Where the heck has this year gone. May is now in the past and June has already arrived. I can’t believe that I just finished my sixth month anniversary with my New Super Affiliate Blog.
Old Faithfuls
For those of you who have been following my blog closely, you know that I’ve been very open and honest with each of you about this journey I am on. I’ve been either sharing what I have been doing each week in order to continue driving traffic to my sites and make those sales or I have been sharing something I have learned that I felt might be of benefit to you.
When the end of the month rolls around, I share my statistics for that month and we see how well I’ve done.
Each New Month
This journey began when I joined the “Forward to Marketing” training community. My sole purpose was to learn how to build an affiliate marketing business from scratch. I will tell you that I have definitely accomplished this task.
With each new month we continued to learn the various ways of driving traffic to our sites. I have shared everything I have learned each week with you and that was all going very well until this past March. But you can read about my misgivings in my post “Okay, So What’s The Next Step“. I won’t bore you again with all the details.
I continued with the ”Forward to Marketing” training community until the 28th of May. Yep, my time with them has come to an end. The last thing they were sharing with us before they closed their doors was how to create your own product. I went through that training but it’s not the type of product I want to create for myself.
Luckily for me, I asked for your help and support with what type of product you felt I should create since a lot of you have gotten to know me quite well. You can read all the wonderful suggestions I received when you all commented on my post “How Do The Pros Really Make Money Online?”
Thanks to all of you I’ve got a lot of really great ideas rolling around in my head now. You all have been so supportive and helpful to me when I asked your opinion so thank you so much for that. I’m really excited about this next step.
Traffic Results
So why the title, “Confession Time, My May Stats Are In”? Because my heart was just not in it this past month. I admit, I’ve had some other things going as well. I created another business on top of this one and then I had a conference out of town so I’ve been quite busy during the month of May.
I did promise you when I started this journey that I would alway be honest with you. Now I have to show you what happens when you don’t do the work. So, are you ready to see my results?
I continue to see a slow increase in traffic to my site and the time spent here is still hovering around three minutes. I am certainly not going to complain about that. And look at the new visits! 56% are new visitors to my site, I’m loving that.
I mentioned last month that I needed to get myself into gear and rev some things up if I wanted to keep seeing steady increases but I just fell down on the job. I know that we all get busy and life gets in the way. We can take on more than we can handle but that’s when decision times rolls around. I’m not going to beat myself up over it because overall I’ve done exceptionally well up to this point.
My traffic is still coming in from the same places I’ve reported in my past posts.
- #1 continues to be Google organic traffic (I must be doing something right)
- Facebook holds steady in the #2 spot (be sure to connect with me on my profile and Fan Page if you haven’t already)
- Twitter is right behind Facebook so I’m thrilled with that (I love the RSS feed comments, they get retweeted a lot. Now if we haven’t connected, don’t forget to follow me)
- Clever Marketer Community is next in line! (Heather Stephen is the creator of this fabulous blogging community. I so appreciate each and every one of you. )
- Next we have my blog commenting champions… The list is so long but I thank you all for your continued support.
- Following right in between all of them is my main blog, adriennesmith.net. I love that my faithful readers are interested in what I’m doing over here.
I still have around 95 different sources of traffic coming to my site so I’m still extremely pleased with these results.
Another thing I would like to mention is my Alexa ranking. My blog is only six months old but I continue to see my ranking drop lower and lower with each new month. At the time I’m writing this it is at 129,132. I know it’s not always accurate but I must admit I’m thrilled watching that number drop as the months go by. That is something that I’m very proud of.
Split Testing Squeeze Pages
I’ve been sharing with you the results of the squeeze pages I have been split testing but I’m at the same place I was last month. I can’t believe there is still no clear winner between these two so it looks like I’m going to have to take matters into my own hands.
I will share with you that I mostly drive traffic to my blog instead of the squeeze pages which is why I’m not seeing a lot of traffic or a clear winner yet. So I’m not going to bore you with those results since there is clearly nothing to report.
Here Come My Opt-Ins Results
This month I’m up to 138 opt-ins total and that’s only 19 more than last month. I was holding steady at 25 new opt-ins for the past two months but what can I say. Now here comes the part that hurts the most.
I made NO sales the entire month of May. This is what I want to bring to your attention more than anything. Every single month since I started I’ve been making sales. More than most have accomplished since starting this journey with me. I’m still holding steady at having made $391 in commissions so far. This is my first month that I’ve sold absolutely nothing at all. Ouch, that hurts!!!
You can continue to drive traffic to your site, continue to see good results, continue to get those comments on your posts and continue to get opt-ins on your list. But without any sales you aren’t making any money. This is what happens when you don’t do the work.
I openly admit I failed miserably this past month. Can I guarantee you that I will step up my game and do the work this month? I’m not going to make promises that I can’t keep. Will I continue to share with you what I’m doing and help you continue to learn? You bet I will.
For now I will continue promoting my New Super Affiliate Bootcamp product because I still stand behind it 100%. I think for a whole measly $27 it’s a darn good deal. But it’s time to step up my game and change some things around. I now have to decide what type of product I’m going to create that will be all mine. This is the reason I started this journey and am sharing this experience with you.
