Zack's learning journey

As you may know by now, I do like my long titles.

I have posted a thread in the introduction thread if you would like to know a little more about me!

Had some failures over the years financially, but what I have learned I feel has been immense.

So three weeks ago I decided it was time to knuckle down and focus, put solid work in through 2019 and see if I could build some residual income through developing sites.

Site 1)

Has been live for around three weeks now.

Sessions - 257
Users - 168
Page views - 1059
Bounce rate - 58%
Organic search - 19

I have around 12 blog posts so far covering different angles of the niche, As well as about 3 or 4 pages of corner stone content which probably has around 5k words between them.

Site 2)

Has some content but isn't really ready to be ranked. I have a 2000 word amazon affiliate review page and another 1700 word information and education page plus the other usual stuff.

Goals for these two sites is traffic. This is a learning curve which I hope will lead on to a financial gain, but at the moment I am just implementing best SEO tactics so once I have the formula nailed I can hopefully replicate and make money off of a handful of different sites in different niches.

Site 3)

So this one is interesting, I agreed to pay someone on another forum to build a dedicated amazon affiliate sites for me, this site is again another niche. She is well known for what she does and seems a bit of a pro. The main reason for me going ahead with this?

What I can learn from here will speed up my process and I can apply it to site number 2!

Now I know it seems a lot, but I am unable to work at the moment due to ill health so I am hoping to build a new life for myself and my family, but first I am putting in my dues.

I have no idea how much there is to be made in these projects, but if they generate enough traffic and I affiliate them right I don't see why they cannot generate me a substantial income!

I think that's all for now. I will update likely every few days to a week. I doubt there will be anything interesting going on for a short while anyway.

I will add I have written most of my own articles so far, but have just outsourced some to be written and will likely do this every months for around 5 x 1k word articles!

Ok so were almost at a week.

In that time I have outsourced some writing to guys on here, fairly decent but obviously not native English speakers, had to make a few changes.

I have targeted more keywords in my blog posts, and have started reaching out for links in the usual places, got about 5 or 6 out there as of now. One in reddit as well thanks to a member here as well as a couple on Quora which I placed myself.

I have brought a package deal off of here to get some more niche blog posts spread about. Mainly aiming for one long tail keyword at the moment. I have asked for the comments to be spread out, as to not look spammy.

The reason for doing this is I want to learn and experience more about SEO, and I think there is some magic to black hatting which I want to get involved with and learn more about. Any help and tips would be appreciated.

This last week my traffic has been

Sessions - 162
Users - 129
Page views - 252
Bounce rate - 79%
Organic search - 14

Most of this was from the reddit post.

good luck with your jounrey jack

Good luck bro!

Amazigh said:

Good luck bro!

Click to expand...

Thanks man.

Ok fellas.

Downloaded jarvee and I am testing my own account to find the right settings and get a feel for the system. Once I have figured it out I will be running probably 5 Instagram accounts and hopefully 5 pinterest accounts.

I have set up my first IG account nice and simple just to scrap and repost from popular pages in a niche as a test.

I have one question though, how do I change the text that gets reposted with the image?

I am a little confused about that bit!

Merry Christmas fellas and ladies.

So update time.

I feel like my content writing has got tonnes better, writing style, finding and using keywords plus making the UX much more enjoyable as a reader. I've noticed my last 5 writes ups have blown my previous 10 out of the water by miles.

Finally started getting some results through from google console.

Last 30 days looks like this


sessions 422
users 296
page views 1351
Bounce rate 67%
Organic search 33

I realise there is a little over lap from the previous update but its still showing I am growing in the right direction.


According to my google search console performance I have an average position of 172, which to be totally honest I am ok with. 6 week old blog with about 3 back links.

Plan going forwards is this.

Create a better home page, rewrite my previous content to match up to the quality of the last 5 write ups.

