Tagged : Internet Marketing

in Media Culture

Alexa Rank — Ongoing Case Study

Alexa Rank is a way of gauging your website’s validity on the world wide web. I should mention that there is also Google PageRank, but it seems a little more ambiguous and each page is only rated on a scale of 1-10. While extremely relevant the Alexa ranking is somewhat representative of your Google PageRank and more specific in its reporting.

When it comes to Alexa ranking the lower the number your site carries, the more influential it is. Having a lower Alexa number will likely bring you further to the top in searches and will also give you greater influence over the Alexa rank of other sites. Alexa rank is totally relative though, and depending on the subject of your site the rank may not carry as much weight.

For example: a new search engine would have to compete with Google, the number one ranking site on the internet, with an Alexa rank of 1. A site on the subject of Blogging would have to compete with Problogger.net, one of the top ranked blogging sites on the internet with a score in the low 2000′s (That is actually extremely good in the big scheme of things). If you ran a figurative marathon against every website owner in the world and came in the low 2000′s you would actually be one of the top runners/sites in the world. Blogging about blogging is highly competitive though, and a new site could expect to have an Alexa ranking in the 20 to 30 million range.

On another front, if you had a website with a strong niche and little competition you may not need a high Alexa ranking to be at the top of the Google search for your niche. If your site was specifically about kayak paddle tips you would probably not have much trouble reaching the top, and an Alexa score of 20 million might not be so bad.

In terms of influence  if a site with a high Alexa ranking links to a site with a low Alexa ranking the low sites ranking will go up. Maybe not a lot, but probably a considerable amount. If several high ranking sites linked to a low ranking site, the low site would probably make leaps and bounds very quickly.

Anyway, with that explanation aside, the following is an ongoing tally of my Alexa ranking since I rebirthed this site in the Fall of 2009.

I will continue to update this from time-to-time as I notice any substantial changes.

  • June 24, 2010 – 605,460 – Total posts = 232 – I’ve been hovering around the low 600,000′s for the past couple of weeks. The highest I got to was about 600,000 even, and on the lower end I was at 610,000. This is likely due to some new posts and some increased traffic from the Nissan Leaf post I wrote that was picked up by Nissan on their Facebook Leaf fan page. There were a couple of days here and there that had referral traffic into the 500+ visitors range, but mostly now I seem to be in the 45-70 range with 70 being on a Monday and 45 being a weekend or later weekday.
  • May 17, 2010 – 687, 575 – Total posts = 196 – I finally break the 700,000 mark.
  • May 14, 2010 – 708,752 – After a couple months of bouncing around between 722,000 and 750,000 I seem to have broken the rut. A recent all out-post-athon where I posted about 10 of posts within a couple of hours on travel and also television seems to have led to a significant increase in traffic this week. It just goes to show, if you want more traffic, start writing more.
  • April 14, 2010 – 736,210 – Total posts = 131 – The last month has seen my Alexa rank drop by about 200,000 spots and for the first time I actually went backwards, but thanks to a post about product placement on 24 I have sustained a decent amount of traffic and bounced back ahead.
  • March 12, 2010 – 988,305 – Total posts = 84 – I finally broke the 1 million mark! Yesterday I was hovering at 1 million + 555, but today I’m sub-1-mil. It’s a bit sad and geeky that I know and/or care about that, but it was a goal and I made it. Now my mission is to crack the top 100,000 websites in the world, which may not seem like much of a feat, but considering how many websites there are I think it’s kind of a big deal.
  • March 3, 2010 – 1,084,827 – Total posts = 75 – I have been hovering around the 1.2 million mark for a couple of weeks now and am now in the low 1 millions. Woot! I’ve introduced a more mobile blogging approach and have tried to include a few posts here and there about current events. Recent posts about the Vancouver 2010 Olympics have probably helped improve my ranking. I plan to start doing a few guest posts here and there and also to start including more links with trackbacks or pingbacks in my posts.
  • January 31, 2010 – 1,871,340 – Total articles = 31 – The site finally cracks the 2 million mark. Now my goal is to break the 1 million mark and eventually to be in the top 100,000.
  • January 18, 2010 – 2, 810,080 – Total articles = 25
  • January 12, 2010 – Alexa Rank: 4,468,552 – Not as much growth, but decent in only a couple of days and a couple more posts. Google is indexing my new posts within 20 minutes. I like!
  • January 12, 2010 – Alexa Rank: 4,800,000 – I make another couple of posts which Google indexes extremely quickly and I end up gaining another 500,000 spots
  • January 11, 2010 – Alexa Rank: 10 million (approx) – In the wake of the Facebook Bra Color Update Post I end up dropping about 5 million points or so
  • January 7, 2010 – Alexa Rank: 15 million (approx.) Web traffic goes a bit crazy after I make a current events post before most of the high ranking sites – 600 visitors in 2 hours – Alexa ranking drops by several million points very quickly
  • December 1, 2009 – Alexa Rank: 18 million (approx.) Number of posts: Less than 20
in Misc Bin

