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

[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?searc...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?searc...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?