For the past 3-4 months I've been browsing these and many other forums, info-sites and blogs on webmarketing. I've built up a body of knowledge I hope to take advantage of in making my site successful. My site is in the general video game niche, meaning I'll be going up against giants Kotaku and likes. I know you'll say that doing that is sealing my fate but I have enough confidence in what I'm offering and an enormous knowledge in the subject (video games) that I will be able to take a piece in the greater pie. Here's my plan going forward after I launch my website. I'd like an honest review on what else you think I could do as far as marketing my site goes keeping in mind the niche I'm competing in. I realize everyone wants to keep the best ideas to themselves, but I still ask for genuine help in improving my plan and success going forward. I've invested over 700 hours and even more money into this project and it is crucial that I succeed. Whether your suggestions are outragious, logical or obvious, they're all welcome! My plan: -Launch myspace site same day as my website. I will have benefits given to those that add me as friends hopefully enticing people to join. I will add 50 friends per day. -I have done extensive searching for major forums in my niche. I've identified more than 20 forums encompassing over 50 thousands members and even more visitors on which I will post relevant articles linking to my site. The articles will be legitimate and not spam. This will also create backlinks raising my PR and helping create organic traffic in the long term. -I will answer 10 yahoo answer questions a day relating to my site, again, not in a spamming fashion. -I will submit articles from my site to video game sites that feature user submitted content. -I will add a a Digg button next to my articles allowing users who enjoyed it to Digg it, gaining traffic from Digg visitors. -Some of my articles will contain references and content relating to other subject matters as well, allowing me to link those articles at sites that aren't about video games diversifying and expanding my visitor base. -I will have an affiliate program in place which I will not talk about here as it hasn't been done before in this particular niche. -Create relationships with small, game specific websites in the niche. -I'm currently working on identifying blogs related to video games to built a relationship with. Commenting, linking, etc. My goals: -1500 unique a day traffic by the end of my second month. At an estimated CTR of 2% and 0.20 CPC, that would be 180$ income for the month. -3000 uniques a day traffic by the end of my 4th month. (360$ per month) -A levelling out of about 6000 visitors by the end of my 6th month. (720$ per month)
Can anyone give me some genuine suggestions? It'd be really appreciated, I've done a LOT of work on this but a review by people who may know more about marketing then me (which is probably many) would be extremely helpful.
Sounds like a decent plan, but quite a lot of work for the potential amt of profit i will say. But if it is your passion in this niche, then all the best.
You have a solid plan. Doing those things will create a following, no matter the size. You will be able to decide if it's worth the continued efforts when you see the turn out, but that looks solid to me. Though I am a novice at that, I have been reading literally full time like a job for months: You have a good grip of how this works, including the New Web/web2.0 stuff. I wish you luck. If it is THAT competitive, you may want to avoid things like adsense etc that your competition can hurt you by click fraud, causing a ban. Etc. However it seems this may be one of your prime interests?
I wouldn't say that. Even the now big companies started out with nothing. Did you get your site critiqued by friends, family, Interent users? You can do everything on your list until you are blue in the face, but if the site is crap to start with.... That's a good start, but just doing it can be tricky. You should treat them as genuine friends, and not a bunch of "leads.'' Sorry, but the time you put in versues what you will get in return is so low, you might as well go out and get a minimum-paid job. The time you put into this can go towards things that actually work. Sounds good, but if you aren't getting anything in return after so long, you should scratch it off your list. Just like your site, get them critiqued. This is one of the ways Chow (JohnChow.com) got so much traffic in his early days. But don't just put up a button. You have to ASK them to do it. In addition, you should also put up a short "send to a friend" form underneath your best work. Do NOT have them click on a link to go to the form. Have it right in front of them. Excellent idea. Most do not do this. And just put your name and url at the bottom. It's the same as posting in boards. A minimum-paid dishwasher will make more money than you, and work far fewer hours. Go for 10,000. In four months you can do this. (My goal is 60 days after my site has been revamped. ) I, myself, would not have any $ goals. Shoot for quality traffic, and the money will follow. Funny, you didn't mention anything about advertising. If you do not advertise, you will not be able to acheive 10,000 daily quality hits on a consistent basis, period. That includes your 6,000. The big sites of today got that way due to advertising, and, of course, word of mouth.
Note yet, but I will have it critiqued by several people to gain a sense of what most of my visitors would think about it. Youre right, its a tricky thing. Ive been torn between creating a profile as a person (happening to advertise his website) or a myspace page dedicated to the website only. One of them may be more earniest and personable but the other may simply bring in more visitors. Ive deiced to go with a page dedicated to the site but Im trying to make it as pêrsonable as possible so it doesnt feel as simply a lifeless company page. Can you please suggest things that would convert better? yes, Im lucky in this sense as a family member happens to be an established writer who really knows how to work with words. I have every article written critiqued by him and also ask for pointers and suggestions so I can learn myself. Great idea, I hadnt thought of that though it should be obvious. Thanks! Thanks! Youre right, I should shoot higher. It makes you stretch more when you do so, and the more you work toward it the farther you reach. Im thinking of using either adsense or myspace advertising. Im leaning toward myspace as the age range is spot on, but I havent done enough research to know how it would work. can I target my ads to only show for people with specific interests, etc? Thanks for the frank opinions, greatly appreciated!
