Well, it’s the end of week 2 of the Challenge. I can’t believe how the time has flown.
I am in Spain on a 4 week break and it’s quite a challenge in itself to spend the time doing this as well as everything else I want to do for my detox nichel. I was not expecting to be doing this challenge when we left so I am doing this on top of everything else.
I tend to wake up early here in the mornings so I make myself a Green Smoothie, fire up the laptop, and sit for at least an hour and often more commenting in forums and on blogs.
I don’t seem to get many posts done as it takes me time just to find questions in the forums I can answer, or find an answer online, and also find blogs that get a lot of traffic and where I can be one of the first to comment.
This has paid off because my Google analytics this week shows that I did get some traffic from other blogs.
Deleted in the Warrior Forum
I decided this week to start a thread in the Warrior forum instead of just answering questions or adding helpful comments but my post must have been deleted as I couldn’t find it when I went back to see what response I got.
I didn’t get any warning or notification that my post had been removed but no amount of searching brought it up.
I know that others in the group have had this happen to them to. I asked a question about using StumbleUpon to get some free traffic and I think I mentioned that I was on this challenge.
One of the rules of the Warrior forum apparently is that you cannot do any self promotion other than in your signature file so I guess that this was counted as self promotion.
StumbleUpon
I already had an account on StumbleUpon that I set up for my detox blog so I thought that I could Stumble my page about this Challenge.
I debated about using the same account but after asking advice in a few internet marketing groups I decided to open a new account to use just for internet marketing – make money online niche.
There are various opinions about getting traffic with StumbleUpon. Some say it works and other say the traffic does not convert and it’s not worth the time. I am not going to spend a lot of time on it but nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Last week I mentioned that one of the methods that Craig suggested was Social Bookmarking. He hasn’t mentioned any more about this other than he put a quote and image on Tumblr.
I decided that as I didn’t have to spend any of the $100 on hosting or an autoresponder service as I already had them I would buy a social bookmarking gig on Fiverr.
The top rated seller submitted my blog to 20 PR4 to PR8 Social Bookmarking sites manually for just $5 While this won’t necessaily bring me immediate traffic it may create some good backlinks for me.
SocialAdr
I already use SocialAdr as a social media marketing tactic to increase exposure for my sites. It’s a site where you can get REAL people with REAL accounts to share your content.
SocialAdr is better than any bookmarking tool because you won’t violate Google’s policies by creating worthless bookmarks that won’t get seen.
Your bookmarks get shared voluntarily which all adds up in the eyes of the major search engines and will give you much more credit than any other bookmarking tool.
You can get a free account or a paid account. You earn credits by sharing other members’ bookmarks. You can find out more about it here
My Week 2 Results
My traffic for this week has not been earth shattering but consistent with last week with 115 visits of which 75% are new. There were 326 page views and readers are staying on my site for an average of 3.39 minutes which is not bad.
I have had one person join my list this week and 35 people clicked on my link for Dean’s Challenge but they did not result in any sales for me.
Well, it’s early days yet so we’ll see what next week brings. If you liked this posr don’t forget to share it! 🙂
Hi Sandy,
It’s great to see your progress and see a synopsis of where you’re up to.
With regards to your Warrior Forum post, yes that will likely have been the reason for it being deleted. The problem with some of these deletions, infractions and so on is that not a lot of though always goes into them and seeing that you don’t get any warning, explanation or chance to defend yourself, you’re left wondering. It’s even more frustrating when, in fact, you haven’t done anything wrong, which I have seen happen a lot (nothing to do with the challenge). Apparently they can’t deal with each infraction individually. Whatever.
I think it’s just best to get on with providing value, helping others and let our reputations speak for themselves and then the results will come naturally. Keep mention of the actual challenge out of it and just concentrate on driving traffic and delivering value as normal.
Thanks for mentioning SocialAdr, I’ve never heard of it but I’ll check it out, it sounds interesting.
