Week In Review – September 7-13

Hello fellow readers, it’s that time again for another weekly review. Normally I write these posts at around 9 or 10 pm on Saturday night that way I can encompass pretty much the entire week as not much goes on in the wee hours of the night. But a quick look at the clock right now shows 12:36 am so I am actually a day late in writing this!

Niche Blogging

This week was even busier than last week as I started up a new blog. Ok, so I didn’t start it up necessarily, I took Garry Conn up on his blog builder offer and gave him some business. I am really happy with the way it came out and was very impressed with the quality of the articles that were produced. I know that Garry didn’t write them and I know who did as probably most of you do that hang around his blog. It is a great niche and there are some great key phrases that have very low competition that should be quite easy to rank for.

I also have 2 other domain names that I am going to develop over the next few weeks. That is as soon as the nameservers want to change over and actually update! I have been waiting 3 days now and I may just end up calling GoDaddy later today and ask them what is up. I know that sometimes it can take up to 72 hours to switch a domain name and that it isn’t really under GoDaddy’s control, but I feel like complaining.

One of the domains shows a lot of promise as I wrote about in a past post Domain Name Parking: A Diamond in the Rough?. It has been receiving a few type in hits a day and taking some advice from Garry, instead of parking it to turn it into at least 1 page if anything. Out of over 100 visits to the domain none of them clicked on any ads while it was parked. I figure if I at least have a simple page up that it has a better chance at a possible conversion.

As far as niche blogging goes there isn’t much more of an update as of right now. Although that may very well change over the next week.

Great Things Are In Store

This is why I was actually excited to write this post. Not to say that I don’t mind writing these posts as it gives you all a little bit further insight into my life. But this past week, a lightbulb has gone off and it is a bright one. I am not too sure on what flipped the switch but I can safely say that I am glad to whoever or whatever did it.

While I first started this blog to post about my experiences with affiliate marketing I feel that it has already run dry. I have taken a different turn towards affiliate marketing, more towards organic traffic compared to PPC traffic. Sure I won’t make money as quick but I would rather have long term recurring revenue for free than having to worry day to day about an offer being shut down or getting slapped by Google. Now, I won’t be entirely stopping my tests with PPC but it is no longer a priority to me anymore. I will still read up on blogs and try to learn what I can but I am more focused towards SEO and link building.

To be honest with you I am somewhat disappointed with my blog as of right now. Sure I have gained some great friendships and I have seen double the traffic then I have seen in previous weeks but I want more. I am not saying that building the friendships and networking has been a waste because it certainly hasn’t. I am grateful for the bloggers that I have met that have been kind enough to add my blog to their sidebars, link to me and leave their comments on my blog. You all are very much appreciated and I would just like to say thank you.

However, this blog is going to have some big changes coming soon.

The first being a completely new custom design by me. I created the current theme and while I enjoyed creating it and enjoy the look it does not fit in well with the plans that I have in store. I cannot say how soon the new design will be in place, but I will be spending the next few days doing further research. Right now the theme isn’t too great for SEO and it could provide a lot more information in an easier to follow format. It doesn’t really flow as it stands right now and has room for much improvement.

The second being the internal structure and layout being changed. The way I have categories and tags setup now is just horrible and has no organization. Adding both structure and organization to these 2 sections will provide a much easier navigation path for my visitors and should increase the time spent on my blog. It will be much easier to find content related to what you are currently reading.

The third being a change in posting and the type of posting. You may have noticed lately that I have begun to move away a little bit more from affiliate marketing and more into SEO and other categories. I want to turn my blog into a resource for both the new and the experienced. The posting may slow down but will be replaced by very high quality informational posts. As I stated above there is going to be a change to the category structure system. I have way too many as it stands right now and will reduce the categories into about 5 major ones. You will see more posts about search engine optimization, link building, traffic generation, networking, wordpress optimzation and design, web design in general and a category that I am going to keep on the down low until the new design comes out.

Realizing that a person who comes to my blog looking for link building may not necessarily want to know about web design, category RSS feeds will be easily accessible and placed in very prominent positions. This will be to ensure that I can give my readers what THEY want. I am going to be placing a major emphasis on making it extremely easy for visitors to navigate my site while providing a design that is very soft and inviting.

Before I go and reveal my entire plan to you I will end it at this. I may make a few quick updates on how the plans are going over the next few weeks just to keep you updated and build the anticipation. I can say that I will be providing some great bonus items for those subscribing to my blog. I am not interested in running a contest, giving away money or anything remotely related to making somebody subscribe. So if you are just here to stick around waiting to see if I ever give anything away other then great ebooks, themes, quality posts and great advice, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! I want to be proud to say that my readers are subscribed to my blog because THEY wanted to subscribe not because they had a chance to win something.

So those are a few of the big changes that you are going to see should you decide to stick around and see what happens. If you haven’t already, subscribe to my blog feed so that you can be sure that you won’t miss each and every post.

Interesting Posts Last Week

I read some really great posts last week, be sure to check out the following posts…

How To Reach Success Through Teamwork And Having The Right Friends – A great post by Joe of IMwithjoe.com, it currently has 47 comments! One of Joe’s top 5 most popular posts and really worth a read if you haven’t already checked it out.

A Surefire Way To Increase Your Followers On Twitter – Mark Sierra of MeAndMyDrum.com gave a great tip on how using a custom background for your Twitter profile can add a lot of trust.

How To Use RSS To Build Your Blog And Your Business – I found Ryan’s blog through Joe’s and while I don’t agree with what he said, I still feel that it is worthwhile to check out.

5 Things About The WAHM – Tara of thewahmblog.com bares it all and gives you some juicy details about her life. Ok so not really but she opened up on her blog and gave you a little bit of insight into her personal life. Something I think we should all do a little bit more of and something that I know that I need to do more of.

There you have it, 4 great posts that I highly recommend that you read and comment on! Commenting is a great way to network with others and build friendships!

Most of my readers on here are already in my Google Reader and bookmark toolbar. Do any of you have any great posts that you think I might like written by some of your other friends? You can catch me over on Twitter if you aren’t following me already.