Anyone willing to offer a little help to an idiot?

19 replies
Hi guys/girls

Unfortunately I'm in much the same position as many others and by that I mean.......no job. Anyway that's another story.

A few years ago I was selling on Ebay and with a lot of work I was able to generate about $4000 a month and yes, it's not too bad but I just hated doing it. I found it was never a challenge and as such, extremely boring. So now you know what I'm doing here today.

A few months ago I started searching for some way of earning money online and I came across GAF. Yes you guessed it, I started writing a few articles but the pay was so low, I'm not even mentioning it on here....lol. Anyway, I was lucky enough to be spotted by a guy who runs a site that provides writing services. Clients sign-up and can then place order for articles which us writers then complete. Sure, the money I make from writing on that site is better than nothing at all but it's barely enough to get by on, and that's when I'm at it flat out.
Now I have a dream to have my own such site but I am strapped for cash so I certainly can't afford to have a website built. I have however go ahead and started building two of my own. The one is with Godaddy (paid hosting) and the other is with Webnode (free hosting)
I bought two domain names and have assigned one to each site.

My problem now is, can anyone advise how I should go about getting some traffic. In fact, I'd be really grateful for any advice at all.

Oh, and please don't knock me down too much if you look at the site because I'm quite proud of it, considering I've never ever tried anything like this before. Like I've said, I have zero experience aprt from what I'm doing now and I'd love to move forward.

Thanks a million for any help.
#idiot #offer
  • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
    Post your services in the "warriors for hire" section of this site...

    Also, after you have some posts built up offer your writing services here for a discounted rate, collect some testimonials, and you will probably get a steady flow of business going just from that.

    You might also consider setting up a referral system -- maybe for every 10 articles needed that someone refers to you give them a free article or something? Not sure how cost effective that would be, but just trying to throw ideas out there for you...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[518451].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jrailsback
    Your site looks fine but that girl in the header image scares the hell out of me!

    Traffic isn't too hard to get. Keep that link in your signature for starters and start contributing to this forum. If you're helpful and offer valuable advice and/or services, people will pay attention to you and your site has a better chance of being seen.

    Another thing... I keep telling people this. This tool is your best friend. And its free. And its by Google.

    Copy and paste the URL of a few of your pages into the Website content generator and see what Google brings up for related keywords.

    Take those suggestions and weave them in and out of your content. This will help optimize your pages for the search engines a little better.

    Then you've got all the social media sites, article directories, etc. You should probably also set up a mailing list (Aweber is a good autoresponder and easy to use).

    Hope that helps for starters
    Signature

    Please read the sig file rules

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[518460].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Doctor Article
      Can't believe there have already been two replies.

      Yes the head leaves a lot to be desire but I still need to figure out how I can change it...lol.

      Anyway guys, thanks for the imput and for taking the time to look at the site.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[518473].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author ARSuarez
        Doc,

        I highly recommend starting a blog or newsletter and implementing Google Adwords, which will help generate more traffic. If you position yourself as an expert, such as writing an ebook/report on effective/informative articles, how to find a quality article writers, etc., you can set yourself up to fit the criteria of "most qualified."

        Also, download the "Alexa" toolbar. By using it, Alexa gives you the statistics on a website's traffic, history, and other valuable pieces of information. Think of it as an addition Adwords - find page with high traffic in your niche... and direct some towards your business.

        The page looks fine. Good luck!

        Regards,

        Angel
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[518541].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author grumpyb
    Hi,
    your site IMHO is a bit spammy I think your offer is sound and if you can deliver what you say you will be soon on your way.
    I buy articles BUT I buy from people not software programs and your site gives me the impression that its automated .
    The site is sort of like a get rich quick site "not only this but you get this"

    Try a more personal approach as I think you will find that if you offer quality with good service and a reasonable turn round time you will get lots of work and you dont need a hard sell to do that.

    Provided you can actually write I think you are well on your way
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[518565].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ernie Lo
    What the hell man? People would kill to be able to make $4000 a month online. Start selling on ebay again if your jobless...and if you want challenging, invest the money in shares or something.

    Good luck.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[518623].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Inbound
    Doing what your doing. Posting with link in sig. Write articles about your sites and submit. Directory submits, link building. This stuff can all be done for free.


    Inbound
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[518634].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Teenage Genius
    I wrote a "helpfull" answer in the other thread in here by somebody looking to make money with no investment.

