Any reason to keep working with this site?

29 replies
I created the site in my signature last fall, but it has been a failure.

I got really tripped up on the domain name. I wanted an exact match domain with just the first two words, which had 1000 exact local searches, but nothing was available. So, following the advice I've seen from several people, I added the word "reviews" to my keyword phrase. But all that that accomplished was that I'm ranking on the second page of Google for the three word phrase that only gets a little more than 100 local searches. I'm not ranking at all for the first two words, which had been my intention...my site is nowhere to be seen.

Another problem is that I have a very high bounce rate - 97% - which means that the few people who come here don't stay at all and I don't know why. To my eyes, the site looks nice. But what do I know? Obviously, not very much.

I'm wondering now if I should just forget about this site, or change it somehow (how?) and make a bigger effort to get traffic. Or should I take the content (all of which I wrote myself) and use it to create a few Squidoo lens or something like that?

I would appreciate some advice from successful marketers, because frankly I don't think I have the competence to make a smart decision.


Catherine
#reason #site #working
  • Profile picture of the author dark witness
    Well, looking at the site and some of the meta data, I would say it could be optimized better. Your meta description for example starts with reviews of juice extractors and then your title is juice extractor reviews. Remember the only reason review was added was because the exact match was gone, don't actually optimize for the full word with reviews in it as well. The rest of the description should be changed a bit as well. make it a proper description with your primary keyword appearing at least twice instead of just a list of related keywords.

    You also want to get the keyword in a h2/ h3 tags as well which it does not look like it has. Plus get some formatting on the keyword, bold, italics.. not just anchor link.

    There are a few other things I would add but I am at work right now and can't really type out a long post right now.

    I am sure others will add a lot more anyway.
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    • Profile picture of the author athanne
      These are good tips I will aplly them immediately
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      • Profile picture of the author CatherineMay
        Thanks so much for all the suggestions...I don't think I can handle anymore, lol! I've made some changes, and will be making more.

        Catherine
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  • Profile picture of the author jrodriguez315
    Amazon tends to be a tough affiliate to make significant money with unless you are getting enormous traffic for something that is enormously popular. You might want to put a squeeze page on this site and start building a list that you can promote offers to.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bruce NewMedia
    I tend to agree with jrodriguez315 above....any single site selling Amazon stuff, just isn't going to pay much, imo. Unless you have lots of traffic, and due to the small commissions, I personally wouldn't invest much more time in it.

    This juicer you have featured on the review site sells for $89, of which at 5% commission you'd make $4.45, just approx. ...and to me insufficient to warrant all the work.
    _____
    Bruce
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  • Profile picture of the author Ralf Skirr
    Another problem is that I have a very high bounce rate - 97% - which means that the few people who come here don't stay at all and I don't know why. To my eyes, the site looks nice. But what do I know? Obviously, not very much.
    The main question here is: Is it targeted traffic? Where does that traffic come from? How do they find your site?

    If they aren't targeted traffic (meaning = not really looking for juice extractor reviews), then a high bounce rate would be normal.

    It's highly unlikely that targeted traffic would bounce this high.

    Next thing to look at is:

    Is your site actually encouraging click troughs to further pages?


    - Hyperlinks are not underlined. Thus they are not immediately recognizable as hyperlinks.
    - There's no top navigation
    - The pages section is boringly and meaningless titled 'pages', thus not generating interest with people looking for reviews.
    - the pages themselves only display the product name. That is probably good for SEO, but not very enticing for readers. Someone looking for the exact specific model might click it, but no one else.
    - links to irrelevant pages like about and privacy policy are mixed with the links to the actual articles.

    The blog description - that has the potential to qualify a visitor - is hard to read (not enough contrast to background color for the given small font), and positioned in a way where it is easily overlooked.

    Now each of these points above could be changed to increase the likelihood of click throughs. But none will work if the traffic is not
    targeted.

    I'm not ranking at all for the first two words, which had been my intention...my site is nowhere to be seen.
    Reality check: There are Trillions of pages / URLs out there. What have you done to convince Google to put you on page 1? How many back links did you create? How old is your site?

    You just need to work more on that and the site has chances to move up into SERPs. Don't give up too early. It requires work, but once you achieved it for this site, you know how it works and can repeat with other sites.

    Or should I take the content (all of which I wrote myself) and use it to create a few Squidoo lens or something like that?
    Nah, don't do that. Building your own internet real estate is always better than helping other's build their site big and strong. The purpose of Squidoo and the like in your marketing is to support your own site, not to replace it.

