Stop being lazy and build, build, build!
- SEO |
I created this thread to try and contribute something back to the first community I've ever joined in IM. I've been poking around IM for 4 years now. Start and stop, start and stop, start and stop. I've tried PPC/AM a couple times (It's just not for me) but I keep going back to Adsense sites. It's what I liked best so I'd always dabble half-assed into them.
I made some clicks here (about $100 worth) and there with a few crappy websites that were never optimized or barely followed the 'rules' of IM. I have a cushy, boring computer networking job so I've never had that fire in my belly to really struggle through something. But I wanted to test something.
Around mid-November (2012) I started 2 sites.
1 about hair care products
1 about bedroom furnishings
I used the free Google keyword tool and grabbed some KW's in my niche based in the following:
- 1000 to 5000 local monthly search
- mid to high competition
That was it. I didn't care who was ranked for what for those keywords. I installed Wordpress on both sites using some random 3-column template for both. I changed the header images to ones I made myself using paint.net. Nothing fancy, in fact pretty blah. I installed the Yoast Wordpress SEO plugin (it's free). I created a privacy policy page (taken from a generator, they are everywhere), an 'about us' page, and a 'contact us' page (always used info@domain.com). I then started writing content.
I wrote a 500-600 word post based on the keyword I was using. The post title has the keyword in it and the body had the keyword in it a few times (3-5 times, depending on how it fit into the article). I write my own articles. They are relevant to the keyword, they flow nicely and they should because they are real content. Not farmed out or generated with spin software that will get you de-indexed in a hurry.
I put Adsense on the sites almost immediately. I manually created the Adsense code using the Google tools and stuffed them into the body content of the Wordpress PHP. It was crap, but it was in. One horribly positioned ad per post.
I have an account on statcounter.com so I added those 2 sites for tracking purposes (it's very nice to see what pages are doing what, highly recommended).
It took me a couple weeks (I was a slacker remember) to do the bulk of it. I also added a page here or there from December to April (maybe 5 tops). Here's where they ended up as of late April.
hair care site - 11 posts
bedroom site - 21 posts
Traffic started looking nice enough (about 50 uniques a day combined) that I purchased a CTR Theme (early May) for $17 and saw my clicks take off. Within 48 hours my clicks doubled, by the end last month they increased 5x and my traffic started jumping. For the last 30 days I've been averaging $0.70 per day with 32 pages of content that I've barely touched since December. The last week I've been averaging $0.98. Chump change for the big shots, but how many big shots do you know?
So my question was this; what If, for the last 7 months I built 2 posts per day per site? Most of the posts wouldn't do much, but some really take off. My best keyword/post gets 1500 local searches per month (according to keyword tool), and is ranked #2 in Google. I've been getting about 80 uniques a day from now it but it only generates 60% of my clicks. If I kept adding to those test sites I'd have about 400 pages of content (some days are more productive then others) and I bet I'd have about 10 winners on my hand. Hell, my bedroom furniture site has nothing ranked on the 1st page of Google that I can find and still generates about $0.40 a day based on 22 posts that I wrote and forgot about last year. Let me add the part most people will hate.
Backlinking technique
NONE. It drove me in circles reading all this stuff about backlinks and how to get them and what program to use and what fivver provider does it best. I gave up because I don't care and it kept me from doing what I know works for me: content.
I'm sure there are people who could make those 32 Wordpress sing using their backlink magic and make more money off it, but it's not me. I have the facts (because it's on Google) that I can rank #2 for a small keyword and
make money off it, with no backlink structure in place. The article ranked because:
1. It's centered around a niche keyword that Adwords buyers bid on
2. The content is useful to those Adwords buyers. So my CTR went up as well as how much I earn.
Anyway, I saw results. After analyzing all this I purchased 2 more domains and set them up using my 'method'. Along with the 2 I currently have, I write 1 post per day per site. I'll do this everyday from now on. I'll have about 600-700 pages of real, handwritten content by the end of the year. If I don't like how Adsense is going on one I'll swap it out for Amazon, or a CPA offer. Who cares, that's not the point. The point is that if you are interested in content creation (Adsense sites, Amazon, whatever) then you need to get off your butt and create valuable, worthwhile content for your website. That's it, go start building. Don't know what monetization offer you want to
use? Don't worry about it! Go build and add real content. I read this advice years ago, and I wish I took it. I have nothing else to add to this except 'thanks' this community. I know it's real work so most people wont do it. Or it doesn't fall into the 'make $1000 in 1 week' theme I'm seeing so prevalent in this forums anymore. That's fine, I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. Maybe I'll update in the Fall if there's big any big movements one way or the other.
