Ask Me a Question, Get an Answer (Part II)

by Garry Conn

100 comments

1 CristianR { 11.03.08 at 12:56 pm }

Hey there Garry,

I’ve got a question – since I’m trying to get into affiliate marketing I was wondering if you could sharing a few tips on how to get started ( getting traffic, what are the techniques you generally use and what kind of traffic is better – organic or paid ? )

Thanks Garry.
Best of all from Cristian Raiber.

Check out CristianR’s last blog post..Most popular american muscle cars

2 Garry Conn { 11.03.08 at 1:18 pm }

Hi Cristian,

Traffic. Yes, that is one of the more popular things that I talk about on my blog. Just for instance, for increasing traffic I would suggest reading the following articles:

http://www.garryconn.com/how-to-use-google-analytics-to-increase-web-traffic.php

http://www.garryconn.com/make-money-online-with-google-insights.php

http://www.garryconn.com/how-to-get-a-ton-of-traffic-to-your-blog-after-leaving-only-one-comment.php

http://www.garryconn.com/its-not-about-how-much-traffic-you-get-but-rather-what-you-do-with-it.php

Of course I have written many more, use the search bar on my blog to find additional articles. Search is located in my top menu navigation on the far right.

As far as organic vs paid, I favor organic simply for the fact that it doesn’t cost money and the results last so much more longer than PPC. With PPC the minute you run out of money is the same minute your ads go away in Google. Using the organic section is better. You can remove a blog post (creating a 404) and it could be months until Google removes that page from their index.

My advice to you is to heavily research your keywords and then write amazing content. Start a mailing list and start building up your readerbase one person at a time.

I hope you found this helpful, if you have additional questions, feel free to ask.

3 Laura { 11.03.08 at 4:34 pm }

What are your thoughts on changing a domain name and moving content when very little traffic is involved? Thanks.

4 Big Blogger { 11.03.08 at 5:01 pm }

You touched this argument recently: I would like to hear how to optimize the postitle and the tags using a keyword density software (as usual please include the software you use and a real example).

Than I would like to see a brief tutorial on how to make simple header graphics and on how to move the blogname and a banner around the header.

Thanks in advance & keep up with the great work.

ciao
alex

P.S. it’s thanks to your and David’s work and passion that I’m giving MMO-blogging a second chance. Let’s see how it goes

5 Kent F { 11.03.08 at 5:05 pm }

Garry – give me your thoughts on a micro niche blog with original content, and one in which you’re using someone else’s content – and that content could be text or video. Thanks!

Kent F.

6 CristianR { 11.03.08 at 5:17 pm }

Thanks for your answer Garry – much appreciated.

Check out CristianR’s last blog post..Most popular american muscle cars

7 Goonie { 11.03.08 at 5:47 pm }

Hi Garry, Love to see you make this kind of post. I have a big question. I have some blogs which use to make money from Google adsense, I only have experience using this program. some of those blogs already got great traffic from google.com but recently most of them dropped the traffic because the SERP in Google fall down, from Page 1 to nowhere…I use wordpress for all of them. What’s wrong here? must I use another CMS beside wordpress?

thanks

Goonie

8 Garry Conn { 11.03.08 at 7:09 pm }

Laura,

I have done this before. I have had a blog with a ton of awesome content but the traffic wasn’t serving it justice. I have totally taken a back up of the content written on one blog, destroyed it, and then imported the content onto a different blog that I felt would perform better.

9 Garry Conn { 11.03.08 at 7:16 pm }

Hi Alex,

using CSS to control the size, font style, font family and position of the text in your header isn’t too difficult, but can be tricky if you don’t know CSS. I would seriously recommend getting a small book on CSS. Seriously, you won’t be cramming tons if information here, but on the same note, you’ll learn a lot real quick. Learning CSS offers a huge reward with litle amount of money and time invested.

This might not be the answer you were wanting, but you’ll have to trust that you’ll thank me more after you learn this skill. Learn CSS Alex, it is time.

10 ibu omari { 11.03.08 at 7:18 pm }

my question is very striaght to the point, although am new to blogging, how do i get traffic and make money using my blog. am always online to update but no traffic yet, so wat i need to do get the traffic

11 Ardi Panondan { 11.03.08 at 7:19 pm }

Hi,Garry, I wonder to know how many staffs you have in your office for online business?
And, how many hours do you work in a day?
Thanks.

Check out Ardi Panondan’s last blog post..Nokia XpressMusic 5800

12 Garry Conn { 11.03.08 at 7:19 pm }

Hi Kent,

I write my own unique content and hire other people to do it for me. I actually have over 10 content writers who work very hard for me and do an amazing job. I am always on the hunt for content writers.

With that said, I don’t even try to mix up, mash up, and use other published content on the Internet. It is so very easy for me to find writers, the need to use other content just isn’t there.

I am not sure what you are asking about the video part. Can you explain further?

13 Garry Conn { 11.03.08 at 7:20 pm }

You are very welcome!

Anything else I can help you with?

14 Garry Conn { 11.03.08 at 7:27 pm }

Hi Goonie,

You can reply back and give me some URL’s. Keep in mind, when you do so, your comment will go into moderation, but I will approve it shortly and then give you some feedback.

