Authority Site SEO Case Study

[BassTrackerBoats]

Yesterday that site generated a little over 51.00... clearly the best day I have had with that site and very surprising as this is a seasonal type niche which should not really kick in for about 3 more months. If those sort of numbers keep up I'll be thrilled and, to be honest, I'll ask a buddy who had the idea for that niche if he wants to participate in it.

I've had sites with others in the past and it has worked out well and this guy is not really an IMer, just a good friend that I hang with so it would be a good opportunity for him to get involved in the industry.

Traffic was just under 280 UVs which was the highest day for that site as well.

Onsite the past week and a half was just a handful of articles but I also bumped up my category pages so they are all over 1500 words. Generally my category pages are not that large but I have been thinking since the category page is a very broad page, I should make the article on it much broader. Maybe this will have no effect but the little time spent to put together the content could very well pay off and it will give the site an overall broader base for the products I am selling there.

Off Site:

I will have all the Web 2.0s set up with backlinks by next week and will treat them as regular sites in a sense in that I will be adding some content to some of them over time as well.

I will also set up a handful of Parasite/Authority Pages to the category pages next week and start being a little more aggressive in my off site approach. I will write the content for the parasite pages myself and they will probably be between 800 and 1,000 words. When I write them I link out only once to the category page and use the actual title of the category. I won't dress up the anchor text as it will be the only links I send to the category pages. Generally that is a little aggressive as you want to diversify your anchor text but because there will be only one link to the page it makes sense to me.

So:

1) Increased the content volume on my category pages.
2) Finish setting up the backlinks on the Web 2.0s that are already in place.
3) Build up SOME of those Web 2.0s with more content.
4) Set up parasite pages to the category pages using exact match anchor text.

Nothing fancy and almost anyone can do that and do it for free if they just sit down and apply a little elbow grease. It's just plain hard work to build this sort of thing up properly to make a recurring dollar or two and, if I am any kind of example, you do not have to be all that smart to do it.

 

[gtull2]

Backlinking to the category pages huh? I like that idea. I was thinking about doing the same thing.

Since you taught me (how stupid of me?) that you can write content for the categories, I have maybe 100 words or so on each of them. They are really broad, like yours, so that does make sense to have more on them. I like that.

Glad to hear that you're already off to a great start, so far in advance of your expected "season". I've always imagined how seasonally dependent some sites must be, such as those dedicated to certain holidays. It must be a rush when your season hits and you see the floodgate of visitors open up.

Are you using any Link Pushes at all to this site? I know you said that you will begin being more aggressive. Is that what you are referring to?

Enjoy reading your thoughts BTB. Thanks.

 

[hmeister]

Yesterday that site generated a little over 51.00... clearly the best day I have had with that site and very surprising as this is a seasonal type niche which should not really kick in for about 3 more months. If those sort of numbers keep up I'll be thrilled and, to be honest, I'll ask a buddy who had the idea for that niche if he wants to participate in it.

I've had sites with others in the past and it has worked out well and this guy is not really an IMer, just a good friend that I hang with so it would be a good opportunity for him to get involved in the industry.

Traffic was just under 280 UVs which was the highest day for that site as well.

Onsite the past week and a half was just a handful of articles but I also bumped up my category pages so they are all over 1500 words. Generally my category pages are not that large but I have been thinking since the category page is a very broad page, I should make the article on it much broader. Maybe this will have no effect but the little time spent to put together the content could very well pay off and it will give the site an overall broader base for the products I am selling there.

Off Site:

I will have all the Web 2.0s set up with backlinks by next week and will treat them as regular sites in a sense in that I will be adding some content to some of them over time as well.

I will also set up a handful of Parasite/Authority Pages to the category pages next week and start being a little more aggressive in my off site approach. I will write the content for the parasite pages myself and they will probably be between 800 and 1,000 words. When I write them I link out only once to the category page and use the actual title of the category. I won't dress up the anchor text as it will be the only links I send to the category pages. Generally that is a little aggressive as you want to diversify your anchor text but because there will be only one link to the page it makes sense to me.

