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What am I doing wrong????

by brit16
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Recently I changed themes from one that was just not working for me at all. Put in on the site a little over two years ago when I was just learning. Had no clue what I would need / want in a theme. Fast forward to now, I am still a beginner, but know enough to realize my theme sucked!

My problem is....my traffic has dropped since changing themes.

I do not have much knowledge at all about SEO, but at one point I was getting anywhere from 600-800 viewers a day (this lasted about two months). Outside of this two month period the average was between 2 and 3 hundred a day (about 85% being from search engines), this was pretty consistent throughout the two years of the sites existence.

Now I am only getting around 100 views a day!!! I know 2 to 3 hundred was not great, but it was much better than now! Just don't understand what happened and why I was getting more views when I had no idea what I was doing. The site is updated more regularly now and I have really worked to write better quality articles on it. If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it, the site is in my signature, doesn't have anything to do with IMing.....not trying to sell you anything .

Thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to give it a look.
#wrong
  • Profile picture of the author Paul Tovey
    Maybe it's not a problem with your websites theme, but perhaps your competition has better, more informative content or is beating you on the keywords you are trying to rank for.

    Without knowing more details, I'd say that's what is wrong.
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    • Profile picture of the author brit16
      Originally Posted by Paul Tovey View Post

      Maybe it's not a problem with your websites theme, but perhaps your competition has better, more informative content or is beating you on the keywords you are trying to rank for.

      Without knowing more details, I'd say that's what is wrong.
      I understand what you are saying, but why would I have been beating them for a while and suddenly not be??? That is what I don't really understand.

      Also, I don't know if the theme has anything to do with it or if that was just a coincidence?????
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      New to IM, any honest advice appreciated!

      My blog (first IM project!).....IVF Success Stories

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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Tovey
        More than likely not. Although it -might- be, but it shouldn't cause any problems.

        There are very small factors, such as where the fold is and the text to code ratio. These may be different in your new theme.

        Have you submitted your new website to Google Webmaster tools?
        Have any of your links changed in the new theme? Maybe you have some 404 errors from pages changing etc, this would hold you back.

        Competition is still quite likely, maybe they have a brand new website?

        OR maybe the new Panda update has done some re oraganising on your keywords.
        Maybe a competitor ranks higher now because of the recent Google changes?

        If you want an in-depth answer, you may have to show us your URL and keywords. I know that many people don't want to though
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        • Profile picture of the author brit16
          Originally Posted by Paul Tovey View Post


          If you want an in-depth answer, you may have to show us your URL and keywords. I know that many people don't want to though
          The URL is in my sig . I would love for someone to look at the actual site and give their thoughts....not too worried about anyone "stealing" my niche. Although I know there are IMing people who are successful in the niche, their websites would not really be similar to mine in that it is all first hand experience stuff!

          As for the keywords....I am ranking lower for some of them that is for sure. When I had those record months (for me), I somehow made it to number one for my main keyword. Most of the traffic is coming from google, just don't know what I am doing wrong that would cause google to see my site lower, when I feel like it has actually gotten better!? I have a couple main keywords, the rest of the traffic comes from many looong tail keywords (that happen naturally, not ones I tried to use in my articles). Hope this info helps a bit.
          Signature

          New to IM, any honest advice appreciated!

          My blog (first IM project!).....IVF Success Stories

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  • Profile picture of the author Jeb Binkley
    I would start with looking at your past traffic stats and seeing where it was coming from, if from the SEs which KWs, and where on your site it was going. Once you know that you can start to determine why your total traffic changed once you changed around your site.
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    • Profile picture of the author brit16
      Originally Posted by Jeb Binkley View Post

      I would start with looking at your past traffic stats and seeing where it was coming from, if from the SEs which KWs, and where on your site it was going. Once you know that you can start to determine why your total traffic changed once you changed around your site.
      Touched on this in my last reply....I have looked at this info and I do know some of the keywords are just ranking lower....just not sure why?
      Signature

      New to IM, any honest advice appreciated!

      My blog (first IM project!).....IVF Success Stories

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  • Profile picture of the author alistair
    Maybe your keywords are ranking lower because you're competition have been doing some backlinking to overtake you? Or maybe your theme isn't as seo optimised as the previous one? There's lots of factors really but I wouldn't do anything hasty, just give it some time and see what happens.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      You should never change themes for a well established site
      unless you are prepared for down time like you are experiencing.

      Changing themes, I assume WP, is a drastic step. It changes
      everything in your site structure. That's either good or bad.
      Bad if it means your site is now starting over. Good if it
      improves things.

      One more reason to ditch WP and forget about themes.
      If only people knew how easy it was code their site,
      exactly the way you want it, google friendly, man it
      might put WP out of business. I myself would get a free
      blogspot before I ever did WP. Or at least get a good
      CMS.

      You can't just change it back? There may be hope.

      Paul
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      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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      • Profile picture of the author brit16
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        You should never change themes for a well established site
        unless you are prepared for down time like you are experiencing.

        Changing themes, I assume WP, is a drastic step. It changes
        everything in your site structure. That's either good or bad.
        Bad if it means your site is now starting over. Good if it
        improves things.

        One more reason to ditch WP and forget about themes.
        If only people knew how easy it was code their site,
        exactly the way you want it, google friendly, man it
        might put WP out of business. I myself would get a free
        blogspot before I ever did WP. Or at least get a good
        CMS.

        You can't just change it back? There may be hope.

        Paul
        Thanks for the feedback....I had been wanting to change it for over a year before I finally got brave and did it! When you are talking about making the site "do everything you want", I couldn't get the old site to do anything (with the knowledge that I have anyway). I really do not want to change it back, especially not knowing if the traffic issue is even caused by the change (do you assume it is?).

        As for code.....I had NO knowledge of computers / IMing when I started this site. To the point where people who knew me joked about me not knowing how to check my email ! So, I think I have came along way to even know how to somewhat use wordpress, much less be able to do code myself!!! More power to those of you who think it is "easy".
        Signature

        New to IM, any honest advice appreciated!

        My blog (first IM project!).....IVF Success Stories

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        • Profile picture of the author brit16
          Anyone out there willing to take a quick look at my site and give me any specific thoughts / advice? Thanks again for any help that I can get. I know this site could be a real success, just not real sure where to go from here / how to scale up the earnings?
          Signature

          New to IM, any honest advice appreciated!

          My blog (first IM project!).....IVF Success Stories

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