I Still Haven't Made A Sale Yet....

[tomstark]

I need some help... I'm obviously not doing something right. I've been working on my site since last fall, and am now getting about 800 weekly visits to my site (700+ are new visitors). The only money I am making currently is off of adsense for now, which is maybe $1 a day. I'm mainly using Commission Junction and Amazon for affiliates. I knew it would take a lot of work, but didn't think it would take this long to start making some money. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or if you can point out what I'm doing wrong. Let me know if you would like some more info/stats about my site: MotocrossHideout.com (http://motocrosshideout.com)

Thank you for your help!

[Engage]

Nice site Tom, you're doing a good job.

Hmm, you seem to be covering the bases pretty well.

How's your newsletter coming? Are people signing up? Maybe make that more prominent?

You've got a good start on links. Lots more would be better. 100 visitors a day is a solid beginning, 1000 a day would be a good goal to shoot for.

For immediate but modest results, you might consider adding Adsense panels to the top and bottom of your article. I notice those ad panel positions significantly out perform the sidebar for me.

I'm hoping the other posters will have some better suggestions for you.

Hang in there man!

[tomstark]

Thanks Engage... People do sign up for the newsletter, but not as much as I had hoped so far. 45 subscribed right now, but I've had a dozen drop out over time. Yeah, I just started working on links again (took a couple months off until now finishing an e-book/training booklet). 1000 is exactly what I'm looking for as a goal. I feel I have enough content, I just need to get the articles ranked higher up in google.

Also, I get the feeling that something about the site and/or content isn't good enough, and that's why I'm not getting any conversions.... I might try that setup for adsense and let you know how it turns out. Thanks!

[Engage]

People do sign up for the newsletter, but not as much as I had hoped so far.

Hmm... Maybe make the design of the newsletter form a little more polished and prominent?

How about an incentive gift to encourage subscriptions? Can you give away something special to new subscribers, and use that as bait to boost subscriptions?

<SPAM>Ideally you would find an incentive gift that is relevant to your topic, but if you can't come up with a good one, I know how you could give your new subscribers free web, ezine and forum hosting. :)</SPAM>

Shift your perspective. Think of your newsletter as the number one thing you're trying to sell on your site. Once they are on your list, you'll have time to sell the other stuff.

Automate your email operations. Set up an autoresponder to automatically feed your new subscribers a series of messages that contain great info, and affiliate links.

Find some partners. You promote their newsletter, and they promote yours.


Yeah, I just started working on links again (took a couple months off until now finishing an e-book/training booklet).

I hear ya, links are a bitch. I have plenty of trouble staying focused on them, which is probably why I'm always ranting about them.

Hmm.... Are those things in the sidebar doing you any good? If not, maybe remove them.

Replace those sidebar ads with links to other sites. The partner webmasters put you in their sidebar, and you do the same for them. You know, lots of bloggers do this.

If you can get in the sidebar of 24 sites that have 200 pages each, that's 5,000 links. Two way links instead of one way, but still, more links than you have now.

Do you have a couple of friends that would help you get a small forum going? You don't have enough traffic to launch a big forum just yet, but you can set the stage with just a few posters. Point being, can you come up with ways to get other people to add content to your site? Aim for exponential content growth.

On my site, I've noticed quick, simple, little pages bring in traffic too. And it's easy to make lots of them. As example...

- Every good motorcycle video on YouTube could be on your site. Hundreds of new pages.

- Create a Flickr slideshow for every motorcycle topic you can think of. As example, search Flickr for a recent race, and see if folks have uploaded a bunch of photos.

- Create pages that highlight individual hot photos. You can use any photo here, if you credit the author. http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/by-2.0/

- Use Mapquest to create maps to all the big race tracks.

- Don't underestimate the power of image searches. Example, I had a site that was getting a few dozen visitors a day. I used an image of a popular band in one of my articles, the image got ranked high in Google (I have no idea why) and now we get 700 visitors a day. Point being, use lots of images, and be sure to give them descriptive file names and alt tags.

- Find good articles on other sites, and write a review praising them. Contact the author, and try to make a friend.

- Find things you disagree with, and politely debate them in articles. Contact the author, and maybe they will argue and link back.

Point being, it can be tough getting page one rankings. Another way to come at it is to load your site up with tons of relevant content, and get lots of obscure long tail searches.

Phew, ok, that's the best I can do for the moment.

[lindastacy]

Your site looks great; it's easy to navigate and easy on the eyes. I have a couple of suggestions that might be totally off the wall, but two things came to my mind right away when I went to your site (and both are easy enough to test).

1 - Where do I shop? Then I realized it's an affiliate site with reviews, etc., but one thing you could do is add an amazon store and a "shop now" link in the top menu bar.

2 - Along those same lines, some people just need to be directed to buy. You could try adding some "buy now" buttons to some of the posts.

One other thought that probably isn't off the wall and that goes along with Engage's suggestion to "sell" the newsletter or add a forum - the vast majority of your visitors are new visitors, not repeats. Work on getting people to come back again and again. A "following" will help tremendously with sales and referrals.

Edited to add: After posting this I went back to close the browser window containing your site and noticed that the top menu has a "Top Stores" link. I think my mind originally saw that as "top stories." You could change that to something like "Best Shopping" and also consider building up that page. You could add a little description of each store and a "go shopping now" link to the store.

[Engage]

Work on getting people to come back again and again. A "following" will help tremendously with sales and referrals.

Great suggestion.

How about an "Awesome Photo Of The Day" feature?

