A good website, a free product, but no traffic. How do I market this?

Banned 10 years ago

I don't altogether understand what your traffic-generation plan is. (You surely know that SEO isn't going to help much, for this kind of site?).

This is going to sound rude, and I apologise in advance, but some of the content is complete gobbledygook.

"About The Science Museum is one the the three major museum located on Exhibition Road near South Kensington station"?!

That reads like something that's just gone through Google Translate, or a spinner, or something. How many mistakes can you get into one sentence? Sorry, but nobody whose first language is English is going to be willing to read stuff like that. "Careless" doesn't even begin to describe it. Ok, enough with the critical comments

, but you need to edit all the content before attracting any more traffic.

(And by the way, the site's header is a different width from the rest of the site! I'm using Firefox and have quite a wide screen but it was still messy.)

.

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danp142

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

This is going to sound rude, and I apologise in advance, but some of the content is complete gobbledygook.

"About The Science Museum is one the the three major museum located on Exhibition Road near South Kensington station"?!

That reads like something that's just gone through Google Translate, or a spinner, or something. How many mistakes can you get into one sentence? Sorry, but nobody whose first language is English is going to be willing to read stuff like that. "Careless" doesn't even begin to describe it. Ok, enough with the critical comments

, but you need to edit all the content before attracting any more traffic.

(And by the way, the site's header is a different width from the rest of the site! I'm using Firefox and have quite a wide screen but it was still messy.)

.

I probably didn't make it clear enough in the first post that the site it a work in progress which is why there are still errors. I think you'll find the majority of the content to be absolutely readable to a native English speaker and this is before it has gone through the spell check process.

Also, my intiial strategy was to focus on social media marketing, specifically facebook, however it seems the facebook reach of posts has been cut dramatically so now I am trying to find other ways to generate traffic. I don't have experience with paid ad's but would be willing to try.

Thanks
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positivenegative

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

This is going to sound rude, and I apologise in advance, but some of the content is complete gobbledygook.

That reads like something that's just gone through Google Translate, or a spinner, or something. How many mistakes can you get into one sentence? Sorry, but nobody whose first language is English is going to be willing to read stuff like that. "Careless" doesn't even begin to describe it. Ok, enough with the critical comments

, but you need to edit all the content before attracting any more traffic.

Agree with Alexa 100%.

The basic structure, composition, and grammatical content of your site MUST BE fluent and perfect before you go live. Saying it's a work in progress is no excuse. If you want to stand out from the plethora of other similar "guide" sites in competition to you, attention to detail - in addition to quality content, is paramount.

Originally Posted by danp142

I've been building up a large website for the past 4 months and am at the stage where I'm ready to market it and start building traffic. The only problem is, I have no idea how to!

Marketing is the easiest aspect of all. That type of site can attract a million+ views a week . . . if you know where to promote it and ensure the content is unique. Sadly, you fail on both counts.

Originally Posted by danp142

I have plenty of ideas of what to write about, I enjoy the niche and I'm quite a good designer but I have no idea how to market websites and get the right kind of traffic.

You may think you're a good designer but having viewed your site I'd class you as no better than average.

As for you've: "plenty of ideas of what to write about", well, despite your self-assurance that you're a capable writer, I would beg to differ.

Writing is a skill unlike any other. Sure, you can learn enough to be adequate, moderate, or even reasonably good. But the bar level of skill-set required to start off - and maintain an authority site - will probably never be attained by you.

I don't mean the above to dishearten you, but if you accept the fact that top quality writing relates to a much better reader experience, then by outsourcing your article writing it will leave you free to concentrate on the design and marketing side.

Originally Posted by danp142

I have a free product give away . . .

My aim is to build a large list where I can promote affiliate links and also make some sales from the links on the site.

Why? Why? Why?

You ABSOLUTELY DON'T need to give away a free product to attract visitors. For a site of this nature they will come in their droves if you get the content and marketing right. You should then be selling your own e-products to visitors. I can think of several, niche related, absolute money-spinners.

Originally Posted by danp142

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

If you're willing to accept criticism in the constructive manner it's intended then pay particular attention to the following:

The site content is only average and there are hundreds of similar sites out there - so nothing sets you apart from them.

I can think of over 100 fantastic, unusual London attractions that have no mention.

