Advice Need for New Warrior Member

Continue with the link building, but engage with people more through social media - that gives more signals to Google that your site is popular.

Ask your reader what they are looking for when they come to your site...

I see you have an opt-in form, but I'm guessing it isn't that effective. You need to improve the headline - make it more attention grabbing, at the moment it's more like a statement, and it doesn't really stand out or grab the readers' attention.

I just posted my first post a few minutes ago. I mentioned in that post that I am not where I want to be as an internet marketer...

But I am where I want to be as a writer. I started out in IM because I had been doing this kind of writing for other IM'ers and wanted to get in with the cool kids.

Anyway, I looked at your site and this is what I see:

A site that is set up to make money.

It has no personality of it's own. In a saturated niche like this, things need to get more personal in order to have a place.

Who are you? Have you tried the workouts? Do you have a mission? Why did you set up the site? (Or who is your alter ego, if you are using a pen name).

I would put a picture of yourself (or your alter ego) in the sidebar with a small two sentence bio. I would take out the tags from the sidebar and use that space for something else. Write a small report (8-10 pages) on the importance of eating clean for seeing results in the gym and use that to get newsletter signups.

Then, I'd create a facebook page for your site and a twitter account. Use the twitter account to share your posts, but also share newsworthy items from other places (like CNN's health section). Interact with others on a personal level.

A good twitter routine includes sharing your posts, interacting with others, and passing along helpful, random information in your niche - it shouldn't take any more than ten minutes a day.

But that time is well spent because it gives your website a face.

People who are involved with fitness are VERY chummy. Zumba instructors and trainers set up twitter accounts and facebook pages. It's about socializing as much as it is seeing results - and this isn't just for women. I overhear weight room conversations all the time men complaining about how their women constantly complain about them, and talking about sports, and work, and video games....

This tells me that since exercise can be a highly social pursuit, a site in the niche needs to have social elements.

I hope this helps.

If you're already getting traffic then you're in pretty good shape, you just have a conversion problem. You should start by more aggressively building your list. Have call to actions for people to join your list.

This is how I would do it: In each one of your review posts offer your viewers a bonus package if they buy through your link. Then give them directions to get the bonus, say they have to join your list and tell them where. This will serve 2 purposes, 1) it will bump your conversions by offering a bonus if they buy 2) It will build your list much quicker because people who don't even buy will still join your list in hopes of getting the bonus

I agree with the others. Link building and SEO isn't going to help a bounce rate - you need more unique quality info - there's a lot of competition in this area so if your content doesn't stand out, you're dead in the water no matter how many links you have. Figure out what areas of the niche have the least coverage and drop some heavy duty content on your site to cover those gaps.

This is a thought but have you tried using adsense to monetize that site? 4100 visitors could get you a fair amount of adsense clicks I know it's not mega money or anything, but you may be able to pull something from it.

Good luck!

Rob,


You can implement what Katherine said above to test and see the results you could get from her suggestions. A site in the fitness niche needs authority content with character and personality that your target audience can relate to and consider as info and advice from a real person with expertise in this niche.

Improve your mailing list subscription offer and the overall impact of your site. Get a list of the best selling niche-relevant fitness magazines in your target areas.

Take note of its cover headlines and feature story titles, along with the writing tone and style implemented by their writers into the content of those cover stories and feature articles, as well as the visual layout and elements/images included in those covers and feature stories.

Create useful "preview" content (read: mind-blowing content) about these titles and topics. Post it on your site.

Develop more comprehensive materials (read: more mind-blowing materials) about these titles and topics, and formulate it into a mailing list subscription offer with benefits that can't be found in your onsite posts and elsewhere.

Create brief follow-up emails with supplemental content for your subscribers (read: friendly and helpful pieces of info and advice). You could mention some of your affiliate products in these follow-up emails as suggested products, and you could include helpful reviews of these products or a list of the benefits provided by the features of your affiliate products.

Find good sites and blogs in your niche that are quite popular with your target markets, particularly those with decent to good traffic and active discussions. Contact the owners of those blogs and sites, in case they'd be interested in having you write guest posts on their sites, in exchange for links pointing to your onsite content with supplemental info and advice.

Hope this helps. In case you do implement these things, let us know your results. Cheers!

I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies if some (or all) of this is redundant:

1. Niche down. You've got workouts that are all over the place. How about workouts that are under 15 minutes, or for housewives, or for busy execs, etc? Narrower niche will allow you more focus and get you more targeted visitors.

2. Better quality of info. Not trying to hurt your feelings here, but I know something about the fitness market and you're not providing anything really noteworthy with your reviews. For example, the Mike Chang 15-minute shoulder workout... You've got three exercises that all hit the front delt, with nothing really for the side or rear. (Upright rows hit the side a bit, but then again a lot of people can't do them because of impingement issues.) It's an unbalanced workout, and anyone who realizes this probably won't be back for more. Also, you don't seem to have any critique of the workout. At the very least I would include a weak point or two in every review. Just make it part of the format - workout, good point(s), weak point(s), overall rating, with a point system for the ratings.

3. I'd also have a "best workouts" section somewhere around, so that people can get to the cream of the crop. Take the best rated w/outs and list them up somewhere. Otherwise, how can people use your site effectively? You've got a drop-down menu for various bodyparts - just add one that is a "best of" and you're good to go.

4. Install GoCodes if you're on Wordpress so that you can cloak your affiliate links.

Hope this helps.

Rlewis,

I like the site man. It looks clean and crisp. You are off to a great start.

Here is what I would start doing immediately if I were you.

Contact personal trainers right now. Maybe you know some personally. Tell them EXACTLY what the site is geared to do (make you money), ans ask them to kindly read over the content and report back to you with BRUTALLY HONEST feedback.

Let's not forget, their customers and clients are the same as yours here.

This is going to work to your advantage for two reasons:

1) You get free advice from professionals who know what they are talking about and also know your target market better than you do and

2) You may eventually sell that site to a personal trainer looking for an online presence. Keep this point in mind when you start looking for trainers to review what you have.

Sound pretty sweet?

Good luck man go make it happen