I'm pretty good. So why are my hits so low, why can't I make any money??

by 52 replies
61
I do not want to get into specifics about who I am or what I do because I do not want it linked back to me personally. I'm also not really interested in IM for the sake of IM. But I think this is the very best place to get answers as to why I am just so unsuccessful.

I participate in a one-man sport that millions and millions of people in the US and around the world participate in regularly. Billions are spent on this recreation in the US alone each year. I am far from being at the top of the field professionally, but I have quite a lot of experience and successes. I have dozens of awards and citations, and dozens more photographic evidence. I've appeared in nearly every national magazine in the United States that covers the subject (4 major and 6 minor these have average circulations of ~ 100,000 each).

I'm also a fairly good writer. I edited a few print publications and wrote for several more, back when that was something that could actually make you a living.

Additionally, I used to "coach" in this sport, per session, making a decent amount of money.

What makes me unique in my field is that I participate in all aspects of it, and do it all over the world. Usually a professional person participates in only one aspect of the field, concentrated in one country or even one region. Amateurs, who make up the bulk of participants, are more general in their approach.

So clearly I know what I'm doing in the field. It's in SEO and IM that I am having problems then I guess.

Two years ago, I created a wordpress blog on my own domain. I only added a little content. Decent, but only about 8 entries; a mix of how-to and magazine article type stuff. Then I got busy with other things.

I came back to it all this past summer. I bought a premium Wordpress theme that looks really great, updated everything, and added a lot of quality content with hi-res photos, details, how-to, where-to, etc. I also uploaded a few short videos to Youtube that cross linked. I've been adding content every week or two. Almost always magazine length (1000-3000 word) articles that would be suitable for print publication. Some of this stuff is general, some of it is very niche. I now have 30 solid entries.

I did a guest post on a blog, did link exchanges with 5 blogs, did some forum posts with the blog linked in my sig.

After all of this, I use Wassup on Wordpress to find out I am getting 7-10 unique visits a day from search engines (almost all Google, very few from Bing). That's it. And most only view 1 or 2 pages each before leaving. Outside of search engines, I get 1-2 uniques a day. My youtube videos have 25-50 views each.

I have Google ads at the end of every entry and in the sidebar. I also use the Amazon affiliate program, with recommended products on the sidebar. I have affiliate links in the articles when I mention specific products too. I have sold two 125x125 ads to people I know IRL, but the rate only covers my monthly hosting. I have made $1 from Amazon and $3.23 from Adsense.

I had plans to put up an ebook I'm working on that covers the sport from top to bottom, selling it directly for 9.99. That would be my main income generator. But now I'm wondering if it's even worth it, since it looks like almost no one will see it!

What am I doing wrong?

Any general advice would be very greatly appreciated. I have become partially disabled, which is a main reason I turned to working online on my own. But it's just not performing for me. I want to be up and up, creating quality content people can use. I'm not interested in scams.

I can get more specific privately if someone has something genuine, with a proven track record, that can help.

Thanks for reading though this long, rambling post!
#main internet marketing discussion forum #good #hits #low #make #money #pretty
  • This is a tough one because it's such a general description and comment about what you're doing and who you are. You may not get a lot of replies because there is a lot open to interpretation as to what you are currently doing and what may help you.

    There are many different factors, one of them depends on the market you are in. Different markets have different needs that focus on different ways of communicating with that market that they are familiar with.

    If you are well known in your market then you should look to getting exposure through press releases for interviews, etc.

    Instead of writing a book and selling it for $9.99 I think you should think more inline with a membership site that offers coaching, etc. in your field.

    Again, I have no clue what your into so this is purely speculation on my part but hopefully you can glean some ideas from it.
  • DEO,

    Mike is right, but for me based on your description it sounds like it boils down to one thing - TRAFFIC.

    My guesstimate is that your foot print is very small.

    So basically it comes down to increasing your traffic/foot print and you should increase your earnings.

    Hope that helps,

    Justin

    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • It's hard to advise you on what's wrong when you don't provide a link to show what you are doing. Based on what you said, there are two things I can tell you. First, link exchanging is very much frowned upon and could actually cause your site to be penalized. There could also be other SEO issues. Secondly, it doesn't help that you've been away from your blog so long. Your site lost what little authority it had when you stopped posting on it the first time around.

