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AARRRRRGGGGHHH! Where do I go next?!

by camnjane
17 replies
Hey All,
Reaching out for some advice please as am running around in circles, have tasted a drop of success but am now dying of thirst!

2009 and I first entered the IM game without having any idea about anything! Didn't even know what Google was or what it did. Started off somehow finding and then going through the Mike Profit Lance course and then moved on and through Niche Profit Classroom, Google Sniper, Gary Gregory's MOBS system and most recently Rapid Profit Formula. In between them I also bought and went through programs like Google Snatch, Commission BluePrint, Niche BluePrint, CB Pirates, The Clickbank Code, stuff by Ewen Chia, and probably a few others I have forgotten.

I have settled my sites format now on a combination of what I have learned through NPC, MOBS and Rapid Profit Formula. I mainly focus on affiliate offers through ClickBank but have recently had a crack at Amazon products and dare I say it, Adsense sites! Can't add the links in here but please check my sig for a sample of a few of my sites...

In 2009 I made one affiliate sale for Turbulence Training and I think about $1.29 in Adsense!
In 2010 I made just over $500 and year to date for 2011, I have made $1200.

It would seem that I at least have steady progress and am on the right track but things have gone pear shaped. I had about $1000 of that $1200 by March and things have slowed to nothing now. Panda looks like it has all but wiped me out even though I believe and feel that my sites are well set up, well written and contain unique content without being overly advertorial.

I used to have quite a lot of page one rankings and even some page 1, rank 1 rankings for quite a few of my sites and some of my best performing sites were averaging around 200 unique visitors a day.

I thought I had finally made it and looked forward to a bit more tweaking and then rinse and repeat my work but alas, all my highest ranking and best sales sites have been decimated receiving a mere trickle of traffic compared to what they used to.

I just don't know what to do... my only thought is that I just don't have enough of the good old backlinks but I just have never seemed to find a way, method, software or routine that looks and feels right. Things are either too spammy, not valuable, not effective, black hat, too time consuming etc, etc. And that is just thinking about one site. To build our online empire, we need stacks of sites all making that steady, passive income. How on earth do I make effective and useful backlinks to 10, 20, 30 and even more sites?! I have looked at Social Monkee, ActuallyRank and various thread on the WF such as the current Backlink Bulldog but something keeps telling me they wont properly work and actually have the potential to cause more harm to my sites.

Again, I just don't know what to do as every time I check my sales or work on my websites, I start to feel angry and frustrated and question whether I really know what I am doing.

Sorry for the long rant but I am desperate and just don't know what to focus my energy on. Any advice out there please?

Thank-you,
Cameron
#aarrrrrgggghhh
  • Profile picture of the author Eleanor
    Hey Cameron,

    I totally understand where you're coming from. It can be really frustrating when you're just starting out and you slowly start to make progress, only for it to all slow down again. Unfortunatey, this can happen until you've completely mastered your techniques.

    Google's panda updates affecting your sites is a bit of a concern. Looking at your sites, they appear to be of high quailty and offer something of value so it must be something else that's causing your rankings to drop.

    You may have hit the nail on the head with link building. It's so easy to want a push button solution for backlinks but the fact of the matter is, it takes time to build up a decent link profile.

    You should focus your efforts/investments on high PR backlinks that ideally come from in-content articles across the web. You may also want to consider social backlinks i.e. twitter and facebook.

    Don't give up!
    It can be frustrating when things start to slip but if you keep working on your backlinks and focusing on expanding your sites with more high quality content rather than buildling more small sites, you should get back on track.

    You might also want to look at "theming" your websites so that you can benefit from long tail traffic as well as your main keywords.

    Hope that helps

    Thanks
    Eleanor
    Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Hi Cameron,

    Mike Profit Lance course, Niche Profit Classroom, Google Sniper, MOBS system, Rapid Profit Formula, Google Snatch, Commission BluePrint, Niche BluePrint, CB Pirates, The Clickbank Code, Social Monkee, ActuallyRank, Backlink Bulldog and stuff by Ewen Chia? :confused:

    I haven't used any of it, myself, so I don't know; but would I be right in suspecting that all these products/services are about business models which depend almost exclusively on Google for their traffic?

    If so, surely that's the problem, here?

