Please review my website

10 replies
Hi all
I have been running a martial arts website (Bunkai Jutsu) for a couple of years, but it hardly makes my any money at all. The main ways that I get traffic is through SEO, Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/bunkaijutsupage) and Youtube (Charlie Wildish - YouTube).
I have monitarized it with my own DVD's/downloads and various affiliate programs.

I would appreciate any advice at all.
In particular though:
* Should I focus on just DVD/Downloads or just affiliate programs (do they distract from each other or does it not matter)?
* Is my theme/header etc OK or does it need a makeover? If it needs a makeover, any recomendations?
* Are my sales pages layout & copywrite OK or do I need to start again from scratch?
* Am I stretching myself too thin covering to many areas of martial arts rather than focusing on one aspect (at present I have catorgories on philosophy, psychology, history, practial application, technique, interviews & more)?
* How to get even more traffic (Wordpress statistics puts me at just under 6000 per month)?
* Also, it has been suggested that I could make it into a paying membership site. Is this feasible? If I can't get people to buy from me now, how can I get them to pay a monthly subscription?

I have recently changed my "free giveaway" for getting people sign up. It has not been very successful so I might change it back to how it was before. Before it was 5 part video course about becoming better at working out practical applications for yourself, but I changed it to giving away a few previews of my DVD's hoping that it might inspire sales. It hasn't

Any help at all would be appreciated, thank you.

Best Regards

Charlie

PS: It doesn't help that Google have recently put a notice on search results against my site saying "This site may be compromised".
#martial arts #review #website
  • Profile picture of the author karlmay1980
    If you inbox me I will give you a full analysis of what your doing and let you know aht you could improve.
    Signature
    Want To Make Your First £10,000 Online?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7494846].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author askcharlie
      Hi guys, thanks for the feedback.
      Firstly I have to say that I am not an expert, so I don't think I'll be able to answer all the questions in detail, but I'll do my best.

      @ Karlmay: Thank you, I've just sent you a message

      @ Corey Geer: Thank you. OK, I'll get a new theme, but probably more for the love of actual paying customers than the love of god
      1 -Do you have any suggestions which themes are good for selling?

      2 - By the "ugly" ads, I assume that you mean the Adsence, not the other affiliate ads?
      Where do I organise the split testing from, the Adsence page or the Wordpress back office?

      3 - Good tip, I've just changed the number of posts showing from 10 to 5

      The plugins (from your list) that I do have are:
      A) All-In-One-SEO-Pack
      C) Google Analytics
      D) Google XML Sitemaps
      I'll look into the others you recommend.

      @ mrelk159: Thank you.

      @ kolawole365: OK, this is where I'm going to struggle a bit due to my inexperience
      To be honest, I'm not sure if it is commercially viable. There are some big names who make very good money, but I don't have a big name. This is part of the reason why I wondered if I would better off focussing on building a content site with Adsence/affiliate programs etc or promoting my own DVD's/downloads etc.
      When I started, my main keywords for the site as a whole were: bunkai, bunkai jutsu, karate bunkai & kata bunkai (bunkai is to do with how you actually apply some of the movements). However, since then I've expanded to use a lot more keywords with a each post I write.
      On my store page where I sell 2 DVD/downloads (one about bunkai and one about better kicking) I have listed the keywords below. The number by the side is what my Wordpress Stats tell me is the number of Search Engine searches for that keyword within the last quater (however, many of the clicks will be to other posts which share the same keyword and not necessarily the Store page) :
      bunkai, 56
      kata bunkai, 27
      karate bunkai, 15
      karate kata bunkai, 0
      shotokan bunkai, 17
      shotokan kata bunkai, 19
      applied karate, 0
      taekwondo, 0
      bassai dai, 0
      inside bassai dai, 0
      bassai dai bunkai, 22
      kicking, 0
      karate kicks, 0
      martial arts kick, 0
      improve kicks, 0
      charlie wildish, 0

      Sorry to be thick, but what is AvCPC?

