Niche Site Project 1 | Niche Pursuits

Area of interest Website Undertaking 1 was my first time to construct a distinct segment web site publicly.  The undertaking led to 2014. 

In order for you my freshest methods, please learn my find out how to construct area of interest web sites information.

This is some archives or what occurred within the undertaking…

Initially, what’s the public area of interest web site undertaking?  Properly, for the previous couple of years, I’ve shared MANY posts about constructing area of interest websites; nonetheless, I’ve all the time stored my very own websites non-public (for numerous causes).  Nevertheless, in early 2013 I lastly determined to construct a distinct segment web site from scratch in entrance of everybody.

I used to be fairly apprehensive about sharing my web site publicly; nonetheless, I additionally knew that if I used to be studying another person’s weblog, I might need to see EVERYTHING!  So, I’m doing my finest to take the angle of YOU the reader, and am offering what I consider you’ll need to see.

So, total the aim is to reveal how I do key phrase analysis and construct area of interest websites.  If this in flip helps you perceive the method higher in your personal enterprise, then its been a hit!  Nevertheless, I additionally had a objective once I began this area of interest web site undertaking to make $500/month from the positioning I created after 6 months.

A whole overview of the Undertaking and Outcomes

In early 2013, I kicked off with a webinar, what has now grow to be generally known as Area of interest Website Undertaking 1.  This case research has been probably the most standard sequence of posts that I’ve ever finished on my weblog solely rivaled in reputation by the second Area of interest Website Undertaking right here.

I went by means of the method of discovering key phrases, selecting a website identify (initially BestSurvivalKnifeGuide.com), and constructing a distinct segment from scratch.  And one of the best half was that I revealed all the things!

Right now, I need to clarify why there was a niche within the updates and to lastly clarify what occurred to the positioning.  The unique objective of this case research was to make it a invaluable studying expertise for everybody, and so I plan to disclose all the things as soon as once more to hopefully assist others studying this put up.

Despite the fact that the positioning has not labored out precisely as deliberate, I feel its nonetheless necessary to share the trials simply in addition to the victories. 

As you will note beneath, the visitors to the positioning has been fairly low, BUT additionally, you will see some VERY fascinating motion over the previous couple of days.  Sufficient motion, that I’ll merely say there may be nonetheless a ray of hope for the undertaking after all the things that has occurred.

A Assessment of the Finest Survival Knife Information Case Examine

Again in January 2013, I shared my plans to conduct a public case research undertaking.  The reception was wonderful!  You wished to see me construct a distinct segment web site from scratch, and it actually motivated me to get going.

The case research progressed very properly, and my web site was rating #1 in Google after simply 62 days!

The earnings additionally began to pour in.  This is is the revenue chart for the primary a number of months of the undertaking:

You possibly can see that by September 2013 (simply 9 months after the undertaking began), the positioning was earnings about $800 per thirty days!  The visitors was additionally doing very properly, as you may see from this Google Analytics screenshot:

Nevertheless, I used to be additionally very clear alongside the way in which, that I knew one thing was mistaken.  I detected very early on, that it appeared I used to be a sufferer of a adverse web optimization assault.  I wrote this text, “Is My Area of interest Website a Sufferer of Detrimental web optimization?” simply 3 months after beginning the undertaking, and properly earlier than the positioning was incomes very a lot.

Discovering and Coping with Detrimental web optimization

I might see that as early as March 2013, somebody was constructing hyperlinks to my web site with out my information.  Even worse, they had been utilizing the anchor textual content of “finest survival knife” (my chosen key phrase).

I might by no means suggest and definitely wasn’t on this case constructing hundreds of hyperlinks to my very own web site with key phrase heavy anchor textual content.  I continued to see an increasing number of hyperlinks pour in over the approaching months, however there was nothing I might do about it because it was out of my management.

This is what Ahrefs appeared like; exhibiting the large inflow of hyperlinks that I didn’t need:

I stored hoping that Google wouldn’t penalize my web site, they usually did not for the primary 8 months.  Nevertheless, the inevitable day arrived in October 2013, and Google lastly hit my web site with a penalty; which made good sense due to all of the adverse web optimization it was receiving.