15 Garry Conn { 11.03.08 at 7:30 pm }

Hi Ardi,

I have 12 freelance writers who work for me. On an average day I output around 100 articles and launch around 4 new blogs. I don’t know how many hours my writers work as they get paid on a per article basis. If it takes them 1 hour to write the article or 1 minute, it makes no difference to me as long as they do the job to my expectations.

I myself, work around 50 to 60 hours per week.

16 Kent F { 11.03.08 at 7:34 pm }

Thanks Garry – on the text vs. video – I was simply asking if you ever use video for additional traffic that might relate to your topic, but not be self-produced- i.e. -something pulled from Youtube.

17 Garry Conn { 11.03.08 at 7:36 pm }

Hi ibu,

Traffic is the single most difficult element in this business and that is why I build and build and build. It is easier for a blog to get 100 visits per month naturally, than it is to invest time and energy into getting that same blog 10,000. With that said, instead of me investing time into gaining that much traffic to one blog, I use that same time and energy into creating multiple blogs.

I would much rather have 100 blogs that get 100 visits per day than one blog that gets 10,000 visits per day.

You can also read this comment for more answers: http://www.garryconn.com/ask-me-a-question-get-an-answer-part-ii.php#comment-25699

18 Goonie { 11.03.08 at 7:57 pm }

Here is one of the example Garry: Easy Weight Loss Site, its already got about 180-200 uv/day about a month, about a week ago the SERP is heavily dropped, and only got about 30-40 uV/day, then I saw 2 days ago, the SERP is back to normal for 2 days, but now its dropped again. I do not know what happen here. It happen to my 2 or 3 other blogs. Do you know what’s wrong here Garry?

Thanks

Check out Goonie’s last blog post..Internet Marketing Conferences

19 Top CD Rates Blog { 11.03.08 at 8:38 pm }

I’m probably just too obsessed with the above blog, but I saw that it had great potential and had quite a few days where it pulled in $5 to $8 /day and even higher a couple of days and then bam! it disappeared. I’ve been using MNF to help with keywords phrases and tags and seemed to be targeting the right words, but I don’t understand what happened. I’ve written a few articles and used APR to post to build some backlinks and traffic from some article directories.

Any ideas, it has been down in traffic for about 3-weeks now. I have two other blogs that I haven’t done much with because I really want to get this one back to the “good days”.

Check out Top CD Rates Blog’s last blog post..Delaware (DE) Banks CD Rates

20 Laura { 11.03.08 at 10:02 pm }

Thanks Garry. I’ll give it a try.

21 Angel Cuala { 11.03.08 at 10:09 pm }

I think this is a good idea of telling your readers that you’re generous.

Anyway, here’s mine.

I read your post about Google Analytics and I have been using that too. However, I asked a top blogger on what he’s using. He says he’s using Webalizer instead of GA. According to him, he prefers server-based which gives a more accurate report.

I am not technically inclined with this, so I will hope to get a simple opinion on this.

Thanks!

Check out Angel Cuala’s last blog post..How to use Kaizen to improve your Blog

22 EasyProfitPack { 11.04.08 at 12:46 am }

I wanted to know, how long should I wait before I start putting ads into my blog? -thanks

23 Jos van Doorn { 11.04.08 at 1:18 am }

Dear Garry,

You gave me the chance to ask you a question. Thanks. I have a question. I’m thinking of starting in e-commerce. Let me explain.

Now I’m working on three e-books. I should have done that first. I should have checked whether there is a market for my e-books.

But suppose there is a market. I want to sell my e-books over the Internet. How can I do that? There is the marketing and what more?

I heard people saying that you can sell e-books over a blog. If that is so. I would like to sell my –books over a blog.

The advantage of a blog is that you can easily promote your blog. Much better than a web site. That is what I understand. Is that so?

Anyway. That is my question. Can I sell my e-books over a blog? If that can be done. How do you set up a blog? There are two potions.

You can open a BLOGGER blog. Such a blog is completely free. But what you can do with it is limited. They tell me.

You can also open a WORDPRESS blog. A WORDPRESS blog has got much more options. I think I better go for a WORDPRESS blog.

I would like to hear from you. I would like to know how I can go ahead and what can be done. Also. If you can. Tell me how to do it.

Jos

24 WordVixen { 11.04.08 at 3:22 am }

Dear Garry,

Why is the sky blue?

KThnxBai

P.s. I just know that if I get the answer, I’ll totally begin raking in the dosh. Thnx.

(So getting my butt kicked for this)

Check out WordVixen’s last blog post..You Wanna Make Some Money For Me?

25 Sweet Things to Say { 11.04.08 at 10:11 am }

Hi, Garry,

I guess I am a lurker of this forum trying to take as much information as possible without really showing my face (as many of other readers). I have tried to implement what you are teaching with my blog (Sweet Things to Say), I even bought your e-book which had some useful information in it. Thanks for it!

My question would be: do you try to optimize your existing sites to earn more? or do you just create new ones and move on? The thing is, my blog mentioned above, started earning some money (small sums, but hell, it pays for hosting, which is a good start right?) and I am wondering, whether I should continue developing the site or move on and start a new project. What would you do?

Thanks again.

Adam

26 D3Marketers { 11.04.08 at 11:41 am }

Blogger- friends have been telling me to migrate to wordpress and have heard testimonials of friends gaining more attention and visitors after the switch, In your opinion, which is more seo-friendly? BLOGGER or WORDPRESS?