    Originally Posted by camnjane View Post

    Panda looks like it has all but wiped me out even though I believe and feel that my sites are well set up, well written and contain unique content without being overly advertorial.
    I'm really sorry to hear it.

    As Bill Platt ("tpw") so eloquently put it, the other day, if your business model is dependent on Google for all its traffic, then you're only one algorithm-change away from a disaster.

    I'm afraid I can be only of very limited help to you, but for what it's worth I urge you, in your recovery/re-institution process, not to use another business model which is exclusively dependent on Google for its traffic. Otherwise, whatever guidebooks you use, the same thing can happen again, next time around, surely?

    Clearly you know how to make websites, because the ones in your sig-file don't look bad at all (I admit I'm wondering why you're advertising "Niche Profit Classroom" on sites aimed at parenting and fat-burners, which I think might not be optimal targeting(!), but that's a smaller point), so obviously you've acquired some potentially useful skills along the way, as long as a little bit of money?

    I'd suggest to you that, from here, it's perhaps about applying the good stuff you've learned, and clearly identifying the reason for the disaster (whether I got it right or not, with my guess, doesn't matter!) and avoiding it in future. And good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Dash Evra
    Hey,

    Sorry to hear about your turn of events. But, don't let it discourage you. You went from not knowing what Google is to building some profitable websites in less than 2 years. That's amazing! A good chunk of people here couldn't achieve that. Clearly you got what it takes to succeed.

    Take your misfortune as a lesson. As Alexa Smith pointed out in details above, never put your eggs in one basket. SEO is great and all but since it relies on search engine formulas that we have no control over, it's not the safest idea.

    If I were you, I would go back to the drawing board and learn a few more types of traffic generating systems (article marketing, video marketing, paid advertising, guest blogging etc...). This way, if one fails, I will have other sources that bring traffic to my site.
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    • Profile picture of the author camnjane
      Originally Posted by Dash Evra View Post

      Hey,

      You went from not knowing what Google is to building some profitable websites in less than 2 years. That's amazing! A good chunk of people here couldn't achieve that. Clearly you got what it takes to succeed.
      Thanks for that Evra - appreciate it! And I am proud of what I have done so far but for me (just like everyone) I just crave wanting to make enough $$$ out of this venture to give my wife and boys the kind of life they deserve and oh yeah... quit that day job! :-)

      There seems to be a pattern to my advice and that is to keep adding fresh content on the sites I already have, build more natural looking backlinks and drive alternate methods of traffic. Thanks to all so far for your help!
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    • Profile picture of the author KayMaxim
      Originally Posted by Dash Evra View Post

      Hey,

      Sorry to hear about your turn of events. But, don't let it discourage you. You went from not knowing what Google is to building some profitable websites in less than 2 years. That's amazing! A good chunk of people here couldn't achieve that. Clearly you got what it takes to succeed.

      Take your misfortune as a lesson. As Alexa Smith pointed out in details above, never put your eggs in one basket. SEO is great and all but since it relies on search engine formulas that we have no control over, it's not the safest idea.

      If I were you, I would go back to the drawing board and learn a few more types of traffic generating systems (article marketing, video marketing, paid advertising, guest blogging etc...). This way, if one fails, I will have other sources that bring traffic to my site.
      Thanks for your comments. I feel like they could be aimed at me too. I haven't even been in it half a year and have spent this time just learning and struggling to put it all together. Now I am on the brink of my first working system and I guess I do need to take the time to celebrate how far I have come. :p
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  • Profile picture of the author bizzie73
    Looks like your problem is SEO and backlinking. Focus on improving those.
    Signature
    Easy Monetization with Video!
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  • Profile picture of the author Nathan2525
    Originally Posted by camnjane View Post

    Hey All,
    Reaching out for some advice please as am running around in circles, have tasted a drop of success but am now dying of thirst!

    2009 and I first entered the IM game without having any idea about anything! Didn't even know what Google was or what it did. Started off somehow finding and then going through the Mike Profit Lance course and then moved on and through Niche Profit Classroom, Google Sniper, Gary Gregory's MOBS system and most recently Rapid Profit Formula. In between them I also bought and went through programs like Google Snatch, Commission BluePrint, Niche BluePrint, CB Pirates, The Clickbank Code, stuff by Ewen Chia, and probably a few others I have forgotten.

