Website Building Update – Week 9
Okay, so I’m over two months into this crazy ordeal and I have made some good progress. No sales yet this month (and it looks like I won’t get any for October at all at this rate), but all other metrics are steadily improving.
Traffic is holding constant for Websites #2 and #3. They’re pretty young though, so I don’t expect much from them. Website #1 is really starting to take off. Last week it jumped up to about 10-15 visitors per day. This week it has advanced to 15-20 visitors per day.
A strange thing happened on Tuesday. I can’t explain it, but Website #1 experienced an explosion (relative) of traffic. I got 30 visitors for some reason. Most of them came from natural search engine results for a specific keyword. However, my page targeting that keyword has not advanced in search engine ranking. I cannot explain it. I wish I could (so that I could keep doing whatever I did to make that happen).
I started Website #4 this week too. It is coming together slowly, but that is mostly because I am still putting effort into the first three sites.
I began submitting to more article directories this week besides Ezine Articles. For some reason, it never occurred to me to do so (I can be quite thick sometimes). It’s too early to see the results, but most of them have a page rank of 5 or 6 so I expect to get some good “link juice” from them. Hopefully it’s what I need for that final push onto the first page of Google.
For the most part, I’m keeping all this website stuff secret from most people I know. The few trusted people I’ve told about it think it’s a scam or that I’m wasting my time. That I should instead waste a small forest by mailing out resumes trying to get a desk job. I think I’ll just wait for the results to show for themselves. I don’t need any more discouragement.
So, below is the main event, my weekly sales report from Click Bank.
I have one new sale indicated, but it is not from any of my efforts on these sites. It is just another re-bill for a monthly membership subscription I sold back in my PPC direct linking days.
Still waiting for this stuff to take off…
Flatline
October 31st, 2009 at 4:31 am
This is a nice experiment. I’m doing something similar on my blog. Don’t worry it will take time but you’ll eventually start to see some money. P.S why don’t you put a banner on your right navigation? You could make some cash.
October 31st, 2009 at 5:16 am
Solid info here. Not that I’m a huge expert on the topic but keep track of your results is key in knowing what and why some things work/don’t work.
Stay at it and keep your audience updated.
Cheers,
Mike
October 31st, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I just read through nearly your entire blog. Your situation sounds very similar to mine. I had been making great money in real estate, but was spending too much time at it, and not enough with my family (2 small kids).
I just put my real estate license on hold, and am getting back in to online sales right now while spending most of my time with my family. It was time for a change. Keep up the good work!
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:46 am
@Justin
I’m glad you’re taking a chance and trying to live life on your own terms. I don’t have kids, but I can imagine that they will probably benefit a lot from being raised by you (as opposed to some stranger). Good luck with your online business!
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:49 am
@Michael
Thanks for stopping by my blog. How’s your weight loss site working out? I’m in that niche too, which is actually what inspired me to do the Tim Ferriss diet I’m currently on.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:55 am
@Oscar
Thanks for visiting my blog. Originally I just made this site for meeting like-minded people and I didn’t care about making money from it (that’s what my other sites are for). However I’m starting to reconsider it. I might write up a short PDF report after finishing each challenge and sell it for cheap. Maybe $5 or $10. I’m still debating this idea. My main purpose of this blog is friend generation, not income generation. Thanks for the advice.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Hi! Just happen to come across your blog and I find it inspirational. Mainly because I am heading almost the same way. Anyway, good job on your web marketing experiment. I am pretty new to it so I’ll look forward to read more and learn from your experience.
July 7th, 2010 at 5:19 am
Hey Clayton,
I have no idea about internet marketing and just recently started my own site around a hobby of mine for fun, as I had 2 months free this summer.
However, I’m now becoming more involved in it and reading blogs around the subject (like this one). I just wondered why you stopped your PPC campaigns and settled on website building if sales are coming from this?
I recently signed up to clickbank out of curiosity, so would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Cheers, Lee