Check out sammy’s last blog post.."NETWORKING YOUR HOME BUSINESS WITHIN YOUR CIRCLES OF INFLUENCE"

27 D3Marketers { 11.04.08 at 12:18 pm }

What is the best way to attract visitors to blog/site?

Check out D3Marketers’s last blog post.."NETWORKING YOUR HOME BUSINESS WITHIN YOUR CIRCLES OF INFLUENCE"

28 Big Blogger { 11.04.08 at 12:37 pm }

This might not be the answer you were wanting, but you’ll have to trust that you’ll thank me more after you learn this skill. Learn CSS Alex, it is time.

Hmm, deep down I knew that this is the only answer to my question, but for some unknown reason I’ve ever procrastinated to study CSS.

Another question: how do you make the CSS changes on your themes ? On a plain text pad/directly on the WP admin panel or do you use any software like Dreamweaver ?

If it is the later which technique do you use ? Something like this ?

Thanks in advance

ciao
alex

Check out Big Blogger’s last blog post..Which is your Life Purpose ?

29 Franklin Bishop { 11.04.08 at 1:00 pm }

What makes you want to change your blog design so often?

30 Max { 11.04.08 at 3:11 pm }

Hi Garry.

I would like to know how you organise you work?

You have hundreds of blogs, articles, freelancers, money streams, link deals, passwords, statistics etc etc..

Do you have some kind of system to keep all that under control? I am beginning to have difficulities in that area and I have only maybe 1/10 of what you have going.

Cheers,

Max.

31 ibu omari { 11.04.08 at 3:18 pm }

i need you to explain organic, aside from that how do i put ads on my free wordpess blog

32 BrilliantJENI { 11.04.08 at 6:29 pm }

Damn. WordVixen totally asked my question.

I love that you posted this. It’s always amazing to me how much you’re willing to help others without a price tag. All bloggers should be so generous with their time and knowledge.

Really love what you’ve covered as far as traffic and outsourcing articles. Particularly the latter because this is such an important, time-saving, passive-income strategy (and you know I’m all about passive income!) I don’t believe in working hard for your 6 figures- it’s all about ethical shortcuts, baby!

33 Kimberly { 11.04.08 at 6:39 pm }

HI Garry,

New to blogging for money. I’ve been following you on twitter and love your blogs.

Several Questions:

I’ve got a couple great niche ideas thanks to your awesome posts, some of which will require writers. I don’t have the time to become a subject matter expert. Where is a good place to find freelance writers?

Is there any chance you’ll be adding MMO lessons to your upcoming projects?

When I go over your niche articles and screen shots the niches you’ve pick versus what I would have picked aren’t even close. What am I missing? What are the boundaries for traffic, searches and competitors?

Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Kimberly

34 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 7:46 pm }

I am old school and use a common FTP program and TextPad

http://filezilla-project.org/

and…

http://www.textpad.com/

35 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 7:50 pm }

Goonie,

Looking at the site very briefly, I don’t really see anything that you could have done wrong. Are you selling text link ads? Are you copying someone else’s content? Are you doing anything against Google TOS? If not, then I’d say don’t worry about it, things will bounce back.

Google is a database, and the results change from time to time. For that reason alone is why I constantly build and build and build.

When one of my sites TANK in the SERPs I have a few more that do better. The more sites I have the less impact it is on me when I have one TANK on me.

36 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 7:53 pm }

I tried doing YouTube videos and pointing a link in the description to my blog or various blog post, and I don’t get much traffic from YouTube at all. But that’s just me. Some YouTubers get like a million video views. My videos only got a few hundred.

I hate doing videos, I am not comfortable with them, nor do I get a return in the time invested towards doing them. So, no… YouTube and other video sites are not a contributor to my traffic.

Social networks are though… StumbleUpon is a great place for traffic. Same with Twitter. You just need to be creative in how you make the best use of the traffic. Traffic like this typically doesn’t buy things or click things. They read, laugh and leave.

37 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 7:54 pm }

See this comment:

http://www.garryconn.com/ask-me-a-question-get-an-answer-part-ii.php#comment-25828

38 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 7:57 pm }

There is nothing wrong with Google Analytics. It is a great system and widely accepted by advertisers and for authentic stats when you attempt to sell your site. Server logs can be destoryed while you can always count on having Google Analytics.

Angel, I am honestly too busy to invest time into studying traffic analysis programs. I’d rather see the stats in the money I make. Keeping things back to basics. If I don’t have cash in my hand, then I don’t have traffic. If I have cash in my hand, then I have traffic.

Sorry, this isn’t the answer that you are looking for. But I am not very particular about traffic stats programs. I use Analytics, I shut up and I write as many blog posts as I can in a day and I make a killing doing it.

39 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 7:59 pm }

I have templates that I use when I build niche blogs that already has the Google AdSense code and many other programs already installed. So, I start putting ads on my site starting day one, simply because I don’t feel like going back and doing it later.

I build, I post, I publish and I forget….

40 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 8:01 pm }

If you are developing eBooks you should look at ClickBank.com. For a $50 dollar charge you can then upload your product into their database and then there are people like me who willingly advertise your product on our blogs in hopes of scoring a commission.

41 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 8:03 pm }

# The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.

42 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 9:18 pm }

Hi Adam,

After about two years of experimenting with various things, I find that building niche blogs works best for me. Really though, they aren’t blogs they are websites that are created using WordPress. Each blog I make has a total around 20 to 25 articles on them. After a blog is built, then I move on to the next. Each blog i build I leave behind a Google Analytics tracking code and also record a URL entry into Google AdSense.