NASA has one of these for astronomy photos, and it appeared to be quite popular.

Does your comment feature allow people to subscribe to receive notification of new comments?

[tdadd]

Hi Tom,

I think your site looks very good. Good theme, and you provide solid information. I clicked on 2 of your posts, and think that you might benefit by using content links in your articles, with clickable images. Lynn has a post on how to do this on her blog, in case you need it. I think it's called "the anatomy of an affilite link". Do you have bike profiles, boot and helmet reviews, etc., with a clear call to action for your readers?

[chickblogger]

Hi, Tom:

Interesting niche, am not to familiar with it. But sounds way fun! Let's get right to it. lol. Which keywords do you currently rank for, and how is traffic to them?

Also someone above suggested adding in text based links, this is a good tip. Many times banners don't work as well, as text based links right in the article.

We'll help you. First, let us know what you currently rank for, and your backlink strategy?

Cheers,
Missy

[tomstark]

Hmm... Maybe make the design of the newsletter form a little more polished and prominent?

How about an incentive gift to encourage subscriptions? Can you give away something special to new subscribers, and use that as bait to boost subscriptions?

<SPAM>Ideally you would find an incentive gift that is relevant to your topic, but if you can't come up with a good one, I know how you could give your new subscribers free web, ezine and forum hosting. :)</SPAM>

Shift your perspective. Think of your newsletter as the number one thing you're trying to sell on your site. Once they are on your list, you'll have time to sell the other stuff.

Automate your email operations. Set up an autoresponder to automatically feed your new subscribers a series of messages that contain great info, and affiliate links.

Find some partners. You promote their newsletter, and they promote yours.



I hear ya, links are a bitch. I have plenty of trouble staying focused on them, which is probably why I'm always ranting about them.

Hmm.... Are those things in the sidebar doing you any good? If not, maybe remove them.

Replace those sidebar ads with links to other sites. The partner webmasters put you in their sidebar, and you do the same for them. You know, lots of bloggers do this.

If you can get in the sidebar of 24 sites that have 200 pages each, that's 5,000 links. Two way links instead of one way, but still, more links than you have now.

Do you have a couple of friends that would help you get a small forum going? You don't have enough traffic to launch a big forum just yet, but you can set the stage with just a few posters. Point being, can you come up with ways to get other people to add content to your site? Aim for exponential content growth.

On my site, I've noticed quick, simple, little pages bring in traffic too. And it's easy to make lots of them. As example...

- Every good motorcycle video on YouTube could be on your site. Hundreds of new pages.

- Create a Flickr slideshow for every motorcycle topic you can think of. As example, search Flickr for a recent race, and see if folks have uploaded a bunch of photos.

- Create pages that highlight individual hot photos. You can use any photo here, if you credit the author. http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/by-2.0/

- Use Mapquest to create maps to all the big race tracks.

- Don't underestimate the power of image searches. Example, I had a site that was getting a few dozen visitors a day. I used an image of a popular band in one of my articles, the image got ranked high in Google (I have no idea why) and now we get 700 visitors a day. Point being, use lots of images, and be sure to give them descriptive file names and alt tags.

- Find good articles on other sites, and write a review praising them. Contact the author, and try to make a friend.

- Find things you disagree with, and politely debate them in articles. Contact the author, and maybe they will argue and link back.

Point being, it can be tough getting page one rankings. Another way to come at it is to load your site up with tons of relevant content, and get lots of obscure long tail searches.

Phew, ok, that's the best I can do for the moment.

Yeah, I already have two incentives for people that sign up for the newsletter, and a few auto responders the following days about my e-book. I did have about 500+ links a few months ago, but they keep dissipating. The google ads on the side are the only thing getting me money atm. I thought about a forum and actually started out with one, but my brother (christianwins) and I figured it would be too much maintenance until the site gets really popular. So you're saying that if I put a link of other blogs on my sidebar it will automatically put links to my site on theirs?


Your site looks great; it's easy to navigate and easy on the eyes. I have a couple of suggestions that might be totally off the wall, but two things came to my mind right away when I went to your site (and both are easy enough to test).

1 - Where do I shop? Then I realized it's an affiliate site with reviews, etc., but one thing you could do is add an amazon store and a "shop now" link in the top menu bar.

2 - Along those same lines, some people just need to be directed to buy. You could try adding some "buy now" buttons to some of the posts.

One other thought that probably isn't off the wall and that goes along with Engage's suggestion to "sell" the newsletter or add a forum - the vast majority of your visitors are new visitors, not repeats. Work on getting people to come back again and again. A "following" will help tremendously with sales and referrals.

Edited to add: After posting this I went back to close the browser window containing your site and noticed that the top menu has a "Top Stores" link. I think my mind originally saw that as "top stories." You could change that to something like "Best Shopping" and also consider building up that page. You could add a little description of each store and a "go shopping now" link to the store.

Thanks, and I will consider adding an Amazon store. How do you suggest I go about in getting my visitors to come back to my site?


Hi Tom,

I think your site looks very good. Good theme, and you provide solid information. I clicked on 2 of your posts, and think that you might benefit by using content links in your articles, with clickable images. Lynn has a post on how to do this on her blog, in case you need it. I think it's called "the anatomy of an affilite link". Do you have bike profiles, boot and helmet reviews, etc., with a clear call to action for your readers?

What exactly are content links? In my articles that have products, I have images that go to affiliate sites if you click on them, if that's what you mean... What would be a clear call to action?

