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Put yourself in their shoes - Serously! the only way to succeed online..

by zaco
9 replies
Hey Warriors,

I just thought I would share this, I know alot of IM marketers use this method but I have noticed the Majority of people on our Forum do not realize the importance of this, I was one of the people who never thought about it this way.

I have noticed many Marketers are creating websites just to make money ( huh! we all want to make money! ) but they ignore the fact that you need to understand how people would think about your product or whatever you are marketing...I will take Amazon affiliates as an example:

I have noticed most of the Amazon affiliate Marketers want to create a site or 100s of sites and put reviews on them to make quick money, alot of the users build a site with few products and use wordpress or Joomla to create their site, just put reviews all over the place and build a right menu and boom! then they come here and start complaining how they do not make money even if they are ranking but without any sales.

Always "put yourself in your visitors shoes" how would u feel if you went to a website and it has reviews all over the place, unorganized , you cannot browse the site because there is no way to find what you want? no categories or anything that combines the products under a specific category.. there are 2 options, you will close that site and go search again or you will click on any link on the site to run away, the majority would go with the first option and I know I would do that.

I ran into the same problem, I have designed a website and I thought it was the best, when I showed it to my friends they told me to change everything, I thought about it and it was true! when you create something you always think it is the best and it will make money. Yahoo has the same issue, their developers think the site is great, but the moment you visit their site you run away because u get lost!

I know many Marketers won't agree with me but for the long run I think you should Make your website more organized and categorize everything, at some point Google will hit the sites that have few pages and they only promote affiliate links , so why not work on one huge website and make it look as neat as u can so people can go from one section to another section in your website without feeling lost and loosing the interest and look for a better site..do not use alot of colors in your site, keep it simple and organized.

Excuse my messed up English lol its not my first or second language
#online #put #serously #shoes #succeed
  • Profile picture of the author KenJ
    Originally Posted by zaco View Post


    I ran into the same problem, I have designed a website and I thought it was the best, when I showed it to my friends they told me to change everything, I thought about it and it was true! when you create something you always think it is the best and it will make money. Yahoo has the same issue, their developers think the site is great, but the moment you visit their site you run away because u get lost!
    I have been experimenting with two dedicated Amazon sites since September.

    I also made the "Mistake" of showing one of my sites to a friend. He is a highly experienced programmer of 30 years and writes software that most of use every day. He told in me quite clearly that the site was no good as no visitor would stay more than 5 seconds.
    I use one of those premium themes designed for amazon affiliates. Having been brought down from my high horse I can see that my friend is right. Why would anyone stay on my silly little amazon site?

    Kenj
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    No worries about your English, friend, your meaning came through loud and clear.

    And I agree with you. There's too much focus on getting the perfect theme, which usually means the right header graphic. Too much focus on tricky plugins and such.

    The ideal landing page takes your visitor from where they are to where you want them to be, and to get there happy for having made the journey. That means that you may need more than one landing page.

    For example, think about why someone is looking to buy a product. Is it a new purchase? A replacement for a previous purchase? A gift for someone else? These are just three possible scenarios, all of which might benefit from a slightly different approach.

    Clear, simple navigation is a good start. Using categries and tags can also help. As can providing 'decision trees' which lead people to the page that matches their situation.

    Or they could just grab another "productXYZreviewz.com" domain and get to slapping up another token review...
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  • Profile picture of the author zaco
    Thanks for the great responses! I feel that Google is planning big a slap for the affiliate sites, Thanks for Eddie Titan , he actually mentioned this to me then I started to research and I noticed alot of the affiliate sites have maybe 10 pages max and they are ranking but IMO Google will take down all these sites to the bottom of the search Engine, I see it as common sense.

    I also feel that Google will take out the exact domain match from their Algorithm, alot of Warriors will disagree with me but guys it is coming.. like alot of the top rated keywords have productnameX.com , what is X? seriously IMO "again" people abused the search engine so much when it comes to exact domain match, the only way Google will keep your website is by providing good and organized content! to have a domain like mountainbicyclesx.com won't get you anywhere in the near future.

    I am not sure if my way is the best or the other Marketers way, everybody is advising to create alot of sites with 5 products reviews and move to build another site, somehow it makes sense since you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket but what if Google decides to look at all the baskets and take them down since they do not provide alot of content and they are not user friendly, I have heard that Google began to monitor top rated sites that get alot of visitors and they have a whole team to do that to determine if the sites should be ranked.

