Do NOT use WordPress

I hate Wordpress. I wish I used another platform to be my main content source.Tracking is the most important part of this portion of the 30 Day Challenge and Wordpress sucks at tracking.

I like StatCounter. It tells you everything you need to know in real-time from referrals to clickthroughs….everything. So now I’m restricted to the html-only version of StatCounter which only shows page views. When you compare that with Wordpress’ tracking data, there’s no telling which one is correct because they are so different.

I use the TDC tracker to track clickthrough, which again is dramatically different from the Wordpress tracking data.

I’m extremely frustrated but I will simply rely on StatCounter and TDC tracker because I think the Wordpress tracker is horribly inaccurate.

My second niche’s site will definitely NOT be on WordPress.

Are you tracking your traffic?

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Mike is my hero!

What a shock it was to read Mike Mindel’s Blog this morning! There was some outstanding content. He laid out a complete overview of his niche and all of his content. It is phenomenal. I couldn’t have done a better job myself so I won’t!I subscribe to the “work smart, not hard” school of internet marketing. Therefore I will not duplicate Mike’s efforts however, we’ll use his example and critique it.

I’ll stick to what I do best, thinking critically.

So Mike has content on 3 platforms:

Which three platforms did you choose and why? If you don’t know why you are doing something, then you are probably wasting your time? Here are my choices:

The wordpress blog is my main site designed to drive traffic to my affiliate’s site. The hubpages, squidoo and ezine article send traffic to my wordpress blog and provide help with Google ranking.

I use Digg, netscape, technorati, etc to highlight new stories on my wordpress blog in order to drive traffic and increase page rank.

That has gotten me to number 20 for exact match in less than 8 hours. I’m hoping my team of trusted marketers will help show my site a little social love.

So what’s next? Work on my second cluster. I plan to make a blogger page focused on a separate but similar key word phrase. That blogger page will also point people to my wordpress blog. My goal is to drive all associated traffic to my wordpress blog.

We haven’t talked about “link building” at the Thirty Day Challenge yet but I assume we will. Using my Keep It Simple Stupid method of marketing I analyzed the top 5 exact match search websites backlinks.

For example for Mike’s niche “how to write a story” the number 1 site is:

Then I would enter “link:blackdog4kids.com” into google search bar. Then just look at what sites are linking to the number 1 site. If it is a content site, try to submit some content. Or simply request a link exchange. The worst they can do is say no.

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Wholly %#$@ Ed is psychic!

Not only is he handsome, charming and down right generous but he’s also PSYCHIC!

I have to admit, this weekend I was extremely frustrated with the 30 Day Challenge. I made great progress the week before only to have the rug pulled out from under me as Tumblr decided I was “affiliate scum.”But I knew there had to be a better way. So combining everything I’ve learned so far on the 30 Day Challenge and a few ideas I stole from researching Internet Marketing, I came up with the perfect strategy!

Somehow from 2876 miles away, Ed managed to creep into my brain, sift through the garbage and steal my plan!

Okay, maybe Ed came up with this all on his own and I was just trying to reinvent the wheel instead of following the 30 Day Challenge process but I’m sticking to the psychic story for now.

So instead of rehashing today’s lesson, I’m going to show you exactly how I am implementing Ed’s advice.

Ed does a great job of teaching the lessons but I think the lessons are a little short on the details, sometimes. I don’t know about you but I’m not a very smart man so I need clear, concise directions on exactly what I should be doing.

Feel free to follow my example:

I swear I made this diagram yesterday before I saw the lesson….that damn thief!

So let’s talk specifics.

I will drive all traffic to my wordpress.com blog site. I don’t like wordpress because I can’t use statcounter with it but I didn’t know that when I set it up so I’ll stick with it.

My Wordpress blog site will be a destination site, providing tips, tricks and resources for people in my niche. It is not designed to be salesy (did Ed make that word up?) it is designed to be a place where people in my niche come back regularly.

