Where did I go astray?

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   rmrposted 16 years ago

   I'm not a professional, and I don't know enough about SEO to even be considered a novice. But I sure thought this one would do a little better than it has. Especially at this time of year. http://hubpages.com/hub/Atomic-Watches- … u-Need-One  Any advice from the masters?

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      Mark Knowlesposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      I think the only mistake you made is publishing it too late.
      
      From my own experience, there is an initial upward blip on publising, then it takes about 3 months before the targeted traffic starts to flow.
      
      I would bet it will do fine next year.

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         rmrposted 16 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Mark. That helps. I'll have to start thinking a little farther into the future.

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      mortaineposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      Where you went astray is in aiming for a niche that's flooded with spammers. There's too much competition for the keywords "rolex watch" AND for "atomic watch rolex."
      
      Watches are a very difficult thing to affiliate market, because there are a lot of spammers who are marketing them. Anything you get unsolicited messages for in your email box (watches, pharmaceuticals, discount software, weight loss miracles, vitamins, porn etc.) is going to be a niche that will be hard to crack.
      
      Try making a hub aimed at "mens jewelry gifts" or something even more niche, like "jewelry gifts for geeks," with reviews and a link over to your atomic watch hub, and see how that does.
      
      Or pick ONE single atomic watch and give a very detailed review of it. All your links go only to that watch, but you'll probably become the top link for "Casio Atomic Watch CS140x Review" or whatever.
      
      Also remember that it's getting pretty late to hope for holiday traffic. However, you could aim for Valentine's Day.

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         rmrposted 16 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, mortaine, for a very detailed reply. I have just been messing around up until now, but it's about time I started learning a few things. This will help, a lot!

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            mortaineposted 16 years agoin reply to this

            No problem. And don't feel too bad about hitting a too-crowded niche. I did the 30 Day Challenge last year (I didn't do the hubpages part of it), and used a weight loss blog as my 30DC marketing vehicle. Complete failure, because, of course, weight loss products are pushed by spammers all over the place. Too crowded a market, but it was good practice and a great way to test out the tools without really putting my reputation on the line (in such a marketplace, who would have noticed one more entry?)

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         ngurecoposted 16 years agoin reply to this

         I think Mortaine has provided very good suggestions here for many of us to apply. Thanks.

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   Pam Robersonposted 16 years ago

   rmr, I'm no master at anything, but I can share my personal opinion which, of course, you can take or leave.
   
   First, I didn't know you wrote it or I would have read it regardless of the title. Somehow I missed it when you published it, so I ended up seeing it in terms of people making comments.
   
   Second, I assumed from the word "Rolex" in the title that an atomic watch was as pricey as a Rolex, and my budget doesn't stretch that far these days. So I was not clicking on the hub to read about something I couldn't afford.
   
   My opinion doesn't mean squat though because most of the world probably knows about atomic watches and maybe most know you can get one for 30 or 40 bucks. I'm just letting you know what made me not read it until I discovered you wrote it.
   
   Keep it alive! I think it's going to do very well.

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   rmrposted 16 years ago

   Thanks, Pam. That's very helpful. I hadn't considered people shying away from the word Rolex, but it makes sense.

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   rmrposted 16 years ago

   This looks like progress, to me. A quick search for atomic wrist watches showed me as result number 115 of about 190,000 on Google. On Yahoo, it was result number 34 of 836,000.  Not front page stuff, but it's an improvement! Thanks for all the advice, everyone.

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