« Popshops: Six Weeks in Action - A Review | Main | A New Direction »
Planting Seeds ... aka Persistence
October 21, 2007
I've been marketing online for three years now, so you'd think I'd have learned this by now. And I have ... and still, I forget.
What am I talking about? The fact that websites are like planting seeds. And lots of times, when you think it's about time to walk away from a site, it will suddenly shoot up a stalk of growth. And you find yourself thinking, you know, I was just about to dump this site.
Every now and then, this happens to me, and I am reminded again and again that persistence is really one of the keys to success.
Unless you use pay-per-click marketing, all new sites face a growth period before you see any results. Whether that growth period is long, or short, depends on a lot of factors:
1. Your niche.
2. Your competition.
3. Your on-site strategy.
4. Your off-site strategy.
5. Synchronicity.
I have not gotten to where I am today by following any sort of organized system. I haven't (to my very great regret, I must say) tracked my testing and tweaks, and so, while I have a handful of sites that do well, I don't have a clue why. This isn't, of course, the very best position to be in, and it's one I'm slowly changing, but I do know that one thing has worked in my favor: persistence.
And one thing hasn't worked in my favor: all the times when I was not persistent.
I have more up my sleeve in terms of coming up with a system. More on that in an upcoming post.
But for now, I've been reminded that it's important to plant seeds, and when I don't see anything happening, to be persistent. In other words - as long as it's not really costing me anything - don't give up. Don't ditch a site that I've launched, don't decide not to renew.
Domain names I've been hoarding but not doing anything with are one thing, but if I've actually done more than put up a page on it and gotten it spidered - well, I've been reminded that such sites may be sleepers. Give them some time.
Even domains that only have a page on them and have been spidered are worth hanging onto, because they are nicely aged. I really think that having an older domain gives a new site a great boost.
So why this post? I have a domain that, once upon a time, I had had great hopes for. But after a while, nothing happened. I wasn't getting any visitors, I was getting bored of the niche, and so I just let it kind of hang out there. Domain name renewal time is coming up, and I was just about ready to take it off auto-renew, and ditch the site.
The other day, two things happened. I got a couple of newsletter sign-ups, my very first for the site. And then a little while later, someone contacted me via the feedback form.
It's not much, but it was enough to make me think about revamping the site, getting it going again. Almost immediately, I envisioned a new vision for it. A new plan. One that's easier, and will still provide value.
And the domain name is still set at auto-renew. Of course!
Bookmark this: BlinkList | del.icio.us | Digg it | Furl | reddit | Yahoo MyWeb
Posted by BJ at 05:26 PM in Affiliate Marketing | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/69656/22638932
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Planting Seeds ... aka Persistence:
Comments
You always hit the nail on the head, BJ - that's so true - the seeds I planted three years ago are JUST NOW sprouting.
Posted by: Jenn | Oct 24, 2007 3:12:41 PM
What I love is that we're sharing this journey, Jenn - we started at around the same time, and I take a look at what's happening with you, and I know that sticking with things just must work. It's been working for you and it's been working with me. (Mind you, you're far better at being focused than I am! But I'm getting there).
Posted by: BJ | Oct 30, 2007 2:18:30 PM