My Web 2.0 content is designed to increase my weblog’s rank in Google. I’m not concerned with getting my hubpages article into the top 10, I simply want my blog site to get to the #1 or #2 spot so that is my only focus.

What about content? I have studied each one of the content hosting sites (hubpages, squidoo, etc) so that I can make sure my content is relevant and valuable:

So there you have it…. Mike’s Strategy for success with details.

I’m kicking around the idea of showing you exactly what I’m doing set-by step using my actual niche and articles.

In order to make it worth my time and effort I need to know that it will be useful for you guys so let me know what you think.

Think critically

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Let’s rock!

It took me all day but I’ve got my plan. Got yours?I deleted my spammy blogs and all social site references to them. I also deleted the social bookmarks that pointed to my killer niche’s Tumblr page. I did a lot of deleting today but in the middle of it all it hit me.

I’m still in great shape!

In my never ending quest to stay ahead of the game, I produced a couple of Hubpages articles that didn’t point to my tumblr page. I also wrote a ezine article that I hadn’t submitted yet so I can modify that and submit it tomorrow. Oh, did I mention the Squidoo lens I put up Friday?

The only thing left to do is re-establish my niche’s blog somewhere but I still haven’t decided where. I’m mulling over the laundry list of options and I will pick one tomorrow. By Monday, I WILL be back in Google, not spamming but providing value!

I love adversity! This set back is only going to make us stronger. Think about it, aren’t you going to make sure you content is solid now? The spam levels will be dramatically decreased once we emerge from this set back.

The only reason why I am still in good shape is because I stayed focused on my goals.

I will continue to work hard, produce quality content, generate traffic and provide them value.

What are you going to do?

Think Critically……….

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Save your content

If you aren’t already reading Mike Mindel’s Blog, you need to subscribe now!Here is a great post about saving the content from your suspended Tumblr blog.

Check out the post here.

After you are done saving your content, sit down and write down your goals. Why are you doing the 30 Day Challenge?

Write them down, be specific, be realistic and post them near your computer. We are down but definitely not out!

Think Critically…….

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Now what?!

I went from the elation of having made my first $40 online, being ranked in Google with not 2 but 3 sites, made it to the first page for my exact match and 28 out of 2.9 million for the broad match in a niche with no 30DC competition and less than 72 hours later my page is block, traffic is irrelevant and there sits my link, #8 in Google, mocking me.

But am I discouraged, NO!

Think about what I just said. There are 2.9 million pages that mention my keywords that are very unique to this niche so they are all direct competition and in less than 48 hours I was able to work my way up to #28.

Am I upset and frustrated, YES!

I had great content, in a niche I enjoyed and I was about to take it by storm! I admit that my 2 other sites could very well be considered spam and I was going to take them down this afternoon. However, my #8 ranking in Google was a great niche with lots of potential and truly a passion of mine.

So what to do now?

I have no idea. For the first time since the start of this challenge, I have no idea what to do.

Let’s examine the options:

  1. Try my niches again with another Web 2.0 weblog service
  2. Identify new niches and use another weblog service
  3. Give up and ask Ed for a refund

Number 1 would cause me to go back to Digg, Technorati, Netscape, etc and try to submit new articles with the same keywords again. Is that spam? I’m not sure but how many “how to make sausages” articles will Netscape tolerate

Number 3 is completely out of the question. Ed, Dan and the gang are smarter than I am and I know they have a plan. I wouldn’t be here posting this blog if I didn’t believe in the process. I wouldn’t waste my time with this blog if I didn’t think it was helping people THINK CRITICALLY.

Number 2 is the only option but I’m not going to be quick to test this strategy. I was keeping a great niche under my belt until I understood the whole process. I wanted to make sure I had a guaranteed homerun, looks like I may have to call in the pinch-hitter sooner than expected.

So what do all the suspended sites mean? What are we supposed to do now?

I don’t know.

