I was just reading a post by Lynn saying that SEO is super easy....

[bornstein75]

I realise that SEO is super easy.......and it's so logical as to how to make money by setting up affiliate sites, it' so easy that a kid could do it.....but then why are so many people doing it, and not making much money, while others are making a fortune....???

We all know to set up a blog, write content, build backlinks, Artcile marketing..etc...etc...

Does it come down to the writing style, how well a person conveys a message in their blog....where they happen to market their site...what niche they are in???

If this is the case, if you can't write so well, then do you have a hope at conveying the same message that someone who can write and make the same amount of money...?

Sometimes I just wish i could sit down with the experts for 1 day and see exactly what they do and how they make SEO work so they rake in the big dollars....

I guess it comes down to persistance and not giving up....

I'm just feeling a little despondent....putting so much effort in, following all the right tips and ideas, but nothing is happening yet....

Maybe I'm expecting too much too soon.....

I just had write the way i feel...any motivational messages would be great...

Thanks for listening to me...

[Lady T]

Another question: If I'm writing about Tiger Woods and 17,492 people are also then does it boil down to who put his name in the content more often?

If I don't have any backlinks for this (hypothetical) post that was written (hypothetically) today. Then does it boil down to how many I have for my over all blog? And if that's the case than doesn't the person w/the oldest, most linked-up blog/site win?

[yuri21]

In response to the first post by bornstein75, btw.

1 reason:
Well 'cos some people try to use super-old techniques that might have worked once and which are no longer useful. About a few months ago, if you'd asked me what SEO meant(I wasn't doing Internet marketing then): I'd have replied that it meant throwing a big bunch of keyword terms. ;D It was a technique that was popular in the late 90s, and which I still see some people use.

[TheWealthSquad]

You left out a very important step. Keyword research. The key is finding long tail keywords that have a decent amount of traffic and relatively weak competition.

Traffic is step one. Finding a long tail word with no traffic doesn't help any. Google this

Mark Joyner Business Coach

My site is #1. Great SEO right? I get a couple of visitors a MONTH from that phrase. I did a couple of social bookmarks of the site and I think 3 or 4 backlinks from reasonable sites.

Search volume matters a lot with affiliate marketing.

Volume Plus Ranking is the first part of the equation. That gets you eyeballs on your site.

Now you need products that convert. Every step of the way you will have leakage. If you start out with 100 people every day searching for the term, you lose some because they don't click on your link (even if you are #1 on Google, Bing and Yahoo). You lose some because your writing doesn't presell them. (PS if you don't think you can write, hire someone to write a couple of posts and see if they do better.) Then the ones that get to the offer don't all purchase. Each step you lose eyeballs.

Search Volume Times Keyword ranking Times CTR Times Purchase conversion = Money

Do you know each of those numbers? Do you know where in the process your sales funnel is breaking down?

[drmani]

Sometimes I just wish i could sit down with the experts for 1 day and see exactly what they do and how they make SEO work

A couple of years back, I did a short 2 week program like that,
called the "Authority Site Process". Of course, the work is ongoing
after the 14 days, but most participants were encouraged after
seeing RESULTS - which is half the battle!

If there's enough interest in it, I'll pull out the files and do it again
this month - and like last time, it will be FREE.

No, YOU won't be able to replicate the results within the same time
frame, because I leverage properties that were built over 2 years
for this process, but you'll see HOW to build them for yourself (and
they are NOT complex or hard to create)

I'll let Lynn chime in too about whether it's appropriate to do it here,
and how best to structure it, if it's a "Go".

I'm just feeling a little despondent....putting so much effort in, following all the right tips and ideas, but nothing is happening yet....

Maybe I'm expecting too much too soon.....

I *often* feel that way - and yes, we expect things to happen faster
than they do.

One lesson time has taught me is to do the work, and then leave it
to simmer while you focus on other things. Surprisingly, one fine day,
you'll notice a rush of traffic or sales - and realize the work you did
earlier has had impact.

It's kind of like gardening, where you plant a seed, water, weed, and
watch. Nothing seems to happen - until, one magical day, a tiny
shoot appears, then grows, flowers, bears fruit.

Was that motivational enough?

Or should I contrast SEO against bringing up kids?!!!

All success
Dr.Mani

[Henrik Flensborg]

I guess it comes down to persistance and not giving up....

I think you're spot on here.

Knowing how to perfectly match products+type of niche+writing style+page layout+keyword research+offsite SEO+onsite SEO+mindset of your visitors is not something that magically becomes a reality.

