What Am I Doing Wrong
Hi Everyone,
I have read and heard many stories on how one can make 10's of thousand of dollors on the internet with ANY web site. Well I have put together a web site and in 2 month, I have earned $ 2.85. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have been promoting to BBS Groups - Search engines and anywhere else I can think of. I am on the internet 12 to 16 hours a day. I have been told to keep the front page simple and user friendly, which I have done. I don't know if I am doing this all for nothing or if I should keep going. I need advice and suggestions. Please visit my site @ http://www.key2free.com
I have recently moved to Arkansas and my Accounting & Tax business did not go here. I had to close my doors 4/15/00. I have a disabled husband and I am the bread winner. My husband needs me at home so I can not go out to work. I have owned my own businesses all of my adult life so I'm not new to the work and dedication required to make a business go. I just don't know if I am barking up the wrong tree. ALL feed back is appreciated.
Justin S posted this at 13:53 — 24th April 2000.
They have: 2,076 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
First off, it's true that people do make lots of money from the internet. Some examples: this site could easily make $50,000 per year from advertising (if they had it). You just have to a) have a good design, b) promote your site, and c) have good content.
1) The site design is very amateurish. It look like it was made in FrontPage (which it was), and that you havn't read up on design lately. This would have turned me away instantly, because I know that there are TONS of freebie sites online, most of which have good design. I'd say either a) pay someone to design the site, or b) take 3 months and learn everything you can about design and HTML. You might also want to check out a book on promotion.
2) The second part is content. Now the categories you have don't interest me at all. I love the sites that have tons of categories like: a) free voicemail, b) free content for my website, etc... What I see at your site is all this free demos, free trials, which isn't what most people are interested in. They want 100% free stuff. So you need to have lots of categories, and lots of resources/links.
3) Promotion is third. From the looks of the HTML it looks like your description and meta tags are good, but after analyzing them, I found some problems. First, you have 0 sites linking to you. There are tons of free sites, and most of which love to exchange links with other free sites. You can do this also! Second, in your keywords there are too many repititions. I see too many of the words free and family. This can cause many search engines to not index your site, because they think you're spamming.
I would have gone more into the design of the site, like I usually do, but I think you should just go back and learn as much as you can. Sorry if I sounded a little rude, but that's how I usually critique sites
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Is this signiture short enough?
Justin Stayton - [email] [icq]
Megan posted this at 14:59 — 24th April 2000.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
I will agree here. Yes, you can make a lot of money on the 'net, but you can't do it without putting a lot of work into your site. You have to offer something people want, do it in an attractive and easy to use manner, and get yourself out there where people can find you. Search engine rankings isn't enough to get you traffic with a freebie site, especially when you're just starting out.
Look at what other sites are doing design -wise. Read everything you can. Think about what you can do to make your site stand out from the rest.
I won't get into design details, because this just needs a complete overhaul. Yes, it's easy to make a site with Front Page, but it's not easy to make a good site that will make you some $$
Megan
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johnnyboy posted this at 15:22 — 24th April 2000.
They have: 166 posts
Joined: Jan 2000
Sarah,
I'd like to second what Justin and Megan said. You should work on your layout. Download Macromedia's Dreamweaver, it's got a 30 day trial. (Hey, 30 days is better than nothing) Hands down it beats Front Page and it is easy to work with.
Also, keep visiting this site. You'll learn alot just reading the posts.
John
ps. I clicked on a banner on your site!!
<edit>Bad sentence structure!</edit>
[This message has been edited by johnnyboy (edited 24 April 2000).]
interwovendesign.com
Quality web site design without the monthly maintenance fees!
jili1 posted this at 01:10 — 25th April 2000.
They have: 127 posts
Joined: Jan 2000
Sarah, you are not the only one to get zapped by the internet bug - the illusion that you can go online and immediately make thousands. It is totally untrue. You do need web design help, that is, if you can find the time between all else you are doing, and be able to afford good help. What about focusing on something helpful you know about like accounting and taxes online? With links that bring income - it pays to do alot of research as I am sure you are finding out.
Good luck!
http://ddjames.giftworldnet.com
Sarah posted this at 13:21 — 25th April 2000.
They have: 11 posts
Joined: Apr 2000
Johnnyboy, Thanks for your input but What do you mean by <edit>Bad sentence structure!</edit>. I also need help with advertisers, the advertisers I use are not working.
Anonymous posted this at 13:54 — 25th April 2000.
They have: 5,633 posts
Joined: Jan 1970
Fisrt of all you are using the wrong kind of advertising you need to go with an ad company like
http://www.datacom.com or http://www.valueclick.com
If you are wanting to change the design to a more professional look, look around other freebie sites. Get a good idea of what people like. It never hurts to look at other peoples HTML code. That is how I learned. Take a look at http://www.podcity.com/free See how the categorys are all organized.
As for site promotion, promote your site everywhere. Even when posting at these boards make a signature with your website address in it. List your site with other freebie sites. Contact a webmaster with a large website and find out how much it will be to advertise your site on there page. There is just so much to do... Check out http://www.webmonkey.com I hope I have been of some help. And yes I know my spelling sucks
Justin S posted this at 15:29 — 25th April 2000.
They have: 2,076 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
SARAH: I think johnnyboy meant that he editted his post due to bad sentence structure. I don't think it has anything to do with your site...
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Is this signiture short enough?
Justin Stayton - [email] [icq]
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