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What Can I do With This Website? Can Anyone Help?

by paulduncan
8 replies
Hi, I hope someone will be able to offer me some advice, as I am a bit stuck about what to do about a website that i have. I'm sorry if this post is a bit long, and i would really appreciate any feedback.

I was made redundant about 3 years ago after working for many years in a factory thar was mind numbing. It was one of those places where you went in and you knew that you were going to do the same thing day after day.

I had a look at trying to make money online, but the truth is that i had absolutely no idea about how i should go about it. So i decided that i would write a small book about losing weight and try to sell it on a website. (The book was crap by the way, although i did manage to sell a few copies).

I knew nothing about seo (i had never even heard of it), and i knew nothing about keywords, or anything else for that matter.

Anyway i contacted some company online which made websites in the UK, and had a website built which cost me about £500. Now wait for it...,

These were the keywords that i targeted:

weight loss
losing weight
lose weight

It's ok... I would have laughed as well.

None of these keywords were in the url either. Please try to keep in mind that my only online experience at the time was buying books from amazon.

I tried to learn what i could (wish i knew about WF then), and sent the url to directories, did articles, and a few other things.

Later on i found out a bit about affiliate marketing, and made a few websites which make me just enough money to pay my electric bills, and gas bills.

The company that made the site for me still charges me £25 a month, and i have not made a penny out of this site for the last year or so.

I put up some affiliate programs on it, but still not making anything.

The thing is that in the UK it is now on the first page for the terms

losing weight
how to lose weight

I know there are a lot of searches for these terms (i'm also on the 2nd page for "losing weight" in the U.S.)

But i'm not making a penny from the site, the sites above me are all heavyweights, so i don't see much chance of shifting them.

I don't know know whether i should just dump this site or try something else with it. This is why i came in here for some advice and help as to what i should do.

Everything about the site is wrong, it doesn't follow seo patterns but there it is on the first page for some very competitive terms.

It has been on the first page for a month or 2 now, and has done nothing.

I would really appreciate it if someone could take the time to look at the site and offer me any tips.

The site is

www dot easierwayz dot com

My thanks in advance to anybody that takes the time to offer advice.
#website
  • Profile picture of the author waken
    Still paying $25 per month? Is that the hosting fee? Check to see if it's possible to host the site somewhere else and save yourself that $25. Typical good shared hosting costs only less than $10.

    Basically, yours is a review site. Looks ok. Just keep updating it with new, unique original contents, bookmark them each time you updated the site. Learn article marketing http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...marketing.html and SEO traffic will continue to increase. Don't forget to install some tracking to monitor the site conversion (Google Analytics etc.).

    That's the free way.. if you prefer paid methods, then learn about PPC (eg. Adwords). Just make a search for it.

    Or you can simply list your site on Sitepoint for sale. The site could probably recover your investment asap.

    Cheers!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
    Originally Posted by paulduncan View Post

    (The book was crap by the way, although i did manage to sell a few copies).
    If you sold some copies, maybe you should have stuck with it a bit. Perhaps consider a rewrite on the book, and go over your sales page a bit that you had to see why it did convert.


    I knew nothing about seo (i had never even heard of it), and i knew nothing about keywords, or anything else for that matter.

    Anyway i contacted some company online which made websites in the UK, and had a website built which cost me about £500. Now wait for it...,

    These were the keywords that i targeted:

    weight loss
    losing weight
    lose weight

    It's ok... I would have laughed as well.
    Wayyyyyyy too much money IMO.


    None of these keywords were in the url either. Please try to keep in mind that my only online experience at the time was buying books from amazon.

    I tried to learn what i could (wish i knew about WF then), and sent the url to directories, did articles, and a few other things.

    Later on i found out a bit about affiliate marketing, and made a few websites which make me just enough money to pay my electric bills, and gas bills.

    The company that made the site for me still charges me £25 a month, and i have not made a penny out of this site for the last year or so.
    They are charging you way too much. If I were you, I'd get a hold on the domain, and push the hosting elsewhere. 25 pounds - isn't that like 50 dollars American or something? You can get your hosting paid for for they year with well under a hundred bucks.


    I put up some affiliate programs on it, but still not making anything.
    Honestly, those links are just more confusing. You should really focus on just one program. I would ditch those links to eczema, hemoroids, etc...