Thanks a lot for your help so far.... That's a mouthful of info, so hopefully I can start making a couple bucks here soon.

[tomstark]

Hi, Tom:

Interesting niche, am not to familiar with it. But sounds way fun! Let's get right to it. lol. Which keywords do you currently rank for, and how is traffic to them?

Also someone above suggested adding in text based links, this is a good tip. Many times banners don't work as well, as text based links right in the article.

We'll help you. First, let us know what you currently rank for, and your backlink strategy?

Cheers,
Missy

I have a lot of keywords from all the articles, but the top ones are probably: ktm 350 sxf (8), ktm 350sxf (1), wr250f mods (1), wr250f (4), fmf turbinecore (5), and I'm sure there's more, but I'm not going to spend all day, lol. For backlinks, I put them on high ranking forums, dirt biking forums, and related blogs. I'm considering starting guest blogging though...

[tomstark]

Tom-

You have a great looking site!

An average of 100+ unique visitors a day is nothing to sneeze at!

I would have a hard time believing you will go much longer without a sale, plus more sales after that!

I can tell you have put alot of work into this! You are almost there, don't give up!

I have noticed a couple things that might help you:

Like the people who commented above, your site does seem to be missing a call to action, and a very easy way to take that action! What do you want the people that visit your site to do? Buy something, right? Well, I would make it alot easier to buy something, and then tell your visitors to do just that, buy something! When I went to your site, it took me quite awhile to even figure out how to buy something! I'm no genius, but if I had this problem when I was looking for a way to buy something, your visitors are probably not instinctively buying, like you want them to be doing!

Also, I am a huge fan of building a MAILING LIST! Again, one of the people that commented above suggested offering a free gift to people that sign up for your newsletter! I think that is the single BEST thing you could possibly do to improve sales! Based on my own experience, people very rarely buy something on their very first visit to a website! You have to allow them to get to know you, like you, and trust you, before they will buy from you! By far, the best way I know of to do that is to build your mailing list! Why would someone sign up to your mailing list? Sure, they get a free weekly newsletter, but I would suggest really giving them an incentive to sign up for your newsletter by giving the people that sign up a free gift! Then market to your mailing list! Include affiliate links in your newsletter, with a call to action! Send out broadcast emails, and tell them why they should click on the link in your email! How will it benefit them?

That, and make it much easier to buy from your website! Treat your visitors like 4th graders! Assume they don't know what to do! You have to tell them what to do, and why they should do it! How will it benefit them? Example: "Enter your name and email address here to get your free gift!" or "Click here for more details" etc. etc.

You have a very nice looking site! Very easy on the eyes! And you have come way to far to give up on it now! You are so close to your first sale that even I can taste it for you!

Keep us updated! When you do make your first sale (I have a feeling it won't be long), let us know!

I hope our advice helps you! But, in order for our advice to help you, you have to decide which advice (if any) you want to implement into your own business, and then actually DO IT!

Good luck!

Stay in touch!

Matthew Zinda

Thanks for the many suggestions, Matt. I do have a couple free gifts I give to people that sign up for the newsletter, I guess I just need to advertise that more. I will make it easier for people to buy stuff in my articles and pages... Is it best to have a "buy it now" link in the middle or bottom of an article? I'll keep you guys/gals updated. Thanks!

[chickblogger]

I see you on page 1 for ktm 350 (by the way, sweet bike!)

http://motocrosshideout.com/is-the-ktm-350-sxf-for-real

But Tom I don't see an affiliate link in this article. Or any link at all. What do you want the readers on this article to do? If you're getting traffic to this page, what are you doing with it.

Cool looking bike, though!

Also guest blogging is definitely a good idea for backlinks. I would for now concentrate on one of your articles you want to rank first for, not page 1. But spot 1. Once you've achieved this, then work on another.

I personally would NOT use a big red "Buy it Now" button, I would make it more subtle and just use a text link in the body of the article. If you use Amazon, I would use their incredibly helpful "Site Stripe" feature.

Good luck! (you're so on your way to that first sale)

[tomstark]

I see you on page 1 for ktm 350 (by the way, sweet bike!)

http://motocrosshideout.com/is-the-ktm-350-sxf-for-real

But Tom I don't see an affiliate link in this article. Or any link at all. What do you want the readers on this article to do? If you're getting traffic to this page, what are you doing with it.

Cool looking bike, though!

Also guest blogging is definitely a good idea for backlinks. I would for now concentrate on one of your articles you want to rank first for, not page 1. But spot 1. Once you've achieved this, then work on another.

I personally would NOT use a big red "Buy it Now" button, I would make it more subtle and just use a text link in the body of the article. If you use Amazon, I would use their incredibly helpful "Site Stripe" feature.

Good luck! (you're so on your way to that first sale)

Yeah, I still haven't figured out exactly what I want to sell people on that page, but I'll try to think of something today or tomorrow. I did a lot of work for another article on my site to get it ranked #1 (Dirt Bike Trails), but not much happened unfortunately. That's exactly what I was thinking for backlinks. I thought I would try to get one article/review ranked at a time and sales should start happening. Thanks

[tdadd]

Yeah, I still haven't figured out exactly what I want to sell people on that page, but I'll try to think of something today or tomorrow. I did a lot of work for another article on my site to get it ranked #1 (Dirt Bike Trails), but not much happened unfortunately. That's exactly what I was thinking for backlinks. I thought I would try to get one article/review ranked at a time and sales should start happening. Thanks

Aren't you selling the bike?? When I clicked on that great bike image, I expected to be taken to a sales page. That image should be clickable, with your affiliate id embedded in it. When I read the article, I realized that the bike is not available yet. You could use this opportunity to capture email addresses, with the promise of notifying your readers the moment it becomes available, with a full review.