So:

1) Increased the content volume on my category pages.
2) Finish setting up the backlinks on the Web 2.0s that are already in place.
3) Build up SOME of those Web 2.0s with more content.
4) Set up parasite pages to the category pages using exact match anchor text.

Nothing fancy and almost anyone can do that and do it for free if they just sit down and apply a little elbow grease. It's just plain hard work to build this sort of thing up properly to make a recurring dollar or two and, if I am any kind of example, you do not have to be all that smart to do it.

I think you do yourself a disservice Greg, because you have to be smart to create the idea,plan your process and execute the plan.
Sure,there is a huge amount of work going on here but there is way more to what you do than just sheer hard work. Even after all this time,I find this thread inspiring.

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

Are you using any Link Pushes at all to this site? I know you said that you will begin being more aggressive. Is that what you are referring to?

No, I am not using any services so this can be replicated by almost anyone for under 100.00 or so... by more aggressive I mean setting up the category page backlinks and pushing the Web 2.0s harder at this point.

The parasite pages are all pretty strong for backlinking due to their DA and the Web 2.0s have been sitting just aging a little bit but I'll treat them a little more like a stand alone site and build them up some. I may have someone blast them with a tool after a while but that will be a very inexpensive service that almost anyone could afford so that we keep this as a process that has a huge ROI if one applies themselves.

 

[CPAchick]

Greg I like it. On the back of this thread I've picked up a year old site I had laying around, started adding content and though no aff links, the one adsense block on the site has earned a few clicks. This site has never earned a penny! More content!

Thanks

 

[traged]

I will also set up a handful of Parasite/Authority Pages to the category pages next week and start being a little more aggressive in my off site approach. I will write the content for the parasite pages myself and they will probably be between 800 and 1,000 words. When I write them I link out only once to the category page and use the actual title of the category. I won't dress up the anchor text as it will be the only links I send to the category pages.

Could you give us some examples of parasite sites that you will use for backlinking?

thanks!

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

Could you give us some examples of parasite sites that you will use for backlinking?

thanks!

I don't think that is necessary, or even a good idea, that I share specifics on the parasite/authority sites that I am going to use or have used in the past... there is a ton of information about parasite out there in a lot of places and I use random ones at different times. I even share how I use them on my blog but I believe I don't mention any in particular... not sure as I wrote that back in August and there has been a lot of water under the bridge since then.

I don't care if some are no follow either as that is part of any natural backlinking structure.

 

[TheAdvertisingMan]

Amazing progress. I've always believed it takes more time to actually make money from an authority site. Seems wrong. Great work BTB.

It's bad I'm not as good in English as I would have to be to produce so much content. My only option is to outsource it which would take a lot of money when you take in mind you need really HQ content, not some $5/500 words shit.

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

Amazing progress. I've always believed it takes more time to actually make money from an authority site. Seems wrong. Great work BTB.

It's bad I'm not as good in English as I would have to be to produce so much content. My only option is to outsource it which would take a lot of money when you take in mind you need really HQ content, not some $5/500 words shit.

Your English is fine from what you wrote here so maybe you are short changing yourself there; also there are some decent writers that are 5/500 that are out there for content that could work on a site... I would not want to dismiss all at that price point as a matter of rule.

It usually does take a little longer to start generating decent traffic/revenue on an authority site but I think there are a few different things in play here that are not what I have done in the past.

• The niche is different and no where near as competitive as my usual stuff (business and finance).
• I am using a different method to monetize (ebay partner). I have that on some of my sites but none as the primary.
• My content is longer than usual in most of my articles... I have some a bunch of long articles up there and that is not usually the case. I'll have some that are longer on my sites but this site is primarily longer articles.

I think those 3 factors come into play here with this niche and this site.