Some people are good with words, some people have great insights into the mindsets of their visitors, some people are great at brainstorming keywords, some people are good at analysing keywords, some people are good at defining meaningful splittests, some people know their way around designing website layouts etc etc - but they almost always became good at their stuff through trial and error (consciously or subconsciously).

So, persistence is definitely key here.

Forget about all the "I came from nothing, knowing nothing about marketing, and stumbled by accident upon a hidden secret that nobody else in the whole wide internet marketing world had thought of before and now I make a gazillion $$$ every second - and double that amount when I'm sleeping" success stories where you can become equally successful if you just put down an initial payment of $97 and opts in for an upsell or two and signs up for a monthly $47 subscription to get "mastermind coaching"

Just take it one step at a time, implement it then test it - if it worked, then move on to the next thing - if it didn't work, then modify it a bit and test it again.

Also, I've found that scheduling tasks makes me much more productive, and less prone to drift off into unproductive additional research and learning.

Another thing that I've found useful is to document the process, the implementation details and the results.

So now I have a checklist of how I like to set up my WP blogs, I have a spreadsheet with the keywords I've chosen to go after and another spreadsheet where I keep track of which pages I've submitted to which SB sites, added to which profiles and other places I've managed to secure a backlink.

Some people go into more details, some people prefer less details, but a good approach to documentation have always been to document everything in the beginning and then gradually documenting less and less as you figure out which is essential for you to keep track of.

It's a process with lots of different variables and the only way to be consistently successful is by continually tweaking and tuning.

And it's an area that is constantly changing, so what's working today might not work 6 months from now. But don't worry about that now. The initial learning curve is steep enough to also worry about changes in the playingfield.

So, keep at it, hang around Lynn's place and don't think of this as something where an easy fix or hidden secret is always just another purchase away.

[jkgourmet]

Henrick, thank you. That's a great post. I envy your ability to keep so organized and focused.

I have two questions:

1. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this: "I keep track of which pages I've submitted to which SB sites, added to which profiles and other places I've managed to secure a backlink." And why would you want to keep track of places that you've secured a backlink?

2. Care to share that WP set up checklist? I know I'm not alone in saying that it would be very helpful to many of us, but I do understand that you may want to keep it to yourself. Either way, I appreciate your contributions here. Nice to have you aboard!

[Henrik Flensborg]

Henrick, thank you. That's a great post. I envy your ability to keep so organized and focused.

I'm not always organized and focused - but I try to steer that way as soon as I realize I've drifted.

1. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this: "I keep track of which pages I've submitted to which SB sites, added to which profiles and other places I've managed to secure a backlink." And why would you want to keep track of places that you've secured a backlink?

Because it always good to keep a list of "link friendly" places.

There's basically two different types of backlinks that I like to keep track of:

1) Blogroll type links is one. Acquired through personal contact with the website owner. It's nice to know the next time I venture into a related niche.

2) Blog comment links that have actually gone live. Sometimes a blog comment goes into the moderation queue - and stays there. I like to know which blogs are actually worth the effort in putting together a real and genuine blog comment.

2. Care to share that WP set up checklist? I know I'm not alone in saying that it would be very helpful to many of us, but I do understand that you may want to keep it to yourself. Either way, I appreciate your contributions here.

I'll see what I can do - most likely not this weekend though because we're away both days for dressage competitions.

Nice to have you aboard!

Nice to be back ;-)

[Lynn Terry]

I have a few links/tutorials to add to the discussion:

How to Start A WordPress Blog (Checklist)

Web Page Optimization (Checklist)

Choosing Keywords & Phrases (SEO Content)

There are 2 main reasons that I see frequently why some people don't do as well at SEO or affiliate marketing as others. The first is obvious: they quit.

I liked Dr. Mani's example of the garden - and most people do all the prep work and then fail to fertilize or water it more than maybe once or twice before they give up and move on to dig another hole.

The second is that they are not in the business mindset of "how can I serve this market" and create a profitable business model in this niche. Instead they are thinking "how can I make money online".

If you just want to make fast cash, do some freelancing. That's easy. But creating an affiliate site and getting into SEO is a business model with long-term profit potential. There's a big difference.

[Lynn Terry]

Micheal is right - for "hot topics" or trends, social properties are the best way to rise quick (may also tank quick, but that's okay). YouTube, blog post, twitter, squidoo, etc.