A call to action is what you would like your visitors to do at your site. "click here for the best bike prices at amazon.com" is a clear call to action. For more subtlety, you can use text, or content links within the body of the article. For example, if you're writing about your favorite bike helmet, you can make the words "bike helmet" , or "Shoei multi-something" a clickable link that goes to the helmet page at amazon.

Are you submitting to ezinearticles?

Also, are you targetting buying keywords? It's great that you're #1 for "dirt bike trails". How do you plan on monetizing that? Or are you using it just for traffic?

Again, it's a great site, lots of good information. It's really apparent that you are passionate about your topic, and you know your stuff.

Good luck!
Terese

[tomstark]

Aren't you selling the bike?? When I clicked on that great bike image, I expected to be taken to a sales page. That image should be clickable, with your affiliate id embedded in it. When I read the article, I realized that the bike is not available yet. You could use this opportunity to capture email addresses, with the promise of notifying your readers the moment it becomes available, with a full review.

A call to action is what you would like your visitors to do at your site. "click here for the best bike prices at amazon.com" is a clear call to action. For more subtlety, you can use text, or content links within the body of the article. For example, if you're writing about your favorite bike helmet, you can make the words "bike helmet" , or "Shoei multi-something" a clickable link that goes to the helmet page at amazon.

Are you submitting to ezinearticles?

Also, are you targetting buying keywords? It's great that you're #1 for "dirt bike trails". How do you plan on monetizing that? Or are you using it just for traffic?

Again, it's a great site, lots of good information. It's really apparent that you are passionate about your topic, and you know your stuff.

Good luck!
Terese

No, unfortunately there are no affiliate sites that sell those bikes, but I will add a link to that pic. Yes, I already have text and picture links to affiliates on all the products. I submit almost every article to ezines. Yeah, I'm targeting buying keywords, but I'm doing that more now so I can get traffic to them. Thanks Terese!

[kdbbiz]

Tom

I just went to your site and pulled up an article on building a dirt bike ramp. Although your article was good, I am the type of person when I am reading instructions for something like that if I could see pics or a video I would understand it more. So, I went to youtube and typed in "building a dirt bike jump" and got a whole whack of cool looking videos here
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=building+a+dirt+bike+jump&aq=f

I then went over to http://popshops.com and punched in motocross into the shopbuilder search section. There is a ton of stuff from like 30 different networks related to your topic that you could promote by creating a free popshops affiliate store. If you have never heard of popshops, there is a complete tutorial video and all to run you through setting things up. I had one for my skateboard shop but recently had to take it down and need to build a new one for that(side note-if you use commission junction-make sure you push for those sales, cause if you do not make a sale in 3 months, they close your account).

Good luck to you though! Doing great! Keep it up. I agree, your first sale is around the corner.

[Scootek]

I am going to ask an obvious (possibly stupid) question - what are you selling? Is it training/equpment etc. If so, why is it not more obvious. If I landed on your site I would view it as Motocross blog/discussion site. Anyway, that's my first impression.

[tomstark]

Tom

I just went to your site and pulled up an article on building a dirt bike ramp. Although your article was good, I am the type of person when I am reading instructions for something like that if I could see pics or a video I would understand it more. So, I went to youtube and typed in "building a dirt bike jump" and got a whole whack of cool looking videos here
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=building+a+dirt+bike+jump&aq=f

I then went over to http://popshops.com and punched in motocross into the shopbuilder search section. There is a ton of stuff from like 30 different networks related to your topic that you could promote by creating a free popshops affiliate store. If you have never heard of popshops, there is a complete tutorial video and all to run you through setting things up. I had one for my skateboard shop but recently had to take it down and need to build a new one for that(side note-if you use commission junction-make sure you push for those sales, cause if you do not make a sale in 3 months, they close your account).

Good luck to you though! Doing great! Keep it up. I agree, your first sale is around the corner.

That's sounds like a good idea. I've been considering doing a lot more video articles because people (including me) like to see stuff and how it's done. I need a better video camera, but I can probably use some of those other youtube vids for now. Thanks.


I am going to ask an obvious (possibly stupid) question - what are you selling? Is it training/equpment etc. If so, why is it not more obvious. If I landed on your site I would view it as Motocross blog/discussion site. Anyway, that's my first impression.

Not a dumb question, and yes I'm trying to sell dirt bike gear, parts, accessories, etc....

I've already had some good suggestion from other people so far, but how would you suggest I change it so it looks like there's stuff that people can buy? Thanks

[Coronado Cookie]

Hi Tom,

I agree, you've got a really nice looking site, very professional. You have obviously put a lot of work into it.

A few thoughts in addition to what has already been mentioned ~

Your opt in could be a little more compelling. To me it is rather lost in the header. I also think people are more inclined to sign up if they can enter their name & e-mail right then and there. Plus, an arrow highlighting the opt in adds more of an incentive to people to sign up (steers them in the right direction).

You don't have a strong message or call to action above the fold. What is the primary, one message that you want to say to your visitors when they land on your site?

You have a fair number of visitors, but without sales it seems as if they are content seekers, not buyers. I believe in using both content keywords and buy keywords. Have you researched the long tail buy keywords and created posts based on them? Each post or page should focus on one keyword phrase and give one message or call to action to your reader.

