Not a desperate newbie thread, not a 'how to make $1,000 in a week' but could really use some advice

I was in two minds whether to post this or not, but I've decided to go ahead. It's a little long, so please forgive me I would really appreciate it if any of you could read through it and let me know what you think. Without wishing to sound petulant, I see the 'how can I make money online?' and 'desperately need to make $1,000 this week' type threads often get a LOT of replies so I really hope someone like myself with 500+ posts under my belt and who tries to contribute every day can get some advice and guidance. Like I said, I would REALLY appreciate it I'd like to think I'll never post such a selfish thread ever again, and I hope other warriors can learn something from this thread.

On Monday, I turn 30. It should be a happy day, one where I celebrate and forget any stresses or troubles, but quite honestly - I'd be quite happy to cancel/forget it. I've even told my wife not to even buy me a card. Here's why - I set myself a standard back in the summer, that by the end of this year I would be making 4 figures per month. With everything I had available to me(unlimited hours every day, a great resource like this to mention two things), I felt if I didn't reach that 'bar' that I would have failed. Since then, I have made a few hundred dollars, mostly via Clickbank and my main niche site. The majority of the sales came from EZA. I've also made some money via CPA with some other smaller niche sites I have.

I know I have done better than some people that enter the IM arena, some people never make a cent in fact. What I have achieved just isn't enough for me though - I should have done more. I know it's completely and utterly down to me that I am currently failing. In the last 5 weeks I have worked extremely hard......with no return whatsoever. Yes, that's right - not a penny.....not a cent. My last sale was a CPA sale at the end of October

I don't want this post to have a 'woe is me' feel to it, so I'm going to list some things that I have going for me:-

-I've built a site in a very competitive niche from nothing into an authority site in 3 months, and it currently sits at number 14 in Google. I'm really proud of this site, and believe one day it will sit at the top of this niche, both in terms of the SERPS and the quality of the site itself.

-I have a couple of other sites on the brink of the first page of Google, one in particular I think could eventually bring in a LOT of traffic and sales.

-In early 2010 myself and my wife plan on writing and releasing a product that we will promote on our own site, and submit to Clickbank and the other digital vendors.

-I consider myself to be a good writer, I really feel my biggest strength is my writing.

-I'm patient and determined. I know things don't happen overnight.

The last few weeks in particular have taken something out of me, I fear though. I am always prepared to put in the hours, always prepared to learn new things, always prepared to take criticism on the chin etc etc. 5 weeks of putting so much and getting nothing back financially is hard to take though. Before then, I would at least get a sale every now and then. I made $82 in one day back in September, to me that felt incredible - so I thought things would just get better and better. In the last couple of weeks, I have had trouble sleeping, I just can't switch off from IM. I want success so bad that it is affecting my day to day life in a negative way. The feeling that I am failing is not a nice one, to say the least.

OK, so here's perhaps the most important part of this(loooong) post, the part I especially want feedback, opinions, advice and criticism on - what I have been doing, and what I am doing now.

Building my main niche site - adding content regularly, driving traffic, building a list, building backlinks.

Problems:-

1. The more content that has gone on there, the more it has stopped converting. My Google Analytics stats for it are impressive - people stay and read lots of content on there. Perhaps it's too helpful? BTW, I'm promoting 5 or 6 CB products on there, and there are also some CPA offers there too.

2. I am burned out on the SEO aspects of it, in terms of backlinks. I was regularly blog commenting, building profile backlinks, submitting press releases etc etc - now I just can't seem to get motivated any more. Despite this, it has held it's number 14 spot for a couple of weeks now. At it's highest, it was number 11. This term is what I consider THE term for the niche, and get's searched around 500 times per day.

3. Submitting articles to directories now barely brings any traffic, even on EZA. I do have some articles high up in the search engines, but see number 2 on why I don't get more of them up there currently.

4. Although I believe it's a good 'buying' niche, it's a pretty hard one to build a buzz on and make anything to do with it viral.

5. I just don't drive enough traffic consistently.

6. My list is currently small, and people just don't seem to want to opt in.

Creating and building other, smaller sites.

Problems:-

1. A couple of them have completely flopped - both in terms of the SERPS and conversions.

2. Getting them established is currently pretty daunting when I have lost a lot of enthusiasm.

3. See numbers 2 and 3 above.


A couple of weeks ago, I was considering putting all of this on the backburner(or at least cutting down the time spent on it) and starting a 'Warriors For Hire' thread. I was going to write articles, with some very competitive prices. I had everything ready to, the prices, the packages etc etc. I decided against it because I felt I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I like writing content, I love helping people, but it would have been to make some quick cash that I could actually see quickly(unlike waiting months for CB cheques and CPA payments) that would in turn give a boost to my confidence. I decided against it, and decided to spend the time building my own business. I'm wondering if that was a mistake now though. Take this week for example. I submitted 12 articles to EZA and a couple of other directories. Results - poor CTR and no sales. Compare that to 12 articles written for fellow Warriors. Results - helped others out and made a guaranteed $30+.

If I can manage to get myself up again(I'm taking it easy this weekend), here's what I have planned in the next few weeks:-

-Get back into building my sites through SEO, backlinks etc.

-Join a fellow Warriors article directory(I won't mention it by name, but I've heard great things and have been very impressed by what I have seen of it. The guy behind it has actually taught me a lot, just from reading his posts here.)

-Utilize tools I bought last week and have yet to use - Article Bot, GFX Video Writer and Press Bot

-Start working on the niche product I mentioned earlier. I'm very ambitious with this one - I want it to be as good(if not better than) as any similar product on the market, and I will be pricing it cheaper.

-Maybe offer my writing services in the Warriors For Hire Section

If you've managed to read this far(I completely understand if you haven't ) I'd really appreciate your thoughts, advice, feedback, criticism. Pretty much anything you can offer me. If you think I've been doing things wrong - tell me. If you think I lack the tools needed to succeed - tell me. I'm prepared to take everything on board. I'm so determined to succeed that it actually hurts. This is actually what I want for my birthday, no joke. Right now, I just need to get out of this slump. Although myself and my family are not hurting for money or anything, I had really hoped to have a lot of extra cash this Christmas - and the fact that it doesn't look like that is going to happen is a downer I know I only have myself to blame though.

Also, if any trustworthy and experienced warriors would be prepared to take a few mins and look at my sites etc - I'd be extremely grateful. PM me if you're interested, like I said though - trustworthy and experienced warriors only, no offense to anyone else.

OK, thanks for reading, thanks for any feedback and have a great weekend

Liam