Your copy needs to be composed and proofed by a pro.

Amazement, bizarre, and humour are 3 major missing elements of your site.

You need to be marketing the site in a completely different manner. With the addition of some specific content, you would be attracting anything upwards of a million hits a week from articles on a half dozen high profile blogs. With the addition of this content you would also attract tens of thousands of visitors weekly via a YouTube channel and other social media.

It sounds like you've got enthusiasm in abundance for your project and I know it can be particularly depressing when things don't go according to plan, But hey, that site should be making you high six figures a year, and it CAN DO if you implement certain changes to your outlook and future strategy. In fact you would see the difference within a few weeks.

Feel free to PM me if you want more specific advice on what content, and where exactly to market the site.

Good luck.

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danp142

10 years ago

Originally Posted by positivenegative

Why? Why? Why?

You ABSOLUTELY DON'T need to give away a free product to attract visitors. For a site of this nature they will come in their droves if you get the content and marketing right. You should then be selling your own e-products to visitors. I can think of several, niche related, absolute money-spinners.

I was under the impression that the 'money was in the list'. Is the best way to build one not to have a free product? A genuine question.

Originally Posted by positivenegative

If you're willing to accept criticism in the constructive manner it's intended then pay particular attention to the following

Of course I am, wouldn't be much point in posting here otherwise

I am aware that my writing/design skills won't match up to the top blogs in my niche, I don't want to come off as someone who thinks they know more than they do. I was more comparing myself to the countless 3 page niche websites in an attempt to convince people that this isn't a 1 month project but something long term.

I guess people should always compare themselves to the top and not the bottom of the pile.

I am having all my content spell checked at the moment, I put the content up to get it indexed but maybe I should have waited.

As a local Londoner, graduate in city planning and former employee of the tourism industry I do have plenty of ideas for interesting content,but maybe I'll look into have it professionally written as opposed to me doing it myself.

Thanks
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Alexa Smith

Banned 10 years ago

Originally Posted by danp142

I am having all my content spell checked at the moment

Respectfully, Dan, that's missing all the grammatical howlers in your content, as most spellchecks do. You even have things like repeated words in there, which surely you could easily spot and amend, yourself, just by reading it? Sorry, I sound hyper-critical, perhaps, as people can, when they're trying to help. The point one or two people are trying to make is that there may be somewhat limited value in trying to attract traffic to the site as it stands now. "Site before traffic", and all that?

.

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danp142

10 years ago

I'm using a human spell checker not computer software. He will also check for grammar etc.

To be fair, it also wouldn't matter if the website was perfect if I have no idea how to market it and get the right traffic, which is why I asked for help regarding this

Thanks
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travlinguy

10 years ago

Originally Posted by danp142

I'm using a human spell checker not computer software. He will also check for grammar etc.

To be fair, it also wouldn't matter if the website was perfect if I have no idea how to market it and get the right traffic, which is why I asked for help regarding this

To be fair? No one is being unfair. You're getting a valuable, free and accurate critique. One thing you have going for you that most people asking for advice completely miss is that your site is fairly attractive and the theme actually fits in with tourism.

I'm not seeing the same skewed header issue Alexa mentions but before going live with any site you should be viewing it in all the popular browsers.

As for traffic, I tend to agree that it's good you're not getting serious traffic now as the visitors would likely bounce out pretty quick.

I've read through some of the articles you've got up there and at a glance they seem okay but it's as though they've been written by someone other than a native English speaker. The good news is they're salvageable.

Your issue right not is not traffic, it's getting the content in shape. Be glad you're not getting traffic. If you've got a live person checking grammar, spelling and syntax then you need to get someone else. Good luck.

Thanks
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danp142

10 years ago

Originally Posted by travlinguy

To be fair? No one is being unfair. You're getting a valuable, free and accurate critique. One thing you have going for you that most people asking for advice completely miss is that your site is fairly attractive and the theme actually fits in with tourism.

I'm not seeing the same skewed header issue Alexa mentions but before going live with any site you should be viewing it in all the popular browsers.

As for traffic, I tend to agree that it's good you're not getting serious traffic now as the visitors would likely bounce out pretty quick.