    Here is that "helpfull" post, I hope you find it helpfull

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    I feel like writing something really helpfull. So I about to *try* to write something really helpfull. So take notes

    $200-$400 in 48 hours by Geniu$

    Step 1 - Do abit of research, find out what people on sites like WF which have a section for selling products in want.

    (sell on WF, Digital Point etc.?)

    Step 2 - LEARN what they want to learn!!

    Step 3 - Create an information product teaching whatever it is they want to learn in a creative, informative way.

    Step 4 - Write a killer sales copy. Be sure to include Headlines, Sub-Headlines, Bullet points. Talk about the benifits and focus on "them" (whats in it for the buyer).

    Step 5 - Sell the product for $3-$7.

    Step 6 - Promote your offer in your signature. Go back to where you found out that there was people asking about how to learn whatever it is your product teaches and PM them informing them about your information product and the excellent deal they can get on it.

    Step 7 - Check your Paypal


    $200-$400 in 48 Hours Second Edition.

    Step 1 - Do Market Research to find out what is selling NOW (what people are buying at this very moment in time)

    Step 2 - Find a sub-niche... Find a big problem which needs solving.

    Step 3 - Cross check this with keyword research to find out if people are looking for the solution.

    Use terms like "How to" "Learn how to" "Learn" "Learn How" etc. in your keyword and sub-niche research.

    If it's a hit then move on to step 4 - If you draw a blank then look for something until you get a hit!

    Step 4 - LEARN what it is people need to know, LEARN the solution to their problems.

    Step 5 - Write a information product which teaches the solution.

    Step 6 - Create some nice graphics for your information product, both an eBook cover and mini site.

    As your saying you don't want to spend money, do this yourself or look for a graphics offer (sometimes there is offers of people doing free graphics for promotion)

    Step 7 - Host your mini site somewhere like Freewebs for free. Get a .tk (Dot TK - Renaming The Internet) so you have a short URL

    Step 8 - Go back to the places you done your market research and to new places, mainly forums targeted to your niche. Establish yourself as an expert there, then promote your solution to the people who have the problem.

    Step 9 - Use various free traffic methods to get traffic to your site also.

    FreeAds. (post ads on Craigslist, Gumtree etc.)

    Article Marketing. (write simple articles for places like eZineArticles and place a link to your site in the resource box)

    Video Marketing. (create basic videos which are simply text and place them on Youtube, put the link to your website first in the description and place a list of keywords at the end of the description, then log into a different account and rate your video 5 stars)

    Yahoo! Answers. (create two accounts. One asking "the problem" and a second answering it, giving the link to your "solution product", then log back into the first account and "Vote" for the answer you gave yourself)

    Step 10 - Rinse and Repeat ALL Free Traffic Methods!

    Step 11 - Look for a JV (Actively go out and get one!!!)

    Step 12 - Rinse and Repeat, the same process but with a different niche, different problem, different solution.

    I hope this helped abit.

    Geniu$
    Signature
    Genius SEO - WSO : Not only do you get TOP SPOT on Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask in MINUTES.... You Dominate the ENTIRE FRONT PAGE - One little 5 minute secret, massive results!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[518651].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Ann Bedwell
      Hey, you mentioned to doing a search and finding out what people are buying now. How do I do that? I hear everyone say that but no gives a "do this" type of instruction. Sorry, I am new to the internet business. Thanks!!
      a
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[519461].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Doctor Article
    First up. thanks for all the replies.

    To the poster who mentioned my home page looks "spammy".... I'll have to work on that if it's giving the impression that I use software. As a full time rewriter, I've seen what sort of rewrites are churned out by software programs......lol.

    To the poster who said I should go back and sell on Ebay..............sorry pal but I'm not willing to consider that option. I need more in my life that repeating the same nonsense day in and day out and what's more, something inside me says I can earn a lot more than I was on eBay.....just need to learn the tricks of the trade. I gave up my job offshore because of a gut feeling regarding eBay and it paid off. In fact, I sold an old toaster......lol. and that was me hooked. Within a few months I had given up my job and moved to Thailand to escape the cold weather in the UK.

    Now, the way I see it, eBay is but one single site, compared to the internet which is millions of sites. It's like comparing someones back yard to an entire continent............I'll take my chances with the continent rather, and besides, I love the challenge, as well as learning about something I know nothing about. Crazy I know but my gut tells me there's something out there and I just need to follow through the learning curve. One other point which backs my argument is the fact that the guy who owns the site I write for, certainly makes far more than $4000 a month from his site. If he can do it, then so can I.................lol.

