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Please look at one of my old sites and tell me what I did wrong!?!?

by derh
14 replies
Ok, In my signature area is a link to an old site that I'm about ready to let lapse. It is for a clickbank product.

<< I NEVER MADE A SELL WITH IT, NEVER GOT ON PAGE 1 OF GOOGLE, AND HAD VERY LITTLE IF ANY TRAFFIC>>

All this dispite following a program outlining exactly how build clickbank product websites. I don't blame the program.

My failure, my fault...no one elses!!

OK, WHAT I'M ASKING:

I am going to begin a new website promoting tangible Amazon Products this time.

So...

Can you guys look at this old site and really critic it and tell me were I went wrong so I don't make the same mistakes again, with.


Thanks for your future help with matter!!!
#old site #sites #wrong
  • Profile picture of the author jan roos
    I think you already mentioned where you went wrong. Without even looking t the site I can tell you its because you havent sent targeted traffic to it.

    Without traffic even the best sites in the world will make no money.

    Focus on getting targeted traffic and lots of it. If you can do that then your IM career will flourish.

    Cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author derh
      Originally Posted by jan roos View Post

      I think you already mentioned where you went wrong. Without even looking t the site I can tell you its because you havent sent targeted traffic to it.

      Without traffic even the best sites in the world will make no money.

      Focus on getting targeted traffic and lots of it. If you can do that then your IM career will flourish.

      Cheers
      Jan,

      I backlinked this site through several outlets like ping, digg, reddit and about 30 more.

      What else am I missing?
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      • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
        Originally Posted by derh View Post

        I backlinked this site through several outlets like ping, digg, reddit and about 30 more.

        What else am I missing?
        Dozens more social bookmarking sites. Directory listings. Article marketing. Onsite seo. Keyword research and optimisation. Yahoo answers. etc, etc

        Your new site will fail for the same reasons. It doesn't matter how good the design is - without visitors you won't make sales.
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        • Profile picture of the author derh
          Originally Posted by rosetrees View Post

          Dozens more social bookmarking sites. Directory listings. Article marketing. Onsite seo. Keyword research and optimisation. Yahoo answers. etc, etc
          What do you mean by Directory Listings?

          I'm Not much of an article writer... Are there ways around this? (is it even needed if I'm selling Amazon Products?)
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    • Profile picture of the author SeanyG
      ^^^ I agree with the above.

      Also your first post says "today I am starting this service".

      Your copy doesn't make me feel like you are an expert. If I am looking for advice, I'm not going to trust / use a service that just started.

      Furthermore, the site isn't designed to appeal to any specific market. Perhaps have some relevant pictures up. A black site with a pitcure of you doesn't grab my attention.

      On top of this, there are no obvious calls to action. You need to have images, bolded text or something that stands out more than a block of text to get people to take action. When I opened the site my eyes went to your picture first, then the RSS logo second...

      Then I was confused because it isn't clear what this site is about. No tag line.

      Hope this helps! Its a great start.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnLeonard
        The site is congested....Is should have information about the product and a call to action....Make it as simple as possible with a clear message telling the visitor what to do.

        If you leave people other options to click or read they will do it or they will leave....

        What have the traffic numbers been like?
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      • Profile picture of the author Bingo
        @seanyG - Great feedback mate - I'll use these..
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  • Profile picture of the author Jerlene
    The first thing you should do is get a new template. Once you have one that is more attractive, get a custom logo.
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  • Profile picture of the author dv8domainsDotCom
    True that traffic is the key to that particular market, but I see several opportunities for continued growth as far as content.

    In-Linking: in your case, your in-links point pretty much to your homepage, maybe another post or page on the text. I went to your site with the PURPOSE of identifying HOW you are leading me to your survey for me to take it. Whoah, there it is. Buried in your blogroll. Cool. But, your blogroll shouldn't even be part of your sale's funnel. Nobody is looking there. (as an example: "Click Here if you want to visit the site of the system I use!" ::: Takes me RIGHT BACK to your homepage?!?1 BLAH, if I clicked that link, I'm ready to make some money! Take me to a damn survey!!!!!!!)

    Monetizing: As far as I can tell, you only have that ONE single link that someone has to hunt for to get to where YOU get some money. There should be several click-able places in high-priority places that get YOU money when they get clicked. And they need to be visible and have good placement above the fold. Need some adsense, also. Secondary monetization is key.

    Content: If I'm hunting for surveys to take to make me some money, and I land on YOUR site, I expect you to be the expert. I want YOU to tell me what survey to take, what to expect, and make me WANT to take it. Don't tell me that you found a survey to be long and boring. Make me want to take it, make it sound great. Those surveys suck, but if I were looking for inspiration, then re-confirming that it's boring isn't going to help!

    Call to action: When they exist, only point to your homepage? Change it so that each page/post actually LINKS to a specific survey that you review in that post. Tell me what YOU gained from taking that survey, so I know what's in it for me. Tell me how EASY it was, estimate about 1/2 the time it actually took. If I have 5 minutes in mind, and you tell me it took you 5 minutes, I'll take it and finish, even if it took 10 minutes. Use strong wording in your call to action! "Take this survey NOW and earn 5 dollars in the next 5 minutes!" or similar. "Click here if you want to...." anything. Doesn't get clicked.