 

[Deleted member 708208]

Your English is fine from what you wrote here so maybe you are short changing yourself there; also there are some decent writers that are 5/500 that are out there for content that could work on a site... I would not want to dismiss all at that price point as a matter of rule.

It usually does take a little longer to start generating decent traffic/revenue on an authority site but I think there are a few different things in play here that are not what I have done in the past.

• The niche is different and no where near as competitive as my usual stuff (business and finance).
• I am using a different method to monetize (ebay partner). I have that on some of my sites but none as the primary.
• My content is longer than usual in most of my articles... I have some a bunch of long articles up there and that is not usually the case. I'll have some that are longer on my sites but this site is primarily longer articles.

I think those 3 factors come into play here with this niche and this site.

BTB is completely right in his response to you and if you don't mind I would like to add that $5 per 100 words
is in-fact a decent rate of pay. If you are willing to spend that then you should be able to find some Native English
content writers. Just a bit of advice from someone who knows the content industry front and back.

People usually like to pay peanuts and expect more than a monkey, but $25 for a 500 word article is decent.

Good luck!

PS: Just dropped in to check out the progress and everything looks great!

 

[ACBerg]

Read through the 9 pages, took some notes and learned a lot. So many great bits of advice peppered throughout your posts, all of it actionable and motivating - thank you. I especially enjoy your insight, "I am their competition, they are not mine." Someone should put that on a poster

 

[BeerBrewer]

That's awesome BTB. Nice to see that you are pulling in those kind of numbers already and the site is still just a baby. Your hard work looks like it will be paying off on this site. Maybe it is the niche I'm in, but I can't even hit $51/month on my site and it has over 200 pages. My goal this year is to at least triple the content on that site, so hopefully that has an effect.

 

[johnnyd77]

Yesterday that site generated a little over 51.00... clearly the best day I have had with that site and very surprising as this is a seasonal type niche which should not really kick in for about 3 more months. If those sort of numbers keep up I'll be thrilled and, to be honest, I'll ask a buddy who had the idea for that niche if he wants to participate in it.

I've had sites with others in the past and it has worked out well and this guy is not really an IMer, just a good friend that I hang with so it would be a good opportunity for him to get involved in the industry.

Traffic was just under 280 UVs which was the highest day for that site as well.

Onsite the past week and a half was just a handful of articles but I also bumped up my category pages so they are all over 1500 words. Generally my category pages are not that large but I have been thinking since the category page is a very broad page, I should make the article on it much broader. Maybe this will have no effect but the little time spent to put together the content could very well pay off and it will give the site an overall broader base for the products I am selling there.

Off Site:

I will have all the Web 2.0s set up with backlinks by next week and will treat them as regular sites in a sense in that I will be adding some content to some of them over time as well.

I will also set up a handful of Parasite/Authority Pages to the category pages next week and start being a little more aggressive in my off site approach. I will write the content for the parasite pages myself and they will probably be between 800 and 1,000 words. When I write them I link out only once to the category page and use the actual title of the category. I won't dress up the anchor text as it will be the only links I send to the category pages. Generally that is a little aggressive as you want to diversify your anchor text but because there will be only one link to the page it makes sense to me.

So:

1) Increased the content volume on my category pages.
2) Finish setting up the backlinks on the Web 2.0s that are already in place.
3) Build up SOME of those Web 2.0s with more content.
4) Set up parasite pages to the category pages using exact match anchor text.

Nothing fancy and almost anyone can do that and do it for free if they just sit down and apply a little elbow grease. It's just plain hard work to build this sort of thing up properly to make a recurring dollar or two and, if I am any kind of example, you do not have to be all that smart to do it.

So you made 51$ with very few off site SEO, a strong domain + a big load of quality content?

Could you tell us how many pages you site have right now? Whats the daily income on average?

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

So you made 51$ with very few off site SEO, a strong domain + a big load of quality content?

That was one day, I've been generating between .40 and 11.00 daily. Pretty inconsistant and nothing to speak of yet.

