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This is something I get asked occasionally (it doesn't happen often, but enough to warrant this article), so I thought I'd post my answer here (with the market and personal information removed) because my thoughts apply to everyone in this coaching program...
In reply to this question, I wrote -
...You mentioned that you haven't been able to monetize your
site that well yet, so I had a look to see what you've been up to.
Boy you've done a LOT of work there, it would be a shame not to be able to make
it pay off - has it been nearly a year already?
I notice that you didn't seen to have a newsletter anywhere, which I think is
one of the main problems.
Yours is a VERY tough market and you need to maximize the value of every visitor
to generate a reasonable income from this niche.
Assuming we've got a little time left before your SBI site expires, there's
still an opportunity to rescue all your work and turn this thing around.
Here's what I'd suggest -
Go to Ebay and search for ebooks on dog related stuff that have resale rights and buy several of them (they should only be a few bucks).
Or do a Google search for 'resale rights dog ebooks' and see
what you can find available.
NOTE - the books MUST
have resale rights so you can give them away or you'll get into
trouble.
Put all of these ebooks along with something your write yourself (it could even
be recycled content from your site, it doesn't matter - just give it a really
exciting title) into an irresistible package and offer it as an 'ethical bribe'
to people who join your newsletter mailing list.
Promote your newsletter on each page of your site so joining it becomes your
site's Most Wanted Response.
Then start to build a relationship with these people over time with ongoing
articles and content (send them links to niche related videos from Google Video
and youtube.com as well as articles written by yourself and others along other
stuff like additional eBay ebooks) and make them offers of various products and
services in each issue as well.
In each newsletter, just send people a link to a page you've created on your
site especially for that issue which contains the article, maybe a free resource
of some kind, some Adsense ads and an affiliate product review or
recommendation.
This way your subscribers are being forced to look at your recommendations every
time they get a newsletter instead of the one time they come to your site and
then leave.
You can multiply the income you get by
10 by simply doing this one thing...
When you have an effective subscriber page, do some Google Adwords advertising and sent people to the opt-in page to get more people on your list.
Building your list should be your main goal in your website life from now on. You have enough content for now, just focus on the list.
Edit your article directory articles to send people to your opt-in page as well instead of your home page to generate even more subscribers. Every little bit helps.
As for Adsense, I've found it to be useless for your market
except for a few keywords like (niche) insurance and the occasional legal term
(you know, when somebody gets hurt and are looking for a lawyer).
Once people are on your list, I'd test more PRE-selling (re-read MYCPS for tips
on how to do this) of things like the various niche related videos and audio
products plus the other Clickbank products available to try to improve the
site's performance.
The key is repeated exposure to your offers which you cannot do without a
newsletter.
Something else I noticed is that you've chosen some very difficult to rank for
keywords and haven't optimized your pages correctly like I show you in the page
optimization lessons.
Plus you need to optimize your images as well like I show you
here -
http://www.rtwebs.com/optimizingimages.html
This is critical to ranking well. I have over 20 pictures on my site rank on the
first page of Google Images because they are optimized like I show you in the
video above.
For example, I get over 2000 visitors a month from my Siberian husky picture on
Google alone, plus many more from the other pictures and search engines.
That's how critical it is to optimize your images with Alt tags
and mouse-over text...
If you optimize your pages and images like I've shown you here, you should start
to see lots more traffic. It's just a numbers game. Then...
Get them onto a newsletter list and start
building a relationship with them...
That is the biggest downfall of your site I think. You're so
close to starting to get a return on your time and outlay, start a newsletter
and that could be what turns it all around.
You've done so much work, you're sitting on top of The
Hump that Ken Evoy often talks about. Once you pass the crest of that
hump, it starts getting easier, believe me.
And finally, if you REALLY don't want to continue on with your site and you are
going to let it lapse, PLEASE LET ME KNOW BEFORE THAT
HAPPENS!
I MAY have time to take it over and get it working (depending on when it happens
and my workload at that time), and if I do, we can share any future profits the
site makes as a way of paying you back for the time and effort you've put in so
far.
It would be a real shame to see all that work just evaporate...
Sidebar
Important Note - This
offer is open everyone in this coaching program, so please let me
know if this is of interest to you.
I can't guarantee that I will be able to help with your site, and I'm not going to be able to work in every niche market, but if you are coming up to the end of your SBI year and you are considering just walking away, PLEASE LET ME KNOW BEFORE YOU DO THAT, there may be a way I can help.
End Of Sidebar
The best option is to stick with it though. I'm not saying that
because I will get a renewal commission, that's just 60 bucks, it's nothing in
the grand scheme of things.
You've got the start of something really good there, it would be a shame to see
it wither and die.
Anyhow, that's my thoughts. I hope it helps.
Please let me know if you are going to cancel the site and I'll see what I can
do about helping to save it.
End Of Message
This reminds me of a great article in the SBI Tips and Techniques HQ. Check it out now and then come back here...