    I have settled my sites format now on a combination of what I have learned through NPC, MOBS and Rapid Profit Formula. I mainly focus on affiliate offers through ClickBank but have recently had a crack at Amazon products and dare I say it, Adsense sites! Can't add the links in here but please check my sig for a sample of a few of my sites...

    In 2009 I made one affiliate sale for Turbulence Training and I think about $1.29 in Adsense!
    In 2010 I made just over $500 and year to date for 2011, I have made $1200.

    It would seem that I at least have steady progress and am on the right track but things have gone pear shaped. I had about $1000 of that $1200 by March and things have slowed to nothing now. Panda looks like it has all but wiped me out even though I believe and feel that my sites are well set up, well written and contain unique content without being overly advertorial.

    I used to have quite a lot of page one rankings and even some page 1, rank 1 rankings for quite a few of my sites and some of my best performing sites were averaging around 200 unique visitors a day.

    I thought I had finally made it and looked forward to a bit more tweaking and then rinse and repeat my work but alas, all my highest ranking and best sales sites have been decimated receiving a mere trickle of traffic compared to what they used to.

    I just don't know what to do... my only thought is that I just don't have enough of the good old backlinks but I just have never seemed to find a way, method, software or routine that looks and feels right. Things are either too spammy, not valuable, not effective, black hat, too time consuming etc, etc. And that is just thinking about one site. To build our online empire, we need stacks of sites all making that steady, passive income. How on earth do I make effective and useful backlinks to 10, 20, 30 and even more sites?! I have looked at Social Monkee, ActuallyRank and various thread on the WF such as the current Backlink Bulldog but something keeps telling me they wont properly work and actually have the potential to cause more harm to my sites.

    Again, I just don't know what to do as every time I check my sales or work on my websites, I start to feel angry and frustrated and question whether I really know what I am doing.

    Sorry for the long rant but I am desperate and just don't know what to focus my energy on. Any advice out there please?

    Thank-you,
    Cameron
    Hey Cameron,

    I feel your pain. I was in a similar position.
    I ended up investing in 1-1 coaching and got the answers
    I needed.

    It sounds to me like you are spreading yourself way to thin.

    It's a myth that you need hundreds of websites to make a good living
    online. You can make a 6-figure income from ONE website if you
    set it up right.

    Do yourself a favor and find a successful marketer to come in to your
    business and chop out whats not working and show you how to optimize
    what is working.

    Stop buying $100 courses. It looks like you have a lot of knowledge already. It's just time for you to leverage up.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jon Patrick
      Hi Cameron,

      Have you ever considered getting into the product creation side of things? I don't mean "make money online" products, as I firmly believe that you should be quite successful before attempting to teach others to do that. But there are plenty of niches in which you can put together a solid information product by doing some research and writing about what you learn. As a product creator, you can piggyback on the traffic of numerous sites instead of worrying about your own site's Google rankings.

      And when it comes to generating your own traffic, you have a lot more options at your disposal than just Google. Getting some love from Google is nice, but you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket, especially that one. Boatloads of sites are wiped out by every single algorithm change.

      Jon
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  • Profile picture of the author kursat
    I think we need to all sometime in our IM career change focus from Google to other traffic sources.

    I think it is wonderful to have a website on the first page of Google, but can you trust Google? Who knows when they will change something or another about ranking.

    In year 2010, I made a decision that I would look for alternative traffic sources. So far, I enjoy this model and have more success with it.

    Some traffic sources I now use

    Online giveaways
    Forum posting
    Social Networking
    and offline marketing (including local newspaper advertising)

    I still continue to get backlinks from places like ezine articles etc, but nothing major.

    For me, IM is all about building a list of potential customers and delivering them high value content through my newsletters.
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    • Profile picture of the author LeighAnnK
      Originally Posted by kursat View Post

      I think we need to all sometime in our IM career change focus from Google to other traffic sources.

      I think it is wonderful to have a website on the first page of Google, but can you trust Google? Who knows when they will change something or another about ranking.

      In year 2010, I made a decision that I would look for alternative traffic sources. So far, I enjoy this model and have more success with it.