But I do know that yesterday was AWESOME, today sucks but now there’s no where to go but up! I am going to stay focused on the long-term goal (like I’ve been advising you to do) and trust the process.

Affiliate sales are neat but that’s not the goal. I’ve got much bigger dreams and goals, you should too!

Think critically,
Mike

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The end is near………

It’s already beginning. Digg has blocked us, Indianpad has joined in. Netscape will soon follow. Don’t you see it coming? All of the social bookmarking/new sharing sites are quickly catching onto us.

Thousands of us slapped up weblogs with very little substantial content and flooded their systems with stories about our pages. They are upset and rightfully so.I was so caught up in the excitement of creating a page and getting traffic that I didn’t see it coming. Now, less than 24 hours into the official start of traffic generating portion of the 30 Day Challenge and we are already being blocked from our precious resources…..

Did anyone stop to wonder, why Tumblr.com? On the forum we have been coming up with creative ways to make various Tumblr pages under the same niche. Why not just go to wordpress or one of the other hundred thousand blog sites?

Google likes Tumblr (or should I say liked) because Google didn’t know much about it. Google knows that WordPress is a hardcore blogging site. Therefore WordPress sites don’t rank very high. Think about it, did you see any WordPress blogs during your niche searching. Tumblr is so new that Google hasn’t had time to pass judgment on it. However, after today I think Google will be swift with it’s decision.

Listen to today’s podcast, they know it’s coming. The plan is to milk Tumblr until Google realizes what’s going on, then on to the next Web 2.0 site.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve painted a very negative picture thus far but there is definitely a bright side that I think Ed and the gang are trying to get us to. We are still in the research phase!

We are confirming “conversion.” What types of products are the people in our particular niche looking for and are they currently available? What are they buying, how much is it and how much of it are they buying?

I say all of that to say this, put your long-term thinking caps on. We are all very excited about making our first sales and bringing in a few dollars to show the fruits of our labor. However, a Tumblr page is NOT my corporate America exit strategy.

It is very exciting watching your site move up the rank ladder but don’t forget what you are trying to accomplish. We should be trying to identify what sort of traffic does a site in this niche at the number 1 or 2 ranking provide? What products are people looking for? What products are currently available? And can I produce/provide/find a better product to fit their needs?

Tumblr is just the beginning and the future is bright!

Think critically,

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Did you miss it?

In the mad dash to secure your tumblr.com site before your competition could did you miss the sneaky secret in this lesson?

Dangit, I’ve been telling you everyday to pay close attention to the lesson and listen for the hidden lessons!

Let’s check to see if you were paying attention, here’s a pop quiz.

1. What is social poster?
a. A person who hangs signs about upcoming social events
b. A website that allows you to quickly spread the word about your blog and your posts

2. Netscape is
a. A washed up internet browser
b. An attention getter

3. Why tumblr?
a. Because it’s spelled funny and Ed likes funny
b. Google likes it, we can generate content, allows tags and links

If you answered B to any of the questions above, don’t fret but you are wrong. Simply watch the day 15 and 16 videos again. They have been the most important videos to-date.

So what did I do today to stay ahead of the game?

What did you do to stay ahead?

Think critically

One Step Ahead….

Remember back in high school there was always that smart kid in class. It seemed like he knew everything! He got the best grades and all of the teachers loved him. He always ruined the curve by scoring over 100% on his test and everyone (everyone but the teacher) hated him. No matter how much homework there was, he always finished it all and worst of all he wouldn’t share.

Well I was never that kid! Well, almost never.

My junior year I took a computer science course. I had a free elective and it sounded easy so “sign me up!” It was that or Home Economics but I was saving that for my senior year. I know what you are thinking… “boy, Mike was quite the over achiever!”

There was something different about this class though. It turns out I was that kid in that class. Not because I was smarter than anyone else, I proved that with my SAT scores, but because I enjoyed it. Wait, scratch that, I loved it!

