M20, Dublin - Ireland, Starting News Site, Trying to Quit Job.

Well hello strangers,
Ben a while since I have posted here.

Little bit of info about me:
I'm a 20 year old marketing student from Ireland. The syllabus in my course is so dates and obsolete it kills me going to class everyday. The future is about technology and that's where I'm looking - Internet marketing.

I work in a retail store with a manager I detest with my entire being. From head to toe. I will only leave my job however though once I am making 20% more than what I am making at the moment. (Magic number is going to be in and around €240 a week)

Personally I think it sounds very doable (chances are I am highly mistaken) but I have to learn.


I had a dropshipping thread that got a bit of attention before, but came to an abrupt end when my main source of traffic (my quickly growing instagram account) got banned. After failing to get it unbanned, iI had little to no traffic. It was a very competitive niche from an SEO point of view - but was little to no competition through Instagram.

That cam eto abrupt enough end anyway, and i turned my focus towards trying to grow a few influencer accounts.

SWEET FUCK HEAVEN ABOVE ALMIGHTY THAT SHIT IS TOUGH. Yet to date to make any money from the accounts (shoutouts and all that stuff) - so im trying to build up a business around my quickest growing account.

Without giving anything away, the instagram account is to do with memes in a certain niche - while the website is to do with news relating to that industry.


So I have an instagram account with about 2700 followers at the moment (not alot at all I know, but engagement is pretty good) I have started a Facebook page last night before bed and have about 14 likes or so now (again, I know not that impressive).

Since the site went live yesterday, heres what the traffic is looking like


Again, this is only at the start. Not much at all and I am sure I have alot of experienced people turning their nose up to this thread already, but it is a journey


Everyday I am going to be posting 3-5 new articles on the site, and sharing them to the Facebook page. I would do them in advance but it is a somewhat rapidly changing industry with constant news - so for SEO purposes and to be on top of things with fresh content I think this could be the best method.

I am trying to keep all articles below 400 words, so its not off putting for anyone who comes across site.


Today I am going to:
- Identify 5-10 groups I can share my links to my site to on Facebook.
- Identifty 3-5 Subreddits i can post my links to
- Start a twitter account and begin with that route of traffic.


Its not much at all, I know that, But its a start.
This is going to be my first attempt at a news site - I am excited to see how it will turn out.

- Danny

Wish you all the best! Was thinking of doing a marketing degree, would you advise against it?
also doing something similar to a news site myself fingers crossed eh

luker2000 said:

Wish you all the best! Was thinking of doing a marketing degree, would you advise against it?
also doing something similar to a news site myself fingers crossed eh

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Honestly, if you are in Dublin and going to be attending my college - I sure as hell would.

Personally I thought it would be more engaging and up to date content, constantly being refreshed - learning about how technology is changing social media advertising more than every before and how certain brands are able to establish themselves well and truely into peoples lives without spending a cent on traditional advertising.

But instead we study the success of coca-cola and its christmas train campaign from many years ago, Kotler who was a marketing "guru" from many years ago.

Nothing new, nothing fresh, nothing engaging.

If it was in my college I would say no, but of course everywhere is different.

I had a marketing-student roommate and he refused to touch FB because he thought it disconnected people in real life or something x).

Thats awesome you already have that much traffic in a day, maybe they will start linking and sharing, seems like a good start

Minnehaha said:

I had a marketing-student roommate and he refused to touch FB because he thought it disconnected people in real life or something x).

Thats awesome you already have that much traffic in a day, maybe they will start linking and sharing, seems like a good start

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Hey there! Thanks for the comment!

Hahaha well as right as he is, thats not the way to go about things at all haha - there's no denying that social media is one of the biggest issues society faces today. There's a really good TedTalk on the topic:
But at the same time, because of what it is, and that everyone is on it - it makes it perfect for marketing. I have a personal account, but i dont really use it - only to make the pages and manage them!

Yeah its pretty good I must be doing something right, Ill share some more stats now soon!

Day 2#1:

Just followed in all my steps as I typically do on a day.

Its quite an unsaturated industry as far as I can see, not many FB groups to do with it (mostly non english) and only 1 subreddit.

Its grand though traffic is up and page likes are up and around 30 - nothing ground breaking but we're getting there!



Yesterday was a crazy day to be honest, was not expecting that sort of response to things at all, hopefully can just continue on an upswing.


Instagram hasn't really budged, still in around 2700- hasnt broke 2800 anyway, might need to relook at settings on account.


TODAY:
- Posted 3 articles
- Posted to Facebook groups
- Posted to Subreddits


- Danny

Well done for taking the steps to creating a site. You'd be surprised at how many people on here don't action.

I have a few questions for you.

How do you plan on monetising this venture? I understand you won't be thinking about it right now as you've only just started and will be getting little traffic. I advise you to think about this, as it might be an issue in the future.

Good luck on your journey. It's nice to see something a little different for a change, instead of an affiliate site(guilty).

iJonnyx said:

Well done for taking the steps to creating a site. You'd be surprised at how many people on here don't action.

I have a few questions for you.

How do you plan on monetising this venture? I understand you won't be thinking about it right now as you've only just started and will be getting little traffic. I advise you to think about this, as it might be an issue in the future.