    As far as my sites are concerned...........I hope to change them in the future to be "paid membership" sites but for now, I just thought it's best to get the name out. Hell, I just spent an entire day trying to work out how to get a submission form embedded. What a scream when you don't have a clue, but like I said, it's great to learn and I have this feeling that I'm about to learn quite a bit here on this forum.

    All in all................thanks to all who have replied so far.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[518836].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Doctor Article
      Sorry...............I meant to ask this question on my last post but it slipped my mind. Can anyone give me an idea as to how long it takes to get indexed on Google? If I look at my site statistics, it shows that Googlebot has visited but when I look at webmaster tools, it says no pages are indexed?

      Does this also mean my site won't show up in search results?

      Thanks guys
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[519219].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ken-g
    Hi Coward,
    It's great here in the UK at the moment, clear blue sky's , central heating running full blast, hot toddy on the desk , what more could you want, Ha...

    Any way to get your pages listed in Google you need to build a xml site map useing Google tools, (if you haven't done it yet sign up for their free tools)

    Read their instructions on how to go about it, it's quite simple to do, they will give you a bit of code you need to put <head>--code---<head> of your index page.

    As soon as you put that bit of code in you will get spidered, it took me less that an hour to get my new ten page web site listed.

    If you go here http://tinyurl.com/2p33lz sign up for a free membership you will find a lot of information that will help you get started on building your new business.

    Hey you might find a better header graphic for your site as well Ha!
    If you haven't got Photoshop to change them down load Grimp for free, Google it...

    Good Luck.

    Ken.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[519404].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Ann Bedwell
      Whereabouts in the UK? just asking....my husband is from East Anglia.
      a
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[519465].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Roq99
    You made $4000 a month on ebay. A lot of people would like to be able to do that. In fact I would like to be able to do that. Unless it was so time consuming it wasn't worth it. Point is why not teach others and use this forum to help you advance that on the web. As a starter I would love to know how you did it. If you can send me a PM
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[519430].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ann Bedwell
    First of all, congrats on even building your own sites. I know everyone else here is more seasoned than I am, but I think your drive to build your sites is great! I am looking into some free traffic sites now, as like you I am strapped for cash and not able to spend endless amounts on systems. If I get any joy I will post.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[519443].message }}
  • Hey man. I actually just posted about free websites and stuff like 2 days ago.

    Here's a post that I did about Making Money with Free Websites:
    (copy and paste into url)

    hxxp://gurucrusher.com/the-fastest-way-to-build-a-free-website/

    It covers free hosting, free sites, free blogs.

    Hope it helps.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[519473].message }}
  • Ya I definitely agree it's a good idea to create a Google Sitemap for your site.

    Also, it can take weeks for Google to index your site, but if you start getting incoming links, and add more content to the site, it will become a bigger priority to Google and could get indexed much faster.

    So if it's a blog, I would add at least one post a day for a week. If it's not a blog, just start submitting it to social bookmarking sites and get a free blog from blogger, write some really quick posts, and have those posts end up on your site.

    Could get it indexed in days...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[519483].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    To the OP, you might try contacting PLR sellers to see if they'd be interested in a joint venture. Many of them have membership sites, which means they probably keep in contact with their members regularly. You might see if they'd be open to including a link to your site in their emails to their members, maybe in exchange for a cut of sales or a flat fee per email. Since your site seems to be promoting rewrites, it seems like a natural fit. Good luck!

    John
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[519520].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Palo Coyote
    Hello Dr Article, I am a marketing guy, in real life as well as the internet. Let's work on your site.

    "Article spinning at it's best!" "spinning" is usually associated with software that does re-writes and as you point out later it's not good stuff. Suggestion: "Article writing and re-writing at its best!

    Here is a better picture, from #4142244 from Stock Photography: Search Royalty Free Images & Photos (I have no affiliation with them). Search words, woman computer office, you can search: man computer office if you 'd like.

    "YOU" is the first word in most of the sentences I rewrote. When telling people what we can do we often begin with, "I can do this for you" instead of "YOU get to have this".

    I could NOT get all of my recommendations with pictures on this page. Please go here to see what I'm talking about:

    http://offlinegoldreport.synthasite.com/typing.php

    Just my 2 cents. Please don't be offended.

    Edit: This site was just a free test site and it was handy to do a mock up of your site. Ignore all the offlinegold stuff, it's from another thread here on WF.
    Signature

    No sig today.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[519724].message }}

Trending Topics