I’m Still Learning
I’m still learning, I’m still growing and I’m still having a blast. I’m living proof that you can fall down on the job and this is what happens when you stop doing the work. Okay, so I continue to drive traffic to my site but I stopped promoting my product. I guess it’s just time for me to move on so it’s been difficult for me to keep pumped about it.
I just don’t want the month of June and July to drag by without me having accomplished anything further. So I will continue learning and growing from this experience and share it with you.
Your Support
I really appreciate all of your support and for those who have stood by me through this entire process. I know that I will go on to do great things and I just have to start making some decisions. I’m going to chalk up May as a huge learning process and taking on a little more than I can chew.
I have now gotten one guest post under my belt and two interviews with another one coming up on the 8th of June. I’ve been mentioned on several blogs now so obviously I must still be doing something right. I’m so flattered by everyone’s overwhelming support so that alone will keep driving me forward.
Your Thoughts
So let me have it! I know I’m not the only one who has run across these same issues. We have been going full steam ahead and then things just happen. How did you work through them and did they detour you in any way? Would you say you’ve come out on the other side a much better person and has your business grown because of it? I would be curious to hear from you about your own experiences as well. You know I always appreciate your advice.
Okay, signing off for my end of May report and praying that I get myself into gear and see some much better results for the month of June. You ready? I sure am…
Adrienne – Your traffic stats are improving, your opt-in list is growing and you still manage to stay in the game, despite losing your mentor/training program and dealing with other challenges?! That’s the last thing I’d call a miserable failure…
Stick with it – you’re on the right track. Next comes putting everything together and killing it!
Sarah Russell recently posted..Recommended Readings – Memorial Day Edition
Thanks Sarah, I appreciate that! Yep, I’m not stopping and I still look at this as on the way up. Now it’s just time for me to go my own way and do my own thing and see what the next step is for me.
I appreciate that positive comment. That really does help me stay on the right track. Thanks for that and hope you are enjoying your day!
Adrienne, thanks for sharing all this information, it is really valuable to people like me who are starting out in this niche. Now, when I am done my first month, I plan to have a similar post, although I am only building traffic now and not a list.
Anyway, I wouldn’t worry too much about not making a sale this month. I think it is too early in the day to worry about these – right now, you are building a great brand and it will help you in the future. You are having good traffic, your Alexa is really impressive – I suspect most of your readers are bloggers/marketers themselves and have the Alexa toolbar installed – I run another blog which gave me 11,000 visits in May but my Alexa is around 350,000 for that blog!
Sid recently posted..How to Price Banners on your Site-Blog
Hi Sid, thanks for this comment. I think it’s wonderful to share with other how your journey is transpiring which is why I wanted to be open and honest with my results. I am still thrilled that my traffic continues to rise and I get a lot of comments on my posts. The blogging community has been very supportive and I love helping others learn as well. This is the best way I know for them to learn as you go.
I’m just disappointed that I didn’t make 1 darn sale at all. I’ve been doing SO good since I started but once again, it’s my own fault. You don’t do the work, you don’t make the sales. Bottom line! But like you said, I’m building my brand, I’m building a name for myself and I will soon be creating my own product that I can be extremely proud of. That alone has been worth this journey.
11,000 visits in May Sid! Darn son, what did you do? See, you have some awesome tips that would benefit me and my readers. I can’t wait to read your posts for the new blog you will be creating. In the meantime, I’ll just continue checking out your current one. So here’s the best to you and a continued successful journey. Thanks again for stopping by.
Hey Adrienne!
I’m here to return you the favor and give you some love! Wow.. I must say that I really admire you for putting yourself out there and sharing all your results with everyone.. it definitely takes a lot of courage.
Despite your “lousy” results, I must say that they are better than mine and you’ve a nice opt-in rate for your blog so far.. I haven’t gotten much results from my blog although I still continue to share and post valuable content.
You’ve definitely put yourself on the line and making yourself accountable to your community here in the blogosphere. Let’s hope I can get to where you are now in a couple of months although I’m on facebook much more.. but hey! We need blogs too!
Definitely looking forward to maintaining our relationship here and thanks for dropping by my blog too! 
Talk soon my friend!
Regards,
Darren Spruyt
Darren Spruyt recently posted..How to get people to listen to you
Hey Darren,
I appreciate your comment and thank you so much for visiting. I made a promise to myself when I started this particular journey that I was going to do this one out in the open for everyone to see. Really put myself out there but at least people will see me as someone who is being up front and honest about this journey.
Thank you for that, that was too kind. So my results are better than yours? Wow, you’ve got such a fantastic blog and you are really sharing a lot of great stuff over there. But we all had to start somewhere right! I’ve been able to show people that you can start from scratch and it takes time to start getting results but just be consistent and it will continue to improve.
Blogs are a great source for building relationships too so the more blogs you visit and comment on, the more people will come check yours out. That just means more backlinks which we all know Google loves. Plus I have learned so much just from visiting other people’s blogs.
Thank you again for stopping by and will look forward to continuing our relationship as well. Have a splendid afternoon and a fun weekend.
Adrienne
Hi Adrienne! I really appreciate your honesty and willingness to shre the wisdom gained from your experiences.
I have had a slow month, too, this past month, and I think I also was affected by other things going on in my life. Still, it’s disappointing when a month doesn’t go the way you want.
Still, your blog stats continue to improve and that, ultimately, is what will guarantee future success. So it sounds like you’re doing well!