    I actually Agree on this approach since it will make alot of webmasters create more valuable websites, hey I would be pissed if I go to a site at the first page and it provides rubbish! no offense but it is a waste of time and if Google keeps ranking these sites then people will start using other search engines or look for other alternatives. I am assuming Google will only be looking at the link after the domain which is fair! site.com/keyword-product so alot of the sites will rank no matter if their domain has the keyword or no
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  • Profile picture of the author Marcus Rockey
    I have really enjoyed this thread.

    I am one of those fore mentioned money seeking affiliates. I am in a state of flux, responding to yours and others comments. Providing value and trust must come first.

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author frankl
    It's true. I think the problem is that we go crazy about SEO optimized articles and content, but that kind of content is not for human beings, they are for search engines.
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    • Profile picture of the author zaco
      Originally Posted by marcus100 View Post

      I have really enjoyed this thread.

      I am one of those fore mentioned money seeking affiliates. I am in a state of flux, responding to yours and others comments. Providing value and trust must come first.

      Thanks


      I was at the same position few months ago but then I realized that the slap is coming lol so I changed all my methods and way of thinking, whether you have 1 or 100 sites and you don't build friendly user interface with good content then you will face a problem, I don't want to rank and get used to getting a check every month then I quit my job and BOOM google slaps me tho it can happen even if your site is Good..but the odds are less




      Originally Posted by frankl View Post

      It's true. I think the problem is that we go crazy about SEO optimized articles and content, but that kind of content is not for human beings, they are for search engines.
      So true..I see some sites with valuable content but I have to literally DIG to find what I want on that site or I would simply leave

      I believe in the 1 site covering 1 niche or related products but I am not in a position to tell IMers what is the best since I am not a successful Marketer lol the most I made was 500$ and I already double but I learn from my mistakes.

      I bought alot of products that I never needed or I actually never used, that doesn't mean the product is bad, it was my lack of commitment, I kept jumping from one niche to another because I want to rank in 1 month and I don't even provide anything, just build rubbish sites and put content, even tho I spent countless hours on the sites, that doesn't mean anything if it doesn't provide a value and its easy to navigate... I lose interest and jump to another one, this was the biggest MISTAKE I ever made
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  • Profile picture of the author matt5409
    Zaco you've hit the nail on the head here. There was a related thread a week or so ago about "the need for dozens of crap Amazon sites" and I agree this is NOT the way to go.

    Aside from the fact that Google is completely uninterested in you as an affiliate, it doesn't make good business to be creating hundreds of miniature sites. Sure you have the security of not having all your eggs in one basket etc, but don't you want something to be proud of??? Instead of starting from scratch every time, why don't people work toward something special. Something they can be PROUD to show their friends.

    Just a thought.
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    • Profile picture of the author zaco
      Originally Posted by matt5409 View Post

      Zaco you've hit the nail on the head here. There was a related thread a week or so ago about "the need for dozens of crap Amazon sites" and I agree this is NOT the way to go.

      Aside from the fact that Google is completely uninterested in you as an affiliate, it doesn't make good business to be creating hundreds of miniature sites. Sure you have the security of not having all your eggs in one basket etc, but don't you want something to be proud of??? Instead of starting from scratch every time, why don't people work toward something special. Something they can be PROUD to show their friends.

      Just a thought.
      Thanks man, yes I really cannot believe that alot of people are giving the newbies ( like me) that advice and asking them to create the mini sites, no offense to anyone but matt5409 said , don't you want to be proud of what you have created?

      The 5 pages site doesn't look good on you first, and trust me you are losing sales and customers because of that approach.. even if the 5 pages sites or mini sites work for now and make a decent income, in the near future Google will make you the mini Marketer Google is not that dumb.. they do changes then they research how people react to them and when people start abusing the algorithm..Google decides to slap .. if you are one of the owner of these sites then you will be slapped and regret quitting your fulltime job since Google doesn't love your sites anymore
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Bronson
    Zaco - I agree with you as well. I think a while back having 100 mini-sites could work, with quick and dirty backlinking strategies.

    However, from a visitor perspective, I'd rather visit a site that is niche specific AND has a passionate site owner who really knows the niche and keeps the content updated on a regular basis. This is more transparent to the site visitor and genuine. It a good strategy for the long run as well, I mean how can you really promote 100 sites without spamming?

    Where if you run one or two quality sites in a niche, it becomes an asset you can build upon and get known in your niche, instead of 100 micro throwaway sites.

    If someone is for example a bicycle enthusiast, would it make sense for he/she to have 100 sites covering everything from vacuum cleaners to lawnmowers?

    Instead , he/she could post photos of events they frequent, affiliate links to information products in that niche, sell ad space, do genuine product video reviews and have engaged site visitors who know the site owner is for real.
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