What must I do?

Ulrich · #1 (**permalink**) 04-01-2008, 06:05 AM

Hi,

I've been blogging ALOT at other blogs that are related to my website. I try to at least get 5-15 relative links to my page daily. I also post about 50% of my home page and 50% of the other links I tend to split around my other pages so that Google doesn't see my link increase as ridiculous (spam) and of course so that my other pages can get some targetted traffic too.

I've also been looking at sites that host tutorials from other websites and have contacted many of those webmasters. When I look at their sites it's active but they just never reply to my "Contextual Reciprocal" suggestions.

I've submitted my site to the dmoz directory but haven't been accepted (neither do I expect to, or at least not in the near future)

I've posted on about five different forums that are similar to this one.

Yet practically my only source of traffic has been this website according to the statistics and that's rather sad. Why do web developers not reply to my e-mails. When I mail them I explain to them where I plan on placing the link, I suggest to them where they could place mine and I tell them about the benefits...

My daily hits seem to be decreasing though...

What else is there I can do?

CSSadmin · #2 (**permalink**) 04-01-2008, 07:29 AM

do you have a reciprocal links directory on your website? most hosting packages offer these as a freebie script if not? I only ask cause of how you describe when your contacting the webmasters that you advise where yours are and suggest where yours could go on their site?

Building links takes a lot of effort and patience. I don't know what your site is related to, but I have had luck in the past offering links to sites that had similiar content to mine but where my content did not compete with theirs, say like in sales.

For example, if your site is about ebooks for sporting things like golf and fish, you could do google searches on golf and see what pulls up or fishing and see what pulls up. Look for people who will be as hungry for links as you. The first thing is to get a fair number of links in your directory so they don't look empty. Golf Instructors will be hungry for links if they have a site, and would probaby happily exchange with you. So is that small mom and pop merchant in your own home town who has put up a website about their Golf clothes, golf balls, etc., who would love to be added to a site that is golf related, etc., etc. It takes some time, but once you get enough links in your directory that are targeted, you'll start to gain some momentum yourself in terms of getting some reciprocal traffic and also in having enough links to register a blip or so for your own rankings. Try then contacting sites with higher PR ranking. Maybe the webmasters at the sites your going to know have a good ranking and they are snobbish? Thinking what benefit is there to them. Once you've got some leverage, then go to those, and resubmit your request. Maybe it will come out differently? Maybe they are just not minding the store, and never even saw your request. Don't get discouraged. Just make a plan, and be faithful to it. Good luck

James · #3 (**permalink**) 04-01-2008, 07:48 AM

Ulrich

A couple of things are possibly involved, and at least they are worth considering anyway. They affect anyone who visits your site.

It is possible that some other developers are taking a look at your site but deciding not to link. When I went to your site myself I almost left thinking it was filled with links that didn't work. Why? Because of all the underlined words that are not links. Links are traditionally underlined. Even though most of us probably try to remove underlines in navigation, that is still the default and most people expect underlined phrases to be links. Even in your navigation section you have titles that are not linked underlined. I would not recommend leaving anything underlined anywhere that is not an active link.

Then when I went to your first lesson on html (which wasn't so easy to find) in order to check out how you approach the html (especially to make sure you didn't put style stuff into html) I found that the page evidently doesn't have the proper reference to your css page, or something similar, because it is not formatted like the other pages and looks like html without style. That means you have to scroll down quite a ways before finding the html tutor content you are looking for--I thought I might be on the wrong page at first because nothing about html came up.

Then, for others who have developed websites it may be a matter of the amount of content. What you have is well written and instructive of some basic elements but the html that you have covered, for example, is not too extensive yet. Before others will refer to you they may be looking for more. Perhaps you have been trying to get too many things underway before any are extensive enough to do the job. In the long run that is not bad because you are developing some well related approaches that will complement each other but for this stage they are somewhat limited.