Jeanine
Jeanine Byers Hoag @ Dressing My Truth recently posted..The 3 in 30 Challenge- What are your goals for June
Thank you Jeanine and I appreciate your comment.
I know that life gets in the way at times and we don’t totally concentrate on the things we should which is why I did want to be honest about my results. No fibbing here and this goes to show what happens when you don’t do the work. But you are right, the stats continue to improve so I’m not going to beat myself up over that. I just need to decide where to go from here and just do it.
Thank you for your support, I appreciate it! Now, enjoy your weekend!
Hi Adrienne, great to see that your blog is improving, it’s on the right track.
Same goes to me, Google’s traffic is always rank 1 while Facebook is 2nd.
The avg time readers on your site is pretty high, it really means that people are reading deeply into your site, haha. It’s a good sign.
Have a blast.
Wong Jia Jun recently posted..Monthly Report – May 2011
Thanks Jia, I am very proud of the time they are staying here. Hope it’s not because I’m boring them with my long ramblings. LOL!!! Since I only post once a week I do my best to provide helpful and valuable information. Of course I’m also sharing my journey and I’m just thrilled to see that people are sticking around to hear what I have to share.
I’m going to get up to getting as much traffic as your site does. I’ll definitely be working on that. Thanks for the comment and for the support, I appreciate it!
Haha, as my site does? Ya, for currently it’s 2K traffic, but I would definitely build it up into greater numbers and more loyal readers around the blog community.
I believe you’ll definitely able to make it too Adrienne, with the great content you’re sharing with.
*Same goes to me, I write a post every week, as if higher commitment, I’m afraid the quality will be distract and move to quantity. I don’t want that to happen, :p
All the best to your blog,
Wong Jia Jun recently posted..Monthly Report – May 2011
2K a month, that’s a lot… My total is just a little over a 1K visitors a month so I would gladly go for more. You are doing a wonderful job over at your place Jia. I will be sticking with just one post a week because I have been spending my time researching and using these different traffic methods and wanted to give them time to actually work. In the future I may step it up, but we’ll see.
Hey Adrienne,
Amazing growth there and lovely stats from Analytics.
I love your honesty and raw transparency. I am definitely your fan!
With the little I know about google I am curious how your no 1 source of traffic is google.
Congrats and this is to more of such!
~Tosin
Tosin | Home-based Business Coach recently posted..First Page of Google- How to Get to First Page of Google Fast
Hey Tosin,
Thank you, I appreciate that. I’m still quite amazed myself and extremely happy with these results as well. Even if I didn’t get any sales this past month.
I’m right there with you my friend. I have absolutely no idea how Google could be my #1 source of traffic. As you can tell, my blog posts aren’t keyword rich posts since I’m writing about my journey. I’ve been working on my headlines, some are better than others. As you can tell from all the other methods I have been using to drive traffic to my blog, I keep scratching my head wondering how the heck Google ended up at the top of that list. But I’m definitely loving it and certainly not complaining.
Thanks for your support and it really means a lot. I love your blog and what you share, you’ve just got some killer content over there my friend. I’m an avid supporter! You just rock Tosin!
Now, have a glorious weekend okay!
Hi Adrienne,
This won’t be a long comment
, but just wanted to say thank you for your generosity and transparency.
What you said about “I’m still learning, I’m still growing and I’m still having a blast.” Isn’t that what matters? Awesome! I love it.
Keep it up. You are definitely way above the pack and this site will take off in no time.
Michele Welch recently posted..Late Night Interview With Triberr Founder Dino Dogan
Thank you Michele, I really appreciate that!
I’m too honest for my own good sometimes. At times that works in my favor while others, not so much. But having decided to journal about what I’m doing here, honesty is the best policy. I am still having a blast with this and that is really what matters. I’ve met some wonderful people who have reached out to me and shown me great support. I’m truly blessed to have this opportunity and be able to share it with others.
Thank you for your comment! It’s people like you that help continue to inspire me to keep doing what I’m doing.
Hi Adrienne,
Take it from someone who is at about the same point as far as time in this space. (~6 months) You are doing great! I would love to have your stats. So I am going to give you the same advice you and Paul gave me. “Don’t beat yourself up too much.” You have already identified where you feel your shortcomings were this past month. Learn from them and move on. You may already know of this site but I thought I would share a site I stumbled upon this last week that I am just devouring the great tips and ideas he is sharing. Check out http://www.smartpassiveincome.com There is some great stuff on there.
Hey Mike,
Ah, giving it back to me right! Yep, although I was disappointed I knew where I went wrong. Just not giving this the attention I should have and having way too much on my plate. I have to sit down this weekend and have a serious discussion with myself and see how I’m going to divide my time with all my different projects now. I knew this time would come but I still don’t regret any of the decisions I’ve made up to this point.
Yes, I definitely know about Pat’s place. I visit him from time to time. That guys is a champion for sure isn’t he! When he shares his stats I just get embarrassed for myself. But he’s been doing this a long time and has his stuff together. He’s quite impressive and you are right, we can all learn from him.
Thanks for reminding me to just keep moving forward and everything will work out. Glad to see you back too my friend and enjoy the weekend with your family.
Adrienne, your stats are definitely impressive for a 6 month blog considering all the things that happened in the past month. You’re definitely doing something right.
I also love the honesty and work you’ve put ito this update. It’s not easy to come across too many posts like this.
