Should I give up?

jennyc123 · #1 (**permalink**) 09-01-2008, 02:39 PM

Hi! I'm feeling down about my site.

I've spent the whole summer writing content and designing and now that the site is finally live i'm starting to think it's really, really bad.

It's about nutrition (a highly populated niche, I now realise). I was aiming for professional but eyecatching.

Anyway, i'm listed on google, i've posted on forums, i have requested links, and i have spent many hours on yahoo answers - but the traffic is not flowing.

Can anyone tell what i'm doing wrong? Is it the design? If so, could you tell me what the problems are?

If you have any suggestions at all, and I mean ANYTHING, i'm open. Hit me, I can take it.

This is it: scrumptiouslyrealnutrition.co.uk

Help much appreciated.

Jenny

NewMama · #2 (**permalink**) 09-01-2008, 03:01 PM

Hi Jenny,

No, don't give up! Your site is beautiful. Very professional looking and I can tell you've put a ton of work into it.

I think you really identified the problem and that is that you have a competitive niche. For example, your keywords for your Carbs page are: carbs, carbohydrates, bread, pasta, low-carb diet, low-GI, gi diet

I think it would take a really long time for the SE's to pick you up for any of those words. What I would advise is for you to search for keywords that have "carbohydrates" in them, but have less supply. That way you don't have to change your niche, but your writing for keywords that won't take forever for the SE's to pick up on.

Also, I'm learning that backlinks are everything and one of Google's main ways to identify your site as credible and give you traffic. It looks like you only have less than 10 sites pointing back to your site. You need to start getting hundreds and then thousands. I've got about 230 and I'm finally starting to get a little bit of traffic. Just keep doing what you're doing - posting on blogs and forums. Also, try writing some articles for sites like ezinearticles.com and that will get you some good back links as well.

Finally, I'd like to see your VPP on the home page. That means your valuable preselling position. Why is it that we should explore your site? The pictures are beautiful, but tell me a reason why I should want to stay on your site.

I think you're off to a fantastic start! Good luck!

Kerry · #3 (**permalink**) 09-01-2008, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewMama

No, don't give up! Your site is beautiful. Very professional looking and I can tell you've put a ton of work into it.

Finally, I'd like to see your VPP on the home page. That means your valuable preselling position. Why is it that we should explore your site? The pictures are beautiful, but tell me a reason why I should want to stay on your site.

I think you're off to a fantastic start! Good luck!

Hi Jenny,

I have to agree with New Mama on this one....your site is great, just needs some tweeking in the keyword department and links.

Don't fret...slow and steady wins the race!

Keep up the great work!

Great Elephant · #4 (**permalink**) 09-01-2008, 04:47 PM

I think you have a nice site. Just keep on adding content and be persistent. Like the others have mentioned you need to target keywords that are less saturated and work your way up. Specialize in something related to nutrition and focus the majority of your content on 3 or 4 topics that are closely related to each other.

Just keep working on it and I'm sure your site will be fine!

TechieGuy · #5 (**permalink**) 09-01-2008, 06:51 PM

Hi Jenny,

I'm sure we have all felt down about our site. When I started my blog I was getting less than 10 visitors a day. It was hard to continously write content to bring the visitors up. On top of that, I have never like my own writing so it was at times even hard for me to read.

I kept at it, however, telling myself that it takes time and effort. After several months I began to see more and more visitors. I started in June 2007, and once December rolled arount I was getting 100-200 visitors a day. Now I am at 800-1000 visitors a day and am looking to get more. I wrote a post regarding my one year traffic stats.

With regards to my feeling down about my writing, I would receive comments and e-mails form people who read my posts and thanked me for helping them out. It makes it easier to write more when you get thanks from people.

In the end, we all have felt that way, but it will get better. The longer you
work at it the better it becomes.

BTW, I'm not too keen about the pink. It doesn't blend well with the some of the images and fonts and can be harder to read.

lisa · #6 (**permalink**) 09-01-2008, 08:16 PM

Just adding to what everyone else has said, no, I don't think you should give up either. I could sit here for hours telling you the many times I bumped my head against the wall when I started (Heck, I still do. LOL)

First things first. I would work on making your <title> tags a little more descriptive. When people find your site in a search engine, you will entice people to click on your site by having more engaging titles. For example, your Calcium page just says "Calcium". Try something like "Tips on How to Get Your Daily Calcium Requirement". Remember, whatever is in that <title> tag in your code is what the engines will pick up and display.

You have to remember, it can take a while for the engines to start bringing you a steady flow of traffic. And the more mature the Net gets, the longer this seems to take. Please don't give up. Keep building and promoting. You have an excellent site with such a variety of good nutrition content. I'd hate to see you throw it all away.

TechieGuy's story above is a great example of how the traffic story goes. But he never gave up and now his traffic is slowly increasing. I remember being stuck on 200-300 visitors per day for about 2 years. Then all of a sudden I jumped to 700, then 1,000 then 2,000, etc.

