My niche authority website RSACoursesOnline.com was launched 4 months ago and last month I agreed to swap reviews with another blogger, Jon Haver who also has an authority website that is doing very well.
Today I have a special post because a month after his review I have implemented many of Jon’s recommendations and I will be showing you what I did and the results.
The Important Elements Of An Authority Website
We agreed in our reviews to follow the same basic structure.
This is the structure is also a great template for anyone else reviewing their own site or planning out a new site.
- Monetization
- Content
- Web Design / Engagement
- On Page SEO
- Off Page SEO
Monetization
Adding value is one of the most important things anyone can do on their website or blog. However on a website or blog it is very easy to create a whole lots value to visitors and not make a single sale.
Many of Jon’s suggestions relate to making those all important sales conversions.
Suggestion #1 – Monetization Improvement – Install the plugin QuickAdsense (free) and create two Ads.
Action – Installed and created one Ad so far to test results .
Result – This is a terrific free plugin to help with engagement and delivering sales. It is too early to say what impact plugin will have but I have other websites where I have created similar Ads and I know that it should work well.
Suggestion #2 – Monetization Improvement – Improve Conversion from Money Pages to Affiliate Sales Page
Action – In Jon’s review he said “I believe this improvement will have the biggest impact by improving click through rate”.
Me too.
Result – In my November Income report I highlighted a fail I had with Geotargeting that unfortunately makes it hard for me to actually measure this improvement. However I expect this one is going to have a positive impact. It just makes sense.
Content
Suggestion #3 – Content Improvement – Add More Content
Action – In my December Income report I revealed my focuses for 2013 – My number one focus will be to produce content that is Quality and Quantity. To help with this I have been following Jons’ own method for outsourcing to produce great quality content.
Result – I have not yet published the new content that has been written but I have five articles written to a very high standard relatively inexpensively. This is a huge win for me. I have had great content written for me in the past but I also paid $12.50 – $15/hour for it.
However in order to get these five articles took me four hires and a lot of work on my part to make it happen. The $24.50 I paid for my five articles is insignificant compared with the amount of work I hdid to get the articles written. That said, I now have a lady who is keen to produce five articles per week on an ongoing basis. This is a significant win and I have refined Jons method to suit my own style of working.
Suggestion #4 – Content Improvement – Add Privacy Policy Page
Action – Added
Result – The service Jon recommended is a terrific way to generate privacy pages.
Web Design / Engagement
Suggestion #5 – Web Design / Engagement – Change Slogan
Action – Not implimented. I agree completely with Jon on the importance of capturing someones attention and that my slogan could be better. Since Jon’s suggestion I have been following slogan for another site.
Suggestion #6 – Web Design / Engagement – Logo Modifications
Action – I like my logo based on the same things that Jon think are important about a logo. For now I have opted not to make any changes to the logo itself as I have already spent $99 and a few hours of my time. I have however engaged the services of another logo designer using the service fiverr for a new authority website I have yet to announce and based on the results I get from this I may look again at RSA Courses again soon.
Suggestion #7 – Web Design / Engagement – Modify Embedded Video to Fill Entire Area
Action – I agree that this needs to be done and I filled the space. I also moved the video all together to an area of the website that works better.
As part of the process of improving my websites I also started reading the book “Yahoo Style Guide” which is seen by many as a must read to understanding how to present content for the web. In it I learned that a visitor scans pages seeking information limited to a triangle of area in the top and left of each page. This prompted me to move the video all together since it was intended as an information type resource.
Suggestion #8 – Web Design / Engagement – Change welcome information and image
Action
OLD SCHOOL
NEW SCHOOL
Important Changes:
- Moved and changed the image – “Sex Sells” – I took a professional approach and I think it could be worth trying some different images and test.
- Changed the text to focus on the outcomes rather then the benefits. As humans we are more interested what will happen if we take a certain action and less interested in the path it takes to get there. This makes sense too. For example, “Get an awesome hospitality job with confidence” is far more appealing then “Example questions and answers to tough questions”.
On Page SEO
Suggestion #9 – On Page SEO – Improve Image SEO
Action – Jon is right about tagging images and naming them to help with SEO. Although I have changed my practices for loading posts the benefits are relevant but would not warrant going back and fixing my current images.
Suggestion #10 – On Page SEO – Locally Target Your Website
Action – Since my post on the geotargetting fail I have undertaken Jons suggestion and few others too like putting an australian address in the contact page.
Result – There still has been no improvement although changes such as these just take time.
Off Page SEO
If there is one challenge that I have in making my sites work really well it is my off page SEO. I do expect that I will do well – eventually… it is just a question of how quickly. For me speed is not a substitute for quality. I have written recently about my off-page SEO strategy but so far out of 10 I would give myself a 2 for results.
Going forward Off Page SEO will be my primary focus for this website.