I have ordered a package of back links to be drip fed which will be going to three of my last 5 write ups hopefully boosting them up the SERPS. I already know the content in them is better than anything else in the SERPS and utilises way better on page SEO.

Funnily enough, its these last 5 pages which are actually bringing in most of the traffic. So looks like I 'may' have cracked a piece of the code.

The way everything is looking I should imagine I will start ranking more and more, which will hopefully see me starting to generating views of a couple of thousand a week.

Still studying more about SEO, and I flipping love it. Nice to find something I feel happy and confident I would like to pursue as a career, after having such a difficult time being forced to switch careers.

Just to add my site is now showing as PA DA 5 so things are defo going in the right direction!

One of my blog posts which is getting drip fed some back links is PA 10 DA 5 according to moz. With 3 links. Hopefully get this baby to the first page once the rest of the links start dripping in.

Update.

Back links in place.

Home page PA 17 DA 13
Highest rated page PA 20 DA 13

Last week I did an advertising test for one of my pages on Pinterest

Last three days I am hitting about 100 people a day from Pinterest

Last 7 days of traffic

Sessions 311
Users 265
Page views 977
Bounce rate 15%
Organic search 5

Traffic is flowing, but I am having hardly any click throughs in to my affiliate links. I will probably put a table at the top of the post to show the products first.

Google is still ranking me around 140 - 170 for different pages.

Took delivery of my 'made for me' amazon affiliate site a week ago, wasn't happy with it. Super simple and very 2016 so redid the whole thing except the post, I will be implementing a silo structure on the site with three silos to begin with.

First silo
Top 10 xxxx - buying page
Top 10 xxxx - buying page

Second silo
Information page 1
information page 2
information page 3
information page 4
information page 5

Third silo
Information page 1
Information page 2
Information page 3

Each information page will still contain some affiliate links but they will be in the form of adverts from amazon.

The niche isn't broad but the second silo will use keywords which seem to be mega under utilised. Hopefully if I rank for each page in the second silo which will focus on a different keyword I *could* generate 60 - 80k views of organic traffic just from them pages.

I have a 3rd blog which I haven't done much with, I don't really like what its about and it is still newish, so I will likely change this to a new topic I have identified and implement a silo structure again

The whole point of the silo structures is to quickly rank my pages without having to put up 30k words of content.

Each information page will likely have between 700 - 1000k words. Top 10 product pages will have 2k each.

Thanks to @kn1ves and @Holzr for the help in another thread.

I wont be doing much today or tomorrow even though I am literally shaking to get started, but I have a wife who wants to spend time with me. lol

zack101 said:

Update.

Back links in place.

Home page PA 17 DA 13
Highest rated page PA 20 DA 13

Last week I did an advertising test for one of my pages on Pinterest

Last three days I am hitting about 100 people a day from Pinterest

Last 7 days of traffic

Sessions 311
Users 265
Page views 977
Bounce rate 15%
Organic search 5

Traffic is flowing, but I am having hardly any click throughs in to my affiliate links. I will probably put a table at the top of the post to show the products first.

Google is still ranking me around 140 - 170 for different pages.

Took delivery of my 'made for me' amazon affiliate site a week ago, wasn't happy with it. Super simple and very 2016 so redid the whole thing except the post, I will be implementing a silo structure on the site with three silos to begin with.

First silo
Top 10 xxxx - buying page
Top 10 xxxx - buying page

Second silo
Information page 1
information page 2
information page 3
information page 4
information page 5

Third silo
Information page 1
Information page 2
Information page 3

Each information page will still contain some affiliate links but they will be in the form of adverts from amazon.

The niche isn't broad but the second silo will use keywords which seem to be mega under utilised. Hopefully if I rank for each page in the second silo which will focus on a different keyword I *could* generate 60 - 80k views of organic traffic just from them pages.

I have a 3rd blog which I haven't done much with, I don't really like what its about and it is still newish, so I will likely change this to a new topic I have identified and implement a silo structure again

The whole point of the silo structures is to quickly rank my pages without having to put up 30k words of content.

