Lots of Questions

[encsteph]

Hello all,

My name is Eric and I could use some help/suggestions.

Let me give you a little background first:

I own a website called www.njcampinginfo.com which was originally setup back in '05 as a list of all the campgrounds in NJ with some general info about each and some reviews of said campsites. After awhile I started a blog on the site (originally at njcampinginfo.com/blog) to get some additional traffic. I added content and blogged for a year or so and then kind of just let it go.

I left the site up and never really did anything more with it until early in '09 when I happen to go looking at the stats and realized just how much traffic it gets, the site averages 200 unique visitors a day during the winter and upwards of 300 unique visitors per day during the warmer months.

I had somebody customize a wordpress theme and import all of the static pages of the site into wordpress so it will be easier to manage. I then had the blog moved to the root of the site so the main site opens to the blog instead of the blog being just an add-on.

I also added a RSS feed to the site so people could subscribe via RSS and read the posts and I added a social bookmarking plugin so people can link my posts right to their social sites.

Sorry for the length of the background info...just wanted to paint a decent picture.

So now I have a blog that gets a fair amount of traffic. What I need help with is how to increase the traffic and monetize the site better. Currently I only have adsense on the site and that is only bringing in $75 - $100 a month.

I have thought about buying the Super Affiliate Handbook and trying to monetize the site that way but I'm not sure.

I have been thinking about buying Probloggers 31Days to Build a Better Blog to increase traffic.

So I am asking for some help with:

1. How would you suggest I monetize the site?
2. How would you suggest I increase traffic?
3. What would you change about the site?
4. Would either/both of the books listed above help with my goals?
5. How do I include Twitter/Facebook/Social Media in my attempts to increase traffice/profit?

I know this post is really long and I am asking lots of questions...I will be very appreciative of any thoughts/suggestions/help you can give me. I am just confused and overwhelmed with all the different information out there and need some guidance.

Lastly, I am a very detail oriented person who can't function with out a task list so any help with creating a daily/weekly/monthly task list to accomplish my goals would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance...I truly, truly appreciate it.

Eric

[AlexNewell]

First of all Welcome to the forum!

...and well done on your traffic stats and adsense too

A couple of things to start the debate off

(1) your adsense block is too low on your site -I would move it up to be visible as soon as somone lands on your site.

(2) there's tons of products you can sell and review.

I hope you go camping!!

If you do you can review....tents, camping grounds, guides...check out commission junction for products

You might want to consider a change of theme too - the header is great but I suspect lots of other themes would suit your purpose better.

There's plenty of blog experts here on the forum so think about posting a querstion with Wordpress theme in the title

Hope that helps

Alex

[AffiliateMax]

Hi Eric, I would agree with Alex - go on CJ.com etc and find some camping/outdoor store merchants to promote on your site. If you can 'add value' through reviews and features then that should get you some affiliate income.

You can also check out the original problogger 31 days challenge which has lots of tips - then if you like what's there you could invest $20 in the ebook for more in-depth advice.
http://www.problogger.net/31-days-to...a-better-blog/

Also drill down through your stats and see exactly what people are looking for when they find your site and then give them as much good content related to those keywords as you can. This will also give you ideas for products to feature or review and for new posts.

You may also think about approaching relevant local companies (campsites, outdoor shops, local attractions, restaurants etc) and seeing if they want an ad spot on your site for a fixed monthly fee?

Also found your links a bit confusing eg at:
http://njcampinginfo.com/things-you-say

The line Acorn Campground Review has 2 links - if I click on the word Acorn I get the review, but if I click on the word campground I get a generic article. Would be better from a SEO perspective as well as from a usability point of view to have a link like Acorn Campground Review (well it would be if there was a review there but you see what i mean........)

By the way the free version of http://www.clicktale.com/ is a great way to see what visitors do on your site - you can also use it to find the best spots for positioning your adsense ads... When I view your site in firefox all the adsense ads are 'below the fold' and they also don't fit in the column.