James · #7 (**permalink**) 09-01-2008, 08:18 PM

If you listen to Lisa you will know that writing and marketing are the two really top skills for web success. Your writing is good and you have some excellent content.

There are a few things you could do to improve. For example, in your articles it would help to add a little in the way of a personal touch, either your personal experience or that of others.

But what you have is as good as you will find on some successful sites. You should be very proud of being able to produce such an excellent site in so short a time.

But marketing your site is another thing. You have received some great tips in these previous comments. Especially in developing key word focus points within the site. Individual sections can draw search engine activity.

Marketing to the point of profitability is a big project. If you want to be successful you can, but you must think long term and develop a long term strategy.

This means developing lots of ways to draw traffic beginning with what you have heard in these last comments. Techie Guy is a great model to listen to on that.

After traffic, it also means working on the selling points on your site to make them pay off. That is a project on its own.

Remember that Lisa took six years to be alble to leave her nine to five. It is great that she shared that so people will see that they shouldn't expect overnight success.

If you don't make it after ten years of great effort, perhaps it would be wise to try a different career, but not after a few months. I would never ask whether I should quit. I would only ask what else I need to do to succeed, knowing that if others are succeeding there is no reason I can't do what they are doing.

My advise is to make sure that one step is OK, then figure out what the next step is and master it. Then the next. There are a few we see on this site for whom we have empathy but wonder if they have what it takes. You are not one of them. You have what it takes. So relax. Be patient. Enjoy the journey.

jazzguy · #8 (**permalink**) 09-01-2008, 09:23 PM

Hi Jenny. I agree with every reply to your post...and these are serious posters telling you to hang in there so what more could you ask for...

One thing that James mentioned about making it a tad more personal is sage advice. I too have a diet kind of site and I also have a personal journey type site where I post every day with pictures of my daily food intake, personal insights and some fun stuff as well. Now you may think that no one is going to care about the daily diet of a total stranger, yet I've had emails from people thanking me for taking the time to give a "more human touch" to the sometimes cold world of diet information and instruction.

There are, as you have mentioned, a ton of diet and nutrition sites out there saturating the market, but none with your particular voice and personality. If you offer readers a "taste" of who you are and really allow your words to make an impact in someone's life, even for a moment of thought, then you will be well on your way to success. But like everything, the best of anything takes time to develop and nurture. Great wine, great art, great food, all take time, energy and love and if you want a great site that will eventually reward you and your readers, then keep at it.

Take care and much success.

adminranger · #9 (**permalink**) 09-01-2008, 10:20 PM

There has been some very sound advice given by some very experienced webmasters. One thing to keep in mind while reviewing one's own work is to pat yourself on the back. I know that most of us are our own worst critic. I use to be very hard on myself until I came to the understanding that it affected other parts of my life. Now I try every day to find one thing positive that I did and give myself a compliment. It may sound a bit cocky but hey no one else hears me.
Give it a try and you may be amazed at the results in your own life. I know I was.

Rob · #10 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008, 12:26 AM

I don't think you should give up, your site is extremely colorful and appealing to eye and all fits in nicely

The colour scheme works well, and the ads blend it nice, also the social bookmarking fits in perfectly down the left hand column.

Having a breif look at some of your content pages seems like you have done a superb job at maintaing your content, by updating your content you will encourage more return visits aswell as unique's and slowly it will surely grow.

Good look with your site.

pcgames · #11 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008, 11:40 AM

Hey your site has very good info....in fact i checket if i can get ny info about my problem...i.e im very thin-->19yr guy ..but i look like a 14yr boy!!!--< so sad bit im not depresed....its ok for me personally......

Coming to your site even thought you have a very nice info.....you need to make it more beautiful such as the navigation tabs on left side they look so plain...[ I know my view is contradicting to most of the people here].....just slightly change the colour contrast a bit.....

Info+attractive site+browsing & interacting with other sites

+some hard work=Traffic

jennyc123 · #12 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008, 03:46 PM

You've given me hope! It's so nice to have recieved such helpful and supportive replies!

I now have an action-plan...

Redo all my page titles + add better keyword tags
Continue to pester other poor webmasters for link exchanges
Add lots more articles with less saturated keywords
Organise a VPP!

I think the idea of adding a more personal touch is really interesting. I didn't really consider that before but I actually think that is a great way of making a site unique. I may give it a go!

I've been in contact with other diet sites about publishing some articles (snacking, snack swaps...very exciting lol) so hopefully i'm making progress.

Again thanks so much to all of you! I REALLY appreciate it!

conceptskateboarding · #13 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008, 05:01 PM

Wow! thats a really nice website, i can assure you its not your layout. Your website looks ver proffetional. I would say just keep going with advertising and things will pick up.

Your luckey your half way there.

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