    Not meant to frustrate you, but to help you identify possible problems and solutions.

    Ralf
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    • Profile picture of the author CatherineMay
      Thanks, Ralf, and everyone else.

      You aren't making me frustrated at all. This site has already made me frustrated! The specific knowledge you are sharing is really helping me understand what I need to do.

      I'm going to wait several hours before I start making changes to see if anyone else has anything to share. I want to hear it all!

      Howie, no, I've not made one sale. Nada. And, according to my tracking ID, rarely a clickthru.

      Catherine
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    • Profile picture of the author Gail_Curran
      I think your site has a lot of potential and is worth a bit more effort. In addition to the above good advice, you should also be working on getting many more backlinks, especially with targeted anchor text. Consider blog commenting and blog networks to get those backlinks. The reviews could also benefit from more obvious links to Amazon: "CLICK HERE to see the special price on Amazon." Don't be subtle, tell your visitor what to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author HowieM
    Have you made any sells with your website?
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  • Profile picture of the author palmer9999
    Judging by the alexa ranking 24million its not doing to well. First thing I would do is add a whole lot more content. Different Juice extractors "Top Juice extractor of the week.

    Google "Rate my site" after you have done this submit to as many blogs as you can and get loads of feedback as to what they think what needs to be improved.

    IMO I wouldn't give up yet slap on some google ads keep it up! Don't give up!!!!!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author rajivkumar900
    Backlinks are missing in order to rank for any keyword..only 9 links are showing in seo quak.. second thing, you can include widgets as well, i have seen you are not using widget codes at all, if you need help just pm me or mail me here rajivkumar900@gmail.com
    I will sort out this for you.

    one more thing, see mate you have created pages only, create some post as well, i have seen i got more success with post instead of pages..i dont know exact reason why it happen but results are fruitful....
    Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    I could give you 101 different suggestions on what to do and how to fix this, but one thing I have learnt in this industry is that they cant ALL be winners.

    You have to learn to know which ones to focus on, and which to flick.

    For me, a failure doesnt necessarily mean a loss. It just means a change in strategy. Typically this involves adsense. Throw some ads on there and let it do its thing.

    Focus on the sites that are making $$$ and forget about trying to "fix" the duds.

    That is of course you are certain you've exhausted all options.
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    • Profile picture of the author Venturetothetop
      Well if i had 100 searches for that domain that were targeted I would sure as heck keep it.

      Quick suggestion:

      This is something I implemented on various Amazon affili sites with great success.

      Copy a few testimonials from Amazon concerning your product. Then underneath add a link to Amazon but instead of wiritng 'buy now from Amazon change it to 'click here to read more reviews about product xyz'

      That simple change will increase your clickthrough rate. It's ok, you can send me the cheque (check for N.americans) for your success in the post...
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Before I abandoned the site I would reconfigure it and put some reviews in table form on the site.

      If I'm looking for juice extractors I don't want to read a bunch of text about one type - I want to find a page where the leading juice extractors are compared by feature, price, etc.

      I'd use a table and each brand would link to a page going into more detail about that particular brand which would include customer reviews, special features, etc.

      Though there's more than one brand featured on the site, the initial impression is the site is about one brand.

      I'd try that before dumping the site. And even then I wouldn't take it offline but I'd let it sit for a while and age and perhaps you'll come up with a better plan for it later.

      kay
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      • Profile picture of the author CatherineMay
        Kay, your suggestion is the one I was already seriously thinking about before I started this thread. But then when I sat down in front of the computer to work on re-designing the website along those lines, I just felt too discouraged about the whole thing to put in the effort.

        Thanks to all the responses here, my mood has totally changed and I'm determined to turn this site around.

        Catherine
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  • Profile picture of the author Sojourn
    Catherine - There are lots of indications that this is a niche in which you could do well. There are lots of different product choices on Amazon which means there's a place for someone who can help potential buyers understand their choices.

    There are hundreds of reviews on Amazon for some of those extractors which tends to indicate that people do buy these online.

    The average price range looks great so you could make a decent commission selling a $100-200 product.

    Competition for your main keyword is beatable with some effort. Search volume for the short tail phrase is strong.

    There are fairly new sites ranking well for reviews of the individual bestsellers and those reviews are way too brief and not well formatted.