Each information page will likely have between 700 - 1000k words. Top 10 product pages will have 2k each.

Thanks to @kn1ves and @Holzr for the help in another thread.

I wont be doing much today or tomorrow even though I am literally shaking to get started, but I have a wife who wants to spend time with me. lol

Click to expand...

You're welcome and all the best for this journey.

Website one

Doing OK. I am not quite happy with the niche, so i am considering closing it down and changing its niche to focus on a more rewarding and less competitive one.

Either this, or i will use it as a test site as i have three pages which are good enough to be first page in a competitive niche, i would like to see what would happen if i focused a lot of back links to these pages before changing its niche.

Most of the traffic is currently still coming from Pinterest. Since last week i have averaged about 110 people a day give or take from there.

Failing all this i will allow people to submit articles to it and give back links. Create it in to part of a niche specific legit PBN.



Website two.

This is my Amazon Aff site. Added more content this last week and found some really lucrative keywords with high volume and low competition.
Most of the competition, if not all, have really crap SEO.

Finally started getting some figures from GSC and i am averaging 80th on the results with about 6k words of articles. This is my SILO site with ZERO back links. Have a good feeling about this one.
I will add more content throughout the rest of this week in SILO format and try to get sub 50 for multiple keywords and searches before applying back links.

If i can get this site to first page rankings with around 4 of the keywords i could be looking at potentially 60k organic visits. All niche related. Could increase this with more content.



Other projects

I have found two more profitable niches with negligible competition. One is a directory, but i don't have the spare change to get the site built at the moment. I will put this on the back burner until i make a few quid back from site two. Or i get a job as i am struggling a bit ATM.


I am also considering opening my own SEO agency, starting small at first just doing on page analysis and reports of where sites are weak and could improve. I do love SEO, and i am enjoying it more and more everyday. It feels to me like i am playing a game of chess and i am playing tactically to win.

Before doing this though, i would like to rank one of my websites to page 1. For my own piece of mind.

Site Two

This is my SILO site. Added more content and it is looking way better. Average rank on GSC is still around 88 which is OK for zero back links and PA/DA of 6.

I have ordered some niche relevant links so they will be getting drip fed over time, as well as a handful of web 2.0s drip fed.

Probably has about 13k worth of words ATM, hopefully, by the time this weekend is over i should be at 20k atleast.

This niche isnt super competitive but i am aiming it as an authority site where some of the KWs are competitive, BUT i don't think the leaders at the number one spot are unbeatable given the lack of SEO.

Keep adding content and i should imagine i have a chance at ranking for some decent volume KW in the coming months.

On the side

I am still working on getting better at SEO and trying to find an SEO related job. Primarily to gain more experience. I have been trying to do some freelancing on Upwork as i have improved my copy writing skills dramatically. Especially in harder to cover niches.

I have one more site which isn't doing much at all ATM, will likely spend some time trying to find a new niche for it as i dont think the one i currently have is worth the effort to continue. Either this or i will Tier high volume links to it and use it as a legit PBN. Will sell article space on it and keep adding for people who want back links from a legit site.

All the best journey mate! Good luck

Keep updates buddy

Thanks for all the kind words.

So ended up a bit busy over the weekend with wife and kids. I am working all of today to get my site up to the 20k words mark. Another five articles should do it. Not exactly hard they follow the same layout.

Every time i write an article i submit it to GSC for a fetch and index. Currently the site is ranking with them for 150 keywords. Avg position has gone up to 91 because i am ranking for more KW.

Not worried as i know my content is better and more SEO friendly than the current leaders, they just have more content ATM.

I have added some LSI keywords and a little bit of stuffing in to my ALT on my images and added more images to each article. I think this helped me rank for more KW.

I am not sure about the images i have used though as i did copy them off of a mix of competitors sites.

