever find the time (day job is quite demanding), but can't nail down a niche. Keep changing my mind. Did you go with something you personally have a lot of experience in already?

Alast

I currently only have 12 subscribers. I didn't actually know much about my niche at all; now I do!

I would definitely pick something you know if possible - not a necessity though.

Alast

DAY 17

I have sent 20 more emails out today. Unfortunately my traffic is beginning to drop and I'm not getting many responses any more. Let's hope I get more responses as I begin to send more emails.

In total, I have send approximately 260 emails, with over 50 responses. I have had 323 unique visits to my website, and 12 subscribers total.

No subs today.

Let's hope for more results.

Alast

DAY 18

GetResponse is back down again, which resulted in nothing getting done today.

Alast

DAY 19

Refer to day 18.

Although another one of my articles was published on a website - too bad the traffic is useless.

Alast

DAY 20

GetResponse has finally returned. I will be forced to look elsewhere if problems persist. I can't afford to waste more time, and I don't want to give anyone the impression that I'm using it as a source of procrastination.

On the plus side, I will have another article published on the website which has generated me the most traffic/results on Thursday, as well as another website wants a series of my articles to use for their website. I have sent them a response and will patiently wait for another response! I definitely look forward to the results it brings, and hopefully get some more subscribers out of it; providing GetResponse doesn't crash on me during the publication. That being said, I think(?) two websites denied my articles. I am beginning to see quite a few more responses from websites I contacted days/weeks ago, which is definitely promising. Goes to show that patience is the key.

In addition, I sent only 4 more emails for today. I would hope more can be sent tomorrow providing everything goes to plan.

Alast

DAY 21

Admittedly I didn't achieve much today. I had other things I needed to focus on, and will probably be similar tomorrow. However, I'll try and achieve at least something tomorrow.

Alast

DAY 21

I had an okay day today; 12 emails sent and was surprised to see someone clicked my affiliate link! Unfortunately no purchase, though.

My article will be published at midnight tonight (two hours time). Hopefully it brings in more subscribers.

Alast

DAY 22

I feel as though I accomplished something today. I received an email from a visitor thanking me for my articles, and how "fantastically accurate" they were. I felt a genuine sense of accomplishment, and feel good with the direction of my website.

I managed to send 17 more emails today. I found more keywords and topics that are indirectly related to my niche, so I essentially have a whole new world of websites to send articles to. Additionally, my article was published (resulting in that email) and have given me 10~ visitors. I expect that figure to increase once it's posted on the Facebook page.

Furthermore, I got a click on my affiliate product, but no sale. I still only have 12 subscribers.

Total Emails Sent: 300
Total Responses: 50

Total Unique Visitors: 350
Total Visitors: 575

Average Session Duration: 2:57 minutes

Could be better, but it could also be worse.

Alast

DAY 23

I have been away all day today and therefore haven't achieved anything. I'm not sure how much I'll get completed tomorrow; depends on when I get home, essentially.

My article was published, and has given me 20-30 visitors, but no opt-ins, unfortunately.

Alast

DAY 24

I didn't get anything done today. Partly a result of procrastination, and partly because I was driving/away for a large sum of the day; in addition to school work.

I didn't get any emails whatsoever over the weekend - maybe because of mother's day? I hope that's the reason.

Alast

DAY 25

Unfortunately Telstra is down in my area, so I have been limited to what I can do. However, I managed to send 47 emails to those who didn't get back to me. So far one has gotten back to me rejecting my article, and another website rejected my article as a result of it not being unique.

I did get another subscriber, which brings my subscribers to a total of a whopping 13.

Joe Stewart

I can appreciate your frustration. I've been really busy with my offline business, as well as trying to get this stuff set-up. I finally got an email address set up, got an email that introduces me, shows my articles and links, shares my past credentials, etc. I made sections of it interchangeable so my helper can modify it accordingly.

I've decided to let her handle most of this. She's very smart, writes good English, does excellent research and follows instructions perfectly. All I have to do is edit her writing to put it into my voice, change a bit here, add a bit there, etc. No problem.