Thanks
Thank you Emmanuel, I appreciate that! I’m so touched… I still am very proud of myself with what I’ve accomplish up to this point. I also wanted to share with everyone what happens when life gets in the way and we all know that will happen from time to time.
I appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to comment. It means a lot and hope you’ll come back to visit again. I promise my next post will be more uplifting.
Adrienne you have the desire and perseverance to succeed and that’s the number one requirement. I think you just haven’t found the right mix of resources to help you with marketing. Where there is a will there is a way. And you certainly have the will. Good luck
Riley
Riley Harrison recently posted..WHY DO YOU LEAD A LIMITED LIFE
Thank you Riley, you are so kind. I definitely have the desire and perseverance, that’s for sure. You are right though, I do need to step up my game and some of the things I have been taught haven’t worked out as well as I had hoped. But where there is a will, there is a way! So thank you for that, I appreciate it!
Have a blessed day my friend.
Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
Wow, great job. You say it was a lousy month, but honey, it looks to me like you’re making progress! Business doesn’t move in straight line growth, ever. It’s up, it’s down and you have to look at the averages over a span of time.
To be honest, I was so addicted to my stats when I first got started last summer. To say I was obsessed would be an understatement, but I learned from a more experienced blogger (sorry i can’t remember who) that I should be studying my stats over a span of 3 months.
When I started doing that, I saw that overall, I was doing better. I sunk over the months of November/December because life was crazy. This past May has been slow for me as well, but I’ve never had a 3 consecutive month snapshot where I haven’t made huge progress.
I wish you so much success in June and July. Get your product out there in front of people, keep building relationships like you have and I’m positive you’ll reach your goals.
Way to be transparent and add value for others. I’m sure this post will be inspiring to others.
Heather
Heather C Stephens@Marketing Ideas recently posted..Gary Vaynerchuck- Magic Spell to Induce Customer Loyalty
Hi Heather,
Ah thank you for that! I know, I know.. I am blessed and thankful for the results I’m getting. I guess from going through this training and hearing where we “should” be at certain points I get kind of down on myself. But in all honesty, there aren’t even a hand full of people who were in this training with me who have done the work. I am one of the few who is having consistent results and still making sales. I have personally spoken with a few people and to this day they have yet to make one darn sale. So I know I’m doing good, I guess I just wanted to do better.
I’m not obsessed over my stats even though I know how important they are. I told myself when I started this that I would only check them at the end of each month when it was time to write my report. I’m doing what I was taught and I know it takes time to get results so I told myself I’m just going to continue doing the work and see where it all goes. I get a notice when I have a new opt-in as well as when I have a sale. So I knew I was still getting opt-ins, but I also knew I hadn’t had one darn sale.
But you are SO right Heather, this industry is up and down all the time. But this past month was my fault and no one elses. Wish I could blame it on it being a busy month for everyone else and their interests laid elsewhere but that would be a lie. I need to take a look at what I’ve been doing and step up my game, quick.
So pray for me that I locate that magic traffic source that will boost my sales because once I do, you know I’ll be sharing it with all of you.
I’m not giving up and I’m not giving in. So thank you for that kick in the pants and encouragement that what I am doing is something to be proud of. I really appreciate it!
You really seem to be a very honest and open person Adrienne. Glad your stats are improving. The only thing I can’t comprehend is your Alexa rating. Have three times as many visitors as you have and according to Websitegrader I’m approx 500,000. Odd.
Thank you Catarina, I definitely am that. I’m an open book!
I find that rather odd about Alexa ranking on your site as well. You also have a lot of comments on your posts. I did notice that you don’t have a lot of different ways for people to share your content so that may be one reason. Making it easy for them to share it on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. The more it’s spread around, the more people will want to check it out. Just a thought!
Appreciate your comment, thank you for taking time out of your busy day to stop by!
Hello,
It seems like you love to keep an evidence of your stats and that’s something really great and useful. I recommend always checking your stats, it helps you a lot. Congratulations for your results and keep up the good work!
Maria
Maria Pavel@CNA Training recently posted..Hiring CNA – HHA – Caregiver – Malibu and Woodland Hills
Thank you Maria! I do check them at the end of each month just to see which areas I’m receiving the most traffic from and which ones may need some improving. Enjoy sharing these results with my readers. I think it’s been an education for all of us.
I appreciate the comment and thanks for stopping by.
Hey Adrienne
Great blog post again and thank you for sharing your wonderful stats with us and sorry to hear that no sales were made in May. However, I do believe although no sales were gained or made, you have still continued to build your list of subscribers of which one day will reap you with rewards beyond your greatest imagination. As many may have or may not have previously said, making money is great, but is it simply a figure in your bank account, it can continue to keep rising, however it will never satisfy your heart or bring your true happiness. Reason being that there is nothing better that knowing that you have helped influenced and enrich somebody else’s life for the better and when you look at your subscribers list, that is something money can not buy or will ever replace. After all they all say the money is in the list, but with no susbcribers on your list how can one expect to even make any money at all?
Anyway Adrienne, keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing your progress and continued success!!!
Nigel
Nigel Yip recently posted..The ticket to Success
Hey Nigel,
Thanks for this comment and I believe you are right. That’s the reason we are here right. To eventually move on to doing our own thing and that’s where this list will definitely come in handy. I’ve received so much support up to this point and my commenters are helping me discover what product to create so I’m hoping the people on my list will benefit as well. Only time will tell.