Twitter would be good for finding other people to connect with who may even potentially be advertisers as well as driving visitors to your site - you can search and find people interested in camping who live in or near New Jersey as well as local businesses.

[encsteph]

First of all Welcome to the forum!

...and well done on your traffic stats and adsense too

A couple of things to start the debate off

(1) your adsense block is too low on your site -I would move it up to be visible as soon as somone lands on your site.

I think that's a good idea...get it above the fold. Thanks.

(2) there's tons of products you can sell and review.

I hope you go camping!!

If you do you can review....tents, camping grounds, guides...check out commission junction for products

I absolutely love camping! In the winter I go once a month with the Boy Scouts and in the spring/summer/fall we usually go 2-3 times a month.

I was thinking of that aspect...just wasn't sure how to approach....some reading I have been doing suggests that info products sell best but i'm not too sure of how many camping related info products there are. I will have to do some research.

Thank you very much!

[encsteph]

Hi Eric, I would agree with Alex - go on CJ.com etc and find some camping/outdoor store merchants to promote on your site. If you can 'add value' through reviews and features then that should get you some affiliate income.

I like that idea...I am going to get started on that ASAP.

You can also check out the original problogger 31 days challenge which has lots of tips - then if you like what's there you could invest $20 in the ebook for more in-depth advice.
http://www.problogger.net/31-days-to...a-better-blog/

Thanks for the link...I like the idea of checking it out, getting some tips and then making a more informed decision.

Also drill down through your stats and see exactly what people are looking for when they find your site and then give them as much good content related to those keywords as you can. This will also give you ideas for products to feature or review and for new posts.

You may also think about approaching relevant local companies (campsites, outdoor shops, local attractions, restaurants etc) and seeing if they want an ad spot on your site for a fixed monthly fee?

A couple of great ideas...thank you.

Also found your links a bit confusing eg at:
http://njcampinginfo.com/things-you-say

The line Acorn Campground Review has 2 links - if I click on the word Acorn I get the review, but if I click on the word campground I get a generic article. Would be better from a SEO perspective as well as from a usability point of view to have a link like Acorn Campground Review (well it would be if there was a review there but you see what i mean........)

I mass posted tags on all my pages including campground which is what is causing that problem. I am going to get rid of the mass tags and take the time to individually implement tags per post and/or page...I guess that is what I get for being lazy!

Thank you for the great suggestions...I will be implementing them!

[AlexNewell]

There is a place for info products and you could do a weekly book review which features amazon books or clickbank but selling real goods is where most money is spent, so don't be too drawn towards clickbank.

You can sell tents, stoves, grills...all manner of paraphernalia !

And you can sell these to your list too.

I can't remember seeing an opt-in form on your blog...

:-)

[encsteph]

Alex,

I don't have an opt-in form at the moment...wasn't sure what to do with it so I left it out. I like the ideas and am so glad I posted my questions here! So far I have half a dozen really good ideas and ways to proceed!

Thanks so much.

Eric

[AlexNewell]

"I don't have an opt-in form at the moment...wasn't sure what to do with it so I left it out."

When you are ready to build a list you build an opt-in form when you login to your autoresponder company.

This could be aweber or GetResponse.

It takes a few minutes using a kind of Wizard program in the account. This will generate some code that will run the opt-in form on your site.

When people pop their email into the box the code will send it to your autoresponder account and add one person to your list

You can just paste the code into a text widget on your site and it takes only a couple of minutes and you can easily get someone else to do it if it is too techy for ya.

All The Best

Alex

[AlexNewell]

First thing Priom is to check that your site is set up properly to start with. Is each page based on a good keyword - reasonable demand and not too competitive?

If so post articles targeted on the keyword for a particular page. And keep promoting until the traffic rises to it's potential for that keyword.

For clearer advice perhaps you could mention which site you want to promote.