I like what you have in general and hope these ideas will be helpful for you. Your basic look is OK and most important, your content is well directed. There are too many sites promoting outdated ideas and yours is current standards focused. That is good and makes it a place I would feel comfortable pointing a newbie to for good information, clearly presented. Your writing style is clear and personable. You should be able to do well. It always takes more time than we expect to anything worthwhile.

Ulrich · #4 (**permalink**) 04-01-2008, 09:02 AM

Thanks alot James. I'm glad you mentioned the lacking CSS stylesheet. I don't know what happened but when I uploaded yesterday after an update I must have changed the link in the document by accident. It's fixed now.

I also took your adviced and removed the underlining. I know I don't quite have a lot of content yet but it takes a lot of time if you write them all yourself and the websites I've been relating to don't really have much either and we're not in competition with anything.

I'll just be persistent and update the site frequently. I have an article and a review that's coming up this week.

Theresa · #5 (**permalink**) 04-01-2008, 09:48 AM

Hi Ulrich,

I took a look at your site and I can tell that you have worked very hard on it. I completely agree with what James had to say, but I will add a few things.

What is your site about? It is not apparent at first glance and that will cause you to lose visitors. Your title does not make that obvious, nor does your description "Resource for the masses." What kind of resource, which masses?

Where are the tutorials? You have taken the time to create some very useful tutorials and they are difficult to find. You even have an FAQ asking where the tutorials are. That should tell you to get those tuts out there and visible. "Handy Hacks" might be cute but "Tutorial" gets right to the point.

Why are there off site links on your homepage? I see you have "Links of interest" on your left navigation menu. Maybe they are your sites, but if not, are you sure you want to send viewers away before they have seen what your site has to offer?

I had a look at your HTML tutorials and they seem a bit overpowering visually. What I mean is even though you have graphics the page is full of text without enough visual breaks. Maybe you could add some extra line breaks and some bold subheadings to break things up a bit.

Take a look at this page on Lisa's site. It is a very text heavy page with only a video to break things up. See how she has made bold subheadings and bold text, links and italics to provide visual relief? I think it would help if you worked on making your site more

One other thing I noticed, this page has apparently has CSS issues you may want to correct.

Remember it takes time and a lot of content. You are off to a great start. Hope this helps.

Ulrich · #6 (**permalink**) 04-01-2008, 09:54 AM

I will work on making the tutorials easier to find, I will see if I can split things up to make it more readable with subheadings and/or images.

The links to the left (Links of Interest) are sites that link to me as well. I do not plan on adding more links there and eventually I plan on integrating those links together with some other text in an article or so.

The links I will add from now on will all be contextual.

If I may ask Which page has CSS issues and what are the issues? Maybe I'm blind but I can not see where?

Also the main page has the following:

Quote:

What you will find here

Free web design, programming, Linux and other tutorials, howto's, handy hacks, reviews and many more interesting reads for YOU. New Linux migrants can now finally find the answers to the questions that need to be answered, all at one place AND interact with a growing community just because YOU are entitled to a world where knowledge is free!

That said. Welcome to Housebaked! Browse around and have a peek, chances are you'll find something you like and check back weekly for updates.

I did think about this and I thought it might be enough to explain what the site is about and what's available. I accept that I could be wrong though but I don't know how else I could make it more clear?

Theresa · #7 (**permalink**) 04-01-2008, 09:58 AM

Sorry, I forgot to add that link. Here you go.

Good luck!

Ulrich · #8 (**permalink**) 04-01-2008, 10:10 AM

Thanks!

Fixed

lisa · #9 (**permalink**) 04-01-2008, 11:49 AM

Wow! Definitely some great advice given by all. Theresa you made some very good points.

One thing you have to remember is that the goal of every page is to provide value to a specific audience. First of all, who is your audience and what do they need and want? How is each page on your site contributing to their needs.

You should be able to answer all questions very specifically.

For example. My site is targeted to beginners who want to create and make money on their sites. People who are at this stage often have questions about free websites, hosting choices, making money, etc. Knowing that, I provide information on these topics.

I have to agree with others. I wasn't really sure on the goal of your site when I visited. I think that may be part of the issue.

Define who you are trying to reach and go after their needs.

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