Thank you again and I definitely will continue on. Hope all is going well for you too! See you soon.
Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
I’m impressed by your honest and open self-appraisal! It just shows that consistency is a key to success, especially in the early stages of blogging.
Setting yourself monthly goals is a great idea and one I haven’t considered doing in this way before, I might have to adopt this approach since it may prove a powerful way to stay focused over time.
The line which sums up your approach and I think stands you in good stead to achieve your goals is “I’m still learning, I’m still growing and I’m still having a blast.” Love that attitude!
All the best for June and beyond,
Jym
Jym @ Blogging for Business recently posted..Guerrilla Business Intensive – T Harv Eker Seminar Review
Ah thanks Jym, I appreciate that! This has been a tremendous learning experience for me and I am still having the time of my life. The way I look at this as well is this is still only the beginning.
Appreciate your comment, thanks again.
Congratulations Adrienne. I see you are improving very well and I can see how passionate you are with your endeavor. And all though your training with the “Forward to Marketing” has finished, I can see you are getting even more determined to pursue your field. Again, congratulations. Keep it up!
Extreme John recently posted..About The My Top Commentators Plug-in For WordPress
Thank you John, I really appreciate that. Yep, my training is done so the next step is to create my own product. Thank goodness my blogging buddies have been a tremendous help with that. Now, just deciding what to do. Onward I go my friend.
Hope you are enjoying your weekend!
Adrienne,
Awesome stats and congratulations. You’re doing great work here.
I love your honesty and raw transparency. Keep up the awesome work, gal.
Thanks for sharing
!!
Dev @ wpkube recently posted..How to add Google Plus one button to WordPress & Thesis
Ah thank you Dev, I really appreciate that. I definitely will my friend.
Hi Adrienne,
Thanks for being real and openly sharing these stats. I will be sharing my next week as it is my 3rd month of blogging.
I admire you for saying that as much as you want had plans set out, sometimes things happen and you get side-track. That happens to the best of us but what is important is that we realize this and get back on track.
This is what I hear you saying by going into June with a heads up attitude!
You rock Adrienne
Diana Simon recently posted..Enough Fluff and Farts
Hi Diana, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your comment.
I hope your stats are good for your three month report. It’s an exciting venture, isn’t it! I’m just thankful to be here and to have this opportunity to learn and grow. I know that life gets in the way at times but I’m not going to use that as an excuse to just not do the work. I really hope to have a much June. Guess only time will tell right!
Thank you again and will look forward to seeing how you have been coming along.
Adrienne
Life is all about learning. We cannot avoid mistakes when we are learning. And it’s good to do mistake because we can learn something from it. I had recently done a mistake and my stats dropped significantly. Congrats for your stats. Great job! It’s a motivation for me.
Andrew Walker recently posted..Thrifty Promo Code
Thank you Andrew for sharing this with me.
Yep, doing the work and the right work will help your business to continue growing. Me, I’ve just had way too much on my plate lately so now I have to figure out how to even this all out now. I knew this would happen but I’m still happy with my stats.
Hope that all is well with yours as well. Live and learn my friend, live and learn.
Hi Adrienne,
Congratulations on such good traffic from Google. I have a hard time with Google, because my blog is hard to categorize. Keywords are good, though there’s a lot of competition. Oh well, it only takes a spark. One of thes days, I’ll come up with a zinger keyword, and that fire will get started. Thanks for posting.
Lou Barba
Lou [email protected] recently posted..Disclaimer SendOutCards
Hey Lou, thanks for stopping by. I’m sure if you dig a little bit deeper you will find some great keywords that will help people find your place. You write so many awesome stories and I enjoy reading about your characters. I love a good book so visiting blogs such as yours helps us break from our regular routine. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Thanks again for your comment, you know I appreciate it!
Your stats are not bad for not doing anything. My stats were far worse than that..lol. But, I am trying to get back into it and my stats are improving once again. It just goes to show everyone that if you slack off, so will your sales and traffic. Some people don’t realize this. So, thanks for sharing!
I also think that building friendships with others in the same field is a great way to try to get yourself back on track. I thank you for introducing me to some of these great people.
Working together is important in any type of industry because going at it alone is a sure way to fail, in my opinion.
Good luck on your next venture – I will be here right behind you
Keep up the good work, Adrienne!
Linda
Linda recently posted..Dislike Button on Facebook – Scam or Not
So true Linda, I was really kind of surprised that I still got this much traffic. The comments come and go but I haven’t done as many really interesting posts lately either. See, my fault… Just not having my head in it I suppose.
Glad to hear that you are picking things back up. You are right, when you don’t do the work you won’t get the good results. Can’t get more clear than that!
I know that when you build relationships with others, even if they are in the same field, you can learn from each other and possibly start working together down the road. Only good things can come from connecting with others.
I tried going it alone in the beginning thinking I could figure all of this out on my own. Boy was I ever wrong and in for a rude awakening. I wasted so much valuable time. Another lesson learned.
I appreciate that and you know we’ll be talking again soon. You make a great sounding board young lady! Thanks Linda!
Adrienne the internet being what it is you’re always going to get your ups and downs even when you do have the time to work at it. Just don’t let it get you down and accept it for what it is. Keep working it and in the end you will win out.