Motocross is a very competitive keyword phrase (19,800,000 competing pages). Have you drilled down to find the related, lower competition keyword phrases and worked at ranking for them?

This seems like it is a passion for you and you have put so much into this site. I think with some changes it could be very successful. Keep us posted & good luck!

[Engage]

You don't have a strong message or call to action above the fold. What is the primary, one message that you want to say to your visitors when they land on your site?

Was just about to make this same point.

Describe your site in one clear, simple and compelling sentence. Most visitors to most sites are first time visitors. Tell them immediately, right at the top, what's in it for them.

Maybe clean up some of the clutter at the top of page, and replace with your one sentence "elevator speech" summary?

[tomstark]

Hi Tom,

I agree, you've got a really nice looking site, very professional. You have obviously put a lot of work into it.

A few thoughts in addition to what has already been mentioned ~

Your opt in could be a little more compelling. To me it is rather lost in the header. I also think people are more inclined to sign up if they can enter their name & e-mail right then and there. Plus, an arrow highlighting the opt in adds more of an incentive to people to sign up (steers them in the right direction).

You don't have a strong message or call to action above the fold. What is the primary, one message that you want to say to your visitors when they land on your site?

You have a fair number of visitors, but without sales it seems as if they are content seekers, not buyers. I believe in using both content keywords and buy keywords. Have you researched the long tail buy keywords and created posts based on them? Each post or page should focus on one keyword phrase and give one message or call to action to your reader.

Motocross is a very competitive keyword phrase (19,800,000 competing pages). Have you drilled down to find the related, lower competition keyword phrases and worked at ranking for them?

This seems like it is a passion for you and you have put so much into this site. I think with some changes it could be very successful. Keep us posted & good luck!

Ok, I'll have my brother help me with the opt-in. Should I put that on the top of the sidebar, or what? I've researched keywords for almost all of my articles... I just need to add more backlinks to them to get higher rankings. Thanks!

[tomstark]

Was just about to make this same point.

Describe your site in one clear, simple and compelling sentence. Most visitors to most sites are first time visitors. Tell them immediately, right at the top, what's in it for them.

Maybe clean up some of the clutter at the top of page, and replace with your one sentence "elevator speech" summary?

Yeah, my "thesis statement" being very very important would make sense. I'll think on that. Might take a couple days, lol. Thanks. Maybe I can add my brother to this forum to see if he can help...

[Coronado Cookie]

The top of the sidebar Tom - that way it is above the fold and clearly seen by your visitors.

[tomstark]

Alright, I'll change that as soon as I can. Thanks!

[Engage]

Tom, here's an off the wall idea...

In addition to asking us, ask your visitors. Make a big deal out of asking your readers for help with your site. Run a contest, give a prize, shower praise upon respondents, etc.

Engage your readers in the story of you, your site, your success. Use the back and forth to create more content for your site. Show your fellow riders how to do what you are doing.

As you've seen, everybody LOVES to give advice. Make advice giving a popular new feature of your site.

That's my advice! :-)

[Val B]

The site looks great. Are the keywords that you are ranking for and/or trying to rank for "money" keywords? I mean would people searching for those terms be looking to buy something immediately? If not, then I would think conversion rates would be much lower. On your product review pages, I would have prominent links to Order or Buy Now.

Good luck!

[curtisswn]

When I went to your site it looked like an info site to me, not a shopping place. Maybe you need "shiny" product links, sounds crass but a good site needs some glitz that says "spend money here!"

Curtis

[tomstark]

Yeah, I do need to interact more with my readers. I have asked the subscribers to send me any suggestions they have or what I should change, but I hardly ever get any replies. I did have a poll on the sidebar with a few choices of what article they want to see on the site. I got quite a few responses on that, so once I get time I'll make that article/video that most of the people voted for. Anything you suggest I do to interact more? I have been considering doing prizes/contests because my brother did some on his site, but I'm still in school right now.

I'd say a little over half of my keywords are money keywords. I just need to get them ranked higher.

Mhm, I will "spiff" up the articles and affiliate links once I get some time, hopefully this week.

[christianwins]

Just read through all this, a lot of great suggestions here. Tom and myself have been working on our main sites together and trying all kinds of ideas to find what his readers want, and have so far had little success with MXHideout. We'll go back to the optin in the sidebar and try that with a different headline. The 2nd big area that I believe will help is like mentioned by many people here, is the big call-to-actions in the posts.

5 biggest things from all our efforts and suggestions right now:
Optin in sidebar
Bigger calls to action
Doing articles with buying intent
More link building
Something not yet mentioned, using good affiliates (a couple of his affiliates have received hundreds - thousand(s) of clicks since the site started without a resulting sale. So we'll make sure to use the ones that convert.

[tomstark]

Ok, I can do that. Should the video be of me?

[tomstark]

Well, after a long drought, I finally got my first sale. It wasn't from the affiliate that I expected, but I made about $9. Woohoo!! I've been doing a lot of changes to my current money articles and adding links to them. I'm slowly getting more traffic and affiliate link clicks, but not many conversions still.

[dbjbob]

Tom, The site does look great and is really easy to navigate. As I haven't even gotten started on the niche affiliate marketing I wouldn't presume to give you any advice. I am glad that you asked. I am learning a ton by reading the responses from those who have.

Thanks, Bob

[chickblogger]

$9 is huge. Congrats! Rinse and repeat as they say.

[tomstark]

Yeah, thanks for the help and comments guys/gals. I appreciate it, and I can only see a bright light in the future...