I've read through some of the articles you've got up there and at a glance they seem okay but it's as though they've been written by someone other than a native English speaker. The good news is they're salvageable.

Your issue right not is not traffic, it's getting the content in shape. Be glad you're not getting traffic. If you've got a live person checking grammar, spelling and syntax then you need to get someone else. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice.

The spelling and grammar of the site hasn't been checked yet, I'm in the process of having someone do it all at once. I'm aware that getting the content right is imperative and I know how to get that done. It's just my style of content creation, I get 'in the zone' and create dozens of articles and posts rapidly without thinking about accuracy. I then have someone else correct the spelling/grammar in bulk when I feel I've created enough.

It might not be the best way to do it, but it's just they way I feel comfortable with.

I've been purposefully not trying particularly hard to get any traffic because I know the website isn't ready yet, but it will be in the near future.

This is why I was now thinking about marketing as I don't have a clue about it and I need some time to learn.

Anyway, thanks for advise everyone, I'm sure it will come in handy.

Thanks

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Mahmoodadds 10 years ago

i always find members here trying their best to help every one and they do wish you success
but there are few things you should consider
first too much talks about writing and i partially don't fully agree with it
when writing there are main points you should consider as, spelling comes first then obvious mistakes that might confuse readers and right composition of phrases.
no more should be considered during writing. i won't ever close an article because because the writer wrote it look instead of it looks. you don't need perfect writing . you need good writing and good content
i agree on this phrase has some thing wrong

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

"About The Science Museum is one the the three major museum located on Exhibition Road near South Kensington station"?!

.

and to your knowledge english is not my native so i can't perfect my english writing
and also i can't perfect my native language writing " arabic " because i think it will a waste of time and effort. i do always criticise content before any thing else so, it should take the most time and effort

second SEO important tips - in my opinion- is to search for a key word with decent searches and fewer results and less competition then put you keyword in your page meta tag and page's link and files shared and within the article and repeated according to your article length without disrupting the phrases and meaning

third and important personal experience is very important. if some is not convincing you test it. write 2 or 3 articles about the same subject with different writing style, one is nice and one is perfect and one with the best content and get all of the the same advertising campaign and check your result and go with the best result but for conversions not for other rates

i intentionally left some mistakes in this reply and others unintentionally slipped but for me it's ok. content is more important
good luck
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Sky Davis

10 years ago

Couple ideas...

You could try to set up some YouTube videos targeting local keywords.

You could set up a Facebook page and get some targeted fans and drive traffic that way. This can be done for pretty cheap, around $35 per week.

Thanks

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Marx Vergel Melencio

10 years ago

Danp142,

Originally Posted by danp142

I've been building up a large website for the past 4 months and am at the stage where I'm ready to market it and start building traffic. The only problem is, I have no idea how to! I have plenty of ideas of what to write about, I enjoy the niche and I'm quite a good designer but I have no idea how to market websites and get the right kind of traffic. I have a free product give away and an auto responder, I posted all my articles to social media sites and have attempted to do some good on page SEO. So far I'm only getting 10-15 visitors a day and the bounce rate is 80%. I know building traffic can take time and I'm not expecting an overnight fix, however it's not unheard of for a website to be generating traffic in the low hundreds after 4 months and that's where I'd like to be at. My aim is to build a large list where I can promote affiliate links and also make some sales from the links on the site. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Once you improve your site's overall look and feel as well as your onsite content, your opt-in / lead capture page and sales funnel, you can test the things below to drive traffic to your opt-in / lead capture page...

*** Identify laterally relevant UK / London travel / entertainment / family recreation sites / blogs that get good relevant local and overseas (your target countries) traffic, and directly relevant social communities like Web forums and Facebook / LinkedIn groups with decent local and overseas membership bases. Contact them and strike mutually beneficial trial ad banner / advertorial placement deals with them;

*** Go to the websites of your top 10 competitors in the local and overseas UK / London travel / entertainment / family recreation industries. Study their websites (front panel and source code) to get a list of their target keywords. Verify the exact match country-specific Google search traffic estimates of these keywords via the Google Adwords Keyword Planner. Prune your list of exact match keywords accordingly. Enter each exact match keyword in Google and list down the top 10 or so ranking pages for each of those keywords. Determine if any of those top ranking sites / blogs / social communities would be interested in striking mutually beneficial trial ad banner / advertorial placement deals with you;