Besides, when I first starting reading your post I was expecting your stats to be pretty dismal when in reality it wasn’t all that bad.
Sire@Buy Online Lotto Tickets recently posted..Which Is Of More Value A Tweet Or Google’s 1
You are SO right Sire.. It is what it is and some days and months will be better than others. I’m not a professional so I have to continue learning and growing and watch what happens with time. Thanks for that pep talk. Appreciate that.
My stats were pretty dismal when I first reported them back in January… But that was a brand new blog and it’s only gotten better with each month. Nice surprise right!
Adrienne, I hardly consider May a failure at all! Thank you for your honesty in this post, but you weren’t honest about being a failure one bit. =P This just goes to show that businesses have their ups and downs, but just take a look at how your Alexa number keeps dropping and at your Google Analytics statistics! There are improvements and I only see that you’re building a foundation for *more* sales in the future.
I am so excited for your upcoming product(s), Adrienne, and for all of the exciting developments that I’m sure will be happening in the next little while. =)
Samantha Bangayan recently posted..Keiko Fujimori- Just Like Her Father
Thanks Samantha, I appreciate that!
You are right, things happen and I’m not at all a failure. I believe that we all have some expectations so when we don’t meet them we do feel like we have failed. All I want to accomplish is for not only my traffic stats, but my opt-ins and sales to continue to grow. I can’t be disappointed at where I currently am because like I mentioned in the post, there are less than a hand full of us that are actually doing the work and seeing results. I’m just proof that when you do the work, you do get results. Some months are just better than others, that’s all!
Now I have to decide what product to create and that in itself is another project. Oh my!
I think the best thing about your traffic is the range of traffic sources you have – and teh fact that you are split testing.
Far too many people chase traffic, not sales, and mainly from Google. But this opens you up to trouble if Google decide to change their algorithm – which they do and will.
You’ve got google traffic but also facebook, twitter and regular blog readers as well as newsletter signups. Now with that you’re building a strong foundation and also a business.
Keep at it.
Charlotte recently posted..Self Catering Chalets Chamonix
Thank you Charlotte, you are so right. When you put all your eggs in just one basket and that shuts down, you are in so much trouble. I was doing a lot of article writing as well in the beginning so when Google did their thing and that started slowing down thank goodness I had these other sources to rely on.
I just want to continue to grow my business and provide good and helpful information to my readers. I am building a really good foundation and when building a business, that’s what’s important.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. I appreciate it!
Just would like to thank you for this special read. I definitely savored every little bit of it including all the comments and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
lusiana158 recently posted..uzi accessories
Thank you I appreciate that! Happy to hear that you’ve bookmarked it and will be back for another visit. I hope it will be much more positive the next time.
Great to see that your blog is improving, it’s on the right track.We can not avoid mistakes when we do something,and the best thing we should do is to learn from this and get experiences.Thanks for your sharing.
Haley recently posted..The Importance of Business Surveillance Systems
Thank you Haley, I appreciate that. You are right, we can just continue to improve and over time our business will grow even better and stronger. So, on to many more months ahead.
I don’t compare my stats with others; usually. They look better now I’ve seen yours!
If I comment on sites that do well, they send traffic; if I am busy with other things and don’t promote or write good blogs – the traffic goes down. It has gone down since March but I think it’s starting to come back. It’s quiet on a Tuesday but I know I still have to post and build up to the weekend when people have more time to check out my blog. That also means commenting on other sites through the week when I have some time.
Good luck with it in future.
Mike Maynard recently posted..A Sunday ramble in June…
Since I’m on this particular journey, we were taught just how important stats are when you are on here for a particular purpose. I’m not obsessed with them but over a period of time you will be able to see what works for you and what doesn’t. Glad to hear that yours are better than mine, that’s a really good thing.
Keep up the great work yourself Mike. I’ll be sure to come on over and give you a shout as well. Have a great week and thank you for your comment.
Adrienne
Adrienne, I have to agree with the others that you are being way too hard on yourself. Okay, I don’t know you well, in fact I’m not sure if I even knew you in April, but in May you were posting a lot on your blog and commenting on many others. In fact, it’s hard to think of a blog where you didn’t comment first!
Relax and keep plugging at it. If it gets to be too much of a chore, then set your sails in another direction. You are way too talented to be frustrated with what you do!
Carolyn@ The Wonder of Tech recently posted..WWDC- A Slice of Apple’s Future
Ah thanks Carolyn, I appreciate that.
I only post once a week on this blog and have since I started and am still visiting the same amount of blogs each week as well. That part has not dropped at all. The driving traffic to my sites for the purpose of getting people to opt-in and get my free info has kind of fallen by the wayside. My fault entirely but I’m not going to continue to beat myself up over it. I am heading in a couple different directions right now so I have to start deciding exactly where I’m going to be spending the majority of my time. But whatever I do, I’m going to continue having a blast girl!
Thanks for stopping by and for the comment. Love seeing you here!
Hey Adrienne,
We all admire your sincerity and transparency. Thank you being you and for inspiring a lot of online marketers. Aside from your willingness to share your monthly results, I am also reminded that I need to really analyze my stats now. I usually just look at the number of visits per day, but I sadly do not take the time to analyze the percentages and other data. It really pays off to know this as we can tweak our marketing strategies, and also better know what our audience wants.