    Joey
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks for the replies. I can say that I'm in outdoor sports (fishing / hunting) with no worry. As for the lack of updates, I understand that, but I did a complete facelift when I got back to it. And when I came back, I upped quite a few posts and back dated them, so it doesn't actually appear as if there was a huge void for new visitors.

      I think traffic is a huge problem. I mean 7 visits a day is really crap! I have been away from web content creation for a while, but I remember in the early 2000's a small publication I worked for was getting 1000 uniques a day without any attempt at SEO at all!

      For someone interested more in writing and teaching than anything to do with IM, but on a very tight budget, what can you recommend?

      Also, for the advise on link exchanges, is that really bad? Why? If I have a site about news in Poland wouldn't it be good for me to link to a prominent Polish news blogger and vice versa??
      • [2] replies
  • It would seem as though you missed a very important part of the IM equation. That is proper targeted keyword research. For instance, take a one man sport like golf. It is very popular and very lucrative. It is also very broad and competitive as far as internet marketing is concerned.

    The trick is to carve out a niche and from such a large market such as golf. In order to do that, you will want to craft your blog posts around targeted low to medium competition keywords. The niche here would be "golf tips". Here are some targeted keywords for that particular niche:

    golf tips for beginners
    golf putting tips
    golf swing tips, etc.

    You get the idea. According to google keyword tool, these terms are low to medium level competition keywords with pretty decent search volume. Which means you could probably rank for them by using some degree of seo and backlinking to your posts. You could also get decent traffic by posting various seo optimized videos on youtube with a link back to your main site or blog.

    Hope this helps.
  • I suggest you create a youtube channel with multiple videos. You should give the viewers some valuable content in the videos but I suggest the videos be no longer than 2 to 3 minutes long. At the end of the video provide a clear call to action to either subscribe to your channel or click the link below for more information on this subject matter.
  • No disrespect here but I think I might be missing something. Its all cool that you dont want to say your name etc. Thats your business. If you notice Im quite active on here and I choose to use my company name and not my real name (except for PM's) so I can understand sort of.

    However why so secretive about what you do and what your site is? I mean dont you want people to go to your website? But you refuse to post a link to your site. I dont understand that.

    Oh and by the way if your only getting 7 hits per day then thats your problem. Judging by how you refuse to even link to your site I highly doubt that this will ever change either.
    • [1] reply
    • It's not a secret, but I'd prefer if my readers not Google me or my site and come up with threads of me talking about my inability to reach my audience online. Besides, it's none of their business, just as privately owned companies don't post their strategies, business plans and books openly online.

      I'm not in the "buy this book to learn how to make money" business, not into IM, have nothing to do with SEO, etc.

      There would be no benefit in linking to my site from here since the topic is completely unrelated to what's discussed here. I do link to my site from relevant sites I participate in.

      A big part of the reason the internet is so mucked up, IMHO, is the widespread distribution of information that is simply not relevant. It's to the point now where you have to wade through tons of crap to get to anything useful.

      Ultimately, for better or worse, I put my personal principals above potential for monetary gain.
      • [1] reply
  • I would love to help but as others have suggested, there's not much to go on to provide advice that might be truly helpful. In fact, "generic" advice can often do more harm than good. I understand that you have your reasons for being secretive about your website and professional name in a public forum. However, without the ability to learn more about specifics I'm not sure you will get the truly helpful direction you need.

    If you are willing to share more information on a one-on-one basis, I would be more than happy to help. You likely can't PM me as yet, so if this is of interest to you, please feel free to use the contact form on the website shown in my signature below and let me know. We can take it from there.
  • If someone could give me an idea of exactly what they would do, how much they would charge, and how/why it would work, I would be happy to PM my info so they could have a closer work.

    I really have no idea about IM / SEO, but as a generic example, something like:

    I would look at your site and reorganize your links, change your article titles, research keywords, post links at ****, for $****, this would get you more hit by raising your prominence in Google results.

    I appreciate the offers already here and I want to look into them, but for some reason, I don't see links in any sigs here.
  • Not a valid comparison.

    I'm not interested in doing it myself. In fact, I'd be much happier if content was allowed to stand on its own merit. But it's not. So I'm here looking for people who ARE interested in marketing.

    Do you think engineers who design cars are interested in marketing them?
    • [1] reply
    • You still dont understand...