Everyday I looked forward to going to class so I could learn something new and exciting. And boy was that feeling weird. Normally I slept through my classes because I was so bored. It was great, a 45 minute class felt like 5 minutes if I slept through it.

There I was sitting in Computer Science class, wide awake, answering questions and actually enjoying it. I was becoming a nerd…..that dreaded kid who sits at the front of the class and finishes the teacher’s sentences, who finishes his assignments 2 days before they are due and the teacher loved me.

How did this happen? I’d morphed into everything I hated about smart kids, except I always made sure I helped out my classmates. If I finished early, I showed others what I had done to help them finish their project. I even tutored after school.

The reason for my transformation into the Brotherhood of the Nerd…. I liked the material so I worked ahead. I would read ahead in our book and search online for tips and tricks. I wasn’t smarter than anyone else in the class……did I mention my chemistry grade?! But I thought critically about each lesson and worked hard on my own.

That is the same reason I was able to close my first sale using techniques from the 30 Day Challenge on day 15! I watched the videos, studied the material and thought critically.

Here’s exactly how I did it:

  • Created a tumblr.com page
  • Signed up for Clickbank account
  • Found affiliate product to sell (I ruled out 2 other products)
  • Posted 2 of the 6 articles Ed told us to create
  • Produced a longer article, similar to Ed’s Dominiche articles
  • Posted the long article on Hubpages
  • Updated Web 2.0 sites
    • Stumbleupon
    • Digg
    • Google.com/Bookmarks
    • Del.icio.us
    • Netscape
    • Technorati
  • Set up $0.10 google Adword campaign (24 hours only)
  • Waited patiently…..okay, impatiently but I waited.

I ranked in the top 30 sites, got 222 impressions and 5 clicks with Google Adwords, 36 unique visitors with 9 returning visitors and 1 sale! All in less than 24 hours.

So what did I learn:

  1. I CAN DO IT!
  2. I can set up a website, create content and get traffic in about 36 hours
  3. Google Adwords work
  4. My niche may not have a lot of competitors but the few that I do have are tough!
  5. Cracking the top 10 will be very difficult
  6. I need more niches
  7. You can do it too!

Later today I will post everything I’m doing today to stay ahead of the game. There were a lot of tips and tricks hidden in today’s lesson that I will talk about in that post.

Stay with me…..we are all going to make our goal in this year’s 30 Day Challenge.

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I’m a big fat cheater

It’s true… I cheated.

I couldn’t help myself. I am easily excited and I love this challenge! Combine that with my ADD and I’m screwed. I think about this stuff constantly and I’m always trying to learn more.

So one day I was poking around the internet and a link to a page with the first 11 days of content from last year’s 30 Day Challenge. I posted that link in my twitter and on here but I guess it went under the radar.

While it is unfortunately not the complete challenge, I was able to get some ideas from it. I’ll get to those later.

While watching one of the current challenge videos I noticed something interesting…… Ed’s “Free Speed Reading” website. I googled “Free speed reading” and lo and behold, there it was. freespeedreading.tumblr.com

There was very little information to be gained from the site itself but I googled “freespeedreading.tumblr.com” to see how Ed was promoting the site using the various Web 2.0 applications he’s been teaching us to use.

So I quickly created my niche website and used the articles I had written as posts. I tried to replicate what Ed had done with “freespeadreading.tumblr.com”. I used the idea of running a Google Adwords ad for 24 hours to test the traffic and conversion rates.

Long story short I made my first $44. That’s right, I DID IT! I actually made money marketing a product online. I knew it could be done but I wasn’t sure if I could do it. Well I did and it feels great.

15 days ago, I could barely spell Internet Marketing and I didn’t even know my niche market existed. Today I’m the proud owner of what I hope is an entertaining and informative blog and an official internet entrepreneur.

The old saying is definitely true in this case…. If I can do it, you can too!

And you won’t even have to cheat….. guess it’s back to time-out for me but at least I’m $40 richer this time :)

Think Critically,
Mike

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