You know I always love your passion and positive energy. The community you’re building here has no price tag so even though you didn’t make any sales this month, you still build new relationships which are priceless.
I know this month will be a lot more exciting for you as you also do your new venture, and I’ll be on the lookout for your new projects, as I know I’ll definitely learn a lot from what you’ll share and I always get encouraged reading your posts. Thanks Adrienne, and I’ll see you around!
- Rowena
Rowena Bolo recently posted..What Dancing Can Teach You About Business Building With Featured Bloggers
Thank you as always Rowena, you always say the nicest things to me. I know we’ve really grown to respect each other and what we are individually here to accomplish.
Although we aren’t on the same path at the moment, I still have a few things to share from time to time that may help you with traffic to your site. Hence those traffic stats. We all do love to learn and grow but it also boils down to making some money too. It’s not the most important thing at the moment, but pretty important in the long run.
As far as my other venture goes, all is going really well. I’m very excited. Now with this one I have to start thinking about a product. I have no doubt I’ll come up with something good.
Thanks again and I appreciate your support. Now you enjoy the rest of your week and we will be running into each other again.
Adrienne
Hi Adrienne,
I’ve arrived kinda late to this party so by now I’m sure you have got the message via all the other wonderful comments to this post that you have certainly not failed in any way at all.
If everything we did was done at a constant rate we would soon lose perspective of how great the good months are.
It’s by embracing the contrast that we expand further which usually can only come when we have made space to be in tune with where that expansion is headed next.
Everything is happening in the exact perfect timing for you and your business and you are doing a wonderful job!
I love the way you cover your progress so openly every month Adrienne. This shouts volumes about you and it’s all magnificent!:)
~Marcus
Marcus Baker@Newtwork Marketing Internet Business recently posted..No Posts Were Found!
You are definitely correct my friend. I know I’m not a failure but I think when we have certain expectations and then let ourselves down, you can’t help but feel like you failed to a certain extent. But on to another month, right!
You are so kind my friend, I appreciate that! And as always, I enjoy hearing from you. It’s people like you who keep me moving forward with a great enthusiasm. Thank you so much Marcus.
Have a blessed day!
Hi Adrienne,
Wow, that must have been a bit of a shock. I guess we all hope we are building a sustainable business that can run on autopilot when necessary, but it just goes to show that a constant input greatly improves our chances of succeeding. I think that we have to recognise though that there will always be times when ‘life’ needs more attention than ‘business’.
I actually set goals on my blog this month for the first time and I am pleased to say that I have achieved many of the things on the list already.
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
Mandy@learntoblog recently posted..All For One And One For All – Be Accountable
Well congratulations on accomplishing those goals you set for your blog. I know that must be an amazing feeling. I’ve been pretty excited myself with each new month and watching how my business continues to grow.
I most definitely don’t have anything set up on auto pilot yet which is why when I don’t do the work I can expect lousy results. That’s toward the sales that is. But overall I think I’ve done pretty darn good. Now on to the next phase.
Thanks Mandy and I will definitely continue to enjoy this journey. You do the same.
Adrienne
Adrienne,
We must share the same brain because this last month my blog took a bit of a dive. I definitely don’t get the traffic you do, and I need to step it up a bunch, but I’m spread really thin right now. I kinda feel like I have about 40 tasks that need to be finished yesterday and don’t know how to start eating the elephant. lol
And to top it off one of my sites I was ranked really well for on Google just friggin disappeared. I hope it’s just some Google Dancing and it comes back.
All the best as always,
Pete
Pete Dimas recently posted..Are You Marketing Blindly
Well hey Pete, great to see you my friend. It’s been awhile. How the heck are you?
I guess May was just one of those months… Let’s just chalk it up to “stuff happens”. That sounds good… This month is already gotten crazy busy for me as well, but all for the good. Prioritizing your stuff is the key. I have no doubt you’ll conquer it all.
I hope your site just took a breather. I still like to stay on the positive side about things. I’ll keep my fingers crossed okay!
Take care Pete and thanks again for stopping by!
Adrienne
I am doing well… Can’t complain, and if I did there would be no one to listen.
I think tonight during the game I’m going to write down everything that needs to get done, what steps are left, and a time frame to finish them.
As for the site that is in nowhere land, we’ll see what happens. Sometimes they disappear and come back a few days or weeks later. Who knows how the Google Gods work?!?
I’m rooting for the Mavs, but the way! If OKC can’t win, might as well pick the next best team.
Pete
Pete Dimas recently posted..Are You Marketing Blindly
LOL!!! I know what you mean Pete but glad all is well.
Google is hard to figure out at times so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. Good luck with that!
Hope your team wins..
Hi Adrienne
This is my first visit to your blog. I was on my morning “blog hopping jog” and came here via Mandy Allen’s blog.
After reading your post I can honestly say I will not be a stranger!
Thank you for sharing this information Adrienne I loved the post and have learnt a great deal from it.
I think you’re being a little hard on yourself if I am honest your results a great, even though you consider May a bad month you have still grown your business, made new contacts, attracted more visitors – this all goes towards building a good foundation business.
You watch June you will sell more than you ever have!
Great Post Adrienne, keep sharing we all love it.
(What’s that saying? …. “I’ll be back”)
Catch up soon
Ian
Ian Ieba recently posted..PLR “Private Label Rights” Part One
Welcome Ian, I’m so happy you hopped on over here from Mandy’s place. She’s got great information over there that she has been sharing for sure.