I just started submitting articles to EzineArticles.com earlier and after doing 2 I had this weird feeling that told me I should make sure all of my pages and posts were indexed first. It seemed silly, as I've had content on this site for a few months now, submitted the sitemap to Google in Webmaster Tools, etc, but I thought I should check just to be certain.

Sure enough, many pages and posts were missing! I had a big error message at Webmaster Tools and also in the Google XML Sitemaps plugin area of my blog. I have no idea why that's happening. I'm so frustrated I feel like blowing my stack, but that wouldn't accomplish anything.

I deactivated that sitemap plugin and replaced it with another one. I hope that does the trick. I'll just have to wait 1-2 days to see if the site gets indexed (again). I went through and manually "fetched" every piece of content so everything would be indexed. Hopefully it won't take long.

In the meantime I suppose I should check my other site I plan to use as well, eh? I'm pretty sure it's using the same plugin. If that one's messed up too I'll know it's the plugin. If not, I'm lost. I have no idea what to do next. Heavy sigh...

After that I'm passing everything over to my helper and testing some paid advertising. I miss the simplicity of that.

I'll post again when everything's finally ready to go.

Stay focused, Alast. This shouldn't be this difficult. It'll be well worth the hassle when it's finally up and running smoothly.

Joe

My New "Share All" Blog Is Coming Soon! Online & Offline Marketing, More!

http://www.UnCENTSored.com

Joe Stewart

Quick update. The sites appear to be indexed now and I've begun submitting articles to EzineArticles.com. I've instructed my helper to finish this before doing anything else.

My New "Share All" Blog Is Coming Soon! Online & Offline Marketing, More!

http://www.UnCENTSored.com

Alast

Thanks for your words of encouragement, Joe. I've had a few miserable days lately which are unfortunately out of my control. I certainly hope these issues don't persist!

I'd just like to give a bit of an update to my progress today before I conclude it. I am very happy to have contacted older websites which never got back to me. I received roughly 5 responses, and one was willing to publish my article. In addition, today, I have emailed all those who were willing to publish my articles but never got around to it, and one published my article within hour(s) of sending the email. I also appreciate the fact I can eliminate websites from my 5-paged list who are unwilling to syndicate my articles (I don't remove them for future purposes). I feel as though resending these emails has been a huge benefit for me; even if they're rejected. Not only does it allow people to respond to me, but I think it gives them the incentive that I'm a real person, not someone spamming them.

Nonetheless, I plan on continuing my night by sending out more emails to those who never responded to me.

Might I add that I have come across 5-10 websites that were either completely inactive, or not related to my niche. It's clear I have grown to know my niche more given some of the websites I sent my articles to.

Alast

DAY 26

I resent 25-30 emails today. Most other information about what was accomplished today can be found on the previous post.

Alast

DAY 27
I woke up this morning to 10~ responses, with 2 (I think) accepting to publish my article. I say "I think" because there were numerous wanting more details, or who are undecided, so it's hard to keep track of specific details. In addition, my internet is back! Finally things going positive for me!

Today I sent roughly 50-70 more emails to previous websites who never got back to me, and have already had one publish my article. This is definitely something I should have considered earlier, although I could get used to the idea of waking up to many emails daily .. for now.

I haven't had anymore subscribers, and should really consider starting a new article now.

I have now had a total of 392 unique visitors come to my website; +42 as of day 22.

Joe Stewart

Thanks for the update!

I have my helper submitting the last of 20 articles to EzineArticles.com for portfolio's (10 per niche) tomorrow. I still have to put an optin form on one blog, which I forgot to do, but I already have follow-up messages in place, so that's not a big deal.

I think that I'm finally ready to go! One thing I've learned from this is the importance of getting myself organized. If I'd made out a "to-do" list from the beginning I could have gotten this going a lot faster and avoided a lot of frustration. Lesson learned.

