What's wrong with my site?

22 replies
UPDATE: I've redesigned the site, see post #20

Backup Software

Some stats:
-bought domain in 2011 (before Google's EMD update...ugh)
-about 40 pages of content, 30 of them being reviews
-I promote posts through twitter account @backupsoftware
-600 visitors/month
-earning very little $...less than a dollar a day

I've put a ton of effort into this site for very little money. How can I turbocharge it?

I'm currently using Adsense, because I don't feel I have enough traffic for affiliate links.

What am I doing wrong?
#site #website #wrong
  • Profile picture of the author LillySage
    Is Adsense your primary income stream for the site?
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  • Profile picture of the author twister85
    You traffic is your friend and your enemy too. in this case its your enemy Because you really gonna get much more traffic to have minimum $10/day. Here 600 visitors a month screams that why aren't you making money as per your website.

    Seems that you are taking your efforts to make good content but now you should take care of the traffic to your site and that's the only thing which is going to increase the CTR rate and the money in your adsense account.
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    • Profile picture of the author RobertoM
      Your site is not enough enticing. No images, no videos.
      You leave to the visitors all the hard work of selecting the best backup software.
      Sounds like googling it.
      Select the best product of all you are mentioning in your site (and it seems you know all of them) build an attractive squeeze page and send the visitors to the sales page of that product.
      Then hammer your subscribers with smart follow up messages telling them why it is the best back up software around.
      Once you have a list, use the back up product as a front end product to promote other related stuff to your subscribers. You'll make affiliate sales in that way.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alan Eight
    Is the majority of your traffic coming from your 'twitter promoting'? Or do you have other sources of traffic, Google, etc?

    Honestly your site looks fine. Your traffic needs to be targeted.

    Sites with a fraction of your traffic and look half as good as yours, make sales every day.

    My focus would be on your traffic sources and targeting your visitors.
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  • Profile picture of the author TimothyTorrents
    Looks very plain. Try adding some images or use a different theme. And where is your opt-in form? Build a email list!
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Link bait, come on guys, you're smarter than this...
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  • Profile picture of the author ejullya
    I checked your site and, forgive me, it is really boring. It does not speak of social interaction. You don't have an optin box to capture leads and it seems that your Google ads are irrelevant. The one I saw was promoting Taxi service.

    I had to look twice to see your brand. There is no distinction between your brand and your pages.

    Take a few days to sharpen your site a bit and see what happens. Have a look at some successful blogs in your niche. Explore them for layout and structure.

    You have to build a mailing list. The blog itself may not make you that much money. An optin box will help you. If you'll nurture your list you will make money.
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  • Profile picture of the author higherluv
    The main problem I see here is that you’re promoting many products - in reviews.

    A review site can be lucrative - if you’re getting enough traffic to substantiate that.

    600 visitors per month is hardly the type of stream of traffic that will get the best buck bang for this type of site.

    If I were you I would focus on just one product on your site. That’s it. Don’t compare it to any other.

    Presell your product. Perhaps you can build a list as well.

    Your other problem is promoting through twitter. Tweeters are not very convertible, especially for a site you got right now. Try and expand out of that to other traffic methods beyond twitter and other social media.
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  • Profile picture of the author Allan_Gardyne
    Originally Posted by aknames View Post

    What am I doing wrong?
    Here are 6 things you could experiment with...

    1. Put yourself in the shoes of a typical visitor.

    Imagine you are someone who is visiting the site for the first name and quickly wants to know which backup software you think is best. You've made that easy to find. Apparently it's made by Acronis. So far so good.

    The visitor clicks on the link and reads your review, hopefully all the way to the bottom of the page.

    So far, so good.

    But what now? You haven't given the visitor anywhere to go, except an AdSense ad.

    Acronis has an affiliate program. Why not join the Acronis affiliate program and add a call to action and an affiliate link at the bottom of the review? Even if you don't have a lot of traffic yet, you might as well monetize what you have.

    2. The linkbait idea sounds good to me, too. You could interview some of your friends and get some highly readable examples of backup disasters. When it comes to backups, bad luck stories should be easy to find.

    3. You could hire a good writer to research and write, "The 10 Worst Backup Disasters" and then encourage a few friends to link to it.