    As others have mentioned, there are some things that could be done to improve your site's rankings, clickthroughs and conversions:

    • Improve your site optimization (your site title isn't wrapped in H1 title tags on the home page, your main keyword includes the word "reviews" but your review titles themselves don't include the word "review" or "reviews" - little things that add up)
    • Improve site navigation - when someone lands on your home page, it isn't clear where they're supposed to go next or what they're supposed to do. There are no tabs, just a list of a few pages in the sidebar. Make your site more inviting and easier to use. Here's what I tell those I mentor: Pretend you had to find the best juice extractor for your boss or you'd be fired. Bring up the top ranking sites for your product and see if you can confidently find information that assures you a particular product is the best one for your boss. Try to do the same on your site. Is there a difference? Are you missing some things on your site that would make it easier for your visitors to find what they want?
    • You need a lot more content
    • You need a lot more backlinks
    Products like this do really well because not all of the juicers offer the same options and features which means buyers can get confused about which one they should buy. If you can get into their heads and do their homework for them by doing thorough reviews and adding content like "Top 5 xxxx" or "Compare xxxx to xxxx", you'll find your traffic will grow. Build your site like it was the best personal shopper on the planet for your product.

    If, however, you can't get into the topic to do that kind of research or organize that kind of content, then move on to a niche about which you can get - and stay - excited. It will be easier to stay motivated through the initial dry spell.

    Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Kay, your suggestion is the one I was already seriously thinking about before I started this thread. But then when I sat down in front of the computer to work on re-designing the website along those lines, I just felt too discouraged about the whole thing to put in the effort.
      That's normal - you're burned out on the topic right now. Don't dump it - just let it run as it is for now and do something new.

      Once you are away from it for a while the ideas will come together and in a few weeks - or months - you'll be ready to attack it again.

      One thing I do when I have a site I'm sick of yet not ready to dump - I start a notepad file on my computer (in the site's folder) with ideas/references/etc that might be useful on that site. Now and then I think of something and add a paragraph or some ideas to the text file - when I am ready to work on the site again I've got some "stuff" ready to polish up and put on the site.

      kay
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Catherine, without performing an indepth website audit, one of the first issues I can see (onsite that is) is that you have no categories. You have ALL of your pages hanging directly off the root. This isnt so good for SEO.

    Try this.

    http://juiceextractorreviews.org/breville-juicers/

    then put all your breville related stuff in there

    http://juiceextractorreviews.org/waring-juicers/

    then put all your waring juicers stuff in here

    GET MY POINT?

    THEN.....

    Put your articles like this one.....

    Benefits of Juicing for You and Your Family |

    Under
    http://juiceextractorreviews.org/articles/

    Make sense?

    PS. You should be backlinking to your category pages as well.
    PPS. If you make these changes dont forget to update your htaccess file with proper redirects.
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  • Profile picture of the author Giftys
    Catherine, I wouldn't move your content. Better to leave it right where it is. The conversion might not be there but the site is still building history. You just can't see it. But with all the work you've put into it, you'd be better off selling it than dumping it.

    After trying some of the tips mentioned by the other posters, I think it's important to ask yourself, "Do I like working on this subject?" If you truthfully answer, "no" , I would dump that sucker like a hot potato and move on to something that you're more passionate about. Sometimes you can diversify within one niche. For example, I use drumming (I'm a professional drummer) but I have spread out within this niche and created many sites that have to do with drumming. I absolutely "love" this subject and I could work on it till my fingers fall off. And in fact. I have no fingers!

    Ok that last part's not true but anyway... I would just hope that you "love" the things you're spending so much time trying to make money on. And if you do, that's perfect! Than I would take that ball and run with it and don't look back. It might take some time but with the right SEO and following some of the suggestions, it will eventually pay off.

    Here's another tip. Find a wholesaler and buy yourself some juicers. Then you can make $20 to $100 per sale rather than $4.00. Retail is a bit more involved and your overhead will build if you grow it, but there's money to be made in retail too. I've done quite well with it.

    Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
      Originally Posted by Giftys View Post

      Catherine, I wouldn't move your content. Better to leave it right where it is. The conversion might not be there but the site is still building history. You just can't see it.
      Often restructuring a site can help tremedously with achieving better rankings. As part of an overall SEO strategy, its certainly something I would implement immediately on this site.

      Shifting stuff around is a non issue if its done right.
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      • Profile picture of the author Linda_C
        Originally Posted by ramone_johnny View Post

        Shifting stuff around is a non issue if its done right.
        Exactly. And you don't really have to "shift" anything. Not like the old days of moving html files into folders.

        Just add categories, change permalink to /%category%/%postname%/ and then assign each post to a category.