Tomorrow is Friday for her, but I think I'll have her start sending emails anyway. I've had to wait long enough. Time to get this thing going!

My New "Share All" Blog Is Coming Soon! Online & Offline Marketing, More!

http://www.UnCENTSored.com

Alast

DAY 28

I sent 10 new emails today. In addition, I resent 20-30 emails asking as I was doing earlier. I believe I am at the point that I no longer need to resend emails. I am still getting responses; some accepting, some declining, some undecided. Nothing significant has happened though.

Alast

DAY 29

I didn't get a huge amount accomplished today. I sent 6 new websites emails, and just responded to past emails; building a relationship with some website owners.

Alast

DAY 30 AND 31

I didn't do anything on day 30, admittedly. No real excuses, just occupied myself doing other things unrelated to sending emails. I have received 3 more emails rejected my article, and nothing more.

Today, on the other hand, I sent 8 emails and received one response accepting my article. I believe I have had roughly 25 accept my article, and maybe 10 actually publish.

Over 330 emails sent in total.

Alast

DAY 32

I managed to get a solid amount completed today. I spoke with Alexa, and she gave me some pointers - such as modifying my website to increase the amount of opt-ins mainly. After spending an hour~ making changes, I am now happy with how the website looks, although only time will tell.

I did manage to send out 12 more emails to new websites. I also sent one to a previous website who was willing to publish my article(s), but hadn't gotten back to me in nearly two weeks.

I think tomorrow I might begin re-emailing those who haven't gotten back to me. I have noticed that a few are responding to me, telling me that they had never received my email. I'm not sure if it was due to typing my email in wrong, or if it was when Hostgator was down, consequently meaning my emails didn't send.

Alast

DAY 33

I have made more, slight modifications to my website's opt-in form. I am trying to remove a gradient on the submit button, but for some reason my theme won't let me. I'll figure it out eventually!

I sent another 12 emails today. The emails I got back today were either not interested or asked me to wait; so I will.

Joe Stewart

Hi Alast,

Just a quick post to let you know that I'm still here and getting things set up. Like you, I've had several challenges along the way and I don't want to keep posting negative stuff. That is, unless it's information that others might benefit from.

It appears that unless something else pops up out of the blue that I completely forgot (again), I'm finally ready to go. I can definitely see the importance of having a checklist of steps to take. If I'd done that I would have saved myself a lot of headaches.

I was waiting for an answer from EZA support that I thought would take longer than it did, so I put my helper to work on something else. As it turned out, they got right back to me with an answer. Oh well. What I gave her shouldn't take more than a day or two. She's a day ahead of me, so with what I gave her to do I doubt that she'll get any emails sent this week.

Emails should start going out no later than Monday. I'm also having her go through Google UK, Australia and Canada in order to expand my list of contacts as much as possible. However, one of my offers is limited to certain countries, so that will only apply to one niche.

I think I mentioned before that I'm letting my helper handle most of this. I'm just editing articles and supervising everything. That will free up my time for other things. Besides having an offline business, I'm also getting back into paid advertising, so my time is limited.

Anyway, please keep posting. I hope that you (and I) start getting some conversions soon.

Joe

My New "Share All" Blog Is Coming Soon! Online & Offline Marketing, More!

http://www.UnCENTSored.com

buscommando

Alast, how many articles have you written so far? Can we see your site?

Alast

I have written 5 articles right now. I have been relatively slack in that department, but am more focusing on sending emails to new websites to build a solid syndicating list opposed to sending my syndicating partners new content (they are still getting articles - don't get me wrong).

I will not disclose my niche, sorry.

Alast

DAY 34

Got a bit done today. I sent 23 emails to previous websites, as well as 20 emails to new websites. In total, 43 emails were sent. I'm thinking I should get around to my 6th article - maybe on the weekend if I can find the time. In addition, I have noticed I get a lack of responses if I send emails out on the weekend, so I may have to only send emails out on weekdays; maybe I will see more responses if that happens.

We'll see!