Blogging Income Stream Breakdown by Darren Rowse

Darren Rowse runs the internet’s top blog about blogging and recently he posted a breakdown of his income streams in percentages for his different blogs that he runs.

It’s interesting to know that Google AdSense is still a top earner for him, despite many other bloggers writing about a significant decline in AdSense revenue. In the video he shares that the AdSense revenue is generated largely from his Digital Photography School website and not from ProBlogger.net, where he no longer runs AdSense at all.

From an outsider perspective it would seem that readers looking for digital photography tips are probably also in the mood for buying or learning about other products that happen to fall under consumer goods. The type of reader that is into digital cameras is probably interested in new technology, which some of the AdSense ads may be portraying. Thus there inclination to seek out other information and click on ads. This versus ProBlogger readers who go to that site solely seeking information about blogging. Information products are a bit more intangible than hard goods, so it makes sense that advertising in the PPC (pay-per-click) form would be less effective.

In the end having an actual product to sell is probably the most reliable way to earn an income from a website, but a site that is tied into tangible hard goods like a gadget review site would be, can be effective for advertisement driven income generation because that type of site captures the attention of consumers in a buying mood. In a nutshell a reader is more likely to click an advertisement for something they are trying to buy, and that they have actively sought out versus something they stumbled on by accident.

in Misc Bin

Different Ways to Make Money Online

Making money online is quite a quagmire of information to navigate, but in my research I have found that there are a few things that remain consistent across the board.

  1. While it is true that the potential to earn an income online is absolutely massive — it is no easy feat. Despite the ability to reach a seemingly endless audience of potential customers, there is also huge amounts of competition. Earning an income online is hard work and will take a serious investment in your time. This shouldn’t dissuade anyone, but anyone looking for “easy online money” is in for a reality check.
  2. The number one way to make money online is by selling a product. This shouldn’t be a surprise as this is no different than business carried out in the old brick and mortar way. People need to part with their money for you to earn an income and thus you need to provide them with something — a product. Even blogs are a product. If you want people to subscribe to and visit your site to earn an income from advertising or affiliate marketing you need to provide them with relevant content and information. Again, this is a product in itself.
  3. Volume is key. To get the organic search traffic required to sustain an online business a certain volume of content is necessary. This may require you to post to a blog several times a week or more to stay relevant with the search engine keywords for your niche.
  4. It takes time. Lots and lots of time, but persistence is key as in any other business. If you persist, it can happen, but don’t expect it to happen magically. There is no money tree.

So if you’re still with me, you may have some understanding that any type of business, regardless of its form, requires serious effort. If you are willing and able to put that time into creating a source of online income the benefits can be life changing.

Working online means a certain flexibility of location. Depending on your chosen niche or subject, you may be able to create your product or write your blog from anywhere, and on your own terms. This flexibility can often outweigh the possibility of a lower income.

The internet never sleeps, but you can. Your online products will be available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. There is no limit to what you can achieve, and making a passive income is a definite reality, and a potential for a great income that doesn’t require your 100% attention at all times. Unlike a job where you need to show up in order to earn. Working online allows you to create content whenever you like. It may still take 8 hours a day, but you can choose how those 8 hours go down.

There are a variety of ways to make money online which I have summarize below. This is by no means a definitive list, but should provide you with some insight into what options are available should you be looking to start your own online business.

