So, This Marketing Stuff Really DOES Work....
First off, a HUGE thank you to all Warriors. As many marketing books I've purchased in the last few months, most of my best information has come from this forum. You are all the best!
Second, I have to tell my short story, hopefully to encourage anyone who is currently
struggling.
A few months ago, I put up a free niche blog at Blogger. Posted a couple of articles to it, placed links to my affiliate product.
I set up a mailing list and offered a free report to entice subscribers.
I submitted this blog to all the social bookmarking sites, blog directories, PPC on Adwords, etc., just like I'd been told to do.
Nothing. After three or four months, a grand total of seven subscribers and no sales. My unique hits per day hovered around 4-6. Talk about frustrating!
So, just a week ago, I came up with an idea. I bought a domain name and installed Word Press on it. I've put up four posts, I think, as of today. My posts don't try to sell anything, I just have a bunch of banners and links to affiliate products on each page.
After four days, my stats tell me I've had over 800 unique hits in the last 24 hours. And, my site wasn't even indexed by Google until yesterday, so that's not the source of my traffic.
Why am I getting traffic now, when I couldn't before?
Well, for one thing, there's a lot more interest in my new niche than the niche on the free blog. I say that because the bulk of my traffic is coming from social networking sites, the same ones I used to submit the old blog to.
Also, I believe that using Word Press, and having it ping hundreds of ping sites after each post is helping. Couldn't do that with Blogger.
That's about all I know right now. I've spent so long trying to GET some traffic, that I've never had time to learn how to really use the analytics and analyze what works and what doesn't. Now I can.
It's early yet. Like I said, it's only been a few days. I haven't gotten any sales yet, however I'm not really worried about that. See, as long as I'm getting some traffic, I can now focus more energy on tweaking the site until it starts bringing in orders.
I guess the point of this is, just because one thing isn't working, it doesn't mean nothing will work. Talk about discouraged. I was SO ready to call it quits, and if there were any jobs available in my area, I might have done just that.
I know, many of you are reading this, rolling your eyes, "OMG, she hasn't even gotten any sales yet! What's she so happy about?"
Finding a niche that will make money can seem elusive until you actually find one. And, getting traffic can be VERY hard for those of us just starting out with no SEO experience, or a mailing list or money for PPC.
I've conquered both of these. I found a niche that people are interested in and they're coming to my site. THAT'S why I'm so happy!
I'm a couple of giant steps closer to my goal. And all because I didn't give up.
Second, I have to tell my short story, hopefully to encourage anyone who is currently
struggling.
A few months ago, I put up a free niche blog at Blogger. Posted a couple of articles to it, placed links to my affiliate product.
I set up a mailing list and offered a free report to entice subscribers.
I submitted this blog to all the social bookmarking sites, blog directories, PPC on Adwords, etc., just like I'd been told to do.
Nothing. After three or four months, a grand total of seven subscribers and no sales. My unique hits per day hovered around 4-6. Talk about frustrating!
So, just a week ago, I came up with an idea. I bought a domain name and installed Word Press on it. I've put up four posts, I think, as of today. My posts don't try to sell anything, I just have a bunch of banners and links to affiliate products on each page.
After four days, my stats tell me I've had over 800 unique hits in the last 24 hours. And, my site wasn't even indexed by Google until yesterday, so that's not the source of my traffic.
Why am I getting traffic now, when I couldn't before?
Well, for one thing, there's a lot more interest in my new niche than the niche on the free blog. I say that because the bulk of my traffic is coming from social networking sites, the same ones I used to submit the old blog to.
Also, I believe that using Word Press, and having it ping hundreds of ping sites after each post is helping. Couldn't do that with Blogger.
That's about all I know right now. I've spent so long trying to GET some traffic, that I've never had time to learn how to really use the analytics and analyze what works and what doesn't. Now I can.
It's early yet. Like I said, it's only been a few days. I haven't gotten any sales yet, however I'm not really worried about that. See, as long as I'm getting some traffic, I can now focus more energy on tweaking the site until it starts bringing in orders.
I guess the point of this is, just because one thing isn't working, it doesn't mean nothing will work. Talk about discouraged. I was SO ready to call it quits, and if there were any jobs available in my area, I might have done just that.
I know, many of you are reading this, rolling your eyes, "OMG, she hasn't even gotten any sales yet! What's she so happy about?"
Finding a niche that will make money can seem elusive until you actually find one. And, getting traffic can be VERY hard for those of us just starting out with no SEO experience, or a mailing list or money for PPC.
I've conquered both of these. I found a niche that people are interested in and they're coming to my site. THAT'S why I'm so happy!
I'm a couple of giant steps closer to my goal. And all because I didn't give up.
Ed Sunderland