This dropped the earnings considerably for the month of October, as you may see from this revenue chart:

This is a chart exhibiting when the penalty hit and the related hit in visitors:

Ouch!  The visitors and earnings tanked; and it gave the impression to be a adverse web optimization assault that precipitated all the things.

In reality, I additionally employed a hyperlink knowledgeable to try the positioning and do a full deep evaluation.  He did simply that and his findings had been precisely as I acknowledged.  The positioning tanked as a consequence of poor high quality hyperlinks with key phrase heavy anchor textual content.

Disavow Hyperlinks: Fail?

So, I took Guntram’s recommendation based mostly on his in-depth hyperlink evaluation, and disavowed all of the spammy hyperlinks that had been pointing to my web site.

In reality, I did not simply disavow the hyperlinks, however I truly went by means of and emailed most of the offending websites requesting that the hyperlinks be eliminated.  However as you may suspect, many of the websites weren’t “actual” websites anyway, so there was little or no response from any of the “site owners”.

I waited a number of months after submitting the disavow file for BestSurvivalKnifeGuide.com to Webmaster instruments to provide Google an opportunity to get better my rankings.  Nevertheless, after ready a number of months and seeing no change in rankings or visitors to talk of, I principally gave up on Google.

The disavow hyperlinks didn’t work in any respect for me.

This is a take a look at the visitors after October 2013

As you may see, the visitors in early October dropped by greater than half, and by no means recovered.  The positioning was nonetheless getting about 250 guests or so a day, however I am positive that MOST of that remaining visitors was from readers of NichePursuits.com.  Those who knew about my weblog had been merely trying out my web site for probably the most half, quite than pure guests.

If I had been to guess, I used to be getting lower than 50 pure guests a day to BestSurvivalKnifeGuide.com after October 2013.  (Earlier than that, many of the guests had been pure).

Nevertheless, as you will note beneath…maybe the disavow hyperlinks did work in any case.  I nonetheless have some large questions marks as to what’s at the moment happening.

Altering Domains…Twice!

So, right here I used to be with a dilemma.   I had constructed up a distinct segment web site that I knew might earn over $800 per thirty days, however it had been dropped in Google as a consequence of spammy hyperlinks.  I had spent appreciable quantity of money and time getting the positioning up and paying for content material; so I did not need to simply see it fizzle.

The disavow hyperlinks was not working after a number of months; so I decided to maneuver the content material to a brand new area after which 301 redirect the previous area to the brand new area.

I had been informed by a number of those that this fairly often would eliminate any penalties related by the previous area.  So, on January 30, 2014 I moved your entire web site over to PointOfSurvival.com and did a 301 redirect from BestSurvivalKnifeGuide.com to PointofSurvival.com.

The outcome?  Horrible.

Nothing occurred once I moved to a brand new area.  The visitors remained the identical, and no penalty was lifted.  Now in fact in hindsight that is apparent.  In case you redirected all hyperlinks (which is what I did with the 301), then even the spammy hyperlinks get redirected and so the penalty shouldn’t be going to be eliminated.

So, PointOfSurvival.com was lifeless within the water earlier than it even began.  It merely stored getting concerning the similar quantity of visitors because it was earlier than the area identify change:

I got here to the belief that nothing was going to occur except I received away from the spammy hyperlinks.

So, I took one other drastic step.

This time I made a decision to get ANOTHER new area identify, however this time NOT redirect any of the hyperlinks.  So, I moved all of the content material to a brand new area (that I’ll doubtless reveal in a future put up), however didn’t do a 301 redirect from any hyperlinks associated to BestSurvivalKnifeGuide.com or PointOfSurvival.com.

Nevertheless, I used to be additionally involved about duplicate content material and Google feeling like this new area was only a copy of the earlier domains.  So, with the intention to forestall any confusion, I didn’t publish something till after I had de-indexed each BestSurvivalKnifeGuide.com and PointOfSurvival.com from Google.

That is proper, I eliminated the websites from Google accomplished.

Eradicating a web site you personal from Google is definitely very simple.  You simply log in to your Webmaster Instruments, choose “Take away URLs”, after which enter the URL you need to take away/deindex:

In case you enter the foundation area, your entire web site will get deindexed.  Nevertheless, if you happen to simply need to take away one or two particular pages; simply enter that URL.