Anyways, to my fellow procrastinators, get off your butt and start making content!
I made some clicks here (about $100 worth) and there with a few crappy websites that were never optimized or barely followed the 'rules' of IM. I have a cushy, boring computer networking job so I've never had that fire in my belly to really struggle through something. But I wanted to test something.
Around mid-November (2012) I started 2 sites.
1 about hair care products
1 about bedroom furnishings
I used the free Google keyword tool and grabbed some KW's in my niche based in the following:
- 1000 to 5000 local monthly search
- mid to high competition
That was it. I didn't care who was ranked for what for those keywords. I installed Wordpress on both sites using some random 3-column template for both. I changed the header images to ones I made myself using paint.net. Nothing fancy, in fact pretty blah. I installed the Yoast Wordpress SEO plugin (it's free). I created a privacy policy page (taken from a generator, they are everywhere), an 'about us' page, and a 'contact us' page (always used info@domain.com). I then started writing content.
I wrote a 500-600 word post based on the keyword I was using. The post title has the keyword in it and the body had the keyword in it a few times (3-5 times, depending on how it fit into the article). I write my own articles. They are relevant to the keyword, they flow nicely and they should because they are real content. Not farmed out or generated with spin software that will get you de-indexed in a hurry.
I put Adsense on the sites almost immediately. I manually created the Adsense code using the Google tools and stuffed them into the body content of the Wordpress PHP. It was crap, but it was in. One horribly positioned ad per post.
I have an account on statcounter.com so I added those 2 sites for tracking purposes (it's very nice to see what pages are doing what, highly recommended).
It took me a couple weeks (I was a slacker remember) to do the bulk of it. I also added a page here or there from December to April (maybe 5 tops). Here's where they ended up as of late April.
hair care site - 11 posts
bedroom site - 21 posts
Traffic started looking nice enough (about 50 uniques a day combined) that I purchased a CTR Theme (early May) for $17 and saw my clicks take off. Within 48 hours my clicks doubled, by the end last month they increased 5x and my traffic started jumping. For the last 30 days I've been averaging $0.70 per day with 32 pages of content that I've barely touched since December. The last week I've been averaging $0.98. Chump change for the big shots, but how many big shots do you know?
So my question was this; what If, for the last 7 months I built 2 posts per day per site? Most of the posts wouldn't do much, but some really take off. My best keyword/post gets 1500 local searches per month (according to keyword tool), and is ranked #2 in Google. I've been getting about 80 uniques a day from now it but it only generates 60% of my clicks. If I kept adding to those test sites I'd have about 400 pages of content (some days are more productive then others) and I bet I'd have about 10 winners on my hand. Hell, my bedroom furniture site has nothing ranked on the 1st page of Google that I can find and still generates about $0.40 a day based on 22 posts that I wrote and forgot about last year. Let me add the part most people will hate.
Backlinking technique
NONE. It drove me in circles reading all this stuff about backlinks and how to get them and what program to use and what fivver provider does it best. I gave up because I don't care and it kept me from doing what I know works for me: content.
I'm sure there are people who could make those 32 Wordpress sing using their backlink magic and make more money off it, but it's not me. I have the facts (because it's on Google) that I can rank #2 for a small keyword and
make money off it, with no backlink structure in place. The article ranked because:
1. It's centered around a niche keyword that Adwords buyers bid on
2. The content is useful to those Adwords buyers. So my CTR went up as well as how much I earn.
Anyway, I saw results. After analyzing all this I purchased 2 more domains and set them up using my 'method'. Along with the 2 I currently have, I write 1 post per day per site. I'll do this everyday from now on. I'll have about 600-700 pages of real, handwritten content by the end of the year. If I don't like how Adsense is going on one I'll swap it out for Amazon, or a CPA offer. Who cares, that's not the point. The point is that if you are interested in content creation (Adsense sites, Amazon, whatever) then you need to get off your butt and create valuable, worthwhile content for your website. That's it, go start building. Don't know what monetization offer you want to
use? Don't worry about it! Go build and add real content. I read this advice years ago, and I wish I took it. I have nothing else to add to this except 'thanks' this community. I know it's real work so most people wont do it. Or it doesn't fall into the 'make $1000 in 1 week' theme I'm seeing so prevalent in this forums anymore. That's fine, I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. Maybe I'll update in the Fall if there's big any big movements one way or the other.
Anyways, to my fellow procrastinators, get off your butt and start making content!
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Is Google Analytics installed Properly? Test -> www.GAtective.com
Impersonal Google search? Check -> www.impersonal.me