I’m happy to hear that you won’t be a stranger and I do hope I can continue sharing such wonderful information with you all. My training is over so I’m not on that go go go leg of this now. As a matter of fact, I’ve kind of taken a few more things on so they’ve taken up a lot more of my time than I had hoped. Which puts me to a disadvantage when it comes to this baby. Which I have grown to really love.
I have a few other things up my sleeve though, I just have to find the time to implement them and then of course, I will definitely share those results with my readers. I LOVE helping others learn and so they can watch what I do and copy that so they can have the same type of success.
Sorry, I’ve rambled on long enough. Just wanted to thank you again for taking the time to stop by and I promise I’ll head over to your place later today and give you a shout as well.
Take care and have a beautiful day!
Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, I hope you’re well
I don’t think you need to worry about anything, things were ticking over nicely during your month of being busy on another business mission. You had an increase in every area other than sales and the key point to take away from it Adrienne is that you’re aware of it and that’s half the battle, plus you know how to get the ball rolling again, which you’ll do without prolem.
Your honesty always shines Adrienne and yes you have detailed your path and results as you have progressed and all of your readers have seen that. So we all know that your product is going to be of equal quality and I for one will be willing to promote it for you.
I understand better than most about other things getting in the way sometimes and stopping our progress, but like I said above Adrienne, being aware is half the battle, the other half being putting it right
and you’re already on top of that
Catch you up again soon Adrienne
Respect and Regards, Barry
Barry Wells recently posted..My Head Is Spinning With Ideas But I Need your Advice
Thank you SO much for saying that Barry. That really does mean a lot to me. I guess with any type of business venture you hope that things will continue to get better in every area so when one doesn’t, that’s such an upsetting thing. But you are so right, everything has continued to improve and I know that I just didn’t spend the time promoting my things like I should due to other ventures getting in the way.
I just can’t wait to create this other product and see what kind of response I get from that one. Now that is exciting my friend and I appreciate that you are willing to help promote it. I’m so very touched. So look out!
Thanks Barry and hope all is well with you and your family! Always thinking about you guys.
Adrienne
Adrienne, first and for most, irrespective of the results, you’ve done the right thing of self-assessing your work. And, you seem to have found the problem; often, we keep looking for solutions to problem which just did not happen. So, you’re through, the difficult part. Great!
Coming back to your blog and your stats, the number of visitors, new visitors, average time on site; those are good numbers. You seem to be doing most of the things right, just need to pep up those sales with some more work.
Best Wishes,
Kevin Rudd
Thanks for the comment Kevin… I appreciate your input and you are right, I know where the problem is and it’s up to me to do something about that. The traffic, comments, time spent on my site and the visitors are all still very good. I just didn’t promote the product as much because I had too many other things on my plate. Since that time, I’ve decided to move in that direction so hopefully I’ll seeing some of those types of results there as well.
Appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this. Have a wonderful day!
You are most welcome.
Just don’t give in so easily. There are still lots of chances and opportunities on which you can get back on your feet. Getting a successful career does not happen overnight, always remember that. Also, if things didn’t workout, maybe you should consider making new strategies.
Antonia@Conversational hypnosis recently posted..The 4 Stages Hypnosis Protocol
Thanks for that, I appreciate it. Through this process I started realizing that this particular journey was coming to an end. My heart wasn’t in it as much any longer but my journey is near from being over. I am just continuing it over at my main blog and I will create a product and I will continue to help others learn. I love the online industry and I love that I took this on and showed what I could do with it. It’s been a fabulous ride.
Thanks Antonia, you are a trooper.
Life is a constant lesson and it is nice that you have opened yourself to share what you are learning with us. Your honesty is one reason why you get loyal followers and commenters. It’s nice to see that your stats are doing well and I hope it even gets better. I bet all your followers are keeping their fingers crossed.
Samantha@Teeth grinding recently posted..Teeth Clenching – Why A Night Guard Won’t Cure It
Thank you Samantha for your comment, I appreciate that.
Unfortunately, I’ve closed this particular journey and are continuing it over at my main blog. I did really well here and learned what the next step to this is all about so things do continue to go really well for me. I appreciate your comments, thank you.
It seems that you’re having success, I’m really happy to hear this, you trully deserve it! Congratulations and keep up the good work and the progress!
Martin@CDL recently posted..Hazardous Materials Practice Test
Thank you Martin, I really appreciate that!
I see some interesting spikes there, that’s a good start. You just need to level those. but i’m confident you can do it given a little more time.
Good luck!
Thanks for your encouraging words Lynn!
Hello Adrienne!
Your statistics are very much impressive and you are doing good. You are such a nice and generous person in sharing your ideas and experiences in your life. You really deserve to have success in your career. You really inspires me in all matters. Thanks for sharing this wonderful success from you and I’m looking forward to your another achievements soon. God bless you more and keep inspiring!
Hey John,
Well, those stats for May weren’t very impressive at all I’m afraid. I had slacked off some so you probably noticed. But hopefully you did go back through the rest of the months to see how each and every month I continued to bring in traffic and sales. I’m really just hoping that others who read about my journey will be able to take away what I have learned and apply this to their own business.
I appreciate your kind words so thank you for that. It means a lot!