I used to be shocked at how shortly my web site was faraway from the index.  I submitted the request, and PointOfSurvival.com was fully faraway from the Google index inside 24 hours!

I truly waited a month or 2 AFTER the previous websites had been de-indexed earlier than I revealed the content material on my new area.  I wished to make it possible for the websites had been totally out of the index, and that Google had “forgotten” the previous content material.

So, I revealed all of the content material on the brand new area someday round March 2014 and hoped for one of the best.

The Present State of My Survival Knife Website

So, what occurred once I revealed all of the previous content material on the brand new area?  Properly, it was identical to having a model new web site.

As you realize with a brand new web site, it takes a short while for that content material to get listed and for individuals to begin visiting.  And since the positioning had NO hyperlinks pointing to it in any respect, it really was a contemporary area.

As well as, I didn’t reveal the brand new area to anybody; so any visitors that was coming in, I knew for positive that it was pure visitors.

So, after October 2013, I used to be suspecting that BestSurvivalKnifeGuide.com was solely getting about 50 pure web site guests a day.  After a few months, I had surpassed that quantity of distinctive guests to my new area.

Even with solely a few hyperlinks (I did not do any actual hyperlink constructing in any respect); the brand new web site gave the impression to be getting some Google love!

Hyperlink Constructing

As talked about, I did nearly no hyperlink constructing for this web site.  I contacted a number of websites that had legitimately linked to BestSurvivalKnifeGuide.com and requested them to vary the hyperlinks to my new area.  That was the majority of the hyperlink constructing I did.  I used to be so involved about getting one other hyperlink associated penalty from Google at this level, that I made a decision to simply lay low for some time.

The Penalty Flowed to New Area?

Nevertheless, regardless of the constructive progress over the primary few months, one thing occurred in June of this yr that appeared like one other penalty.  This is a fast take a look at the analytics:

I can solely guess what occurred in June to the brand new area.  I used to be not constructing any hyperlinks to the positioning (aside from the few talked about above).   My guess is that the penalty from the previous web site moved to the brand new area, despite the fact that I hadn’t finished any redirects.

And actually, this actual situation is confirmed by Google that it might happen.  This is an article from SEroundtable.com explaining that, “Google Penalties Might Follow You to a New Domain Name“.  This is a quote from that article:

So we all know that in case you have a penalty in your web site and you progress your web site to a brand new area and redirect the URLs to that new area, the penalty will move due to the redirects. That’s recognized.

What I didn’t know is that if you happen to took your web site and moved it to a brand new area however didn’t redirect the previous area to the brand new, that Google may cross alongside the penalty with out redirecting the URLs.

So, it seems that the penalty has adopted me to the brand new area, however are issues altering?

Penalty Removing? A Ray of Hope!

To be sincere, I began scripting this weblog replace a few days in the past merely as a approach to inform everybody that even after 9 months, I nonetheless have been unable to get better the survival knife web site.  Nevertheless, as I started writing the article and checking the stats, I seen some VERY fascinating issues happening the previous couple of days.

In reality, there was sufficient upward motion when it comes to rankings and visitors, that I consider my penalty is being eliminated!

Check out the Google Analytics from the positioning; and spot the 300% progress over the previous couple of days!

Yippee!  Now, I do not know precisely what is going on on or even when the expansion might be sustained…however SOMETHING is unquestionably happening.

Not solely has the visitors tripled, however I can clearly see that I’m rating properly in Google for key phrases that I used to be beforehand no the place to be discovered for.  The positioning is making a comeback!

Now, I am all the time properly conscious that we’re speaking about tiny quantities of visitors right here.  The positioning continues to be beneath 100 guests a day, BUT its 3 instances what it was 2 days in the past, and rising. I additionally know from expertise {that a} pattern like this could typically proceed over a interval of a few months.  So, if this web site really acts like a web site that Google loves, the visitors might develop considerably larger over the subsequent a number of weeks because it begins exhibiting up for all of the lengthy tail key phrases that it needs to be rating for.

And one of the best half is that I can clearly see that the visitors is coming from Google.  That is pure search engine visitors as a result of my web site is as soon as once more exhibiting up for key phrases for which it was no the place to be discovered for the previous 9 months.