Up until now i didn't have any internal linking between my SILO structure apart from the main SILO page then the related posts as a sub page.

This morning i managed to configure custom side bars for each sub page which means i have developed a full SILO format in WordPress quite easily.

Current format

HOME PAGE - Custom side bar link to SILO main page 1,2 and 3 and money page.

MAIN SILO 1 - 301 Redirect to the first sub page. Custom side bar to link between the three articles in this SILO - Plus money page.

MAIN SILO 2 - 301 Redirect to the first sub page. Custom side bar to link between the three articles in this SILO - Plus money page.

MAIN SILO 3 - 301 Redirect to the first sub page. Custom side bar to link between the four articles in this SILO - Plus money page.

I am hoping now Google bots will be able to crawl this super easy, Not sure if its worth submitting a new site map to GSC on top of the ones they already have, ideas? @kn1ves @BassTrackerBoats ?
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My money page is currently a blog which contains two different 'Top 10 products' for this niche posts. This will likely grow to about eight or ten posts.

MAIN SILO 3 - this will be my biggest SILO and will likely contain 40 - 50k Words within the next few weeks. I will Add in some Amazon native ads to each page related to the niche. Currently sat at 4 - 5k Words.

MAIN SILO 1 / 2 - Will probably top out at around 8 - 10k words each but that will come later on. Each is currently sat around 3K Words.


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I think i have found a niche for my third website. Currently the competition for the keyword is quite high, but there isn't anyone targeting the LSI keywords and they are likely to attract people interested in purchasing the keyword before buying. IF i target them first then it is likely people will just go through my website to purchase said keyword.

No dedicated website for the LSI, No URLS and no SILO format sites = Potential to tap into a KW which is good for 70k searches a month with buying intent.

Amazing journey. Good luck buddy

Update.

Site one

Untouched. I have left it with a site which is building some social signals daily - Currently sat at PA - 31 and DA 24. Will leave it to simmer a little longer, then likely remove some of the lower quality content and improve the UX. Has come down from 188 to 151 in the last two weeks. Hard search terms so this is reasonable.

Site two

Been ill as fuck since last week. My kids got ill first then the Mrs. Spent most of last week nursing two toddlers better and my Mrs, then got myself all ill. Work rate ZERO.

Current word count is 23k give or take but more than likely it is over this.

This site is going to be a slow and steady project. By the end of February it should be closer to 50k words. It will be an authority site which i will use adsense and other affiliate links on.

I have upgraded my hosting plan on Siteground so i can now start a few more projects and let them build over time all i have to pay for is the domain name - hosting is all covered.

I have launched my own SEO site mainly for helping local people, gives me more experience and i doubt i will fuck it up.

Overall the aim is to create a few websites which generate traffic of a million people + monthly and use Ad sense to make an income. Seems doable in the niches i have found. Big competition but shit SEO.

Update.

Site one

Made some slight changes to the layout and deleted two blogs posts and added the content to the homepage. Reason being i just wanted to test the homepage value for SEO and see if adding 2 - 3k words of content would change things.

Result so far - GSC has my rankings improve quite quick. Considering i have done nothing else to this site, was surprised. Overall layout and UX is pretty sub par. But the niche is CBD and it is impossible to get keyword data from any of the top tools including adwords.

Site Two

Added another 2k words of content. Starting to look and feel like a mini authority site now. Made a slight change and deleted one small page of content and added that content onto the silo page above it to lengthen the page. Content is related so was stupid to have it separate in the first place.

Spent the last few days learning technical SEO. I have improved the overall speed of the site and i have migrated it over to my own siteground account now. SEO values from Google are 100 speed is quicker than all the guys on Googles top 10 results and SEO is better.

Overall the site has better performance, it is quicker, has better UX and is outclassing all the results in Googles top 20. They crucify me on back links though, by like hundreds of thousands. But not for the pages i want to rank.