[towergem]

your site looks good and 800 ip weekly is not bad.
there is only 30-40 unique ip dailly to my site. I have about fifteen orders one month

[tomstark]

Thanks, and yeah I don't know what's going on. People just aren't clicking and buying stuff through my site.

[deniseoberry]

Tom --

Way cool -- congrats on the sale! Remember if you can sell one for $9, you can sell 10 for $90, 100 for $900, etc... Go for it. Testing and tweaking will help make you successful.

[tomstark]

Tom --

Way cool -- congrats on the sale! Remember if you can sell one for $9, you can sell 10 for $90, 100 for $900, etc... Go for it. Testing and tweaking will help make you successful.

Thanks, I just need to work on getting A LOT more traffic.:D

[tomstark]

Ok, I need some help again. I'm mainly using Amazon for an affiliate. I'm getting about 900 visitors a week and can't get any conversions, let alone many clicks. What's wrong? I have almost 10 articles with "money" keywords that are top 10 on google.

[torontocarol]

Hi Tom,
I went to your site just now and one thing that jumped out at me was a large Hostgator adsense ad. If you find that people are clicking through on that one, you would be better off to advertise it as a Hostgator affiliate. The ad will look almost the same, but you'll get a whole lot more money for it.

Very nice looking site, by the way.

[tomstark]

Hi Tom,
I went to your site just now and one thing that jumped out at me was a large Hostgator adsense ad. If you find that people are clicking through on that one, you would be better off to advertise it as a Hostgator affiliate. The ad will look almost the same, but you'll get a whole lot more money for it.

Very nice looking site, by the way.

I have no idea why there's a hostgator adsense ad. Probably because I use it, but I've noticed that they've been doing a lot of advertising lately. I will be getting rid of adsense, for the most part, once I can figure out how to make some decent money from affiliates. Thanks.

[tomstark]

Ok, this is getting frustrating.... I'm averaging just over 1000 weekly visitors and still can't get conversions like I think I should. Although some of the most visited articles on my site are not "product" ones, the ones that do try and sell something get enough traffic to convert.

Some examples are: "trail tech vapor" article gets 450 page views per month, "evs bj22 body armor" gets 350/month, "fmf fatty pipe" gets almost 300, "alpinestars tech 3" gets over 200, and there's more. Is that not enough to get conversions??

I have affiliate text, picture, and "Buy Here" type links in all the product articles. What's wrong? Are my articles not convincing? I also took away adsense ads from a few of the top "money" articles and affiliate click ratio rose slightly, but not much, and with no conversions.... I'm stumped.

[tomstark]

Yeah, I just started testing some new things with my newsletter sign-up. I give my subscribers two helpful guides about my niche (says that on the forms). My subscription rate has increased in the past month. Not substantially, but better than it was, and I'm still testing new things.

Speaking of including affiliate links in the newsletter, that's exactly what I was planning on doing next. I also need to work on my email headlines, because I'm not getting enough subscribers to open them...

Any other suggestions?? Thanks.

[Satu]

I just checked a couple of your pages. The site looks good (except that the font is too small to my liking - but I'm middle-aged and almost blind so it may not matter :p)

I think you should link your product reviews to a specific Amazon product, not a category of products. And the call to action should be about that product, not about best deals on Amazon in general.

You should really join the Elites, Lynn could help you A LOT.

Overall, I think you have done a great job. :-)

[tomstark]

Thanks, I'll try changing some of the links and see what happens. I will look into the Elites...

[Satu]

I was roaming around Lynn's blog and found this post that might be relevant. It's about buying and informational keywords and how to opitimize your site for the buying keywords.

http://www.clicknewz.com/2244/long-tail-keyword-strategy/

[cjmo75]

I know you've done a lot of hard work, and I understand your frustration. I was in your shoes about a year ago. It seemed like no matter how hard I worked I just couldn't make sales.

That's when I learned that it is a numbers game. 700-800 visitors per week really isn't that many. A normal conversion rate is 1%. So, let's say that 20% of your vistors click-through your affiliate links (which is high). That would be 160 clicks. So, this would generally product 1-2 affiliate sales. That's assuming that you have a 20% CTR or better.

As for your newsletter, don't get discouraged when people unsubscribe. That's totally normal, and you shouldn't take it personally that your writing is bad or anything like that.

A 30-40% unsubscribe rate is actually par for the course. Like I said, internt marketing is a numbers game. I didn't start making good money until I developed my own product and put it up on E-Junkie and started to get my own affiliates promoting for me.

The reason is that this produced traffic. As for your list, I didn't start to make good money with that until I hit almost 1000 subscribers. Even then, it can be hit or miss.

Just hang in there and don't give up. You should also put whatever money you are making back into your business to generate more traffic. Pay-per-click traffic can be expensive, but it's very targeted in most cases and can produce great results. Of course, please do your keyword research before starting a PPC campaign, or you could really take a beating.

Also, have you thought about product creation? If you have a newsletter that means you can probably write well. Why not pump out a 15-20 page ebook, embed some affiliate links in it, and give it away on your website?

[tomstark]

Yeah, I know I'm not getting tons of traffic (1000/week now), but I kinda' expected at least a few conversions. So, I figured I was doing something wrong.

I wasn't really worried about people unsubscribing so much. I just wanted to get a higher subscriber rate, and still trying to find out how to get them to open the emails.

I do have an ebook, me and my brother (christianwins) just haven't put much time in trying to advertise it. So you're saying that I should give it away with my newsletter? What kind of affiliate links should be in it? Thanks.