When certain sites are performing well, I will revisit the stats and make sure that the site is performing to my expectations. If minor adjustments need to be made, I make them. Also too, if a site is performing too well (i.e. AdSense conversion higher than 10%) I revisit the site and make adjustments to tone things down. Reason being is that a healthy site is one that also converts well for the Google AdWord advertisers.

The short answer: No, I do not try to try to earn more. Rather, I look at conversion instead of earnings. My sites need to have a conversion between 7.5% to 12.5% If they fall outside from that range, then I make adjustments. The cpc will vary over time because certain elements trigger advertisers to pay more per click while other times during the year it triggers them to pull the cost down quite a bit per click.

43 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 9:21 pm }

Self-hosted WordPress is the way to go… no question about it. Contact me if you need to hire someone to help you make the conversion. If you order web hosting through HostGator.com using my referral link: http://tinyurl.com/cheapwebhosting I will help you make the conversion as long as your existing blogger.com blog doesn’t have a TON of posts. Contact me if you need help with this, I’ll be happy to help.

44 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 9:23 pm }

For me, search engines. Google is the #1 source of traffic for all my blogs. StumbleUpon and Twitter are very promising as well… however, you have to treat that traffic with kid gloves. Twitter and SU traffic doesn’t monetize well. This kind of traffic come to see a show.

Read this post: http://www.garryconn.com/stumbleupon-traffic-can-make-you-money-online.php

to learn an alternative way to make money online with StumbleUpon traffic. It’s pretty creative and I think you’ll enjoy reading it.

45 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 9:25 pm }

I am bored and have nothing better to do than use my blog as a digital coloring book.

Joking…

I love designing, I really enjoy building themes and a lot of my themes I use on my niche blogs have been created from GCDC designs.

46 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 9:30 pm }

Organization isn’t my strong suit and that is partly the reason why I do very well with my system. It took me almost two years to finally FINE TUNE my blog building system. Today the whole process is very simple and doesn’t require much maintenance or follow up at all. My blogs don’t get updated… they really aren’t blogs, they are web sites running on WordPress. I monitor my stats and can have a visual on any sites that aren’t performing to expectation. When that happens I can invest time into researching the problem and making adjustments.

The process of building the blogs is simple.

Keyword Research
Domain Name Availability
Install Blog / Upload Theme / Upload Plugins
Register Site in Search Engines / Create Sitemap.xml
Content Creation / Internal Blog Filing system (i.e. Categories, Tags, Pages)
Content Publication

… repeat the process.

47 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 9:36 pm }

Hi Ibu,

Read these two articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_search

and…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

Please come back with questions after reading…

Now, your second question regarding putting ads on free WordPress.com blogs. You can’t do this. WordPress.com doesn’t not allow for this last I checked.

Read this:

http://faq.wordpress.com/2005/12/08/adsense/

Unless this has changed, you can not monetize using WordPress.com. That is why many people who don’t want to pay for hosting use Blogger.com. But my opinion is that if an individual isn’t willing to invest $10 dollars into a domain name and $5 dollars / month into web hosting, then making money online just isn’t a business that is right for that person. It takes money to make money. Don’t start things off on the wrong foot by using Wordpress.com or Blogger.com.

48 Goonie { 11.04.08 at 9:37 pm }

Dear Garry, After I check to my Google webmasters, I found many error to this blog. Google said that there are many Duplicate Title Tags and Duplicate Meta Description. Could you give me a suggestion which plugins to fix that problem? I saw the duplicate found in Post and Category or Post and Tags. Do I need to add:
(Noindex, Follow) to Category and Tags to solve that problem? DO you found similar problem like that? Please give me a suggestion how to make our blogs Very Seo Friendly for Google.

Thanks

Goonie

49 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 9:38 pm }

lol.. yes indeed.

Thanks for the encouraging words.

You’re not doing to bad yourself from what I hear.

50 Garry Conn { 11.04.08 at 9:59 pm }

Hi Kimberly,

Look up Christine Senter. This is a very kind and professional lady whom I have worked with for over a year on many of my own projects. She has over 20 years of experience as a writer and I personally spent that same year and a half working with her with adapting these skills into becoming one of The Most Effective SEO writers around.

Once you have hired her, all you have to do is send her an email with the Post Title and she’ll take care of the rest. Christine Senter is the closest you can get to a clone of Garry Conn.

Is there any chance you’ll be adding MMO lessons to your upcoming projects?

You tell me what you need help with and I’ll see if I can write articles based off your feedback. I’ll be happy to help.

With your last question, that is hard to answer… I just see things. Last night I was laying on my bed with all my pillows against the head board, so I decided to research the word pillow. Consequently, I then found memory foam pillows. From there I found a string of about 20 keywords that would make for a perfect niche blog. Instead of doing that niche I did a tweet on Twitter about it so that someone else could take the niche. I just see the simple things that most all people overlook. Toothbrush, hair comb, baby car seat, laptop replacement keyboards, cheap guitar strings, etc…

51 Top CD Rates Blog { 11.05.08 at 12:20 am }

I can see that. Being so focused on the one, I haven’t spent time on the others. Time to take a break and work on the others. Thank you!!!

