Smell that? It’s me burning out. I have taken on too much. Work. Life. Internet marketing. As far as Internet marketing goes I have so much stuff I want to do but I can’t seem to get it all completed. I got behind trying to get BANS to work. Now it is and I’m building up my sites, but it takes forever. I’m creating content along with building the store. At least that is what I’ve been trying to do. A little content above and below the products. Seems like a good thing but it sure is time consuming. Just the little things like coming up with a keyword relevant title and description is wearing me out.
Then there is Hubpages and Squidoo. I find it completely relevant to create hubpages and lens but it is becoming a drag. I have a few accounts on each service. On Hubpages my “splork” account I had hoped to write shit that is fresh and interesting. Other accounts are bullshit marketing hubpages for PLR and the like. Same with Squidoo. I’m having a hard time coming up with anything worth reading on my splork accounts, including this blog, these days.
Hubpages squeezed one of my hubpages this week. Put it in the revised column. It was original PLR, meaning I rewrote every word of the three articles I used to post. But it got flagged. I think it had to do with the topic: Weight loss. I guess they figure enough has been said about it on the Internet and in Hubpages. I could have requested a review but I just deleted it. I made one on Squidoo and it is doing fine. Eff it. I used the content on the Blogger blog I built for the topic.
So why did I bother trying to target “weight loss”? Brutal competition no doubt. It started when I read the Affilorama blog last week. Mark posted an article with an interview he did with Jason Katzenback on using the so-called Web 2.0 for getting traffic. In it JK laid out a specific strategy on how to drive traffic to your website. I’d rather read something than watch or listen to it so I got the transcript. I would recommend you checking it out.
Anyway, I have a ton of content on “weight loss”. I thought I would use the strategy to see if I could grab a piece of this lucrative niche. The gist of it was build a Squidoo lens, Hubpages and Blogger blog and do the traffic strategy JK suggests along the way. So before I started I did some keyword research at nichebot and pulled a couple of weight loss intermediate-long tail keywords. I built a StoreStacker site. Then I built the lens. Then I built the hubpage. Then I built the Blogger blog. All linking back to the store. Along the way you are using Twitter. And you build a Tumblr page as well. You use a couple of RSS feeds sites to post your RSS feeds on. And you do a big ol’ ping sweep to wash it down.
But it didn’t stop there for me. I cranked up BMD and did a couple of runs bookmarking the blog, lens, hubpages and Tublr pages. I’ve been making comments on some blogs. The only thing that I haven’t done is write an article for the directories. I’m just too lazy.
Anyway, I like this strategy. It’s not anything more than I was already doing really, but it was nice to see it laid out into a step-by-step methodology. And it was nice that what I have been doing was validated in a way by someone that apparently is an A-player.
Following all the steps is exhausting. The above is just traffic methodologies. There is certain things you must do when building a lens and a hub. Griz has a whole site dedicated on how to build a Blogger blog. Vic creates videos on how to use BMD and how to set up a BANS site. None of this means shit unless you find the right keyword. Try finding the right keywords to use in less than an hour.
I’ve been building a Wordpress blog farm on Wordpress.com. Nothing spammy. Just general interest blogs. It struck me how pure and fun it was. No expectation of making money (hmm, sort of like this blog). Just writing whatever comes to mind. I do zero keyword research. Probably should but I just refuse. I was amazed at how many comments, not spam, but real comments I get. And the blogs are indexed in Google.
I’m going to have to slow down a little. Life is important outside of work and doing IM. I mentioned in a post how I would never quit my cubicle job to go full-time with IM. I tell you what I would do. If I can manage to build this business up enough to quit this corporate drudgery and work somewhere else that would be fun and interesting, I would do that. Maybe count trees for the Forest Service or something. I’d just like a decent and non-stressful job with benefits. But I need to be able to replace my income 80-90% with IM before heading down that road since a gig like that doesn’t pay anything.
Of course the Catch is that if you don’t work your ass off in IM you’ll never make enough to quit having to stare at the carpeted walls. sigh
13 responses so far ↓
jeff // Apr 25, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I found your blog while looking into Squidoo to find out if it was even still worth it to create a page. I am skeptical whether spending my day creating a couple of pages barely anyone will read will even have any effect. Findability can sure be a bitch.
Splork // Apr 25, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I think it is. It’s the little things like lens and hubpages, Blogger and WP blogs, Tumblr, etc. that brings authority back to your site.
Sunshine // Apr 25, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more. Managing this mountain of IM work can be overwhelming. I just recently read a post that might be of interest to you with respect to Hub pages http://socialmarketing101.com/blog/uncategorized/youd-better-balance-out-those-hubs.php.
