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Blogging/SEO Advice Please

by Tommyg123
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi everyone,

I have a membership site selling an ebook and video course and have been using PPC to try and get customers so far. I have sold a few but results are nothing to get excited about.

The conversion rates are very low.. expecting someone to click on an advert, read a sales page and spend $100 I guess its pretty amazing I sold any.... so that's a positive I guess.. and the reviews have been fantastic.

I want/need to engage with my audience and also, if possible, try and move away from the expensive PPC model. So after some advice and realisation from myself I am going to start working on my blog, show people I have interesting things to talk about and get people to trust me, and hopefully sign up for the members area.

The problem is all my research so far on IM has been the PPC route. I know NOTHING about SEO tactics or using any other forms of driving traffic.

Where would you guys start?

Firstly I am redesigning my site so it is more like a blog, posts to get people engaged on the homepage etc and be less "HERE BUY THIS".. more subtle.

But in terms of writing articles do I need to get really advanced with keywords etc etc or can I just write articles that I know to be of good quality and people will just find me? (everything I have learned about IM so far tells me it doesn't work this way and need to be more strategic).

Also I recently had someone quickly look over my site from an SEO/free traffic point of view and one concerning comment I have is

"Your current Page Rank [PR] is Unranked... which is a disaster. At least you should have 0 PR instead of gray or unranked."

I guess first things first what can I do to address this, my site is about 6 months old I assumed Google just found it and ranked it... as you can tell I am pretty lost on all of this.

Are there any good "first things first do this" type threads on here someone can point me to?

Thanks so much, this new change of direction is making my head spin a bit.

Thanks all
#advice #blogging or seo
  • Profile picture of the author kk075
    Hi. Thanks for the thought out post, it makes it much easier to answer your questions.

    First, pagerank is officially dead. Google doesn't update it anymore, so the "SEO person" who looked at your site is obviously a rookie. Please PM me your web address and I'll take a look for you.

    Next, a membership site is just like any other website...it needs lots of content to appeal to the search engines. Before you invest tons of time trying to redesign this site up though, I'd be more concerned about your actual writing on the site. If you've gone the PPC route and had low conversion rates, that means one of two things-

    1) Your ad was poorly written
    2) Tour site is not written to convert

    or it could also be (3) your product just isn't worth buying at $100. More often than not though, it's not about the product...it's about the sales funnel.

    Again, PM me your site's address and I'll happily take a look.
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  • Profile picture of the author creztor
    You are over complicating it and I guess that's what some people want, so you think you need to buy books/advice. You know what your ebook is about, so you know the market and you know what topics (keywords) people are interested in. Write on your blog and comment on other blogs using that information. Don't think about writing for SEO purposes, and that's what Google and the others want people to avoid. Write naturally on topics using words you know your prospective customers will be interested in and want to know about. Take this approach and you'll provide value which will keep Google and your customers happy.
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  • Profile picture of the author LimitlessTraffic
    Since you're well acquainted with PPC, have you ever thought of using that to drive traffic to a page to pre-sell your offer instead of straight for the sale? Especially for cold traffic, $100 is quite a bit to fork out.
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  • Profile picture of the author jamesperez
    Banned
    You can do Offsite SEO for your website, It will help you to bring some customers.
    Also you can get visitors from PPC networks. You can check Warrior PPC section to find more info about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tommyg123
    Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it.

    A few answers to points raised

    1/ Although I mentioned SEO that was a bonus, my main aim is to make my potential audience comfortable with me and trust me rather than converting people from cold leads.

    2/ Expecting someone to land on my site and fork out $100 is definitely a lot to ask I agree, but $100 is actually at the lower end of the market in my niche. I actually sell the Ebook alone for $12.99 and so far nobody has bought it, they all go for the $100 package.

    3/ I am in a financial niche which has an extremely sceptical audience. Most of my audience are over 40 and intelligent with good incomes. They really want to put you under a spotlight before parting with any money and most of my buyers have emailed me before buying to test me on my knowledge so definitely need some way of anticipating their concerns in advance.. i figured a blog would be the best way.

    4/ Perhaps I will go the social media route, try and get my name out there without relying on google to do me favours.

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author MarkAse
    Google's not updating PR any longer, anybody quoting that is just giving you the sales pitch.

    As per what to write, focus on conversions first and foremost. The financial niche especially, you can't be seen as selling anything, but providing value that isn't available elsewhere.

    If you build for longer tail keywords to start and then move up from there, you'll be ok in terms of SEO. That's a competitive, uber competitive actually, niche, so have realistic targets.
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  • Profile picture of the author tuneup
    I think a combination of video and blogging give the best SEO results. Your content supported by blogger.com g+ and YouTube can really boost your rankings and sales. Try a post a day manually constructed on your topic, passion or profession.

    We live in the television age, when just about everybody would rather look at a video that SHOWS them how to do something rather than have to read about it or listen to someone tell them about

    What should your site or blog video be? Well some suggestions of the 100’s available!

    * Interview yourself as an expert (or interview another expert), giving information that your visitors would find interesting about your passion.

    * A demonstration of how to use your product or service.

    * A high-tech, entertaining addition to your eBook or instructional DVD.

    A video gives you much higher response and a far better informed customer base. When people really understand what you are offering and what you can do for them, making sales (often at a higher price) is far easier. Making a YT video is a great adjunct to your website’s credibility.

    Brian
    Hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author Insano
    many valuable advices, kk075 could be having the most valuable offer. If you need any further help, support, ideas in regard to SEO / Monetization / Traffic pm me, and Ill gladly jump in and help out.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan Brown
    I think you need to work on your off page SEO this time, do videos and be active on social media (atleast to get more traffic). It's really competitive to sell ebooks now as many preferred buying packages over individual items.
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  • Profile picture of the author nextzaira
    Hi Tommy, since you are now only starting with SEO and are asking for advice around the basics, I suggest you also have a look at this article:

    5 Reasons Google Hates Your Website

    It will give you an understanding of the main things you need to keep in mind if you want to improve your organic search rankings. It's quite clean and easy to follow, no expert terminology etc in there.

    I hope you find it helpful!
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