*** Develop good onsite content around your target local and overseas group's needs that are related to those exact match keywords. Share those onsite content pages in your Facebook page with a landing tab set to show your opt-in / lead capture copy and link. Promote your shared posts across your target local and overseas Facebook users via Facebook's "Boost Post" feature;

Find out if Google Adwords and Facebook and Bing and LinkedIn and Twitter among other relevant advertising platforms accept ads for similar offers. Integrate remarketing / retargeting code for each of these advertising platforms into your opt-in / lead capture page among other pages of your site. Test out trial ad campaigns with these platforms; and

Hire a PR consulting company with expertise in developing and managing relevant PR campaigns across directly and laterally relevant industries in your target local and overseas areas. Ask them to develop and execute a PR campaign for your business, website and opt-in / lead capture product...

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Randall Magwood

10 years ago

Throw some money at it. Test out Adwords and Bing Ads and see what you can do. I would use your free offer as bait just to see if the niche is responsive to a free offer. If they dont even respond hugely to the free offer... then it's safe to say that it wont pop when asking them for money.

Me personally... i would keep the free offer separate from your blog. In other words i'd drive all the traffic to the free offer squeeze page - not the blog. I'd redirect them to the blog after opting in. Just me.

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nova320

10 years ago

I checked out the website. I agreed with couple of warriors here pointing out the quality of the posts. Your website's design looks good for the eyes. You'll attract lots of travellers. I'm thinking students, high school or college exchange students. Maybe a family on vacation? The best bet would be Facebook and Adsense. How's your social media connections? Maybe create twitter, facebook, and other social media accounts to promote your website. Commenting on blogs and similar websites might help too.

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theredsun

10 years ago

write on socials media that the best ways to promote your blog.

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cheehien

10 years ago

Please try to get traffic in multiple method:
1) Social media (Facebook)
2) Online Video (youtube)
3) Forum
4) Buy Solo Ads
5) Write and posting Article in famous website
6) Blogging

Hope this will help you...GOOD LUCK!

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Rageki

10 years ago

Originally Posted by danp142

I've been building up a large website for the past 4 months and am at the stage where I'm ready to market it and start building traffic. The only problem is, I have no idea how to!

I have plenty of ideas of what to write about, I enjoy the niche and I'm quite a good designer but I have no idea how to market websites and get the right kind of traffic.

I have a free product give away and an auto responder, I posted all my articles to social media sites and have attempted to do some good on page SEO. So far I'm only getting 10-15 visitors a day and the bounce rate is 80%

You can view the site here

I know building traffic can take time and I'm not expecting an overnight fix, however it's not unheard of for a website to be generating traffic in the low hundreds after 4 months and that's where I'd like to be at.

My aim is to build a large list where I can promote affiliate links and also make some sales from the links on the site.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Social media traffic such as Facebook will be good, but classified website such as Craigslist also work for your kind of niche.

Thanks
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oWEN tEBB 10 years ago

Hi danp142,

Nice to see a fellow UKer on here. Okay so we know there issues with the spelling and grammer and the website in my opinion could be a little bit more cleaner too much going on...

However i'm here to go on about what already been said. I'm hereto give you some idea on how to correct the traffic issue you have....

Okay so once everything sorted with the website, then traffic should be the next thing you should be looking at....

Now without knowing your full situation such as...

How much income are you looking to make out of this over short, medium and long term.?

How many hours are commiting to this project per day and week?

Do you have a budget for paid traffic?

Okay so let say you go down the route of free traffic. Yes this will take a little bit longer to generate the traffic I think your looking for but it certainly the most rewarding. Now with that said lets take a look at your options....

Promote via blogging - If you consider this then you have to make sure that the blog is free from mistakes, easy to read, include some pictures and afilliate links. Make sure you throw in some keywords i.e keyword in title and first paragraph works.

Social Media - This can work if you promote it in the right way.... You need to firstly have an active presence on popular social media sites i.e Facebook, Twitter. Maybe post some reviews on various places in London. The most important thing with Social Media is to have fun and not take yourself too seriously. Why not get your visitors/fans to post pictures on their favourite spots in London or ask them to post something about what makes them think about London. The key here is engagement, getting enough people to interact with you. I personally use social media effectively to generate traffic and that because Im enjoying what i'm doing....