Joe Stewart

The first 10 emails are sent! Finally! We have some progress. Well, there's been a LOT of progress in getting everything set up, but now is where we'll hopefully begin to see some rewards.

My New "Share All" Blog Is Coming Soon! Online & Offline Marketing, More!

http://www.UnCENTSored.com

Alast

DAY 35
I only got around to sending out 6 more emails today. I have received 5~ responses, all but one declining my request; one also asked me a question - no conclusive state yet. The one which approved of my request has over 1 million likes on Facebook, so maybe I could see some traffic come in? I guess time will tell.

Alast

DAY 36

I sent two emails today. I decided to contact Hostgator's support as I suspected there was something wrong with my email forwarding. Turns out a lot of my sent emails are simply in 'queue', which would explain why from the last 100 emails sent, there have been a staggering 4 responses - and has most likely been an issue for most of my emails. </sarcasm>

I guess this is another hurdle I have to solve before I can send more emails without wasting my time.

Alast

DAY 37

I have done nothing today for my business. Not only am I waiting for a response from my Hostgator ticket, but I decided to take the day off from sending out emails, and focus on an assignment for school. On the plus side, I received one email saying that they had published my article, and another saying it had to be unique. Unfortunately the one asking for unique content had over 300k Facebook users, whereas the one which published my article had a total of 50.

Joe Stewart

A word of wisdom. If someone has over 300k Facebook users in your niche and says that they'll publish your article if it's unique, do it! I'd reply to that person right away, tell them that you have no problem with writing a unique article for them and ask if there are any specific topics they'd like you to write about.

That's a great opportunity! If you can build a relationship with this individual, for a few hours work or less each month you could have a steady stream of visitors to your site.

My New "Share All" Blog Is Coming Soon! Online & Offline Marketing, More!

http://www.UnCENTSored.com

Joe Stewart

Something else I just thought of, John McCabe said something along the lines of it not mattering how much traffic a site is getting right now. You never know how much traffic that site may generate in the future. Right?

Many small successes add up over time.

Looking back, if I remember correctly, one or more of Brittany's bigger successes came after she sent a postal mail inquiry to a site owner and they decided to publish her.

In other words, we're still only in the beginning phase. There's a long way to go and a lot more successes to celebrate. These bumps in the road are only temporary. They'll be a lot less noticeable once we're making money, right?

My New "Share All" Blog Is Coming Soon! Online & Offline Marketing, More!

http://www.UnCENTSored.com

Alast

It's not directly in my niche, but is relevant to my niche. In addition, this is not the first website which has turned down my offer with this amount of likes; some even have over 1 million - just want unique content. I will definitely take it into consideration though. I have them marked that they are only accepting unique content if I become desperate.

Alast

DAY 38

I have sent a total of 44 emails today; 26 from websites I have not previously contacted, and 18 as a second email who did not get back to me.

I have received a response from the ticket from Hostgator, saying that my forwarding is working fine. I have proceeded to notify them that some emails were 'queued', which I hope they will take further action. I hope there's a rational explanation as to why I'm lacking many responses.

Lucian Lada

Alast,

You can forward all your emails to GMail and reply to them as if you were replying from the address they were addressed to.

I say this because there's an interesting plugin for GMail called Yesware that lets you see who opened your emails and even clicked on your links, which might get you a better idea whether your emails are being sent or not.

You can find Yeswere here: Yesware | Email for Salespeople. Track Emails. Email Templates. Sync to CRM

It's free for the first month, and then you get 100 emails to track for free, each month.

Professional autoresponder email writer.
I also write premium quality articles, e-books, etc.

Alast

Hmm.. sounds interesting. I'll see what Hostgator says about my issue, and see if they are able to find any solutions or issues to begin with as to why I'm getting a poor response rate.

Are you familiar with this plugin? I use Hotmail to send my emails, with my name@domain.com account being included as the forwarder. I have no experience with Gmail and unsure if it's worth beginning to use it as I have already become accustomed to Hotmail.

Thanks for the tip.