  • Online Publishing — I refer to it as publishing because that is what blogging has become. Earning a living from a blog is possible, but I think it’s best to look at it like a magazine. If you create quality useful content you are essentially publishing an online magazine. If you treat it as such you will have the chance to develop an audience over time. Income can be generated through advertising networks, direct advertising sales, affiliate marketing, and possibly even subscription fees. Once you have a captive audience your ability to sell them other products is not limited just to advertising
  • Google AdSense / Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads — This is no longer an easy way to make money, but if you have a high traffic blog it can lead to good returns. To illustrate what kind of traffic it would take to earn a living from PPC consider this. A very generous click-through-rate (CTR) would be 1% for someone starting out. If 100 people came to your site, 1 person would click on an ad and you may earn as much as a few dollars, but likely more like a few cents. So even at $1 per 100 people you would need 10,000 people to visit your site to earn $100. That is quite  a bit of traffic!
  • Affiliate Marketing — This is where you advertise another product through your website an earn a commission when someone follows through with a purchase. There are good and bad kinds of affiliate marketing. Some are perceived as scams and some as legit. Huge companies have affiliate networks and some of them are for great products. Other products are kind of crappy, but can still earn you a living, and often have great commissions. At times there is a bit of a moral quandary around affiliate marketing, but nonetheless there is huge potential here.
  • Article Marketing — This is where you right articles on your blog or on an article site to promote affiliate products. It can be a very effective tool to sell affiliate products, but can also require massive volume of articles to be effective depending on your niche.
  • Stock Photography — Selling stock photos is getting more and more competitive, but if you have a unique style or a unique niche you may be able to earn a decent income from selling stock photos through a stock agency like iStockphoto.com. This is often referred to as Microstock photography.
  • Write articles for an article site — If you are knowledgeable on a particular topic you may be able to earn some money through writing for sites like ezinearticles.com, ehow.com, or TrendHunter. All require a serious amount of volume, but you earn ad revenue off of the articles you write and those sites rank very highly in search engines. Much more highly than your new site will for a long time, so the benefit can be substantial. Some writers report incomes of $500-1000 per month with about 300-500 articles. That sounds like a lot, but those articles can live on for years and generally are not more than 500 words.
  • Start an online store — This is probably the most obvious way to make money online. If you have a product or access to products that you can sell starting an online store can be a great way to supplement or create an income. Using techniques like outsourcing for customer service, billing, and order fulfillment can also simplify the process. It is now possible to run a store online without ever seeing the product in person, which means you don’t necessarily need a warehouse or big garage to do it.

Well that is an overview of some ways that it is possible for a beginner to start out making money online. If I’ve missed anything or if you have anything to add please feel free to leave a detailed comment below.

in Misc Bin

John Chow Dot Com Pho

As part of my “do something that scares you daily” campaign for personal greatness I decided that I would attend one of John Chow’s Dot Com Pho Meet/Tweet-ups. This week was the Dot Com Pho Epic Sweats edition — in reference to the promo sweatpants that Epic Advertising sent to John, not anything weird or food related. This week’s edition of the Pho meet-up was held at Pho Vancouver aka Happy Pho at 4136 Main Street at King Edward.

For anyone not familiar John Chow is a blogger and internet marketer well known as a guru of making money online. His blog chronicles his journey from the beginning of his blog to the present where he now makes a very significant income that has afforded him a nice lifestyle in West Vancouver.

I didn’t really know what to expect, and to be honest was a bit intimidated, but I have to say that John is a very friendly and nice guy. It’s easy to want to discredit someone who writes about making money, but it’s clear to me after meeting him that John is not just writing about money he’s writing about his passion, which happens to be money. He has created his own rags to riches tail, so it is fitting that he is proud.

I think that the common perception of generating an income through affiliate marketing and blogging is that it is somehow easy, but I can assure you from my own ventures and knowing how much time it takes to update and write articles, that it is no cakewalk. Maintaining a website, particularly one that generates revenue, is as much a job as anything else. It just happens in a way that most people don’t understand.

Going to the Dot Com Pho was a great chance to meet John Chow in person, but also to meet a bunch of other really interesting people involved in the social media scene. If any of you are reading this it was a real pleasure to meet all of you and I hope to see all of you again sometime in the near future!

in Misc Bin

Post Frequently for Better Search Engine Results

Frequent posting is a way to earn the respect of Google.

If Google was a person it would want to know everything about everyone, but it’s just not possible for even the great Google to do that. However, Google being as powerful as it is will listen if you have something relevant to say. It’s still a bit of a mystery for me, but I made an extremely relevant post that was ahead of the major high ranking sites like Mashable or Digg and since then Google has been indexing my new posts extremely quickly — almost instantly.

My overall site ranking is still low, but the fact that I am being indexed in the search that quickly is a good sign. As my overall site rank improves so should the position of my posts in the search. The next step in my plan of attack will be to create more backlinks and to start posting full links to my Twitter account so that it will improve the overall relevancy of this site.

Has anyone else out there had similar experiences with Google and search indexing? What techniques have you used to improve your overall ranking.