Suggestion #11 – Off Page SEO- Blog Comment on Relevant Sites
Action: I totally agree with the technique of commenting on other blogs to building relationships and eventually links. I have been using exactly this method with this blog and is how Jon and I met each other.
However in this particular niche for RSA Courses Online so far I have not been successful in identifying suitable blogs where it makes sense for me to leave comments. This is still a work in progress however.
Action Step #12 – Off Page SEO- Guest Post on Relevant Sites
Action: Like blog posting guest posting has proven to be challenging for such a narrow niche. This too remains a work in progress for my website, but I 100% can see the benefit.
The Bottom Line
Lets cut to the chase AFTER implementing 7 out of 12 of Jon’s recommendations:
– Pageviews UP by 25%,
– Pages/Visit UP by 40% and
– Ave Visit Duration UP by 46%
Numbers of visitors aside, these are awesome results and I am absolutely stoked to see my site performing this well.
My goal for this authority site is $300/month or $72/hour based on the number of hours I am putting into it.
I was on track to do this but based on the results I have seen it is easy to estimate an increase in sales of 20% – 45%.
Since I am on target to earn ($10800 over three years), putting these suggestions into action will likely earn at least an additional $2010 based on the the most conservative increase in conversions of 20%. Not a bad result for the three hours it took me to make the changes!
These numbers are all of course very rough estimates, but I find this process of rough estimating helps me to stay motivated and focused on the important things. They also give me a target to aim and hopefully blow out of the water.
These twelve steps would be helpful for anyone with a website or blog who is trying to do well online. I feel very confident my website RSACoursesOnline is a much better platform to send traffic to and convert these visitors into affiliate sales.
This means I can focus now mainly on off site SEO and content creation which I think are the most important things for this site.
What do you think of the changes I made?
What other ideas would you like to suggest?
What does or does not work for you?
Thank You For Reading!
Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
cubiclefree says
I was just informed by Jon (featured in this post) that he has tried three times to leave a message.
I am working on resolving this problem ASAP.
In the meantime please do still try – but save a copy and email me if it does not go through – quinn@cubiclefree.com – I would really like to put your comments up but my WordPress Training Wheels seem to be firmly attached.
Sorry if you are having trouble with leaving a message!
The Financial Blogger says
Hey Quinn!
I would be curious to know the math behind your $300/month goal.
Which kind of conversion rate do you expect?
I’M not familiar with RCA but it seems to me there are a lot of abreviations on your site i didn’T understand.
Also, maybe putting your tips into a free ebook could be a great way to build a newsletter and send a special offer from your affiliate program.
Thats my two cents
Mike
cubiclefree says
Hi Mike,
Awesome Questions Thanks!
My Original Goals
– To earn over $70/hour based on the number of hours I put in and measuring the income the site generates in years two, three and four.
– To spend a total maximum of 150 hours in first year
– To earn $300/month after one year ($300 x 36 months = $10800 / 150 hours = $72/hour)
For me introducing time into it is very important. Time is my most precious commodity and and I decided an hourly rate will hopefully help me to focus on the important things in making it work well. Plus I think its kind of fun and I know that I should not apply to Starbucks just yet.
Conversion Rate – I have put my best efforts into maximizing the conversions. Now I will focus on traffic and not worry about conversions for a while. I really have no idea where it will pan out and it really depends on so many factors that I think the best thing is to just keep trying to improve it and not worry about the raw number. For example, if you are picking up lots of long tail searches like “which is the best rsa course” you might get a very high conversion rate. On the other hand you might tap into much more broad searches like “rsa course” and get a boat load of traffic – both could be considered successful but conversion rate might be very different.
RSA – Responsible Service of Alcohol – it is training in Australia that has to be completed for anyone who serves alcohol.
Tips into a free ebook idea – I like it a lot. I have thought about it too, but I decided to just go for the sale right from the outset. Specifically I am targeting the long tail people who want to part with their money now and just want to do the best course. Ideally I suppose I would do both as the site grows. Possibly later when I am trying to convert the broad searches – but I totally agree that strategy could work really well.
Thanks Again, Quinn
Theodore Nwangene says
Hey Quinn,
I like the way you and Jon and going about this your authority site, i’ve really learnt a lot from you guys as I’m also planning on creating some sites this year.
I think i love the approach both of you are following and the changes you’ve made are also good.
Please i will like to know the result of the logo you’re designing on Fiverr, let me know how it goes because i also want to get a logo for my blog, maybe i will use the same guy that is doing yours.
Thanks for sharing man and good luck.
BTW: I mentioned you on my latest post.
cubiclefree says
Thank you for your comments and sharing this site Theodore – I really appreciate it!
I am planning to do a post about Fiver because the method I have been using to creating a logo is much more important then the name of the person who did mine.
The reason I want to do a full post is your needs may be different to mine and there are a few important things you need to consider before even looking for the right person.
Stay tuned!
Theodore Nwangene says
Ok Quinn,
I will be waiting for the post. I saw your tweet, thanks
Theodore