    4. Perhaps you could branch out into backup disaster recovery solutions, for more search engine fodder and revenue opportunities.

    5. The website looks professional, but a bit sterile. How about creating an "About Me" page, with a photo and an interesting yarn? Have you had a backup disaster yourself? How about telling your own story and revealing a bit of your own personality? People like to know that there is a real person behind a website.

    6. Perhaps you could tell some of those backup disaster stories as guest posts on other people's blogs, with a link back to your site, of course?
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  • Profile picture of the author aknames
    Wow, some great advice so far. I appreciate every single comment, criticism and suggestion. Thank you all so much!

    The general consensus seems to be:

    -Better site design, with a custom wordpress theme. Add more images, possibly video.
    -Affiliate links instead of (or in addition to?) Adsense for the top products
    -Make sure the affiliate link is visible at the top and bottom of the page (thanks Allan!)
    -Opt in form to build an email list
    -Link bait

    Originally Posted by higherluv View Post

    The main problem I see here is that you're promoting many products - in reviews.

    A review site can be lucrative - if you're getting enough traffic to substantiate that.
    ...
    If I were you I would focus on just one product on your site. That's it. Don't compare it to any other.
    You're exposing my biggest insecurities, and I love it!

    I've considered this. However, I don't feel I can honestly recommend a single product unless I've tried them all, so why not write the reviews anyways? Plus, how do I establish myself as an expert unless I've tried all the others?
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  • Profile picture of the author wonderfullife
    I looked through your website. In my opinion, it is better to keep in touch with the visitors in the long term, choosing either, Social media, email address or livechat on the webiste. Keep in touch with them, then you can further know what they need and whether you can meet their demands. Don't miss out every visitor.
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  • Profile picture of the author scrofford
    It's boring and doesn't entice people to stay on it. It's just content with no pictures or anything. Spice it up a little. Add some pics on each page. Make it not so boring.
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  • Profile picture of the author IMDESTROYER
    Banned
    Your site is so static, just add images to the titles of the software so that the user knows who the software company is. fk you go to break dot com and look at how they title their stuff. it is always an image on th left, it just make it look full. I seriously love the site though, i didn't notice the images missing. I dont really like images but that is because it design myself.



    Great site though i will defnitly use it. Ive been looking for backup software.
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    • Profile picture of the author RobertoM
      Originally Posted by IMDESTROYER View Post

      Your site is so static, just add images to the titles of the software so that the user knows who the software company is. fk you go to break dot com and look at how they title their stuff. it is always an image on th left, it just make it look full. I seriously love the site though, i didn't notice the images missing. I dont really like images but that is because it design myself.



      Great site though i will defnitly use it. Ive been looking for backup software.
      Hey imdestroyer,
      You can use that site to look for a back up software, but I saw quite a few of them around and finally went into MyPcBackup. Google it. It works really fine to me.
      Just a shortcut to your research
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  • Profile picture of the author AaronHeid
    i think main issue is that your site being too plain. Typo is not attractive. Design is single toned, no colors no details. It doesn't give the impress of surfing in an authority site. Honestly it looks like as if it is an auto updated site. Not even talking about not using images and videos I would firstly make a wireframe for the new design then find someone cheap to make you it as a theme, then i would add each article videos and images. Give the visitors a chance to enjoy your site. You have great content but the presentation is not the best. It would take only a couple of days but at the end you have a solid design. Don't forget to promote affiliate products.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    First thing I see when I land on your page is a big google banner ad instead of a logo. Instantly puts me off and probably causes half your visitors to click straight off your page.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    You need a benefit-oriented headline explaining what the site is about. I have no idea. People aren't going to hang around trying to figure it out. Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author JayZeey
    I agree with TravelingGuy. You could try testing this on someplace like mTurk to get more feedback. Here's what I'd do (I'm a developer, so I can write up this code - probably you could get someone to do it for super cheap --- it's easy):

    1. Write up a "blackout" screen that blacks out your site after 10 seconds.
    2. Go over to mTurk and ask as many ppl as you can afford (at least 20) to tell you what this site is about in one sentence.

    That will give you loads of pure information to work with.

    Hope this helps.
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