[cjmo75]

Yeah, I know I'm not getting tons of traffic (1000/week now), but I kinda' expected at least a few conversions. So, I figured I was doing something wrong.

I wasn't really worried about people unsubscribing so much. I just wanted to get a higher subscriber rate, and still trying to find out how to get them to open the emails.

I do have an ebook, me and my brother (christianwins) just haven't put much time in trying to advertise it. So you're saying that I should give it away with my newsletter? What kind of affiliate links should be in it? Thanks.
I've had lots of success in building my list by creating a "viral" effect with a product.

For instance, I just created an article marketing product that is worthy of being sold on Clickbank. I've had several people tell me it's very good.

On the very last page of the ebook, I've made a small "Bonus" area that includes a link to an article marketing video course that I give away as a perk to the product. The link goes to a squeeze page and then the reader has to sign up to my list to access the video course.

I've also peppered some affiliate links throughout the ebook, and links to Master Resell Rights products that I sell. Not many, maybe 2 or 3. You don't want the ebook to appear like it's just a reason to sell your products.

Now, here's my twist:

I include a squeeze page and sales page with the product, and give others the rights to sell it or use it to build their list. This is how I get mega exposure. Not only am I giving it away, I'm letting others do the same AND build their own lists or make money in the process.

Here's another tip:

I give the product to as many possible Master Resell Rights membership sites as I can find. The product has to be good or it won't get accepted. The owners of these siets are more than happy to put up a free product IF it adds value for their members.

You can also just give the actual report part of your product away to all of the free ebook sites on the web.

Then, make a simple download page with a link to download your product and put that in blog comments, forum signatures, article resource boxes, etc.

Another thing to do is set up your own squeeze page to give the product away and join all of those JV giveaways where people have to sign up to your list to get your product or "gift".

Also, you can put your download page on a bunch of traffic exchanges.

In short, go crazy giving this thing away.

All it takes is for one person with a lot of traffic to use it to build their list or give it their list, and the leads will start rolling in.

I did a product 6 weeks ago and so far have gotten almost 1100 leads from it. This really works. The best part is, you don't need the help of the search engines! Give it a shot. You'll see good results. It takes time this way, but once the momentum builds you'll have an endless source of fresh leads.

[tomstark]

What if I don't have a product?

[cjmo75]

What if I don't have a product?

Well, you have a few options. You can write one using your own research or knowledge. Your niche is MotoCross I'm assuming? There are many things you can talk about there. Bike repair, Racing techniques, How to buy a bike, etc.

I didn't look at your site yet so I'm not totally sure what your niche is all about, but you get the idea.

Next, you could pick up some PLR (private label rights) articles, edit and proofread them, and compile them into a 15-20 page ebook. You can get great packs of PLR on almost any topic at sites like Tradebit or Payloadz very cheap.

Third, you could buy a PLR ebook already all done and change it around a bit and put your name and links in it.

Fourth, you could hire a ghostwriter to write the ebook for you using the many freelancer for hire sites on the net.

It seems you have a lot of knowledge about your niche, so you should just write it yourself.

As for creating the squeeze page and sales page, all you have to do is buy a pack of templates and edit them to fit your needs. Again, Tradebit is a good place to find these. You can even do a Google search and probably get some free ones. Or, you could set up a free blog and just make it one post in sales page fashion. This way, you could even put an opt-in form on it to capture some leads.

You'll also need an ecover graphic for your ebook. I use Fiverr. That's where you can hire someone for $5 to do a "Gig". In this case, create an ebook cover. I get all of mine done there., and they all come out good. I can recommend the person I use to you if you shoot me a PM. It's a great deal for $5.

Hope this helps. :)

[tomstark]

Thanks, I'll talk it over with my bro to see if he can help. I just don't know exactly how to go about this kind of thing and do it. Once I figure out how to do something then it's a lot easier.

[cjmo75]

Thanks, I'll talk it over with my bro to see if he can help. I just don't know exactly how to go about this kind of thing and do it. Once I figure out how to do something then it's a lot easier.
Well, there are a lot of ecourses out there on product creation. I can recommend you a few god ones if you like. They'll show you how to go about everything from creation to distribution.

[tomstark]

When you say product, does that mean it can actually be an ebook? Because I do have a 27-page ebook on motocross riding techniques. I just haven't put time into advertising it.

[cjmo75]

When you say product, does that mean it can actually be an ebook? Because I do have a 27-page ebook on motocross riding techniques. I just haven't put time into advertising it.

Right, an ebook is considered a product. It could also be a video series or a series of informational articles.

I always include a squeeze page and instruct people that I give the product to to give it away to others. This will give you a viral effect.

[tomstark]

Ok, well it's all still a little confusing to me, but I'm sure it will get better once I started doing things.

[cjmo75]

Ok, well it's all still a little confusing to me, but I'm sure it will get better once I started doing things.
After your first one, you'll get the kinks out and it will get easier from there, believe me. :)

[cjmo75]

Tom-

You have a great looking site!

An average of 100+ unique visitors a day is nothing to sneeze at!

I would have a hard time believing you will go much longer without a sale, plus more sales after that!

I can tell you have put alot of work into this! You are almost there, don't give up!

I have noticed a couple things that might help you:

Like the people who commented above, your site does seem to be missing a call to action, and a very easy way to take that action! What do you want the people that visit your site to do? Buy something, right? Well, I would make it alot easier to buy something, and then tell your visitors to do just that, buy something! When I went to your site, it took me quite awhile to even figure out how to buy something! I'm no genius, but if I had this problem when I was looking for a way to buy something, your visitors are probably not instinctively buying, like you want them to be doing!