52 Big Blogger { 11.05.08 at 1:34 am }

Garry,

thank you SO MUCH for the valuable help you’re providing: I’m reading every comment and I’m continuing to learn a lot !

You’re providing with this one post more value and help than any other MMO blogger does with his whole blog.

ciao
alex

Check out Big Blogger’s last blog post..Which is your Life Purpose ?

53 Big Blogger { 11.05.08 at 1:36 am }

How do you measure competition and which is the process which brings you to how do you decide if it’s worth to jump into a niche or not ?

TIA

ciao
alex

Check out Big Blogger’s last blog post..Which is your Life Purpose ?

54 John Metcalf { 11.05.08 at 5:59 am }

Hi Garry,

Am I wasting my time trying to make money with a picture blog? If not, can you see what I’m doing wrong?

Thanks,

John

Check out John Metcalf’s last blog post..Slug

55 Jer { 11.05.08 at 8:57 am }

Care to elaborate on creating “local” affiliate programs. How is it done?

56 Mark G. { 11.05.08 at 12:44 pm }

Garry, unless I missed it, you have yet to release your ThemeClick wordpress themes. Any idea when they might be ready?

Also, I’m trying to put up a “shopping deals” blog and I wondered if you think that your CyberCoded Theme would work for that, or whether its too minimalist and better suited for regular niche blogs. Thanks.

Mark

57 Garry Conn { 11.05.08 at 2:45 pm }

Is this the blog you are asking about: http://englishwilderness.blogspot.com/

Let me know and I’ll provide you with some feedback.

58 John Metcalf { 11.05.08 at 3:23 pm }

Hi Garry,

(I’m sorry if this comment comes through twice)

Yes, this is the blog. It’s getting about 600 page views per month and earnings in the region of $0.50. I added a link to me post about a month ago and surprisingly a couple of people linked me!

http://englishwilderness.blogspot.com/2008/04/link-to-english-wilderness.html

I’ve had the blog for about 5 months. Do you think I should give up and try something different?

Thanks,

John

Check out John Metcalf’s last blog post..Slug

59 Fred @ MMO Explorer { 11.05.08 at 10:46 pm }

Hi Garry,

Thank you so much for doing these questions and answers. I think that it really helps your readers to see everyone’s questions and your answers.

I have a question for you. I have been reading a lot here about picking keywords to use as categories and tags for niche blogs, but how about flagship blogs? I am about to start a flagship blog that will eventually have 1,000 posts. How would you pick good keywords to target for later?

My dilemma is should I target very hard to reach keywords or create tons of categories and tag pages for longer tail keywords?

Thanks,
Fred

Check out Fred @ MMO Explorer’s last blog post..Dell Studio Hybrid for only $584

60 Garry Conn { 11.06.08 at 12:50 am }

John,

I don’t think I would give up, but I would instead make changes. Experiment with things and make note if your changes improve or downgrade things.

I’ll be honest. I don’t like Blogger.com blogs. They limit me in my ability to run a successful blog that makes money online. I understand that Blogger.com gives you the ease of being able to insert AdSense ads on your posts, but to me… a Blogger.com blog just isn’t professional.

Having that said, my advice to you would be to include content with your posts. Right now, Google AdSense has to guess what your post is about and without content, it will guess wrong, thus generating ads that aren’t relevant to the post.

Also, if you are creative with how you write the content, you can trigger ads that invite people to learn more about photography, photo editing software, and even possibly digital cameras.

If these are pictures that you have taken yourself, talk about how you came to take these shots. Talk about filters, lighting conditions, talk about various settings and shutter speeds you used when taking the shot. Talk about the digital camera itself.

Educate people about photography, explain why the picture was a success, explain to other’s how they can share in the reward of successful photography. Things like that.

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to ask your question. I hope that you found my response to be helpful.

61 Garry Conn { 11.06.08 at 12:51 am }

Hi Jer,

Give me more detail in your question and I will be happy to provide you with my feedback.

62 Garry Conn { 11.06.08 at 12:54 am }

Mark,

I am sorry. I really need to get off my butt and finish that. Thank you for reminding me. I will honestly make an effort to finish it soon. I think a ThemeClick would be more suited for a shopping deals blog. I’ll shoot for releasing in less than 7 days.

63 Garry Conn { 11.06.08 at 1:00 am }

Hi Fred,

With a blog of that size, it is very important that you create a filing system that is well suited for your readers and visitors. You will want to place a lot of focus on your categories and tags. I would NOT try to name the categories in a way that attempts to tweak in good keywords. Call your categories exactly what they are. If you have a software category, you need to name it software.

Let the WordPress tags work for you. With you WordPress tags, you can tweak that a little bit with using keyword phrases that look good in your research reports. As far as post titles go, yeah for sure… optimize that hell out of your posts titles but also try to consider keeping a balance with accurately describing what your post is about in the title.

64 Jer { 11.06.08 at 5:10 am }

What are some ways to use localized keyword domains – city+service+dotcom?

65 Rich Hill { 11.06.08 at 7:02 am }

Hi Garry,

I built a test niche site that I will probably take down later, but I have a question on something I want to try.

Could you tell me how to write a link that would automatically send me an email notice that someone clicked on a banner ad?

The banner ad will not go anywhere, it could just give the reader and “Under Construction” notice, but I want to know whenever anyone clicks the banner as an experiment.