Good luck on your journey. It's nice to see something a little different for a change, instead of an affiliate site(guilty).

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Hi there! First off thanks for the comment!

Yeah there's alot of people that just do a hell of a lot of reading, try something half assed, and complain when it doesn't work!

In relation the the monetising, I have thought about it a bit.

So there's just the traditional route:
1. Adsense
2. Renting ad space

Then the "not so traditional routes" that I've been thinking off:
1. Every 2 weeks/Month/however long it takes - print off some copies of my "free newspaper", give them to all places in my city of where people in this industry would be located. Help with brand awareness and possibly rent out adspace if enough readers.


2. Make an app.
Make an app that pulls all my articles off the site and displayed on an app and gives notification to users when they're uploaded. I could get in touch with influences in the industry / local journalists and organisations supporting the industry to see could they help spread the word about the app before its launched - create a buzz.

3. This is a bit of a stretch (but so are the other ones I guess) but there's no merchandise at all in the industry. I was thinking perhaps get like phone covers /hoodies with the name on it and then just other bits and pieces in general that people could use.

That's a long shot though and not until I'm getting like 1k a week visitors.

I have a suggestion, as you have experienced social media is not a reliable source of traffic (banned accounts, algo changes), so I would leverage your social media accounts to collect emails. Send your social media followers to your site and have a popup with a free ebook or a contest for something for free (monthly drawing). Once you build a niche related email list you OWN that list that you can sell to forever. Not so with social media, they can ban your account or change the algorithm and shit on your post reach. Instagram and Facebook want you to pay for ads and they don't give a f*ck if you make a penny on their platform. In summary: build up social media accounts and push them to your site to get their email and sell to them via YOUR email list.

hey, im also irish and called Danny

good luck man you can do it.

i dont work with IG, but if you have any questions about any of the other social medias, hmu.

randybishop said:

I have a suggestion, as you have experienced social media is not a reliable source of traffic (banned accounts, algo changes), so I would leverage your social media accounts to collect emails. Send your social media followers to your site and have a popup with a free ebook or a contest for something for free (monthly drawing). Once you build a niche related email list you OWN that list that you can sell to forever. Not so with social media, they can ban your account or change the algorithm and shit on your post reach. Instagram and Facebook want you to pay for ads and they don't give a f*ck if you make a penny on their platform. In summary: build up social media accounts and push them to your site to get their email and sell to them via YOUR email list.

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That's some pretty good advice thank you.


What software would you suggest to start building a list? Free preferably - have a weird rule that I have to make money before I can invest it back in.
But saying that I don't mind throwing a few bucks down.

Panoush said:

hey, im also irish and called Danny

good luck man you can do it.

i dont work with IG, but if you have any questions about any of the other social medias, hmu.

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Oh Danny Boy, the serps the serps are calling......

Figrole said:

That's some pretty good advice thank you.


What software would you suggest to start building a list? Free preferably - have a weird rule that I have to make money before I can invest it back in.
But saying that I don't mind throwing a few bucks down.

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sendy.co is the cheapest. I use it with a wordpress plugin.
Sendy is a pain in the a$$ to setup (plus you have to register a amazon ses account)
But this fiverr gig is awesome and he will set it up for you.

Thats an affiliate link if I have every smelt one

But all in all thanks dude - I am familiar enough with Amazon SES so i might have a look at doing it myself, if its too much of a hassle ill just get onto that guy!

Good to have you back Danny, sounds interesting. Doing something with memes was one of my many ideas, more humour memes though. And a shout out to fellow Paddy, Panoush!

Will drop you a PM in due course, Figrole.

irishengteacher said:

Good to have you back Danny, sounds interesting. Doing something with memes was one of my many ideas, more humour memes though. And a shout out to fellow Paddy, Panoush!

Will drop you a PM in due course, Figrole.

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Good to hear from you aswell

I had a few mad weeks with exams and all that stuff - so all this had to take on the back burner. Im on summer holidays at the moment so have plenty of time to spend.

Yeah humour memes are a tough cookie to crack alright, had one up and running for a while but theres SO much competition with it all.

- Danny

Good Luck Danny!

FinalBossMidas said:

Good Luck Danny!

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Thanks Midas!

Hopefully can make something of this!

Figrole said:

Thanks Midas!

Hopefully can make something of this!

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You most defo will mate! 100%

Day 3#1:
So.. This happened.



Absolutely delighted at the way the traffic is increasing so much.

*NOTE: Every other day when shared the traffic it was at about 12 mid day, today I am in work at 12 so it is 9.52am - LOOK HOW HIGH THE TRAFFIC IS ALREADY TODAY!*

Reddit have somewhat tried to stop me posting as much as I would like. I have a VPS for my Insta accounts, so can post 2 at a time ,but still not ideal.


Today:
- Uploaded 3 new articles
- Shared them to subreddits
- Havent shared them to FB yet but am going to.


Yesterday, I installed an Mautic on my site - supposedly a very good open source email marketing tool.


Hopefully later this evening when I get home can get a pop up to open on the page when poeple land on it trying to get them to sign up - if traffic can keep going like this I should be able to grow a list at a massive rate.



- Danny