      In order to attract online traffic and income, you need to think in terms of marketing and sales, EVEN if the marketing is done by some else!

      Why? Because it is going to be very difficult to market a content that has not being created with any market-print to it.

      Question: do you think that Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, George Lucas or any Film director dont know marketing just because they are not actively involved in the film promotion? They know marketing VERY WELL: they know the type of films the market wants to watch, they know how to present their story so it engages the audience, they know the tempo they need to print to the film so people dont get bored, etc. In a nutshell: they inject marketing principles into their products from the very creation process.

      If you are not interested in marketing, chances are that whatever content you create will hardly be marketable, and thus difficult to engage any audience.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • Follow the 2:1 rule in the beginning and on until you begin to gain some real traction. For every 1 hour you write, do 2 hours of promotion.

    Now, you're well into it, but you still need to practice that. I do as well.

    Forums. You need forums of your topic to post in and become very active at as a helpful part of their community, a link in your sig, and to hope that people love you enough to visit, read, comment and enjoy on your end, and hope the advertisers on your site can entice them to check their sites out through your ads on that end.

    I'm doing that right now.
  • I would say that your first step would be to target people who are searching for you by name. That's the thing that is unique about you - who you are. Then, when the site starts getting the visitors who are looking for you, you can start thinking about targeting sports related keywords.

    Does your site have your name in it's title, contained in pages/past? Is there an "about you" page with a bio and photo?

    Do you have a Facebook page/account that you can use to direct people to your site?

    Do you have some good photos you can add to the site? Then add them to Pinterest - if people like them they will repin them.

    Hit up Yahoo Answers and answer a few questions relevant to your sports and add a link back to your site to some of them - don't overdo the linking, you dont want to be seen as a spammer.

    If you have awards and citations, do the awarding bodies have your photos/bio on their sites? If so, will they add links to your site into your bios?

    Just a few ideas.
  • As has already been stated...the fact that you are skilled and competent at what you do helps, but is only a fraction of the equation.

    I had this same discussion with a fellow scientist who is very well versed in synthetic drug development and metabolic chemistry.

    He approached me and inquired about writing and selling a book on the subject.

    His approach to diet and weight loss was very strong from a technical standpoint, but I had to explain the same thing to him.

    This stuff is half content and half marketing.

    If their are two experts on a subject and expert A has awesome content and mediocre marketing, he will easily be over-run by expert B who has mediocre content and awesome marketing...happens every day.

    How do you think Microsoft Windows became so popular.

    Sounds like you have solid content but perhaps you just underestimated how competitive the marketing front is.

    You'll just have to start at the ground level with the rest of us and learn solid web-based marketing, that's all.
  • Well, look...you are going about things with what I call "Old hat way" and the old hat is tattered and torn thanks to the most worthless company in America, GOOGLE.

    So you can expect diddly squat, because Google cares for nobody, period. They don't care if they wreck your income or what-have-you.

    You need to start learning new tactics that make Google irrelevant and make your visitors happy enough to buy.

    Sounds like you have a good site, but no "subscriber list" trust.
  • It sounds like you need to:-

    1. Add more content

    2. Build a social media following in twitter and facebook and update them when you add any new content

    3. Add some actual product reviews (ideally youtube videos)

    4. Add an opt in box and start building an email list
  • If you started aggressively promoting this summer - that's a tiny amount of time to expect results. These things take years to gain momentum
  • clickbank

    Many people create products but cant sell it themselves. The ones who are more successful can also sell their products.


    have some links or mentions in the ebook to your site. EX: "for an example of this stroke technique watch this video >> then link to the video hosted on your site
  • You mentioned that you write very long articles. Maybe you can try Squidoo, where you can create different pages (called lenses) for each of your articles. You can add different modules (Amazon/Ebay module where you can sell related stuff, videos, polls, quizes, etc.), so in the end you'll have great looking websites.