    The thing is that in the UK it is now on the first page for the terms

    losing weight
    how to lose weight

    I know there are a lot of searches for these terms (i'm also on the 2nd page for "losing weight" in the U.S.)

    But i'm not making a penny from the site, the sites above me are all heavyweights, so i don't see much chance of shifting them.
    Those are highly competitive terms, and I'm amazed you are showing where you are actually.


    I don't know know whether i should just dump this site or try something else with it. This is why i came in here for some advice and help as to what i should do.

    Everything about the site is wrong, it doesn't follow seo patterns but there it is on the first page for some very competitive terms.

    It has been on the first page for a month or 2 now, and has done nothing.

    I would really appreciate it if someone could take the time to look at the site and offer me any tips.

    The site is

    www dot easierwayz dot com

    My thanks in advance to anybody that takes the time to offer advice.
    Well, you have some "branding" going on - so that may be a reason to keep the domain itself.

    Also, you may want to consider toning down the affiliate links and promoting a specific product. Get a sign up form on there for an autoresponder and collect some names of any traffic you are getting. You might even offer up that ebook you wrote as an incentive to sign up.

    If you did that, you could promote other diet related products - IE scales, food weighers, exercise equipment.

    Your other possibility if you're heart is not into the diet niche is to sell the site.

    Overall, I think the site is a bit "cluttered" and needs some simplifying.

    I have to wonder if you'd be better off just tossing tons of content on there and monetizing with adsense instead.
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetSuccess001
    Are you still trying to sell a 'crap' e-book? If that is the case, then that could be your problem right there. Telling you straight up -- you need to improve your quality, do some 'work', and change your mindset (you should stick with quality products). If you are still paying $25/month, then that is about $15-$20/month too much.

    While the internet can provide a lot of freedom, it sounds like you need to take some baby steps first, and instead perhaps offer any services you can via outsourcing sites. Then, once you learn/figure out/have a better understanding of promotion, design, writing, PPC, etc, etc -- then you can focus on building a 'business' (10 years ago a fly by night sell an e-book and make thousands in sales would work, nowadays while still possible its a lot harder).
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  • Profile picture of the author AzzamS
    @paulduncan, I am in the UK; so drop me a email at azzam dot sheikh at gmail dot com and we can have a chat, see if your site can be cleaned up a bit.
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  • Profile picture of the author Janedoe
    The thing is that in the UK it is now on the first page for the terms

    losing weight
    how to lose weight

    I know there are a lot of searches for these terms (i'm also on the 2nd page for "losing weight" in the U.S.)
    Check Alexa. It shows no search engine traffic at all for your site.
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    • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
      To be honest I would start again. The site is awful, the domain name is pointless and the content is confusing.

      Pick one or two products and focus. Lose the adsense - you want people to buy your products, not click on a link and leave.

      Choose a keyword targetted domain name. Put up a Wordpress site, optimised to sell one or two products only (if two, make sure they are related).

      You are in a high competition niche - you need to focus on some targeted keywords and work hard to drive traffic.

      Sometimes it isn't worth flogging the proverbial dead horse.

      Just start again. That's what I would do.

      Put it down to experience and learning. Lose the company, buy your own domain name and get your own hosting.
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      • Profile picture of the author LynnM
        Something's been done right - because you're at number 7 on Google UK for both phrases you mention. The site is a pr2 and you have nearly 500 backlinks to the front page (12 from .gov and .edu sites which usually carry more weight), and over a thousand overall for the site. So maybe you have been paying mainly for backlinking services.

        The problem now is that, if you strike out on your own with a new site, you'll be starting from scratch and having to build those backlinks again.

        There isn't anything being sold on the top half of the index page - perhaps you should consider a good quality ebook, some physical affiliate products or an opt-in box to build a subscriber list. Or a combination.


        Lynn
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  • Profile picture of the author paulduncan
    Hi, thanks to all of you for your tips, i really appreciate it. I think you have offered some really good tips. I have taken everything on board, and it seems a common theme that the first page is too cluttered.

    So I need to tidy up a lot. Should i focus on promoting just 1 product llike fat loss 4 idiots or put about 3 on the homepage?
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