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Too Much Experimenting
October 15, 2005
I was just over at Jenn's and Tara's blogs, and suddenly felt overwhelmed with envy at the way they've been able to stick with the Martell method since they started with affiliate marketing. If you haven't read it yet, you should read Jenn's post about her goals for this month.
We've all been doing this for nearly the same amount of time, but they are both so focused and if you read through their blogs, you'll see that they don't tend to get distracted at all.
The other day I was talking about affiliate marketing blogs with Chrispian. Our email conversation made me take a good hard look at my sites. I mean, I have a ton of them, but looking through them all, I don't have a single one that I could point to and say, "now, that's my Martell site", for example. Considering that most of my first sites were started using the Martell method, this is pretty sad.
I'm not saying that experimenting isn't good, but I have a funny feeling I need to be more organized about my experiments. I've only done a few things that I can point to and say, "hey, I'm pretty sure this was responsible for my great results". The rest of the time, everything is a mish mash, and while I'm getting okay to (every now and then) good results, I can't, for the life of me, pinpoint exactly why.
I'm not too sure what I'm going to do about it, but looking at all my sites, I'm suddenly getting an urge to put up a pure Martell-type site and then not twiddling with it at all. And then I'm going to go through all the different "methods" that I've dreamed up, most of which I've implemented in bits and pieces all over the place, and build sites that conform strictly to those methods. Once that's done, if I want to mix and match, I'll do that - but on new sites that are built for that purpose, so I can my results better.
At least that way, if something does great, I'll know exactly what I did, and maybe be able to repeat the process and get the same results.
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Posted by BJ at 05:10 PM in Affiliate Marketing | Permalink
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Comments
I have a case of the envies too! I am scattered and all over the place. Lately I have been trying very hard to get more focus but it's such a challenge for me! We have so much in common BJ ;) Tara really is doing soooo good!!
I have never really used a "method" so to speak. I learned alot by reading, testing and from friends etc.
I recently read the James Martell Book just to see what was in it. Some of the stuff in the book is different then what I have always done or have been taught so it was interesting. There is still some points I don't personally agree with but it was a good read none the less. I definitely want to try a Martell style site and see how it turns out.
I have also read Rosalind Gardner's book too, I think I am just some where in the middle. Maybe I would be where I *want* to be if I didn't have a "method" hmm...
Posted by: Chrissie | Oct 16, 2005 12:01:55 AM
Wow ladies, I'm flattered. I guess I come across much more together in blog than in real life - because I can assure you, I'm way scatterbrained and lazy. If you notice, I'm blogging far less often these days, so every 3 days I say I'm doing this or that.. the rest of the time I'm not usually doing a damn thing - other than goofing off... lol
Please, PLEASE use Jenn as an example to live by, not me.. lol She's probably a lot more faithful to JM's methods. I follow most of what he says, but then I get lazy and skimp... lol
Anyway, not to be an ingrate or anything, thank you and all that, but really, I'm not as good as I (apparently) make myself sound! lol
Tara :)
p.s. I'm much envious of you too BJ - you've got so many sites going and you understand so much about the inner workings of things :)
Posted by: Tara | Oct 16, 2005 3:01:17 AM
Aww - you guys are too sweet to me too! But I'm afraid I don't always live up to my goals, either! I try :)
I think the reason I'm so faithful to the JM style right now, is because I've tried too many other types of sites over the last three years, and none have had the monetary results that my JM sites have.
I'm so focused because I really really really want to quit my job - it's just like in Office Space, grey and lame...
Now my hobby music site is still my favorite, gotta have one totally for fun!
Posted by: jenn | Oct 17, 2005 1:39:24 AM
And I'm envious of you too BJ - you really are a lot more knowledgeable about all of this than me!
Posted by: jenn | Oct 17, 2005 1:44:56 AM
Unfortunately, knowledge doesn't do much for me without proper implementation! I've really got to get my act together on the implementation part. And I'm learning it's a two-part thing, too: (1) just do it and (2) once you do it, for goodness' sake, don't mess with it until you know how it's doing on its own!
Posted by: BJ | Oct 17, 2005 10:13:46 AM
hey -
it's important to remember that much of what made JM a success was testing and trying new things. And he appears to be trying new things all the time - even now on his latest site.
how do I know? I personally don't - but I read Allan Gardyne's forum (that's how I met Tara) and can tell you that those guys measure his breathing patterns ;)
He's apparently trying pay-per-click now on his new site and so I'm digging back into my Rosalind Gardner book to learn more about this approach.
For me, personally, I cannot wait 8-12 months to get a site indexed. So I think you're incredibly brave to test new things!!
Cheers!
p.s. are you all "office space" fans?? did someone take my red stapler??
Posted by: Andrea Thomson | Oct 17, 2005 6:17:52 PM