Thanks.
Rich Hill

Check out Rich Hill’s last blog post..Stolen Website Returned To Rightful Owner

66 Fred @ MMO Explorer { 11.06.08 at 9:50 am }

Garry,

Thank you very much for answering my questions above. One more question if you don’t mind. Is it an absolute no-no to add an article to two categories? For instance, if I had a category for laptops and Dell. Could I add an article about a Dell laptop to both the laptops category and the Dell category?

Thanks again,
Fred

Check out Fred @ MMO Explorer’s last blog post..Dell Studio Hybrid for only $584

67 Danny Cooper { 11.06.08 at 5:28 pm }

Hi Garry,

I have read your posts about niche blogging religiously, but I think you have missed out one important piece of information for us noobies. You often refer to using Google’s estimated CPC tool, but I don’t believe you have ever commented on how this converts to the amount Google pays adsense publishers, could you shed some light on this please?

Thanks

68 Mark G, { 11.06.08 at 6:42 pm }

Danny, I might be wrong, but I think I’ve seen Garry and others say that you should expect about 10% of that CPC figure that google shows. Why that is, I don’t know, becasue I thought we got about 50%. Somebody else can probably say why that is.

69 American muscle cars { 11.06.08 at 8:38 pm }

Garry – I’ve got another question for you – how much does it usually take for a niche site to make money ? A niche site that’s been monetized with AdSense and isn’t on a too competitive topic either ? ( a MNF grade of let’s say 20 ).

Thanks in advance man, and keep it up with the great advice – I love your topics.

70 Goonie { 11.06.08 at 8:41 pm }

Its Really Weird to me!

The SERP is back to normal now! I do not know for how many days this serp will be like this, Will wait and see, I hope it would not Down again.

71 Garry Conn { 11.06.08 at 8:44 pm }

Hi Danny,

This was actually discussed yesterday between Chris Duncan and myself. See the comment here: http://www.garryconn.com/how-to-use-the-google-adwords-keyword-tool.php#comment-25932

72 Garry Conn { 11.06.08 at 8:52 pm }

Hi Mark,

You are right. I have talked about this a few times but only casually though. I don’t know of any source on Google that actually states that this is 10% or not, but from what I can see in my own study of my income and tracking, it appears to be very close in line with that.

Anyone who wants my opinion, I’ll say this… I don’t think that any one program is going to give you 100% accuracy. I don’t think any one formula is going to let you know how much you’ll exactly make.

I don’t even think there is a 100% proven SEO / SEM strategy. Much of what I do — likewise with other people who do what I do — is based off speculation and trial & error. It is a “Hit or Miss” business, some people miss more than others. I think too, you have to have a little bit of natural instinct in search engine ranking.

I don’t get wrapped up into specifics. Meaning, if a program tells me that a term will get 10,000 hits / 30 days and also pay $5.00, I don’t hold the program to that. Instead, I decide on whether it is worth the time and effort to target that keyword. My goal is to have a superior ranking on keywords far better than anyone else. My goal is to rank #1. Not #2, not #10… Number One. If I do that, then nothing else really matters to me.

73 Garry Conn { 11.06.08 at 8:57 pm }

That depends on the quality of your research. The moment your page ranks in Google for the chosen keyword phrase(s) you were targeting is the moment you’ll start to get traffic.

When you get the traffic, your content and page design will dictate the % of clicks you get against ad impressions. Your content, if written properly, will generate the ads you want. Your ad positions will generate the conversion percentage you want. I always aim to keep my conversion around 10% ( +/- 2.5%)

74 cheftim { 11.06.08 at 11:24 pm }

My question is can you really make money online?
So far I am one of the statistics, Buy this and that and before you even get the initial item read or mastered one of the affiliates of the program you just purchased is on you about something you need to go with the program.
So than you read it and the next thing you know there is another possibliity for making money and within 1 week of purchasing one item online they have you convinced you can make money 6 different ways and now your so over whelmed with information you don’t even know which way you are going.
So I purchased commissioners blueprint than they wanted me to purchase these other programs, some minsites, adwords digger, etc etc and it goes on before you know it you never even get started. So on that note what do you do? I have all kinds of gagets from seo digger,
to access to sights like cb engine etc so much I am pretty much lost on even where to begin.
Than google adsence is there and google cash and ppc and now I definatley feel I as a newbie to online marketing is in line up in front of a firing squad.
So my question is this does any of this actually work? Or do you avoid all this type of internet hype and sell your own online digital product???
All I know as a newbie this ahs totally baffled me now.
But one thing is I love reading your articles Iv’e learnt more from them than anything so keep writing its great work.
Chef Tim

75 Palapple { 11.07.08 at 3:24 am }

Thanks for sharing. Search engine optimization is indeed one of the most crucial areas in Internet marketing, it is a perfect bridge between technology and business.

76 Blog for Beginners { 11.07.08 at 2:00 pm }

WOW, I’ve been reading your blog for the last 2 hours or so and I’m impressed by the fact that you go to such a great length to walk your readers through and respond to most of the comments here. I’m really impressed. Truth is I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks just by following all the comments here and on other articles.

Now if I may ask, what do you think of the current trend of site flipping? I might be wrong but you appears to me as someone who builds and builds and builds more. You don’t believe in flipping, do you?

Yan

77 Kim { 11.08.08 at 11:41 am }

I totally messed up my site!

I have a blog that is getting 3K visits/month organically (and it’s steady even though it’s been weeks since any updates). But most of the hits come from a negative piece I wrote on a popular product I don’t like!

It’s funny, but I don’t want to do it again. I do offer an alternative product but it isn’t selling at all.

Mistakes: I spent way too much time on one site, added too many plugins (slow-loading), and didn’t do the proper research. Plus getting traffic for the wrong thing, lol.

The whole blog began as a feeder site for my friend who is a podiatrist; now it’s a rambling anything-about-feet mess.

I guess this isn’t even a question; just do what Garry recommends, and don’t waste time by not planning. At least I have self-hosted WP with Hostgator and will be able to rinse and repeat in the future.

You give amazing value in your posts; it is really appreciated.

Kim

Check out Kim’s last blog post..Tips for Marathon Runners

78 Jarret { 11.08.08 at 5:14 pm }

Hey Garry, I’ve been coming up with a few niche sites and I have a question about writing the posts.

Do you have a minimum amount of words that you shoot for when writing new posts for your niche sites? I know that Google likes content and I at least try to shoot for 250+ words but I was just wondering if you feel that this is too little?

Check out Jarret’s last blog post..Connect To Your Web Server Through FTP With FileZilla

79 Collin - Feed Flare { 11.08.08 at 5:35 pm }

Garry

OK here it goes! Like you I have added a privacy policy to my blog but unlike you it shows in my navigation bar. How do I remove the link in my navigation bar and add it to my footer like you but still keep it as a page?

Check out Collin – Feed Flare’s last blog post..1000 Dollar Build a Niche Store Contest by Pepperjam Network

80 American muscle cars { 11.08.08 at 9:31 pm }

Garry, I’ve gone one for you – how much do you think SE’s weight the domain names now ?

81 Garry Conn { 11.09.08 at 12:55 am }

Hi Tim,

You are a prime target for most Internet marketers. I don’t say that with disrespect, promise you. I say that to warn you. What you need to do is go to your local book store, grab a cup of coffee and make an evening of looking for a few good books.

If you are into building WordPress blogs, purchase a book about WordPress, a basic and easy to follow book about HTML and PHP.

Next book you need is a book that gives you a very warm perspective on search engine optimization.

There is also a new book out, I can’t think of the name off hand, but it is all about social networking and tagging. It is a wonderful book that I will be getting very soon.

Never never never never never never…. purchase any digital products until you are comfortable with doing thing MANUALLY. From there, you can then start window shopping for digital products that AUTOMATE tasks that you can already do on your own COMFORTABLY.

Do you want to know what kind of product I own?

ZERO!

Correction, I own Micro Niche Finder… which I really don’t need.

I own Keyword Elite… once again, I don’t need it.

and I own a few other programs that I purchased… all of which I DON’T NEED!!!

There are a lot of ways to make money online. One of the ways is the way other people are making money online OFF YOU.

The way I make money is just one out of one hundred ways. What I do is simple. I build multiple web sites (blogs) that generate a constant passive income.

These blogs generate an income with Google AdSense. I get traffic to these blogs because I research and discover things that people search for in Google and also how much advertisers are willing to pay for clicks on my ads.

My blog is packed full on content related to that. Especially more recently. I am not sure if you are subscribed to my mailing list, but if you haven’t joined it, do so… because my welcome email gives you five articles that I have written in the past that will provide you with the most help getting started.

Let me know how I help you in the future. That is what I am here for.

82 Garry Conn { 11.09.08 at 12:57 am }

Ok… sounds good to me.

83 Blog for Beginners { 11.09.08 at 12:58 am }

Hey G

As per our twit-versation, here’s my question that has perplexed me for sometime. I understand what’s sandbox is all about. I was playing with G sandbox on my 2nd month but gotten out of it since. But quite recently (1 months ago), all my NEW published posts are nowhere found within the G index even for the less competitive keywords.

Let me just give you one example, I have just published an article “How I Increase My Email Subscription by 60 in 7 days” and guess where it is on Google? Nowhere in the top 100.

On previous occasions such occurrences didn’t exist at all. Usually I could be on G page one on some of less competitive keywords minutes after it was published but it isn’t the case anymore now? Is Google changing its algorithm or if there is anything I could have done wrong?

I need your professional advise on this and I look forward to what you have to say. Thanks, G.

Yan

84 Garry Conn { 11.09.08 at 1:10 am }

Hi Yan,

Welcome to my blog. Thank you for visiting and thank you for the compliments. This is a wonderful question. I have much to say about this. I am very interested in flipping blogs and in fact, I have flipped quite a few over the last few months.

My interest in flipping blogs started earlier this summer when I engaged into a contest with an online friend of mine. During this competition with him I discovered a place called SitePoint. This is one of the more popular places on the Web to sell a blog. In side of SitePoint I saw that there were many sites being flipped that really didn’t provide a genuine deal for customers.

I saw and still see this as an opportunity for anyone to go in there and be a super hero by providing customers with something stable. Many people sell their blogs because they want to get out of under them because the blog is a failure. These people will then list their blog for sale, misrepresent their stats and income reports in order to sell the site. Once the buyer has the site in his possession, it doesn’t take long for them to discover that they purchased an lemon.

I provide a few “flipping services” For one, I will build anyone a blog totally for FREE if my customer orders web hosting using one of my approved web hosting companies that pays me a referral for the sale.

Second service I provide is the same thing, but in this case, I provide five professionally written articles. This service has a cost of $50 dollars.

The third service I provide is another upgrade from that, which is five professionally written articles plus one eBook. The cost of this is $125.

The last service I provide, which really isn’t a service, is a complete blog flip. This is where I will build an entire niche blog from scratch, fill it with tons of unique and high quality content and then sell it. A site that I have flipped more recently is Vacation Deal Packages. This particular site has close to 100 articles all based off a very well researched niche topic that pays very well in AdSense.

To answer your question, Yes! I very much believe in the business of flipping blogs. But also too, I believe that it is a very widely abused business just like many things on the Internet. A lot of scams and a lot of fraud.

85 Garry Conn { 11.09.08 at 1:13 am }

Hi Kim,

Thanks for the compliments and for taking the time to share your experiences with me. I think you will do well. My first blog was a total mess, but I have to say even though I make so many blogs, every blog that I do make the next one is always better than the one before. It is all about experience and learning and the more that you do the better you will get.

Feel free to ask me for help anytime. I am happy to see new faces on my blog and very happy you took the time to send me a message. Good luck to you and I have a good feeling that you will find success in your journey.

86 Garry Conn { 11.09.08 at 1:17 am }

Hi Jarret,

When I create a niche blog, I order 200 word articles. This is the minimum word count I go with. Any amount over 200 words, then you need to be careful not to dilute the keyword density of the keyword phrase you are targeting. Granted, the more content you add to each page, the better… it is just better quality. But when you do add more content, it compounds the complexity in your campaign and it also adds many variables into the equation (such as ranking for the wrong keyword phrase)

87 Garry Conn { 11.09.08 at 1:18 am }

Hi Collin,

Jarret Cade sent me an instant message asking me if it would be ok if HE answers this question for you…

I am skipping this, because he will be here shortly to answer your question.

88 Garry Conn { 11.09.08 at 1:21 am }

This can be much debated but I believe that the domain name holds a lot of weight towards the primary keywords you are targeting. I believe this very strongly and every domain name I purchase is based off my primary keywords I am targeting.

89 Jarret { 11.09.08 at 1:28 am }

Thanks for letting me answer Garry

Hi Collin, I wrote up a post on my blog last month detailing on how to remove a post/page from your navigation in WordPress. You can find the post at

http://jarretcade.net/hiding-a-page-or-post-link-in-wordpress

Once you have done that, all that you have to do is go into your WordPress theme’s directory and open up footer.php. Once in there, create a link like you normally would but just set it to the page.

Privacy Policy

Check out Jarret’s last blog post..Connect To Your Web Server Through FTP With FileZilla

90 Garry Conn { 11.09.08 at 2:13 am }

Yan as you know, we spoke in GTalk about this and had a wonderful conversation. You said that you would be writing a post on your blog about this information. So when you write the post, come back here and post the URL so everyone on my blog can read it.

91 Blog for Beginners { 11.09.08 at 2:21 am }

You have been a great help not only to me but the rest of your readers here. Your wisdom is so valuable I couldn’t help but to share it with those who aren’t in the know. Thank you! Will be back soon.

Yan

92 Jarret { 11.09.08 at 2:42 am }

Eh, it converted the html coding even though I put it in code tags….well, if you don’t know how to create a link in html, lemme know!

Check out Jarret’s last blog post..Connect To Your Web Server Through FTP With FileZilla

93 Garry Conn { 11.09.08 at 2:46 am }

Is this what you were looking for?

<a href=”http://www.feedflare.ca/privacy-policy“>Privacy Policy</a>

94 KaHoongChai { 11.09.08 at 7:13 am }

Garry, do you mind to teach me how to create the “e-book cover” like yours at your sidebar?
I Google about it all around the net but all are paid 1, is there any free “e-book cover” creator?

Thank you!

Regards,
Lee

95 Big Blogger { 11.09.08 at 8:13 am }

Vacation Deal Packages

Awesome blog Garry, just curious: for how many bucks you sold that site ?

ciao
alex

96 Collin - Feed Flare { 11.09.08 at 8:54 am }

Ya but its on a different site I have that I am working on. I looked in my header.php file and that line of code is not there.

this is the site and page I want removed from my nav bar.
http://wirelesscellaccessories.com/privacy-policy

97 Jarret { 11.09.08 at 1:01 pm }

Oh sure, make me look stupid! Just couldn’t fix it for me could ya!

98 Collin - Affiliate Marketing { 11.09.08 at 1:10 pm }

Visit my site and use my contact form to email me, I will send you the theme to take a look at if you want.

Collin

Check out Collin – Affiliate Marketing’s last blog post..1000 Dollar Build a Niche Store Contest by Pepperjam Network

99 Garry Conn { 11.13.08 at 11:28 pm }

Hi Lee!

Just pay a friend to make it for you. That is what friends are for, helping each other out. I have a few friends who are graphic designers and can make what you need very cheap.

I would continue your Google search… it shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Perhaps, is someone reading this could help Lee and give him a link that would be great.

100 Michael { 01.20.09 at 9:06 pm }

Garry,

Some people recommend using misspelled words and competitive domain names as keywords.
Google, however, immediately marks these keywords as “poor”.

I notice that they can still get clicks, though. Just wondered if I should keep up this habit. What is your opinion of this practice?

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