    The main advantages of Squidoo (for you):
    1) You won't need a domain or webhosting.
    2) You can get royalty even you won't sell anything on Amazon/Ebay.
    3) Google loves Squidoo, so you can get to the first page of Google easier.
    4) Your visitors will advertise your lens (they can tweet it, pin it, Facebook like it, etc.).
    5) And the most important: TRAFFIC - thousands of people visit Squidoo lenses each day, so they can find your lenses even if Google doesn't notice them.
  • Sounds like you have a hobby blog that is perfect for family and friends. An Internet presence will never be the same as Internet marketing. Your traffic will never change much without marketing. It is fine if you don't want to do any but your only other choice is to outsource it. If you don't want to do that either than the results you are getting is exactly what you should expect.
  • "Originally Posted by DogEmOut
    But I'm not interested in either sales or marketing. To be honest, I think marketing and advertising are industries based on lies and deception.

    I'm a writer and instructor, not a salesman. And I have no desire to be the latter."

    You need to outsource the sales copy if you dont want to do it yourself, and add loads of value
    • [1] reply
    • There is more to the tale. I don´t know you, but I couldn´t make a dime online until I resolved my conflict with marketing.

      I understand where he is coming from... to have something to give and don´t know how to access the people who want it. Yet seeing all the technical side of marketing as deceptive. And it is in a way; without tooting your own horn, not even your mom visits your place. Someone called it blue mindset.

      He will have to resolve his issue, and find channels he is comfortable with. There are many out there.
  • I think the problem here is that the OP doesn't understand what marketing is and instead has a preconceived notion that marketing is about scamming people, gaming systems, etc...

    The truth is Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • I agree and looking at his reactions it also seems his huge ego is blocking him from trying to understand what people here are trying to explain to him...

      Listen up dude; It is you US that do not understand 'where you are coming from' or 'your situation' it is YOU that do not understand what marketing is and they we are merely trying to help you here but all you do is say no no no..

      Wake UP you are ON a marketing forum.. if you don't want to do 'marketing' then go away.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • There is a lot of lack of understanding in this thread and it's
    not with the OP. DogEmOut is looking for a Warrior to
    hire and therefore his/her post belongs here:

    Wanted - Members Looking To Hire You

    -Ray Edwards
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • You should consider switching niches, and learn as much as you can about traffic generation. Do more free marketing (because it works), try to incorporate cheap but effective paid advertising, and dont rely on SEO for the bulk of your traffic.
  • Hi DogEmOut,

    Here are my two cents.

    1. If you are already known in your particular sport, then my recommendation is use the appropriate social media channels, i.e Twitter, Facebook (as a page, not as person), and any niche related SM platform.

    2. You must have tons of contacts already, so once you create your social media presence, connect to them first... I bet you anything that at least 80% of your contacts are already using social media channels.

    3. Start building a follower base... or fan base if you willl, and build a relationship with them as a group.

    4. Also engage with other collegues and fellow athletes in social media. That will get the ball rolling on increasing your authority in your niche, and you will see an immediate increase in followers.

    5. Treat Twitter as a One-to-All communication channel to broadcast your blog posts, your videos, your workshops, how-to webinars or videos.

    6. Use Facebook to a) also broadcast your content, but most importantly b) build a more personal relationship with your followers.

    7. Work out a publishing schedule (ie. Mondays - New blog post, Tuesdays - Niche related news article or magazine article with your own commentary - Wednesdays - personal comment or review on some product, Thursdays - Quick Tip on how to do a particular "thing" in your field, Fridays, Free (opt-in required) webinar showing how to do something... or a Q&A session with amateurs...)

    You can even program your whole week in advace in a couple of hours, set up auto publishing in varios social media platforms,

    8. Keep your blog alive, and always updated... your post do not always have to be 1000 - 3000 words... a bit longer than 500 words would sufice most of the time.

    9. Use tons of pictures related to your sport / and showing how-to's. You will be amazed at how many people will come to your site from image search.

    10. Talking about pictures, prepare your hosting to stop other sites from hotlinking your images... use a generic image saying something like "This image is only available at www.yoursite.com"...

    11. Once you have your book ready, do some advertising... You can never rely only on free organic traffic to make a killer income.


    These are just my two cents... and yes, it is all focused on social media, which is what I am specialized in, so I might be a little biased... BUT... this stuff works.

    Hope this helps. You can always contact me in pvt if you have any questions or if you want my help with anything else.

    Cheers!
    • [1] reply
    • Peter here just nailed it. And he just showed up this month...

      In addition I would say this -- look in the mirror and repeat after me: "I'm old, injured, washed up, and no one cares what I write or what I say because in addition to being old, injured, and washed up, I'm really negative and it shows ... but I really, really, really want them to and if I make more than the $4.50 I've made so far, even better. So what can I do that makes me less old, less injured, and less washed up so that at least a FEW more people will care and my attitude can improve?"