      I'm not using "buy" in my keywords. Should I start doing so?



      Thanks again guys, all of you. I'm off to look at those plugins now
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7499559].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Corey Geer
    Well the design is better than a lot of the sites I've seen in signatures on the WF, but it still could use a modern design.

    1 - Consider switching to Wordpress and getting a free cool looking theme. Even if your page is Static, there are plenty of themes to accommodate those pages as well.

    ...Actually you do have Wordpress. Alright then, for the love of god please choose a different theme.

    2 - The ads you are promoting are ugly and don't really blend into the site well. Try split testing by putting one ad inside your top (first) post or switching all of your ads to Image only ads.

    3 - Lower the amount of posts showing up on the first page, that's a long page to load.

    If you don't have them already, consider getting the following plugins:

    A) All-In-One-SEO-Pack
    B) Sociable
    C) Google Analytics
    D) Google XML Sitemaps
    E) W3 Total Cache
    F) Wordpress Backup To Dropbox
    G) Better WP Security
    H) Yet Another Related Posts Plugin
    I) Broken Link Checker
    J) Hello Bar
    K) Tip Jar
    Signature

    Skype: Coreygeer319

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7494982].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author mrelk159
      Originally Posted by Corey Geer View Post

      Well the design is better than a lot of the sites I've seen in signatures on the WF, but it still could use a modern design.

      1 - Consider switching to Wordpress and getting a free cool looking theme. Even if your page is Static, there are plenty of themes to accommodate those pages as well.

      ...Actually you do have Wordpress. Alright then, for the love of god please choose a different theme.

      2 - The ads you are promoting are ugly and don't really blend into the site well. Try split testing by putting one ad inside your top (first) post or switching all of your ads to Image only ads.

      3 - Lower the amount of posts showing up on the first page, that's a long page to load.

      If you don't have them already, consider getting the following plugins:

      A) All-In-One-SEO-Pack
      B) Sociable
      C) Google Analytics
      D) Google XML Sitemaps
      E) W3 Total Cache
      F) Wordpress Backup To Dropbox
      G) Better WP Security
      H) Yet Another Related Posts Plugin
      I) Broken Link Checker
      J) Hello Bar
      K) Tip Jar


      Yes all of those plugins are important, especially XML sitemaps for indexing a new site.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7495224].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kolawole365
    Banned
    Before you start putting too much fund and effort into this niche, I need to ask you few questions

    *** Is this niche commercially viable?
    *** What type of keyword are you monetizing for?
    *** What is the AvCPC for these keywords?
    *** How many searches does each of those keywords get?
    *** If you use the "buy" trigger in your keyword, how many searches does it return both globally and locally?

    If your keyword research is wrong or the niche itself is not commercially viable, please don' waste your time, move on to something else.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7498412].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author sparior
    The design and layout looks a little too simple to me.. Maybe add some more color etc..

    What makes you stand out?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7542962].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Monkeh
    Logos! They look outdated buddy. Seriously. Invest 5 dollars at fiverr and get a decent logo. Change the stock looking image in the body of your page with the boxer as well. Cheers.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7543548].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author askcharlie
      Monkeh/Sparior
      Thank you for your feedback and sorry for the late reply!
      I have recently updated my blog using a new Wordpress theme (sliding door). I personally think it is a lot better, but I'd appreciate anybody elses thoughts!

      It has 2 main settings, white background with black letters or black background with white letters.
      It is currently set to white background. Anybody got any experience of whether white or black backgrounds make much difference to sales?

      Any other tips for conversion are very welcome
      Thanks
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7744655].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author nutrie
    I recommend you change the wordpress theme. There are tonnes of free ones with much better fonts and colors. Just play around with them until you find one that stands out a bit more.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7744827].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author askcharlie
      Nutrie
      Thanks for the advice!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7744899].message }}

Trending Topics