Leaving Work Behind

My First Niche Site: Update #3 – Failure! Failure?

Tom Ewer

This is Part #3 of a series. A list of all the other updates can be found at the bottom of this post.

Please note that Modeling For Kids is no longer an active site. If you’d like to know why I shut down the site and started up a new one, click here.

When it comes to internet marketing, a decrease in morale is often caused by two things – not hitting, or losing sight of, your perceived goals.

Take my niche site for example – Modeling For Kids. If you have been following the updates on my progress (Update #1 | Update #2) then you will know that most recently, a period of frustration was alleviated by the site moving up two spots in the Google rankings – from #13 to #11. This was just enough to take the edge off my growing frustration.

However, since then, the site has fallen back down to #13 in the rankings.

Failure! Failure?

It is at this point that I could throw my hands up in despair, moan about how unfair Google is, and generally carry on in a very unhelpful manner.

But hang on – what was my original goal when I first started out? To reach the number 1 spot in Google within 90 days. How many days in am I? 60. So what is the problem? I still have 3o days to reach my goal.

Now, that doesn’t mean that I can just sit back on my haunches and simply wait for my site to climb the rankings. However, my reality check does provide me with a fresh perspective so that I can kick start a new effort.

First Reevaluate, Then Strategize

So, at this point I have decided to step back and analyse what I can do to better my chances. It is at this stage that you should be realistic with yourself. It is so easy to simply claim that Google is out to get you, and that no amount of work will move your site up the rankings. Logically speaking however, this is simply not the case.

As I revealed in my recent article, “The Ultimate SEO Strategy”, the theory behind ranking well for Google is not rocket science. Provide quality content, and obtain plenty of backlinks.

The Power Of Reevaluation

It is very easy to consider that you have done everything that you can, and that you are at a loss. However, if you step back and objectively analyse your efforts, you may see a different story.

I have recently been doing very little in terms of backlinking for my niche site. Quite frankly, I thought that I had done enough. I foolishly thought that if I just waited long enough, the site would climb up to the top spot, where it deserves to be.

But that has of course not happened yet, and I need to figure out why. Now it may just be a waiting game, but I am not just going to sit back and wait for something to happen. The site has been pretty stagnant in terms of rankings for several weeks, so as far as I am concerned, I need to reevaluate what I am doing and press on with more backlinking.

A Fresh Approach

So, in terms of besting my chances, I am simply going to proceed as if I had done nothing to date. Nothing at all. I will start from scratch, and see where it takes me.

I have been far too lazy in my backlinking strategy recently, and that changes right now.

The simple fact is, I shouldn’t be even worrying about my ranking until my 90 days are up. I just need to worry about giving myself the best possible chance to rank. The rest is largely irrelevant.

Read The Whole Series