Keep up the great work! 🙂
Hey Sandy –
that’s a great post. All I can say is well done and keep at it. If you plug away, the results will improve, but are already encouraging.
All the best Sandy,
Paul
Hey Sandy,I really enjoyed reading your posts. It looks like you have done a lot of work. I\’ve not heard of SocialAdr so I bookmarked it in order to check it out this weekend. I am sorry to hear about your thread (it happened to me too). It is a tricky business because really you are not necessarily self promoting when you are explaining why you do what you do. Anyway, we have to live by their policies.I\’ve noticed some of the comments you posted on WF and they were really helpful. No wonder you got some peaks at your site.Wishing you continuous success,Dita
Hi Dita,
SocialAdr can be good but you do have to spend some time on it if you go with the free option. There are mixed reviews about it on the Warrior Forum but I think it’s worth a try.
We have all learned a lesson in the Warrior Forum about how we have to tread carefully about mentioning anything to do with what we are doing although we all did it innocently. I continue to try to post helpful answers even though they take me some time.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Sandy
It’s my first time to hear about SocialAdr. I have tried registering to this tool and it looks pretty awesome. I’m still trying to familiarize the environment. I tried the free account.
Hi Des,
It’s always worth trying these things out to see how it works for you. Going with the free account first is the best way to try it out but the paid version can help save you a lot of time. Let us know how it works for you.
Sandy
Sandy, please don’t be disheartened about the WF. That stuff happens as you can tell. We know that our intent is to share valuable information that is beneficial to others, but sometimes the big dogs don’t see it like that. Keep it moving as there others out there that can use your expertise. Thanks for sharing and great work on your new visitors.
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for stopping by. I am not disheartened at all. I did not mean to give that impression at all. I have watched the discussion going on about it with Craig but am keeping out of it. I am continuing with trying to add helpful posts and not mentioning anything about the challenge or my blog other that in my signature.
Sandy
Hi Sandy,
First of all, it is my first time reading your post and all I can say is that, I was very entertained by it. The Challenge that you have while making this post is just so catchy to any reader’s attention. On the other hand, the SocialAdr looks promising. It’s my first time hearing it and I am curios to use it. I can wait to use it. Thanks for sharing and may continue to give valuable information for us readers.
Hi Farrell,
Good to hear that you found it entertaining.
SocialAdr can be useful. With a free account you have to be prepared to spend some time on it but it does work. Let me know how you get on with it.
Sandy
Hi Sandy,
You look like you are very busy with this challenge but I commend you for the hard work you do away from home. That’s another challenge in itself.
I didn’t read your last week report about this challenge but after reading this post, I got the picture and I know your hard work will pay off.
Sorry to hear about your thread being deleted from the Warrior Forum. I haven’t used forums before so I am in no position to help or suggest anything here.
Thanks Sandy for sharing your progress with the challenge and all the best to you.
Be Blessed,
Neamat
Hi Neamat,
It seems an odd thing to say but I can’t wait to get home when I should have more time to devote to the Challenge. It has been very challenging to find enough time to do eveything.
I am not letting the Warrior Forum thing deter me. I am just carrying on with posting but being careful not to mention anything about the challenge in my posts. You should join and try it. Once you have enough posts you can put a link to your blog in your signature which could help with your traffic.
Hope you are having a great week.
Sandy
Sandy,
Looks like you are staying on it, do be sure to post at least once a week like Dean says! I also have a good amount of people clicking the links and not buying yet, remember though, these people are in the funnel, so they will get follow up messages and pay purchase something in the future.
Hi Matt,
Oh, yes I am staying with it. I’ll be glad to back home so I will have more time to spend on it. I hope that it will make a difference.
I know it’s early days yet and as you say visitors clickint on links could still result in conversions further down the line.
Having a good squeeze/sales funnel in place is an important factor in successful internet marketing.
Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment.
Sandy