Could you tell us how many pages you site have right now?

223 pages, ranking on page 1 for 34 of my targeted keywords in my rank tracker, according to GWT, averaging page one for 112 keywords, many of which are images. The targeted visitors for this niche search a lot of images so I am getting some targeted traffic there.

 

[johnnyd77]

That was one day, I've been generating between .40 and 11.00 daily. Pretty inconsistant and nothing to speak of yet.



223 pages, ranking on page 1 for 34 of my targeted keywords in my rank tracker, according to GWT, averaging page one for 112 keywords, many of which are images. The targeted visitors for this niche search a lot of images so I am getting some targeted traffic there.

I saw your method for images. Would you write such content if you were to use 6-7-8 images per page (200 words or so per image). Are these visitors coming from google image quality visitors (bounce rate, average time on site, etc.)

Keep it up, i'm building something similar. It will be fun to compare.

 

[KHer0]

I am here again with another question

In your Keyword Research example you chose "Sunglasses" and I know it was just sort of explanation

But my question, If I am building Niche website around Amazon ( Not Product website ! ) But informational articles about sunglasses ( Best sunglasses for men..... etc )

Most of keywords will have Amazon, lewes, Macy ...etc in the first page with their product pages

Would you see this as a bad sign and look for other keyword as people say good will always favor ecommerce websites for product Niches. Or would you introducing something different will make you stand out from the same product, description ...etc !

 

[MickMcG]

hey greg, long time no see! just a quick post to subscribe to the thread and also to say thanks for sharing some great tips, its good to get an insight into some of ur experience

 

[prab1996]

@BTB
Do you use something like viglink or direct linking to ebay aff ?

 

[BassTrackerBoats]

I saw your method for images. Would you write such content if you were to use 6-7-8 images per page (200 words or so per image). Are these visitors coming from google image quality visitors (bounce rate, average time on site, etc.)

I do something similar for Image SEO with my clients that have image heavy sites as well... this site is not very image heavy but I may change course a little to build that kind of traffic since it seems to be decent traffic.

I am here again with another question

In your Keyword Research example you chose "Sunglasses" and I know it was just sort of explanation

But my question, If I am building Niche website around Amazon ( Not Product website ! ) But informational articles about sunglasses ( Best sunglasses for men..... etc )

Most of keywords will have Amazon, lewes, Macy ...etc in the first page with their product pages

Would you see this as a bad sign and look for other keyword as people say good will always favor ecommerce websites for product Niches. Or would you introducing something different will make you stand out from the same product, description ...etc !

I don't own any real ecommerce sites and do not accept them as clients as I have very little experience there so I can't address that part but I am not too concerned about any KW competition. Remember that my goal it to have thousands of KWs targeted after all is said and done and I know some will not rank. I'm fine with that since most will.

Also, I have never had an issue ranking right up there with some of the big boys when I was targeting similar KWs... I may not be above them in the search engines but I get to the first page and grab some of those visitors from them.

@BTB
Do you use something like viglink or direct linking to ebay aff ?

I use their creatives generator for most of the ads... nothing fancy at all. I do link many of my images to eBay as well but again, there is no special sauce to that either.

Remember, building a larger like I do, is not a deep thought process... the sites like this that are successful are powered by a fair amount of work and the tweaking that goes into it is secondary. To be honest, I do not over think when I am working on this, and usually when I am doing anything at all. Some of the guys in business with me get a little annoyed with me as I don't ponder every little bit and piece of a process.

I test. If it works I move forward. If it fails I test something else.

That is very similar to what I do with a web site that I own, I test and see what works, and if it does, I move forward. If it fails I try something else. I don't care why something does not work. I just care when something does work and then build on that.

 

[lightningblitz]

And I learned something else.

Hypothetically, if I get to 500 pages of content and my revenue ceases to increase, would you suggest expanding the current site (Essentially expanding the niche) or starting a new project?