A journey ...

Like countless others, I've decided to try my luck with Affiliate Marketing.  To date (3 months since I started), my web sites aren't doing too well.  In fact, they are getting no traffic at all.  Why not?  Well, the main reason as far as I can see is that the search engines haven't indexed them.  Hmm?  But I submitted my sites and the search engines visit regularly and faithfully, so why don't any of my keywords return results?  Obviously, if nobody can find my sites, there's no way I'm ever going to make any sales.  So what do I do?  Wait?  For how long? 

When I first started out, I researched, bought and read copious amounts of advice and literature available on Search Engine Optimisation, Internet Marketing, Affiliate Networks, etc.  My conclusion at this point in time is that:

• This is not an exact science
• Nobody has all the answers
• The search engines keep changing the rules!

I found an interesting article recently that identified a potential reason.  The Google Sandbox.  The article explains that Google have a filter that is applied to new web sites.  So although your site is recognised by Google, and will return a result if you type your web address into the search bar, because it hasn't indexed your site, none of your keywords will return a result.  Great, so what do I have to do to get indexed?  The answer is wait, apparently.

When creating each of my new sites (Screen Builder, CheckTout, iLuvIT, I studiously followed all the advice. I carefully and meticulously made sure I had added relevant page titles and tags. I wrote and re-wrote my copy to include appropriate keywords without over-stuffing with keywords. I submitted them to every search engine. I created a robots file and a sitemap for each site. I made sure that I was adding content regularly to keep the sites relevant and fresh. I even subscribed to Adsense thinking that might help drive some traffic. Nope. Nothing. Nada. My sites sit there dormant and lonely, without a single visitor except the search engine crawlers and little old me. So, I thought I would undertake a little experiment in an attempt to understand the great and powerful wisdom of the search engines.  Of course, I could be completely wrong in my suspicions and it may well just be that I've chosen a very competetive part of the affiliate market.  Or, worse, my sites aren't as SEO optimised as I thought.  Which is where this site comes in.  I've set up this blog to document my trials and failures (and possibly even some successes in the future?).  If nothing else, I can use it as some form of cathartic therapy but maybe, just maybe somebody out there will stumble across it, and benefit (or sympathise) with my experiences.

I am purposely writing without giving any thought or consideration to any SEO techniques.  I have however, submitted to the search engines.  So, let's see what happens.  I'll post daily, giving all the information that I have on stats, etc. so that you can follow along with my battle for web visibility. I also intend to post my thoughts on various tools, techniques and products that I'm using along the way.

In the event that you've found this site, and have any criticism, advice, comment, etc., to offer, I would really appreciate you sending me an email using the Contact menu at the top of the page.

Conclusion du Jour

When first starting out in web marketing of any kind:

• Get your site online immediately
• Don't waste time perfecting the site's copy
• Don't waste time trying to optimise the site for SEO
• Keep adding new and relevant content to your site - regularly!

I am now off to practice what I've just preached on my other sites.  Wish me luck!