        Everyone else has talked about SEO, structure, etc.... so I'm going to address the giant elephant in the middle of the room that everyone has ignored. Where are the pictures?? The visual appeal? The "Ooh, nice juicer" effect? It's AWOL.


        I'm not kidding. Go to Amazon and search for juice extractors in Appliances. LOOK at the page. They SHOW the juicers. So people can look at them and say "ooh, this would look nice in my kitchen!"


        Your site screams AFFILIATE so loudly that I want to tell it to hush up and use it's inside voice. There is absolutely nothing, visually, to make me feel like the site is a mecca for people who love kitchen gadgets. And that's who buys juice extractors. People who aren't "kitchen" people buy orange juice in a cardboard box in the fridge at the supermarket.


        Part of making a website "work" is understanding who your target customer is, and what they're expecting to see. When I hit up the kitchen stores (locally) they're a total mind buzz of visual kitchen-oooh. Your site isn't. SEO and copy are important, but how a site "feels" and the visual message it sends is important, too.


        And beyond that -- Kay is right. Very, very right. Comparisons are awesome. Amazon doesn't offer them. You can. It would be something YOU have that Amazon doesn't -- and a good reason for people to come back to your site as they decide which to order, especially if they don't order on the first click.


        And yes, list building is never a BAD idea. Kitchen people who don't buy juice in a box like other appliances, too. But should you decide to promote any, you have no way to reach them at present.


        /rant. lol. Good luck with the site.
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveB
    I agree with Ramone_Johnny...you can work this site with the specific products, write articles for ezine etc, put up some videos (there is a fellow on this site that will do amazon videos for products) and tweet, enter forums re: health etc, the usual stuff..nothing wrong with name ...just need to have your website all over the internet and that is how you get to page 1...so that no matter where anyone goes it is your website they connect to...
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveB
    just thinking your site needs a bit of SEO, backlinking etc. and you may want to hire someone to do that - go to fiverr.com get all seo, etc done for 5$ - get videos done etc on products on the cheap...you can learn about it later as it takes a bit of time to learn it all -or take Rajiv up on his offer depending what you can afford.
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  • Profile picture of the author goodmast3r
    If you want to rank higher put the product image with your keyword as ALT tag. Just realize http://juiceextractorreviews.org/bre...uice-fountain/ is not working.

    Does the product cost more $50? If not , it's not worth it.
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  • Profile picture of the author tech2734
    Sorry if someone else pointed this out (have not read the entire thread) but this is just my two cents from viewing your site. There is no clear call to action anywhere on your site. When I landed there, I got the feeling it was ONLY reviews and nothing being offered for sale.
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  • Profile picture of the author Teravel
    I think the biggest problem with the site is that every link I click on that says "Click Here for Full Review" brings me to a 404 error page. If a reader cant get to your review, why would they click through to Amazon?

    My suggestion: Check every link on your site to make sure it is pointing to the right location. It may seem like a pain in the butt, but it's better than starting over and possibly repeating the same problem.
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  • Profile picture of the author bertyounger
    You might be tempted to start a new project but keep in mind this site has aged 5 months and that is moving you that much closer toward getting some authority, you just need the SEO optimization plus the backlinks to get some ranking.
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  • Profile picture of the author morg2k2
    I believe the niche is does not gather huge traffic, then you´re selling one only product with a very low comission so to be interesting you should sell at least 15-20 products daily and since you cant gather traffic you need to use paid traffic that will be extremely expensive for the gains you will get on the future, i believe the conversion rate also shall be very low (below 1%). If you really want to invest here you need to make some videos and publish on the higher ranked site (Viddler, youtube, metacafe, etc) and your ranks will rise, then you can also do some article submission on the highest ranked directories and for last but not least you should use Xrumer services to blast a few k´s of profile blasts so you ranked higher. Another good option is going on the Social networks like FB , YW, MS, etc but the conversion of this product will be very low, since people here likes more dating, movies, songs, etc...
    If it was me i would burried it or.... tried to sell it on flippa.
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    • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
      Hi Catherine,

      I think your site is attractive.

      Just a few more ideas

      I just clicked through and read one of the reviews and to me there was no clear call to action. Yes you had click links but they did not tell the person what to do. People need to be told to buy such and such now.

      You seem to be directing people to one juicer. It may be to pricey for them.

      Did you look at Amazon to see what is selling the best?

      Also find the words you can compete for and start backlinking.

      And finally where is your DISCLOSURE POLICY as required by the FTC?
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