Authority Site Strategies
But right now I'm struggling and could use some help.
1. Theming:
As mentioned, the site is built on Drupal, with a heavily customized contributed theme. My approach was to build a news site with intuitive navigation that is friendly to the 50+ crowd. Any suggestions for layout, appearance, etc.?
2. Features:
The forum - not a single post - abandon it? The link directory - good or bad? News items in the right column - OK? Visitor access/registration - wouldn't it be nice to have a list of, oh, 100,000 baby boomers? I can only dream. If you notice anything broken, out of place, peculiar or just a bad idea, let me know!
3. Monetization:
My plan (subject to feedback) is to monetize the site primarily using affiliate marketing, with an emphasis on physical products and services in demand, e.g. Amazon. Some niches should be more receptive than others to digital products, such as "Entrepreneurs" and "Health & Fitness" categories, where Clickbank offerings could succeed. I am also planning to deploy Adsense, sparingly, but with few expectations until the site gains some traction. Finally, at some point I may develop one or more products of my own, most likely digital. My thought is to find quality performing affiliate offerings and then (somehow) drive traffic to their respective category niches where their ads would appear. Does this make sense?
4. Content:
As an authority site, I think frequent authoritative articles are needed to give the site "cred". I don't have the inspiration, patience, time, confidence or "authority" to write articles myself, and at this stage of the project I can't really afford to outsource. Most of the articles on the site now are courtesy of EzineArticles, where I have kept them intact according to their terms of use, but changed the page title and added an introductory sub-heading. This was done just to get the site live without complete embarrassment. I have 100+ PLR articles specific to boomers and another 200+ on travel, but it all needs to be re-written and I'm unsure of the value. I'll have a little more confidence when I start producing keyword-rich content to drive the affiliate offerings. Any thoughts or ideas here?
5. SEO:
I think that SEO is 10% on-site and 90% off-site. I would give the site a grade of "B" inside the walls, but need to get it ranked with backlinks. I've subscribed to backlink packages from Angela, Paul and Joe Finn and plan to implement them soon. I've trademarked the logo/domain name, for what ever that may be worth. I've also set up a Facebook fan page but haven't done anything with it. What am I missing?
6. ROI:
I'm building this site for the long haul, but I'm running into a cash crunch and would like to see some quick returns, say $20. to $50. a day, real soon now. Ultimately, if I can get this site to generate a consistent $100. a day, I could spend every waking moment on it. Is this a realistic expectation?
I know there are probably thousands of baby boomer sites out there, but I believe this site has real potential if I leverage all that I've learned here on the Warrior Forum - many of you here are like family and I appreciate any feedback you can provide! Oh, and if you have any thoughts on collaboration or joint ventures, send me an IM!
Sincere regards, Dave
Founder of JVZoo. All around good guy :)
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