This group/site appear to be a pretty finnicky bunch even when you’re following their site rules.
I myself haven’t even gotten into building Hub pages yet because as you’ve already mentioned, building these sites can be consuming and there are only so manyhours in a day.
GiGi // Apr 26, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Yes, I had read Jason’s “Traffic Strategies” and was impressed with the step-by-step plan.
Am I actually doing it yet? uh…no….
As for keywords, I sometimes find writing about current events related to my niche works well for me.
For example, anti aging is my niche and I wrote an announcement and then a follow-up review for the Barbara Walters show “Live To Be 150″. Obviously, I never would have found that keyword in my research, but it did great for a while and I’m still getting some traffic a month later.
I know that’s a short-term strategy, but it does bring in a lot of visitors you might not otherwise get, and I got some subscribers out of it!
Frank C // Apr 26, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Hi Splork,
I know how you feel. It’s a lot of effort and the time commitment is huge. It’s no wonder people get seduced by the dark side (blackhatting).
@Sunshine - Thanks for that link. I’ve noticed this about Hubpages and that article confirmed it. I’m not going to waste my time with them. If I want to socialize I’ll go yak it up in a guitar or tech forum, not write a long ass article.
@GiGi - Search traffic can show up for the craziest things. My recent zebra post is probably like your Barbara Walters one. The question is can you monetize that one-time traffic or not.
Splork // Apr 27, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I’m letting Hubpages slip. Squidoo is far easier to build and publish than building a hubpage. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe that’s why it feels like Hubpages are a little more useful. I dunno. I like them both but given my time issues, building a lens is far better for me. It takes way less time and hassle due to Hubpages more radical social context. But I will say I built a lens last night and it still hasn’t been indexed. Hubpages would have gotten indexed by now most likely.
Dinheiro // Apr 28, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Splork, squidoo lenses you need to add 2 or 3 tags that are indexed pages by google. Most of the squidoo tag pages are not indexed by google, but the general ones, are, just do some search. Once you add 2 or 3, you’re indexed and better ranked. Also if you ping the rss of the lens, it’ll help a lot indexing that lens.
I know your feeling, i’ve two jobs 14h total, and i still do my way to IM every single day. I use every moment that i can to do my stuff, but it’s not easy, it’s because of that, i’m trying to automate almost everything, at least what can be automated without being spam.
Dinheiro // Apr 29, 2008 at 12:06 am
Ahh another thing, this system from Jason Katzenback has a big problem for most of us. Normally in that kind of sites (the major web 2.0), we need to create one account and then interact with other users (make friends, groups, etc.), which takes time! We only can use one account for 5-6 sites, because if google sees that the links came from the same account….boooom! Sooooo, creating one account in each service for every 6 sites, and make the account credible (make friends, groups, etc.), it’ll take A LOT but really A LOT of time!!
Leo Dimilo // Apr 29, 2008 at 12:21 am
I hate hub pages. It takes far more work than most other similar sites and what they expect for what is basically a “rented” site is ridiculous. I would rather spend my efforts on yahoo 360, blogger, wordpress and squidoo (and others).
The few sites that I have done with hubpages has ranked well, sure…but the amount of work I had to put into them was far greater than another avenue and frankly, I can get the same serp ranking using less time consuming methods.
Just my thoughts though.
Dinheiro // Apr 29, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Leo, i know the feeling. But you’ve to think also, hubpages are becoming a MAJOR authority in many many niches. The value of a link from hubpages this way will become pure GOLD.
Sunshine // Apr 29, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Quick update for those grinding it out with Squidoo pages- hang in there.
Two of my Squidoo lenses received Page Rank today. One of which I created in February 08, has PR 3 and the other created in March 08 now has PR 2.
What I noticed about about the PR 3 lense is that I only have 2 backlinks to it. One on purpose and the other quite coincidentally.
Squidoo Lense built in February:
One of the links comes from a free Wordpress blog which has since been suspended (had affiliate links on it-a big no, no I’ve now since learned).
The Second link came from a Youtube video. I discovered from the Squidoo traffic summary that the video on the site actually ranks 3rd for the site with the highest page views for that particular video.
This lense ranks very well for many long tail keywords in this niche. Many on the first page of Google and now Yahoo.
Squidoo Lense built in March:
This lense was actively promoted somewhat on a few blogs in the comment section. Of course, adding value along the way to the conversation:)
In either case, I did very little promotion . Just a few web2.0 sites like Digg ,Delicious along with pinging only once. Most of my time was spent up front researching a select few long tail keywords up front to rank highly for.
Far Infrared Saunas // May 2, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Pardon the ignorance, but what is BANS?
Splork // May 2, 2008 at 3:51 pm
BANS is Build a Niche Site
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