Just START!
r/juststart
Last month's progress report: https://www.reddit.com/r/juststart/comments/13x0fu3/month_2_progress_report/
Last month's goals for this month:
I want to focus on fixing/bettering my previously posted articles, so I am only shooting for a total of 38 published posts by the end of June
Start doing 'cold-call' backlink outreach - offer to create posts for other folk's blogs in exchange for a backlink
tldr; completed reworked a few previous articles, only posted 4 new articles, getting pretty good daily traffic
Backstory and Learnings:
I am posting this a few days early because, to be frank, I dunno if I will be sticking with Reddit once RIF stops working on June 30th. And I wanted to have some time for discussion prior to that, if I do end up leaving this platform.
June has been a real struggle for me. I got sick twice (!!) this month that knocked me on my ass for nearly a week each time. I was only able to publish 4 new articles. But I do have 1 that will be published before the 30th. Hopefully I can squeak 1 or 2 more on top of that. I have gone back and reworked a handful of articles. I identified some articles that were getting impressions, but very little clicks. These were articles I wrote with my initial go-live batch that did not have any keyword research done. So I did keyword research for these articles and then rewrote the content to focus on the KWs and changed the post's URL slug to be the new KW. I then set up a 301 redirect on the old URL points to the new URL. So far, 1 of these refreshed articles has gotten a few clicks.
I still have neglected backlink outreach. I am dreading that like the plague and just keep putting it off. I know at some point I will need to do that in order to be successful. But I really am dreading it. However, I am still posting links to my content, when relevant, to other sites to try and slowly build up my backlink profile. According to SEMRush, I now have a DA score of 2! Last month it was 0... so, progress??? Something kind of neat happened this month in regards to backlinks. I got a brand new one without me having to do anything. Someone must have posted a link to one of my articles and because of that, I have actually gotten 5 clicks from that particular backlink. Additionally, I was getting some traffic from YouTube according to GA. It turns out, someone made a video that had one of my articles in it and also linked that particular article in the video's description.
If I am being 100% honest with myself, I'd say June was not necessarily a failure in regards to blogging, but certainly not a success by any stretch of the imagination. On top of getting sick, I have been feeling a bit of burnout too. I need to 'fix' that because I am only sitting at 36 total articles published as of this writing.
Hey guys,
I was trying to dig deeper into websites that were hit by the helpful content/spam update and noticed a pattern, can you all also check your websites and let me know if the same applies to you?
What you should do: Search for your domain or a keyword you rank for and when your website shows up, click on the 3 dots on the right side of your website. Then click on "more about this source".Below your brand name;/website name you will see one of the 3 possible outcomes. The first one is if you're a very reputable source with your own Wikipedia page and great online coverage, or in other words, you're a big brand IRL, which I assume is not the case for most of us here.
Let's focus on the other 2 possibilities:
"Google looked for a description of YourWebsite on a reference site, but couldn't find a good match."
>>> This outcome means even though you're not a big brand, Google still thinks you're ok."Google can't find much info on other sites to help you learn more about YourWebsite. You might consider:
- Does the source seem trustworthy?
- What do other sources say?"
>>> The pattern I've noticed is, if you see this one on your page, it means Google doesn't trust you. Most of the websites with this piece of text have been hit with helpful content update or/and spam update (generally these websites go on a downtrend after every update)
Samples:https://imgur.com/a/Y0172ay
Looking back, I never imagined for a second that I'd hit 1M pv, but yeah; it's here. I'm now focusing on this niche site followed by the new ones. Also, I launched my Shopify POD store and got a sale. However, I'm still a newbie and learning.
But I will be focusing more and by the end of this year, I hope I'll break my own expectation of what I can achieve.
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Welcome to r/juststart
This community was created to share and discuss real experiences with affiliate marketing, search engine optimization and related topics. We share case studies, discuss best practices and question methods used by ourselves and others.
We welcome and encourage posts from anyone, whether you’re beginner or expert. However, we are not here to hold anyone's hand through setting up a website. Real people take time away from their own businesses to answer questions. Please respect our rules:
Use the search bar. Most basic questions have been answered and don’t need to be revisited (i.e. questions about themes or hosting).
Provide detail. Details promote discussion. Don't just post things without context. Fill us in on your situation, you'll get better advice this way.
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Don't be a dick. Criticism is helpful but don't go overboard. If you have to ask yourself, "Am I being a dick?", the answer is probably yes.
Don't ask for website/niche reveal. People who post here are already being generous with their time and information. Revealing their website or niche can invite unwanted competition and their right to privacy should be respected. If someone doesn't identify these things, don't ask (this includes asking via PMs).