Thought I had a handle on traffic & links, but now I'm overwhelmed

3 replies
Hi warriors.

I know that you veterans probably get sick to death of newbies asking the same things over and over. And much as I hate to do it, I'm afraid I'm about to ask the same old questions.... again.

I've been pouring over info in the warrior forums and thought I had a fair handle on traffic generation and link building. But now I'm on serious info overload to the point of almost needing to shut down for a couple of days and am hoping that I can get some help to create a clearer mental picture and action plan.

I have 2 websites, 1 w/a blog, that I am desperate to build up. Both are b2b services, finance related. I'm not looking for hundreds of thousands of visitors. What I'm hoping for is around 20 conversions a month on one site and 20+ applications from the other. I'd love to have bigger numbers than that, but that starting point will provide phenomenal results for the businesses. Sites are: bettercashflownow.com (has the blog) and accuprofinancial.com. There is a special offer squeeze page for bcfn, but I'm not sure whether or not it's appropriate to use it at this point - it's a business ethics question more than a marketing one.

So here's the situation overview:

Properties: 2 websites and 1 blog, all related
Goal: prioritize traffic generation and link building

Done so far:
- thorough KW research with numerous quality KWs selected
- list creation offers in place w/1 site and the blog
- product created for offer on other site, but not in place yet
- initial articles written with tons more outlined and in the works
- blog up and going
- RSS and bookmarking going for the blog
- new article contributor to major niche website (around 14,000 in Alexa)
- profiles at video sites, but no videos yet (articles will become videos)
- Twitter profile set up

Know I need to:
- submit articles to directories
- write more articles and blog posts
- begin commenting on other blogs
- convert articles to videos and submit them
- Use Hubpages (but am clueless on how to leverage them)
- Use Squidoo (have a fairly decent idea on how to use it, but not totally clear on how to integrate it in the action plan)

Do I need to?:
- submit site(s) to directories even though I'm submitting articles?
- Use Facebook even if I'm using Twitter?
- Use link exchanges?
- Use services like Traffic Swarm?

The problem is that I'm one person running my own business, managing someone else's and trying to get these sites up, running, and producing as quickly as possible and nothing is getting the true attention that it deserves. I can not afford to outsource anything else, my extra funds are totally depleted.

I have considered an affiliate program but am not sure how to set one up as far as agreements, affiliate tracking and payment software, etc.

I'm no longer sure about what I need to do or when. Am I on the right track? Should I be doing something differently? Do I need to do things in a different order?

Sorry to sound desperate, but I'm frustrated and starting to feel like I'll wind up on the street next month if I these sites don't start getting some momentum.

Your help, advice, and wisdom will be greatly appreciated (and sorry for that bit of a whine).

Thanks much,
- Matt
#handle #links #newbie #overwhelmed #priority #thought #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author Rob Barbour
    It sounds as though you need to focus on one site due to your workload.

    Don't worry about an affiliate program (unless you're selling a Clickbank product since they'll handle it) until you've tweaked your site, are getting regular sales, and are ready to take on that aspect.

    Since you have more time than money, then you'll need to post articles, videos, and other no-cost things to boost your traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author 4morereferrals
    Lots of stuff to know and do eh bro? I feel ya.

    Been there - done that. Well 1, your site looks pretty nice. Thats good.

    Sounds like you want to be an article marketer?

    1. KW research and analysis. Does your terms get the traffic you need with very low conversion rates?

    2. Do you want to try and find jv opportunities with other players in your niche that your product or service may compliment vs. drive organic traffic - or both?

    3. Thought about PPC to get warmed up?

    4. Whats the competition like? I didnt bother to scope your keyword and title tags for targeted kw clues to what your $$$ words/phrases were, but you need to know how much effort will be required to get in the top 5 on page 1. IMHO thats all about link building. You can do it with articles - but prolly not the way you were going to go about it - based upon the comments in your post.

    5. I backed away from the article marketing route as I got leary of the directories dictating my content. I want to write my content - spin it and post it the way I want it with MY links where I want them. But then, Im looking to create backlinks, not click thru's.

    will expand more thoughts later as you reply and I have more time.
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  • Profile picture of the author pixelposse
    Thanks for the input guys.

    4morereferrals - thanks SO much just for the quick thoughts and questions. To answer:
    - I don't really want to be an article marketer but it's the one thing that I can do fairly well. I've got plenty of articles that are outlined and can be done fairly quickly.

    1/4. KW analysis - I did a lot of research. The main niches are competitive but I was able to find plenty of good quality KWs with lots of searches (1,000-40,000) and very little competition (2500 or less Google results). Very few had any video results, so I'm thinking that articles and video around those KWs will work well for me. I feel pretty confident with my KWs, but no real traffic as yet. But I haven't been able to get a lot of content out there. Just those few blog posts and a handful of articles. Just not enough hours in the day for me!

    2. I would absolutely be interested in JV offers and organic traffic. I've looked at info on JV offers and didn't feel like I had anything that would interest anyone. I've got no list, no traffic to speak of, and no real product to sell. I've got some MRR software and ebooks (which I'm planning to put on the sites as resources to help monetize them) and my own finance-related ebook but that's about it.

    3. I have thought about PPC but literally have no money left.

    4. response with #1

    5. The articles so far are just with the big niche website that has the nice Alexa ranking. They profile my site(s), but I just got the articles up this weekend so no results as yet. I would love to hear any suggestions you may have on building the backlinks - obviously I'm getting that wrong or missing it alltogether.
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