A year ago, I took a course on how to run a business, thoroughly researched my market and niche as part of the course, wrote a business plan, and then found this forum which has been an enormous help. My niche is actually a sub-niche in a huge market that people are already making money in. I wanted to start small and specialized so that I'd have a better shot, knowing my traffic would be less.
I found a short free course on internet business since that was not part of my business course so that I could learn about SEO, backlinks, on-page and off-page optimization, PPC, all the stuff that was new to me. From this course I learned alot about keywords and did extensive research and testing before building the site.
As I was taking the course, I did the grunt work of forming an LLC, opening a business bank account, hiring a CPA, etc., etc. Knowing that I could easily get paralysis of analysis and not want to start until I knew it all, I made myself do action items every week and build the site as I went.
Since I am bootstrapping this, I learned enough WP to build the site myself, and started blogging.
In December of 2010 I started slowly monetizing the site. Initially I wanted to drop ship, but because I work FT, I decided to go the affiliate route. I also thought it would help me learn the business without costly financial mistakes and help me learn what sells and how to promote properly.
Three weeks ago I finally had my first sale, then last week another. The sales commissions are puny - embarrassing even, but it felt good. I felt like this could work.
Now I want to increase traffic and formalize my marketing. I'd like to be in a mode of spending 2 hours a night after work working on my site and spend one day on the weekend - maybe 4 hours on a Sat or Sun doing analysis work.
I'm trying to figure out if I should pick one marketing method or multiple. I don't want to stretch myself too thin and get discouraged, but I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket either. Early on I was on the first page of Google, and then fell off the charts when the algorithm changed. I've climbed back up to page 3 and 4 with just a few niche keywords but my traffic is not where I want it. I wonder now if my sub-niche might be too small... I'm hoping it's just a case of not having yet done enough marketing.
So far I've written a few articles, done some linking, tried to optimize my blog posts well, and don't know where to go from here.
Would I be better served to blog more often (it is all my own content and is a niche I know very well, so I have alot I can write about), find forums to comment on, try to optimize my site more, try some social media marketing, add more pages to my site???
Any advice would be much appreciated. I know this is all hard work, but it's still work I love, and I know it takes time. I have no intention of quitting my day job, and have realistic expectations - first a sale, then enough to buy dinner out, then a car payment, then a mortgage payment....
I'm prepared to put in the time and do whatever I need to do. I know I've still got tons to learn. Just not sure what to focus on next.
Appreciate the help.
I found a short free course on internet business since that was not part of my business course so that I could learn about SEO, backlinks, on-page and off-page optimization, PPC, all the stuff that was new to me. From this course I learned alot about keywords and did extensive research and testing before building the site.
As I was taking the course, I did the grunt work of forming an LLC, opening a business bank account, hiring a CPA, etc., etc. Knowing that I could easily get paralysis of analysis and not want to start until I knew it all, I made myself do action items every week and build the site as I went.
Since I am bootstrapping this, I learned enough WP to build the site myself, and started blogging.
In December of 2010 I started slowly monetizing the site. Initially I wanted to drop ship, but because I work FT, I decided to go the affiliate route. I also thought it would help me learn the business without costly financial mistakes and help me learn what sells and how to promote properly.
Three weeks ago I finally had my first sale, then last week another. The sales commissions are puny - embarrassing even, but it felt good. I felt like this could work.
Now I want to increase traffic and formalize my marketing. I'd like to be in a mode of spending 2 hours a night after work working on my site and spend one day on the weekend - maybe 4 hours on a Sat or Sun doing analysis work.
I'm trying to figure out if I should pick one marketing method or multiple. I don't want to stretch myself too thin and get discouraged, but I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket either. Early on I was on the first page of Google, and then fell off the charts when the algorithm changed. I've climbed back up to page 3 and 4 with just a few niche keywords but my traffic is not where I want it. I wonder now if my sub-niche might be too small... I'm hoping it's just a case of not having yet done enough marketing.
So far I've written a few articles, done some linking, tried to optimize my blog posts well, and don't know where to go from here.
Would I be better served to blog more often (it is all my own content and is a niche I know very well, so I have alot I can write about), find forums to comment on, try to optimize my site more, try some social media marketing, add more pages to my site???
Any advice would be much appreciated. I know this is all hard work, but it's still work I love, and I know it takes time. I have no intention of quitting my day job, and have realistic expectations - first a sale, then enough to buy dinner out, then a car payment, then a mortgage payment....
I'm prepared to put in the time and do whatever I need to do. I know I've still got tons to learn. Just not sure what to focus on next.
Appreciate the help.