    List building opportunities: use one of the many list building techniques discussed here, and collect visitor info. Tagline such as "Get EXCLUSIVE, high paying FREE SURVEYS straight to your email, EVERY WEEK!!!" and keep them as repeat visitors. That sort of list would likely convert well. Find survey's for 'em to fill and you keep getting repeat income as the list grows. win-win-win.

    Given that you haven't posted since 11/2009, I image this project is long gone, but you might re-vamp and re-launch someday. Keep reg on domain so it gets aged and you don't lose work from your backlinks, but learn from your mistakes and move on.

    [edit] And yes, for gosh sake use a different template. Nova is played out and boring. Haven't seen a single site that uses it that didn't make me want to beat down on the "back" button as quick as possible.
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    • Profile picture of the author derh
      Originally Posted by dv8domainsDotCom View Post


      [edit] And yes, for gosh sake use a different template. Nova is played out and boring. Haven't seen a single site that uses it that didn't make me want to beat down on the "back" button as quick as possible.
      OK....

      What Template should I have used and where can I find it?
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    • Profile picture of the author derh
      Originally Posted by dv8domainsDotCom View Post

      In-Linking: in your case, your in-links point pretty much to your homepage, maybe another post or page on the text. I went to your site with the PURPOSE of identifying HOW you are leading me to your survey for me to take it. Whoah, there it is. Buried in your blogroll. Cool. But, your blogroll shouldn't even be part of your sale's funnel. Nobody is looking there. (as an example: "Click Here if you want to visit the site of the system I use!" ::: Takes me RIGHT BACK to your homepage?!?1 BLAH, if I clicked that link, I'm ready to make some money! Take me to a damn survey!!!!!!!)

      You are right, I just checked it all my links.. link right back to the same damn page.

      THIS BOTH INTERESTING AND FRUSTRATING.....

      As...

      When I set this site up about a year ago, I checked and made sure that the links went directly to my Affiliates product site.

      Something has happened over the year, where all my links were erased.

      Why would this be??????
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      • Profile picture of the author dv8domainsDotCom
        Originally Posted by derh View Post

        You are right, I just checked it all my links.. link right back to the same damn page.

        THIS BOTH INTERESTING AND FRUSTRATING.....

        As...

        When I set this site up about a year ago, I checked and made sure that the links went directly to my Affiliates product site.

        Something has happened over the year, where all my links were erased.

        Why would this be??????
        Bah, who knows. Fix the links, keep backlinking, find new surveys that you get some action for, and then keep pluggin' it. 1 new post per survey, there's more than just 1 survey out there, blog about 'em!

        And shiny things get clicked! (good practice for me. Have fun!)


        As far as theme goes, lol I have no clue. I'm boring with themes.
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  • Profile picture of the author derh
    Thanks guys...Anyone else?
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve MacLellan
      Thanks guys...Anyone else?
      A couple of people said they didn't like the wordpress theme. I like it. I think it's elegantly reserved, and makes good use of colors that are typically used for business sites. And I certainly hope I don't offend dv8domainsDotCom with this comment, but a gaudy header banner like that would send me away. Gaudy, doesn't inspire a sense of business, or trust to me. I think your sales page needs to be attractive enough not to scare people away, but then most people don't pay too much attention to your graphics until they have been there four or five times (according to Jakob Nielsen on usability testing).

      What you need to do is to create a sales letter and set Wordpress to show this page as your homepage. What I see there now are just a few blog posts -- these aren't sales letters. And then you need a headline that will draw some attention. This doesn't work: Earn Money Taking Surveys- Review of Paid Surveys Etc.

      You want something more along the lines: "Would You Like to Know How Mrs. Lesk Earned $3,450.00 in September doing paid surveys from Her Home?

      (Never open with a question that can be answered with a no. If they close the browser, they aren't your target market. If they are your target market they will answer yes to themselves and keep reading.)

      Then your sub-head has to be almost as strong. It needs to justify the reader interest wit ha promise, that you are going to show them.

      Of course this doesn't mean that you have to sell the farm, but if you haven't proved you're capable of living up to that promise within the next 2-3 paragraphs, you're going to lose most of your readers there.

      The to your left you will have bullet points with the best benefit of your program and a signup box to the right urging them to get on your list for a free report so they can learn about your evaluation of the top 10 programs and why Mrs Lesk chose the one she did. Of course when you make your conclusion as to what one is best, it has a link to order.

      Underneath the bullet points and signup box you have some testimonials, followed by another 2-3 paragraphs of features, followed by another bullet list of benefits, followed by more testimonials. Order links here and there throughout.

      Realize that most people are not going to buy the first time they see your offer. They say the rule of thumb for print is about seven times. For the web it is about 10 times. This means you need a 12 part followup autoresponder series that will offer content as well as a link to your product. The idea is you really want to help people be successful with this program. The secret to life is honesty and fairness. If you can fake that, you've got it made...

      I'm not a copywriter, but I've been working for people who are for a long time. This is what they would do. Your headline is the most important element on your page -- and you don't have one.

      (he-he) sorry about hat line of faking honesty and fairness. I've always thought programs like this were bogus anyway, so that might be an issue you want to address in your sales copy. If people like you and trust you, they will buy from you providing they have a strong enough need/want and motivation. Your follow up autoresponder needs to provide the motivation. Get them excited about it. Excitement -- this is something sorely lacking in your current blog posts. If you aren't excited about it, you can't expect them to be excited about it.

      Hope this helps!

      Regards,
      Steve MacLellan
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