- Write articles and submit them to sites that its readers may enjoy. Including social networks. Write tutorials, reviews, strange and funny news tidbits in or even outside this field.... Do a daily search for strange and funny tidbits. About reviews. In addition to yours, cite reviews from other sources, like magazines. It's ok to do this if you quote the source. Give credit where credit is due. Put a section in your site that attracts young guys. Something like: "Hot Babes and Video Games. What a Combo!" Kinda lame, but you get me here. Find pictures of attractive women in this area. Maybe one who is wearing a t-shirt on such? Here's onne, but not exactly what I am talking about... http://news.filefront.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/files.jpg But you could use that one for a "how to get the girl" article. Another one...http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/10/071024145626-large.jpg Have a slideshow on such. Beer companies has their hot women to push their booze, why not video gammers? Speaking of women, go to http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/women.html. Write an article on her article. Comment on it, do a spin on it. Another one... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3615278.stm. Just repeat it, along with your own commentary, and send it to a slew of sites and social networks. Again, advertise it! Do another section in your site on how nerds / gammers can be more successful in meeting women. Write articles on this one too. Think outside the box! Also advertise all of the above. There are many more ways, but I'm brain dead tonight. Generally, yes, but I really don't know what your site is about, and what you want to do with it. One other thing, use http://www.archive.org/web/web.php to see how sites have started out. But note that many sites have blocked them, like Shoemoney. This is one of the ways on how I found out how JohnChow.com got so many hits so quickly.
Are you planning on doing all the marketing on your own. Sounds like you have a pretty decent plan here.You will need a little bit of help trying to keep up with Myspace page for your site as well as the actual site. Submitting articles and answering questions on Yahoo, all these things equal to taking up hours and hours of work. Sounds good, hopefully you have some nice friends helping you out.
Awesome idea and one I didnt think about. Weird, strange facts always attract attention and would allow me to market my site outside only video game sites. Definitely going to do that! Yeah, good idea. I thought about doing that but in order to make this into a weekly or so column Id need to think of something more specific to write about, maybe dating tips for video gamers. Ill do some more thinking about that, because you can always rely on images of hot women to bring you traffic so I definitely want to take advantage of that. That link is GOLD. Never knew the site but it has a bunch of video game related essays by bloggers who I could reference and network with. Thanks again! I'd love to hear them! Thanks for the great suggestions! Ive been lurking on these boards for a while now and have been reading some of your posts and though some of your opinions seem to attract controversy Ive found them all very helpful! There are too many cookie cutter answers on DP and not many genuine ones that really give working suggestions so I really appreciate replies like yours. wow, never thought of that. There are several websites in my niche that Id like to know how they got the success they got seemingly overnight. Bookmarked. Im thinking of taking other interests and hobbies of mine and mixing them with the subject of my site (video games) to really spread the word of my site to a vast group of people. Your above idea of dating and girls is very useful, but Im also considering movies and celebrities (afterall everyone is into celebrities at least in the US) and some others that have a wide appeal. Its crucial to make your site seem -mainstream- because it really gets the name out there in to the public eye and helps word of mouth transition greatly. Instead of just focusing on my niche only (which of course will still be my primary focus) Im going to focus trying to make the name as mainstream as I can and attract visitors of various interests.
I'd like to help you with more ideas, but I have my own website to brainstorm for ideas, and to work on. I've got that 10,000-daily-hit goal to shoot for. But, hell, you can do the same thing. Always carry pen and paper around with you for that idea tha may pop into your head out of nowhere. No matter how dumb it may sound, write it down anyway. It may spin into a better idea. That's what I do. A lot of the times I'll sit in a dark room, and just let my thoughts wander. When an idea hits me, I turn the light on, write it down, and then turn the light off and sit back again. But what I have given you so far is basically the brunt of it. The rest is mainly advertising and word of mouth. How do ya think those big sites got so big? Not all of it came from doing free things. Print this thread out, and, along with your ideas, read it now and then. This will help your part of the brain think of more ideas. That's how our brain works. Like an old car engine on a cold day, you have to warm it up before it can get going. Good luck with your site.
**ATTENTION:*** Have you been diagnosed with HFG? If so, you're a Hot Female Gamer! Join the competition to win sexy lingerie and a feature on Deepthroatgaming.com's front page! Check myspace.com/deepthroatgaming for more details. -------------- There you have it. I've just set my marketing plan in motion yesterday with the launch of my myspace page. I released it early to get my name out there and create a little buzz around the launch of my site. If anyone has any creative ideas on how to continue the buzz campaign I'd appreciate it.