Building your Brand-Of-One (You'll need your SBI Login and Username details).
Here's another strategy that could help you boost your site's returns...
Could you model what Nori Evoy has done at Anguilla Beaches.com and set up offline JV deals with people in your niche, or for that matter, try the Real Estate angle she has used to your site somehow?
Here's what I've done with this idea...
I threw up this page related to Jimboomba Property (which is where we live) and optimized it exactly like I've shown you in the coaching course.
I've set up a JV deal with a local real estate agent who I trust (there is only one here that I DO trust :-) and she is going to pay me a referral fee for any sales made to people who have enquired through my site.
Now as of today, I haven't actually made any money from this page, but it's only been up for a few weeks and the Jimboomba real estate market isn't exactly smokin.
But for an hour of my time, I stand to earn upwards of $500 from every referral I send my agent friend, and because the page is ranking well, I've had some enquiries, with sales (and checks) only a matter of time.
Here's my Beaudesert Property page which covers another area near us. I've also had enquires from this form, and it's only a matter of time before it helps me earn a referral commission.
Now remember, these pages are on a hobby site, so it doesn't really matter what your niche, there could be a way you could introduce some sort of property connection and do like I have done. Look at Nori, she's really Kickin Butt with hers.
And while I'm on this tack, and seeing as how I mentioned my dog pictures earlier, there are numerous opportunities for you to monetize your site in OFFLINE ways that you should consider.
Let's look at some examples for the dog market -
-
You could promote people in your local area (or all over your country) who build dog fencing (jimboomba-dog-fencing.html) and get paid a referral fee from every job
-
You could promote the local pet meat delivery guy (jimboomba-pet-foods.html) and get a cut on the first transaction of every meat package he delivers
-
You could promote the thousands of dog trainers, dog psychologists, vets and people who provide the myriad other services dog owners buy and pay for and do referral deals with all of them
-
You could promote franchises (dog washing, dog grooming, dog clipping, dog walking) in your area and earn substantial fees from these referrals
-
You could promote dog breeders (jimboomba-german-shepherd-breaders.html) and receive a referral fee from every puppy sold from your site
In fact, you could offer every one of these service providers a page on your website SPECIFICALLY FOR THEM TO MARKET TO THEIR PROSPECTS
For example, you could approach the local German shepherd breeder and say something like -
"I have this website all about dog training (or whatever) and I'd like to help you to grow your business. Here's the deal...
"When you have a litter of puppies, you probably have to advertise them in the local paper or somewhere else, right?
"What I propose is that you and I create the content for a page for my website where you offer your puppies for sale and also create a database of people who are interested in buying a puppy when one becomes available.
"I'll add the page to my website, set it up so that it has a good chance of getting found in the search engines (no guarantees, of course), and I'll also help you to market your puppies in other ways as well.
"The goal would be for you to have people waiting for each litter of puppies before they arrive, saving you from ever having to advertise in the paper again, how does that sound?
"I'll also help you to build a database of interested prospects who you can contact via email and phone whenever you have a new litter of pups for sale.
"Plus, you could offer this list of people other services such as training (supplied by others), weekly dog food deliveries (supplied by others), etc. and build up additional streams of income over time.
"All in all, you could build up a very profitable business by adding more services to what you offer and taking a referral fee from the vendors for setting up the deals.
"How does that sound Mr. Breeder?
"In return for me setting this service up for you, all I ask is $15 (or $10 or $25, whatever you feel comfortable with) a week to cover the expenses I'll incur in hosting the website, adding the page, changing things around occasionally, and sending you the enquiries from the website, etc.
"Can you see the benefit in having people waiting for each litter of puppies and not ever having to chase sales again?
"Plus, wouldn't it be comforting knowing you could earn additional streams of income from referring people to other merchants without you ever having to supply the service?
"What if this could generate another really impressive income for you so you had more time to do the things that you love doing instead of what you have to do?
"What I recommended is that we test it and give it a try for say 6 months. During that time you should mention that you have a website to everyone you meet and try to get as many people onto your database as possible.
"Then you can follow up with them regularly giving them tips, news and other dog related info plus make them offers of various products and services from local vendors.
"By the time you have a litter of puppies to sell, you could have paid for your entire year's website expenses already..."
...That's the sort of thing I'd be doing if I had a dog (or ANY niche, it doesn't matter) website and wanted to really ramp it up - go offline - because nobody's doing it yet!
How do you set this up?
Easy.
Use Form Build It to create a form and then whenever somebody contacts them to join the database, you get a copy of the email yourself (you just include yourself in the CC section of the Form). That way you know that people are using the form and you can monitor it.
Your breeder friend is responsible for creating their own database using the information they get from the form, following up, and making offers.
They can use their Outlook email program or you could send them to something like Aweber if they wanted to automate it a little more.
You can give them their own domain name by registering a new domain of their choice using Name Park It and then redirecting it to the exact page their offer is on.
This will cost you 10 bucks, but if you charge $15 a week or more for this service you will be well ahead over time.