      Some traffic sources I now use

      Online giveaways
      Forum posting
      Social Networking
      and offline marketing (including local newspaper advertising)

      I still continue to get backlinks from places like ezine articles etc, but nothing major.

      For me, IM is all about building a list of potential customers and delivering them high value content through my newsletters.
      Newspaper classified in particular is a very affordable way to get the word out. My clients tell me that they get a better quality of lead from their offline newspaper ads than they do from their online attempts at advertising.
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  • Profile picture of the author TopKat22
    Join the War Room (so worth it for so many things) and read the sticky where you can get backlinks for free to War Room members. You just follow the instructions.

    It works great and when I did it, they guarantee page 1 of google for 5 keywords.

    Once you do this, the currently have another offer for a little money to keep getting white hat, article backlinks for a low fee.

    Even if you never do the paid service, at least do the free one once you are a War Room member.

    :-)
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    44 days in and we broke the $10K a month recurring bench mark.

    Guaranteed 60% Opt In Rate Traffic-Real People-Fresh Today-High Quality Biz Opp traffic![/URL]
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  • Profile picture of the author busybusinessman
    I've been fiddling around for well over 20 odd years trying to make money offline and online and eventually it boils down to getting an expert on board to teach you what to do. It isn't cheap but it works.
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  • Profile picture of the author vivi62
    Yes I would agree with TopKat22,the best investment you could make is to join the war room this is where you find the experts also I recently had some success by outsourcing traffic creation to fiverr especially the software side.For example using senuke x.Are you using jvnotify or just taking products from clickbank?
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  • Profile picture of the author honestkr
    Our suggestion...

    1. make a real target
    2. focus
    3. focus

    ... too many attractive deals in the internet marketing...
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  • Profile picture of the author barbling
    Been there/done that/ate the t-shirt too!

    I was flyin' high as well during my Rich Hermit days when Google decided to kill all me sites.

    Agony, that was. But hey, these things happen.

    What's really funny for me is I've come to realize I have one main passion online (well, two, actually):

    1.) Teaching
    2.) Making money

    And in everything I've tried (and I've tried it all!) I've realized that I need to be *the* expert and *the* authority to really make it big.

    Well, I've lost 50+ pounds over the years, so I created

    Fab Fit Mom - Author of the Smart and Safe Internet Weight Loss Edge. I lost 45+ pounds, you can too!

    But because my product wasn't a "lose 85 pounds by sneezing it off"....it just didn't sell.

    Got traffic and everything, but to no avail.

    Then earlier this year, I started

    Success Tactics of the Mama Bear Mother by Barbara Ling

    And what's *really* funny is if there's one thing I do better than teaching online, it's parenting. But again, I have to really throw myself into networking with other parenting experts and, well....I found I'm *still* making more money in the Internet marketing arena.

    So I'm now focusing there.

    With that said, I would tell you to find your passion that you can:

    Network with others
    Talk about for hours on end
    Monetize

    and go from there.

    Become *the* go-to expert in that niche.

    And go from there.

    That's been my experiences at least.....
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Faber
    1) Focus - a huge problem for many marketers (myself included, on occasion)
    2) Test/refine/test/refine - a few % points improvement each time can add up to massive improvement in the end, and keep you from wasting time on money/time losers
    3) Non Search Engine traffic sources - essential to keep you from getting crushed by the latest algo update
    A) Article syndication on authority sites
    B) Forum marketing
    C) Viral marketing campaigns
    1. video sharing sites (Youtube, etc.)
    2. pdf/document sharing sites
    4) List Building - marketing

    One more thing, and the importance of this can not be overstated - Build good, business relationships. These will easily be worth far more to you both monetarily, and from the friends you'll end up with than any other investment you'll make.
    Signature
    For Killer Marketing Tips that Will Grow Your Business Follow Me on Twitter Now
    After all, you're probably following a few hundred people already that aren't doing squat for you.....
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    • Profile picture of the author Nak
      Hello,
      Go through all courses again. Fix the strategy you are going to follow for next 6 months
      allot budget for that project. Focus & follow that method with full devotion...do not lose your faith...you will get success if you follow one method..religiously..after getting good success diversify..& expand
      best luck!
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      Keyword Research: Crucial Steps You May NOT know!
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