GSC has over 900 keywords ranked.

SEM rush can see over 200 keywords in the top 100 results on Google but, i cannot access the full data as i do not have an account.

Plan is to fire a few web2.0 links to some of the easier keywords and see if i get some boosts.

I have also been using Bingads to get some traffic to the site to check the bounce rate and usability.

Over the last 7 days averages are;

bounce rate 1.48%
users 170
Organic search 50
Session duration 2 minutes
40 seconds on each page

reads to me like people are liking what they find, and what they find is what they're looking for.

This site is around 7 weeks old off of a brand new domain so i suppose it isn't doing too bad.

Plan going forward

Found a new niche for the other site i have which i have done nothing with. Four keywords related i will aim to add four main pages of content each keywords gets a main page on the homepage menu 3-4k words content for each and that will be all. Rest will be standard about us etc.

Site one i dont know what to do. The CBD niche is a bit difficult in relation to getting search data etc so likely i will drop it off for a new niche. It was my first site though and i learnt a lot in terms of layout and UX.

Site two i will feed with some Web 2.0s to charge the Keywords i have ranking and see if i can get a boost to some. Apart from that keep adding more content and improving technical SEO. I am hoping to have this site generate over 100k unique views a month. Also try to add some E-A-T.

Update time.

As you may all be able to tell site 2 is my main test site at the moment.

Haven't fired any links to it, yet. but thanks to all the optimization I did - increasing speed, minifying code etc the site has been gaining rank anyway.
I haven't added any new content, would rather fire some juice to my original content first.

This week I will be firing some links to the site.

Bing ads was a success. The results overall were a low bounce rate and high retention rate.

Over a thousand keywords on GSC

SEM is now tracking 338 keywords in the top 100 SERPs.

I feel this site just needs some power and I will see a strong shift in the average SERP position.

In real life, I have started a new job. Working from home.

Social media and events marketing for a Microsoft events company. Pay is ok and means I will finally have some cash to invest in my online projects.

For anyone who doesn't know the last two years of my life have been riddled with illnesses operations and depression - no work.

Nice to finally be on the mend and feeling better plus working.

I have just done a writing gig for someone 2300 words in quite a difficult niche. If he is happy with the work I will be looking to start a BST writing.
Could do with the extra cash and I do feel my content is at a much better level than that I have purchased myself off of here.

Things I am aiming to accomplish this year;

• Have a site sitting at the number 1 position in SERP's for multiple keywords within a niche
• Have a writing BST for extra cash
• Possibly have another private client for social media management alongside my full-time employer
• Build 15 Instagram accounts through Jarvee
• Set up a POD Shopify niche store

The BST I will class the same as getting work on Fiverr and Upwork for SEO services.

The final thing I would like to accomplish is to have a profitable Amazon FBA business. This may not happen though!

Update time bitches.

Main site

SEMRush now has my site ranking for 524 Keywords on the top 100 results of Google.

I have applied some Web2.0 backlinks which aren't the best. Unfortunately, they were all I could muster.

Will apply some PBN links soon, hopefully, that should fire some of them 500 KW to the first page and start generating a decent amount of organic traffic.

Other projects

Bought an EMD for a new directory site I am launching in the UK. I should imagine it will take me around four days to upload all the destinations around 200 in total.
Excited about this one, it should generate a healthy amount of traffic which I will then monetize through advertising and sponsorships.

I will also be launching a travel website similar to what Sherb has done. This will take a little longer as I want the directory finished first.

Content writing BST launched last week. Lot's of review copies done and a few clients gained. This week I wrote around 10k words. I was very under the weather, so haven't been functioning 100%.

Not really winning on Fiverr and Upwork but I have enough to keep myself busy.

1) Quality backlinks to the main site
2) Build directory and upload destinations
3) Start botting three accounts on Jarvee

That will be all for the coming week, apart from any writing work.

wonderful journey and best of luck .