Anyone in business who can get access to the web for $15 a week is mad not to try it, especially if you make it a no-brainer for them. Here's how...
What I would do is offer them a 100% Money Back Guarantee.
I would say something like, "Yeah, I know your skeptical, so let me make it an easy decision for you.
"Let's put this together as a trial so we can see if it works for both of us. I'll create the page and set everything up, you tell me what you want to say, and I'll get it up there on the Internet.
"Let's give it 6 months, during which time you pay me $60 per month through Paypal. You promote your website URL to everyone you know and meet to start building your database and make the people on your list offers for various products and services. Plus whenever you have puppies to sell, you have a group of potential customers waiting to hear from you.
"If at the end of 6 months, you don't feel that it has been totally worth doing this, I'll refund 100% of your money, thank you for giving it a try, take down the page we created, and we'll call it quits.
"How does that sound Mr. Breeder?"
Can you see how powerful this can be?
Most business people have to spend money marketing anyway and they have no idea if it's actually working or not.
By giving them a chance to use the Internet on a trial basis like this, you give them another avenue to market their products and services.
Plus they'll know from the forms coming through to them that people are finding them from your website. This way they can track the response.
You could also do this with the dog wash people, the fencing guys in your state, the pet food people...all of them are potential prospects for your personal web page service.
You can make this sort of offer because you will only be investing 10 bucks in a domain name and a couple of hours of your time. You stand to make $60 a month ($720 a year) for every person you do this with.
Of course it won't work for everyone and you'll have to give some refunds, but if you set this up right, teach your clients how to use their list to generate sales, tell them about affiliate marketing, and coach and guide them, they will increase their profits and would have to be nuts to bail out on you.
To take payments, you can now set up Paypal to accept monthly direct debits from your client's account straight into your own Paypal account. Very convenient.
Now just imagine what could happen if you diligently worked this one strategy hard for a few months and you woke up one day with 100 extra pages on your website bringing in $720 a year in virtually passive income once it's set up and in place. That's $72,000 a year...
What if you could find 250 merchants who you could offer this sort of deal to? That would be $180,000 a year from your little SBI website!
Sure beats Adsense...
But what if my site isn't about dogs?
It really doesn't matter what niche market you are in, you can model this system or a variation of it for yourself.
Look for merchants who offer products or services to people before, during and after they buy what your main product or niche topic is.
This will open up a whole customer supply chain for you and give you all sorts of alternatives for finding related merchants to approach.
Make them an irresistible offer with a Money Back Guarantee and see what happens.
Will this work for you?
I don't know.
Do I guarantee you'll earn a fortune from this?
No, I can't say if you will make a dime.
What I am trying to point out is that every problem has a solution, and you need to thing like a BUSINESS PERSON to find the solution.
If your website isn't earning the income you want it to, IT'S YOUR FAULT!
There, I said it. Shock horror, somebody is telling me that something's my fault! Bet you didn't see that coming.
But it is fixable, as long as you don't give up.
If this doesn't work, then keep trying to find additional ways of monetizing your website.
There is a code, and once you 'crack' it, you have the key to a lifetime of financial freedom.
And once you have that, you can leverage that into showing other people how to follow in your footsteps if you want to (even if it's just your family and friends).
AS Winston Churchill said in one of his famous speeches, "Never give up, never give up, never give up..."
How many lives could you change if you didn't give up and made this thing work?
Look at the guys and girls in the Sitesell Case Studies site.
You can do this too. Don't give up and go back to your old life...
You will probably find it still sucks just as much as it did before.
You can build a viable business on the Internet.
Usually it takes more than a year or two (it took me 5!) but you can do it. You've only just begun...
"Never give up, never give up, never give up..."
OK, I'll get down off my soap box now :-)
Something from Dan Kennedy that I thought was relevant...
I was just reading Dan Kennedy's latest newsletter and he was ranting about how people always blame everyone else for their problems (hence my thoughts above).
The article was entitled "When Things Don't Go As Planned"
The bottom line was that when things go awry for most people, the sit down and go through 4 stages - moping around, poor me-ing, sympathy seeking, and then being mad at other people.
Successful people may indulge briefly in these four things, but then they go on with doing something to fix the problem.
As he said, pigs wallow in mud and shit. Successful people don't permit themselves to wallow, no matter what!
But then there are the renegade millionaire type people who, while also briefly indulging in the four states above, then go on to find the hidden opportunity in every adversity.
They belief in Napoleon Hill's statement that "in EVERY adversity lies the seed to equal or greater achievement" is completely true.
As he says, the silver linking to your problem may not already be woven, just lying there on the ground waiting to be found though - it has to be MADE.
Bend down, pick up the pieces, and make your opportunity...
I sincerely hope this article helps you to kick some serious butt with your SBI website.
Until next time,
Cheers,
P.S. And remember, if you are about to let your SBI site lapse, please let me know before you do. There may be a way we can work together to save it...You can contact me here to discuss this if you want to.