Also, I am a huge fan of building a MAILING LIST! Again, one of the people that commented above suggested offering a free gift to people that sign up for your newsletter! I think that is the single BEST thing you could possibly do to improve sales! Based on my own experience, people very rarely buy something on their very first visit to a website! You have to allow them to get to know you, like you, and trust you, before they will buy from you! By far, the best way I know of to do that is to build your mailing list! Why would someone sign up to your mailing list? Sure, they get a free weekly newsletter, but I would suggest really giving them an incentive to sign up for your newsletter by giving the people that sign up a free gift! Then market to your mailing list! Include affiliate links in your newsletter, with a call to action! Send out broadcast emails, and tell them why they should click on the link in your email! How will it benefit them?

That, and make it much easier to buy from your website! Treat your visitors like 4th graders! Assume they don't know what to do! You have to tell them what to do, and why they should do it! How will it benefit them? Example: "Enter your name and email address here to get your free gift!" or "Click here for more details" etc. etc.

You have a very nice looking site! Very easy on the eyes! And you have come way to far to give up on it now! You are so close to your first sale that even I can taste it for you!

Keep us updated! When you do make your first sale (I have a feeling it won't be long), let us know!

I hope our advice helps you! But, in order for our advice to help you, you have to decide which advice (if any) you want to implement into your own business, and then actually DO IT!

Good luck!

Stay in touch!

Matthew Zinda
As I said earlier, it's all about the numbers. Most products covert at 1%. That means that you would need 100 clicks to your affiliate link to generate 1 sale. at an average click through rate of 15%, you would need 1500 visitors to get 100 affiliate link clicks. If you are getting 100 visitors every day, you should average at least 2 sales per month.

Do everything in your power to get as much targeted traffic as you can. The best way to do that is to build backlinks using article marketing and raise your site higher up in the search engines for busy keywords. If you can get your site on page 1 of Google, you'll start getting a ton of targeted traffic, and that's what really makes sales.

[tomstark]

Yeah, I was doing that a lot earlier in the year/summer when I had more free time, and just recently started doing it again. I have several keywords ranking top 10 in google. Over 70% of my traffic is from search engines.

Also, I just got offered an advertising opportunity. Someone wants to advertise motorcycle insurance on my site, but I've never dealt with this before. They want to put an ad in the sidebar of my homepage only. Is it possible to only have an ad on the homepage? If so, how? Also, they asked how much I would charge for 6 months of advertisement, but I don't have a good idea on what's fair. My brother suggested around $20/month... Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[deniseoberry]

An ad on your home page? I'd say somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 - $250 per month minimum. Paid in advance.

[tomstark]

Really? Even for how little of traffic I'm getting?

[deniseoberry]

Yes, really. 4k visitors a month is a lot of eyeballs and they want this on your home page.

[tomstark]

Hmm, okay. Should I ask them if $150 per month is reasonable/fair, or should I just tell them that's how much I charge? Not to be rude or mean, but I'd like to hear it from a couple sources just to be sure. Thanks.

[angienewton]

I would just say that it's $150/month for front page ad spot. This is a business so you are not being rude/mean. They have to spend a ton more than that for radio/TV ads.

[tomstark]

Well I emailed them yesterday, so just waiting for a reply... Also, I've made a few conversions this month so far. Nothing too big, but it's a start. I started backlinking again since I have quite a few articles on page two of google. If I can get them to page one I think my traffic will see a dramatic increase.

[deniseoberry]

Tom -- I didn't realize you were responding to an email request. Please be aware that there are many companies sending out mass emails to site owners these days with no real intent. Don't be disappointed if you don't hear back. And be thrilled if you do!

[tomstark]

Yeah, I knew it could be spam when they first emailed, but it seemed somewhat legit, and that's why I replied. I won't be surprised if nothing happens, but yes I will be ecstatic if something works out.

Maybe I should have explained a little about the person emailing me. Here's the first email I received:

"Hello

I represent a client that sells motorbike insurance and I am contacting you on their behalf to inquire about the type of online advertising opportunities that you offer. I am open to any possibilities, from text advertising and sponsored articles to banner advertising, or any others that you might want to suggest!

If you are interested, please reply so we can discuss things further. My email address is emma@vectortrap.co.uk :)

Regards
Emma Paynter"

So she works for VectorTrap... anyone heard or know if it? The last email she asked how much I charge for advertising, and then I replied.

[tomstark]

Well here's what she replied:
"Tom

Unfortunately I can't pay $150 a month for the link. I would probably be looking to pay $150 for the full 6 month period.

Emma"

[deniseoberry]

Well, you'll have to make your own decision about it Tom, but I certainly wouldn't sell a link on the home page of any of my websites for that.

[MikeF421]

That is pretty cheap. I would probably tell her to go pound sand.

Alternatively, you could offer some sort of incentive based advertising. Take the $150, but for every XX clicks per month on their ad they have to pay an extra $XX.

[tomstark]

Hmm, that might be a good idea. So do you think an extra 2-3 bucks per click sounds right?

[MikeF421]

That sounds a bit high to me. It really depends on how much one visitor is worth to them. I was thinking something more like $2-3 for every 10-15 clicks at the most.

[tomstark]

Oh whoops, wasn't thinking that through, lol. Alright, well I'll think it over and email her back.