Lucian Lada

Yes, I've been using it for a few days, now. It shows who opened your emails in real-time.

I do the same, but with Gmail.

If by Hotmail you mean Live.com, then yes, it's a nice-looking email client. I like it, but my main email address is with Gmail, and that's why I'm accustomed to it.

The advantage of Gmail is that it sends the emails using their servers, not HostGator's.

Professional autoresponder email writer.
I also write premium quality articles, e-books, etc.

Alast

That sounds very appealing. I am looking into it right now.

I am wondering though, how can I get all emails sent from my gmail account using my name@domain.com account to forward back to my gmail account? If that makes sense. This stuff really confuses me. :confused:

Lucian Lada

You log-in into your HG CPanel -> Mail -> Forwarders -> Add new and enter the details. Now all the emails you receive on your @yourdomail.com email address will be forwarded to your Gmail account.

Once you do this, you log-in into a Gmail account -> Settings -> Accounts and Imports -> next to "Send email as..." search for "Add another email address you own" and follow the steps. You will have to confirm this by clicking a link in an email Gmail sends you to confirm this.

Also, make sure to select, below "Add another email address you own":
Now, by default, you'll reply from the same address the email was sent to.

Professional autoresponder email writer.
I also write premium quality articles, e-books, etc.

Alast

Hmm.. the issue I am facing right now is how my sent messages are being received as "on behalf of <gmail account>". I researched into this, and the solution is this:

How Can I Remove "On Behalf of" in Gmail? - About Email

Lucian Lada

I wasn't even aware of that, thanks.

Professional autoresponder email writer.
I also write premium quality articles, e-books, etc.

Alast

I'm glad I got a friend to test it (I guess I could have done it myself). I suppose I will have to stick with Hotmail and hope that there is a solution to my problem - if a problem existed in the first place.

Thanks for the contribution.

Alast

DAY 39

Hostgator got back to me. Apparently none of my emails are in queue, for some reason, despite there being clear evidence saying otherwise. I have sent them another message to see what they say. It is even more evident that from the 26 new websites I emailed, only one has responded to me over 24 hours. This is not typical at all.

On the plus side, I now have 45 days worth of emails in my sequence opposed to 35. I still want to get around 80-100 just so I don't have to worry about it or fall behind.

Martin Pupke

Hi Alast,

You got a good work ethic going, just wondering if you made any sales yet?

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool" - Richard Feynman

Alast

Hi Martin,

I have not. Bad luck and other contributing factors, unfortunately.

Joe Stewart

Quick update. Emails are being sent and I've received a few replies. Most people saying that they won't publish syndicated content, but that's okay. I expected that. I'm just happy that the work is getting done, finally!

I wrote a unique email that has interchangeable parts so my helper can actually take the time to read some of the site content and fill in those areas appropriately so it makes sense, is cordial, etc. She's doing a very good job with this, but it's going slower than I'd like. I'm thinking about giving her a raise so she'll get at least a minimum amount sent per week, but I'm hesitant to do that because I'm afraid she'll get burned out.

There are several other places where content can be syndicated. I may have her mix things up a bit as the other places don't require such time consuming relationship building steps. Something to ponder. I really want things to happen faster! :-)

My New "Share All" Blog Is Coming Soon! Online & Offline Marketing, More!

http://www.UnCENTSored.com

Alast

DAY 40

I have suddenly received many responses. I think three have agreed to publish my article, or have already done so.

I only sent out two emails today. I forgot to mention this the other day (I think), but I got a new subscriber, and another hop on my link (yay!).

That being said, I emailed one person in particular (my first affiliate vendor) and am possibly going to be writing to a crowd of million(s) in my strongly targeted niche. The fear I face is that all the audience will have already seen the products. I still won't deny the offer! I emailed her today and she is interested in my offer.

In addition, I have contacted my second product vendor, just for updates and a general chat. I also sent an email to my (main) syndication partner to let him know that I was still going to publish articles on his website in the next week or two.

I guess things are turning positive finally?

Traffic Update: