A couple months ago I stated that I was not going to create my own backlinks.  That I would wait till others backlink to me.  I was not going to shame myself by tooting my own horn, by begging for backlinks.  I was going to wait patiently until others backlink to me – let the website speak for itself.  But guess what – nobody has backlinked to me.  Four months have passed since this website went live and in that time no backlinks.  Nobody has been impressed enough to link to this site.  Surprised?  So am I.

So with a paper bag on my head I must admit defeat.  If I want backlinks then I will have to create them myself.  Climb to the rooftop of the tallest building and shout, “look at me!”.  How humiliating.

How to Create Backlinks – Article Submission

Article submission is the easiest way to create quality one way backlinks.  I signed up on ezinearticles.com and wrote 3 articles.  In each article I summarize one of the pages on this website. 

My method is simple.  I read a page from this website and then close the window.  Then I open my word processor and rewrite what I just read.  Same main points but new words.  The article version is shorter and more to the point.  The articles need to be at least 250 words.  My articles tend to be around 400 words and take about 30 minutes to write.  It is easy to do because it is not new material.  Just a summary of key points from this website.   At the end of the article I place one link to this site and one link specifically to the page being summarized.

The backlinks from this method are great because they are one way backlinks.  They link to you with out you having to link back to them – Google loves that.  Also, when you create the backlink you can use the keywords of your choosing for the anchor text.  This is good because Google uses the anchor text of a backlink to figure out what your page is about.

Get Your New Webpages Indexed Faster

Besides backlinks, another advantage of articles submission is that you can get your own webpages indexed faster by Google.  Normally for this website it takes up to a week before a new page is indexed by Google.  But if I create an article and backlink to the new page then the page gets indexed in under a day.  Here is how it works:   

1. I create a new page on my website
2. I write an article summarizing the new page
3. At the bottom of the article I link to the new page
4. My article gets published. Since ezinearticles.com is a popular site Google indexes the article within a hour.
5. While indexing the article Google notices the link to my new page. Google discovers that the page is not indexed yet.
6. My new page gets flagged by Google for immediate indexing

Besides getting backlinks creating articles is a great way to get new pages indexed.  For an example of one of the articles and the backlink have a look at my article Do Guest Posts on Other Blogs Really Bring Traffic.

How to Create Backlinks – Guest Posts

Guest posts are harder then article posts.  Creating articles is easy because unless you really screw up and do not follow the rules your article will be published.  Guest posts are much more difficult because they have a very selective gatekeeper – the blog owner.  It is up to their discretion whether your post gets published.  If he stubbed his toe just before reading your email requesting a guest post and therefore in a bad mood you could be denied just because his toe hurts.

You spend a few hours creating the perfect guest post specifically designed for a specific blog.  You send it to the blog owner and wait.  A few days later you get a rejection email.  ‘Sorry, but at this time I am not taking guest posts’, translation: your post was denied.  Now you need to decide what to do with the post.  Do you put it on your own blog or do you alter it and submit to another blog?  Either way time is wasted and the post is tainted by the stench of rejection.

Fortunately this did not happen to me.  I created a guest post and submitted it.  Within a few days it was approved and published.

What a great backlink.  A one way backlink from a popular blog back to my website.  Does not get better then that.  It was a great success – a perfect backlink.  The only problem was that nobody agreed with my post.  Not a single comment agreed, even the blog owner stepped in and stated that he does not agree.  But that is just a technicality, not really important.  Nobody agrees, I am wrong, I do not know what I am talking about etc…but I got my backlink.  By the way, I still think I am right, everybody else is wrong. If you want to disagree with me then see my guest post Put Time Into Your Guest Posts.

Organic Search Traffic Is Improving

The first couple months this website had backlinks, but they were all natural backlinks.  I frequented forums and made comments on blogs.  I did this not to create backlinks but simply because I wanted to be involved in the forums and blogs.   The backlinks came naturally, they came as a result of me simply participating in my niche.

For the last month I have been actively generating backlinks via articles and guest posts.  Again I can only assume that this is why my organic search traffic is continuing to improve.  It is still a small number but improving.  It seams that backlinks do work.  It is humiliating and pride must be swallowed but creating backlinks is a must to improve your organic traffic.

Forget your pride, ignore your shame, humiliate yourself – create your own backlinks.  Go out there and brag about how great your are.  Because if you don’t then who, besides your mother, will?

About Revenue, Earnings, Money, About Traffic, Visitors, Promotion, Actual Stats From The Website Used, Optimistic and Motivational, There is a HOW TO in the Post, What YOU Should Do

Your website has been up for a few months.  The initial excitement has worn off.  But still, every morning you wake up and head straight for the computer.  Open browser, favorites, traffic stats.  Seeing basically the same number that has greeted you every morning for the last couple weeks, you head for the shower.  There your tears wash down the drain.  At least that is how my mornings go.

This website has been hovering around 50 visitors a day for the last couple weeks.  A gray cloud is beginning to form above my head.

As of February 22, 2009 the traffic for the last 30 days:

 

As you can see there have been good days and bad days.  But no discernable upward trend. It hovers around 50.  The two spikes are from the two times that the website was listed on reddit.com.  But the spikes are lightning bolts.  Exciting while it is happening but gone in a flash.

Looking at the graph it appears that the website is not progressing.  There is no upward trend.  I want an upward trend.  I need a ray of sunshine to peek through the gray clouds.

So I created a graph that has an upward trend.  I call it the Extrapolated Traffic Graph.  It takes traffic from recent time periods and extrapolates what the total traffic would of been had the traffic always been what it is now.  (Feel free to re-read that last sentence. Sorry, but I can not improve it).  The time periods start from the most recent and narrowest time frame and move to the past with increasing time frames.

It is best explained with the actual graph.  Here is the Extrapolated Traffic Graph for February 22, 2009.

 

See – an upward trend.  To help understand how the graph works it is best to view it as an answer to the question: What would the total traffic be if all the past daily traffic was the same as the daily traffic for the last # days?

For the last 4 days traffic was 319 visitors.  Take the number of visitors (319) and divide by the number of days (4).  You get 80 visitors per day.  The website has been up for 53 days.  Multiply the visitors per day (80) by total days live (53) and you have extrapolated total traffic of 4240 visitors.  Now compare that against your actual total visitors.  Extrapolated 4240 compared to actual 2206.  Vwola – the website is progressing nicely.

Keep doing this for all the different time periods and you get a nice uptrend graph.

The reason it works is because the website is progressing.  The problem with the normal traffic graph is that the progress is hard to see.  The progress gets lost in the noise.  One day traffic is high, then 3 days in a row it is low.  These 3 days make it look like you are loosing ground.  But you are not.  You are still better off then you were a month ago.  And that is the point.  The magic in the Extrapolated Traffic Graph is that is gives more weight to traffic closer to the present.  For new websites the present is always better then the past.

The Extrapolated Traffic Graph is not misleading.  This website’s traffic is progressing.  It has to be.  Everyday I add more content.  I visit forums and leave thought provoking posts.  I submit the website to directories.  I make jaw dropping comments on other blogs.  It all adds up.  The website is better then it use to be. But the standard traffic graph just does not show it.  Extrapolate present traffic, compare it against actual traffic, and the progress becomes clearly visible.

If you are at the beginning stages of your website then I recommend you plot your own Extrapolated Traffic Graph.  Print it out and hang it on the wall.  Then every time dark clouds begin to form – have a look at your up trending graph.  Save the tears till your really need them.  Like when even the extrapolated graph trends down.

About Traffic, Visitors, Promotion, Actual Stats From The Website Used, Optimistic and Motivational, There is a HOW TO in the Post

When I started creating the website I gave myself a full week to create the initial content. The goal was 15 pages.   The procedure was simple.  Wake up early in the morning. Do research.  Stare at a blank page of OpenOffice Writer and then begin writing.

What emerged was 15 hogpog pages.  They are all about ‘Starting a Website’.  The standard stuff:

• Registering a Domain Name
• Getting a Web Host Service
• Making Money with Ads
• Making Money with Affiliates
• …and so on

They are placed on a page called ‘Information’.  Here is what it looks like:

---

---

Unfortunately, the page is all wrong.  It does not target a specific audience.

Who Visits The Site:

Three types of  Internet users:

1. Do not care about creating a website
2. Have a website and want to see if they can get tips to make theirs better
3. Want to create a website and make money online but do not know how to start

Type 1 – Do Not Visit Website

Most Internet users are type 1.  They are spectators.  They use the Internet for information and entertainment.  They are not interested in creating a website or making money online.  Even though these are the most abundant users on the Internet they do not visit my site.  They are not lured by the question, ‘How This Website Makes Money’.  Most of them will never visit my site.  So I do not care about them.

Because of the way I market the website, most of the visitors are type 2 and 3.

Type 2 – Visit Website, I Have Nothing To Teach Them

Visitor type 2 want to know how the website is doing so that they can compare their stats with mine.  Then either laugh at me, think I am fudging the numbers, or possibly get inspired.  Since my website is new and I know very little about making money online, they know more then I do.  I cannot help them.

Type 3 – Visit Website, Lots of Them, I can Teach Them

Visitor type number 3 is the one that concerns me most.  They are ones I can help.  I know how to create a website.  The proof is the site itself.  I have something to offer them – to teach how to create a money making website.

They are the most abundant.  There is a Type 3 visitor born every minute – it is so easy to become one.  You are type 1 and then you realize that ‘Hey I could do this…I could make money online.’  Every type 1 has the potential to become a type 3.  They aspire to be a webmaster but just do not know how.  Where to start?  What is a domain name?  How much can be made?  These are questions I know the answers to. 

Lots of them and looking for information.  Here I am, ready to help.  Just need to make sure that they realize that I can help.

Fixing The Information Page

The problem with my current ‘Information’ page is that it does not focus on the type 3 visitor.  Visitor Bob is looking at the information page and is unsure if it is relevant.  If Bob is type 2 then he will click on a few pages and say to himself, “I know all this stuff.  Bye”.  If Bob is type 3 then he looks at the page and says to himself, “Domain names? Affiliates?  What is that?  I want to create a website…does this page teach me how?  Probably not.  Bye.”

The information page needs to be revamped.  It needs to clearly target type 3.  The visitor that needs the most help.  The visitor I can help the most.

The first step will be to change the name.  Instead of ‘Information’ it will be renamed to ‘Learn How’.  This is so obvious.  The website is called how this website makes money.  It should have a ‘Learn How’ page.

Then the links will be renamed to specifically target type 3.  Sections like, ‘How to create a website for beginners’, ‘What beginners need to know’, and ‘How beginners can make make money online’.

By making these changes a target audience will be served.  That should increase traffic.  That should increase revenue.

Working For Peanuts

All that remains is to make the changes.  I expect it will take about 5 hours to make all the changes.  So far I have worked 241 hours and made $93.15 which means that I make $0.39 per hour.   $0.39 multiplied by 5 hours is $1.95.  For now my motivation must be to help those who seek help, not to make money.

About Traffic, Visitors, Promotion, Actual Stats From The Website Used, What YOU Should Do

This site has been live for 42 days.  Everyday, first thing in the morning, I check the stats.  How many visitors?  What is the revenue?  I take these numbers and input them into the database.  Then I click a few more buttons and the website is updated with the latest information.

Traffic is Predictable – Most Of The Time

Most of the 42 days came with no surprises.  The number of visitors is either close to what it was the day before or a little higher.  The trend is definitely up.  At first it was around 4 visitors a day, then 10, then 40, and now it is around 50.  Without doing much, I get around 50 visitors. 

There was one surprising traffic day.  Feb 9, 2009.  Just before I went for lunch there was the usual 10 visitors.  All normal.  Then after a hour and a half, the waitress was slow, I checked my stats again. 88 visitors.  I hit the refresh again out of surprise.  Still there – 88 visitors.  I began to think to myself – the day has arrived.  People are finally appreciating my work. 

I almost rubbed off the F5 key (refresh) on my keyboard by pressing it so many times.  Every minute there appeared more visitors.  Something was going on.  So I checked where the traffic is coming from.  Reddit.  Reddit?  What is that?  I had no idea.  I opened the browser and went on the reddit website.  It is a website where people can post interesting things from the Internet.  Somebody posted my site.  Reddit users where checking out the site. 

I was so happy.  Thought all my problems were solved.  Now the snowball is rolling.  It can only get bigger. 

I was wrong.  By 3pm Prague time it had completed its cycle through reddit.  No  more new visitors.  My website became lost in the pile of millions of other websites on reddit.  Never to be found again.  It was there and then it was gone. The snowball broke apart after a couple rolls.

The next day traffic was back to normal.  The interesting thing is that revenue did not go up on that high traffic day.  It was less then the day before.  The doubling of traffic had no effect on revenue.  I thought traffic=revenue was a fundamental principle.  Guess not.

Revenue Has A Life Of Its Own

Revenue does not seem to have any kind of trend.  There can be 5 clicks or 3, sometimes  0.  It is all over the place.  A perfect example is on February 4 the revenue was $15.06.  Completely unexplained.  There was no increase in traffic, nor did I try something new.  For some reason, on that day a lot of people clicked on text ads.  I do not know why. 

Maybe there was a really good ad showing up.  One that attracted a lot of people to click on it.  Unfortunately, there is no way to tell which ad was clicked. 

All I can do is assume that it was a statistically improbable day.  On that day, it just so happened, that a lot of people who click on ads visited my website. 

That day I was too excited to care about why I was getting so many clickers.  Simply happy that I was getting them.  In a state of excitement made the following calculation: $15.06 * 30 days is $451.18 a month.  I am going to be rich.

Next day the revenue was $0.00.  The excitement quickly fell to sorrow and confusion. No clickers.  Not a single one.  The day after my greatest revenue day was a 0 revenue day.  Inconceivable.  I guess another statistically improbable day -  of all the visitors, none were clickers.  I flipped heads 10 times in a row.  Improbable, but possible.

It All Evens Out

Revenue seems to work on the law of large numbers.  Revenue can be $10 or $0 on any given day.  But in the long run – over many days it all evens out.  Daily revenue is unpredictable, but on average this website makes: 41 days divided by 89.69 – $2.18 a day.

About Revenue, Earnings, Money, About Traffic, Visitors, Promotion, Actual Stats From The Website Used

After 22 days online a milestone has been reached.  100 people have stumbled onto the website.  That is a lot of people.

If I had to make dinner for 100 people then I would have to start cooking at dawn – it is a lot of people to feed.  If I was at the supermarket buying supplies for the dinner and the line up at the cashier was 100 people – that is a big lineup.  If I had to wash the dishes after everybody has gone home – that would be a lot of dirty dishes.

But in terms of website visitors 100 is pitiful.  Like 100 people going to a Rolling Stones concert.  I need thousands, not hundreds.  According to my Google AdSense account these 100 visitors have earned me $4.34 by clicking on ads 8 times.  I serve dinner to 100 people and all I get is $4.34.

So far 157 hours have been spent creating this website.  This past month has been completely devoted to the website’s creation and maintenance.  Had I spent the time as a employee for a website design company paying $25/hour then I would now have $25 x 157hrs = $3925. 

This means that I have sacrificed $3925 dollars to please my visitors.  In return they have given me $4.35.  100 visitors came to my house, have a delicious dinner, and then pay me $0.04 cents each.

I should not complain.  I knew this would happen before I started.  The beginning is hard.  Lots of work with no reward.  100 visitors come, they look at 2.53 pages, and then leave.  Almost all of them not paying a single penny. 

But that is how the website business works. It is very ‘front heavy’. You must do lots of work at the beginning with little return. After many hours (I do not know how many hours yet) of being a slave it begins to turn around. Once there is a big visitor base and the visitors keep coming back and inviting their friends. Then you will be receiving lots of money for little work. You will be making money while you are sleeping, walking the dog, growing your chia pet. Your website will become the slave. Working for you 24/7.

Unfortunately I am not there yet. Maybe far from it.

So for now, still at the beginning, it is nothing but blood, sweat and tears.  Only the hope, that one day 100,000 visitors will come and leave a big tip on the table, drives me to continue.  Because then I can take the money and buy a dishwasher.

About Traffic, Visitors, Promotion, Actual Stats From The Website Used, Optimistic and Motivational