Youtube - This can also be as effective as social media sites as you can post video reviews of places you have advertise on your website. You can make our own funny videos, again you can be very creative.

I have many more ideas but I let you consider these for now. Reach out if you want more help.

Owen
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Claire Koch

10 years ago

if you want to build a huge list install a pop up. Capture your customer by wowing them. Give them an offer they absolutely cannot resist.

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bostjan33

Banned 10 years ago

You are joking, right?
Sorry, but way before you even start building any site at all, you need a blueprint, a biz plan. Spending 4 months (or even 4 days) without having a great marketing plan is just stupid.
Sorry, but that's the way it is. 99% of all online work is marketing and not caring about it is again, plain stupidity.

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misshang

10 years ago

Excuse me, why you want to spend time and energy or money to drive traffic and write a blog to offer free product? Do you have an upsell? You might as well join adsense and monetize with adsense then send out free products. I know the importance of a list, but it should be a buyer's list not freebie seeker list, isn't it?

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renhoek

10 years ago

I disagree with all the statements about perfecting your site before going live.
People identify with people. Its more important to start. Top mentors will tell you fast action is more important than perfection.

People buy people. If this were my site I would make it more personal. I would review each of these locations and write the article from a personal point of view.

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HelpingYouBeAnExpert

10 years ago

Put some posts that have h1, h2 tags, then regular tags with very very specific London attractions that people search on. I suspect if you do that enough and then back link with that as anchor text on some good related sites you will get some traffic. There are tons more things you can do but this is one.

PS: look at your competitors and what they are doing, you should be able to pick up some ideas. Good luck.

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nohypo

10 years ago

focus all your energy at one point, that's find the right person , not the free traffic that will never buy anything. In fact, I don't know if you could build a success list on this kind of subject.
If one person want to visit London, and read your article, and join your mailing list, but when will they visit London again?

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danp142

10 years ago

This thread popped up again unexpectedly.

This was a very large project to take on by myself. I'll be hiring writers to create the content so I can focus on other things. Hopefully this will solve the major issue.

Originally Posted by nohypo

focus all your energy at one point, that's find the right person , not the free traffic that will never buy anything. In fact, I don't know if you could build a success list on this kind of subject.
If one person want to visit London, and read your article, and join your mailing list, but when will they visit London again?

There will always be a constant stream of people wanting to come to London and wondering what they can do there. I can therefore always be selling tickets to attractions etc. If the website becomes popular then I'll maybe create my own products.

I have managed to create a facebook ad that gives me a cost per like of 0.09 and is targeted at people travelling to London. Maybe I'll focus on getting a large facebook following and go from there.

Thanks

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Jan79

9 years ago

What plugin do you use to email the free ebook?

Thanks

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Esteban Gomez

9 years ago

Before I share my opinion I have to agree with all the comments above about the spelling but you can easily fix that. Also, you do need to find a product to promote, hopefully a high-ticket one to make big commissions.

You can talk to hotels and setup a deal to get paid commissions for people who book the hotels and also sell a travel guide.

Regarding to the aspect of the site: wow man, I have to say that your site looks AMAZING! Since it is a London website you should definitely use YouTube Marketing to get traffic.

I personally like videos because they don't take as much time to do and people love to watch them. (people are lazy lol)

There are thousands of video opportunities out there in London that you could record and upload to your channel. After recording video you could create a small blog post around it that wouldn't take as much time to write.

They key to getting traffic in YouTube is consistency and to optimize them for SEO (basic), they will start to show your videos and rank them after a while.

YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine and it's easier to rank YouTube videos on Google than blog posts. The best thing about it is that it's free!

Tools:

- You only need a good HD camera (nothing to fancy)
- A mic (because audio is the most important thing when doing video)
- Passion to go out there and record London

There are many other ways you could promote your site like FB ads if you have the budget and I believe getting likes to a fan page would be cheap because of your niche.

But in my opinion, you should definitely include videos in your marketing.

I wish you good luck in your project

Esteban Gomez

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eham

9 years ago

social media is a great source to get traffic on website

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A good website, a free product, but no traffic. How do I market this?

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