      You get the answer to that one and you'll be on your way. Until you look in that mirror and face that reality, you're goose is cooked.

      Now, before you think I'm just another 'one of those' keep this in mind, you don't know me no more than I know you. I too am an expert at certain things - rehabbing old, injured, and washed up people that no one cares about is in my realm of expertise in fact ... and that's the first piece of advise I give any client in that situation... it's up to them to take it, or just stay where they're at. If you can't admit that, at least you have Peter's sage advice.
  • Banned
    I'm wondering why your not focused on promoting what you already know via a paid product. You said you know the niche/sport, you've coached & your a writer.

    Sell your own product.





  • You said you're a good writer, but I don't think you're a good salesman. Not to sound rude, but its the same trend in most people.

    I've always been great at creative writing (thanks to being right brain dominant), but copywriting is a totally different ballgame. Sales/persuasion is not like most people think. You can write an engaging article/product, but if you don't understand the psychology of persuasion, or the fundamentals of human behavoir... you're not selling anything.

    Lets be real, but people who understand these core concepts 100%, never have problems with sales. They still run into problems, but when they happen, they know how to fix them fairly fast... w/out asking questions. If its something technical like coding, I have to find someone else. But if its sales, I can always figure that out on my own. Not to toot my own horn, but I find this is the biggest problem with most people. That problem being the psychology of sales.
  • I understand the desire to be authentic... and be "against the system"... But lets be REAL authentic.

    You wanna make living from your site?

    You gotta sell.

    Bada Bing- Bada Boom!

    Give all you want, but sell too. You gotta be a salesman.

    There used to be a group of songwriters in Nashville who said "we hate commercialism"... They were all broke.

    Ps. You wanna learn how to passionately write and sell without selling?

    Look up Marlon Sandors Or Paul Myers, and fashion your writings like they do. Check out their newsletters.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • It sounds to me that your expertise, achievements and experience in the sport is a valuable asset that you can use to form a profitable joint venture with the guy with the popular blog in the niche who doesn't yet have a product to sell...and who should sell a product because it'll be more profitable.

    You can clearly create high value information products in the niche (and use your proof elements to back that up). The other guy can clearly market the stuff and already has the eyeballs (and maybe even a list). Split the proceeds and you'll both benefit.

    You have leverage - use it.
  • This thread has been an interesting read. The OP obviously has
    a jaded view of what constitutes effective marketing. Because he
    knows little to nothing about it... and refuses to take any interest
    in learning... he seems to believe it's about lying to and misleading
    people.

    Those of us with some degree of professional knowledge of the subject
    understand that what he believes isn't the least bit true.

    I have never sold my soul for a buck and I never will... knowledge and
    skill beats lying and deception every time.

    After reading this far the only thing I have to offer the OP is this...

    There truly is nothing unique or special about you. The world is full
    of people who are experts in their field, can write about it eloquently,
    but will never earn a dime doing it because they can't be bothered to
    learn the skills necessary for becoming successful at what they say they
    want to do.. Lots of them.

    I will offer one piece of constructive advice.... the internet audience is
    significantly different from the magazine audience. I doubt very many
    people ever read 1000-3000 word magazine quality articles on the internet.
    Break them down into segments.
  • posting anymore helpful advice in this thread is not going to help the OP any.

    The OP already thanked someone who suggested that he is looking to hire someone for marketing. It was the only person he has thanked in this thread, showing that is what he's looking for, in this free to advertise section.
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed

  • 61

    I'm pretty good. So why are my hits so low, why can't I make any money??

    I do not want to get into specifics about who I am or what I do because I do not want it linked back to me personally. I'm also not really interested in IM for the sake of IM. But I think this is the very best place to get answers as to why I am just so unsuccessful. I participate in a one-man sport that millions and millions of people in the US and around the world participate in regularly. Billions are spent on this recreation in the US alone each year. I am far from being at the top of the field professionally, but I have quite a lot of experience and successes. I have dozens of awards and citations, and dozens more photographic evidence. I've appeared in nearly every national magazine in the United States that covers the subject (4 major and 6 minor these have average circulations of ~ 100,000 each).