The rationale for the comeback?

I’ve 2 theories about why the positioning could also be gaining traction in Google once more.  First, I submitted a disavow hyperlinks file to Google about 9 months in the past; and that’s the most rational motive that my web site is lastly coming again.  I had given up on Google, however possibly all of my hyperlinks had been lastly disavowed from my actions 9 months in the past and the penalty has been lifted.

A second idea is that most of the spammy websites that had been linking to me now not are.  I might see that possibly some hyperlinks had been eliminated, or that most of the spammy domains simply merely expired.  Domains expire on a regular basis, and particularly spammy ones that haven’t any worth.

So, at this level I do not know all the explanations for the indicators of a comeback, however I believe that the disavow hyperlinks lastly labored and different spammy websites simply stopped linking or expired.

Earnings!

As of October 2013, my survival knife web site had earned a complete of $3,821.34.  Nevertheless, the pattern was method down beginning in October:

The pattern has not modified as you would possibly suspect based mostly on all of the visitors charts I’ve proven you above.  Consequently, the positioning has solely earned $579.25 from Nov. 2013 by means of Aug. twenty sixth, 2014.

So, in whole the positioning has earned roughly $4,400.59 since I started the undertaking in January 2013.  The earnings over the previous 10 months have been fairly dismal.  And actually, the positioning has solely averaged about $30 a month for the previous 3 months.

The earnings this month doubtless will not be stellar even with the elevated visitors, however I do once more see a glimmer of hope within the earnings report over the previous couple of days.

For this month, the positioning has solely shipped 6 whole gadgets on Amazon; clearly not very thrilling.  Nevertheless, what’s fascinating is that 4 of these 6 gadgets had been shipped up to now two days!  This correlates precisely with the elevated visitors as proven on the Google analytics report.

In whole, about half of the earnings for this month have come up to now 2 days.  Consequently, I am very curious to see what occurs the previous few days of the month.

Google visitors may be very invaluable. So now that persons are lastly as soon as once more discovering me utilizing numerous lengthy tail queries, they’re extra doubtless to purchase.  It seems that I am lastly getting again a few of that “shopping for” visitors that Google typically sends.

Plans Transferring Ahead

So, now that you’re all caught up on my survival knife web site; what are my plans for it transferring ahead?

To be sincere, I am unsure at this level.  I sat down to write down this put up and clarify that the positioning was nonetheless lifeless…however surprisingly its exhibiting some indicators of life now for the primary time in 9 months!  I will be doing a little month-to-month planning for all of my websites within the subsequent week; so I will resolve at that time what I need to do with the positioning.

If I proceed to see extra enchancment and proof that the Google penalty has been eliminated, then I’ll very doubtless put some extra effort and time into the survival knife web site.  Step one is for me so as to add the brand new area into Google webmaster instruments.

The earlier domains clearly confirmed in webmaster instruments that it had obtained a penalty in opposition to it. So, if I add the brand new area and no penalties are added in webmaster instruments, then I could certainly have a clear undertaking on my fingers.

What meaning for you (both method), is that there’ll certainly be extra updates to this undertaking!

Classes Realized

If in some way the penalty is eliminated and the positioning makes a restoration, I will report on that.  I truly thought this was going to be the final put up I make for the Area of interest Website Undertaking 1, however as I have been pleasantly stunned the previous couple of days, the undertaking stays open.

Nevertheless earlier than I shut out the put up, I feel its necessary to overview a few of the classes discovered from the undertaking up to now:

1. In my view, adverse web optimization may be very actual.  Nevertheless, I feel its very uncommon and should not be a priority for most individuals.  Out of tons of of web sites I’ve constructed, that is the one one its each occurred to.  I consider it occurred as a result of I shared the URL publicly right here on NichePursuits.com.

2. Do not share URLs publicly with the mistaken individuals.  Sadly, sharing my web site publicly was finally its downfall.  One particular person seems to have ruined the case research for everybody.  Consequently, I actually do not suppose I will be sharing any of my area of interest websites publicly sooner or later once more.  Nevertheless, to be true to my phrase once I first began this undertaking, I WILL reveal the brand new survival knife area in some unspecified time in the future…simply not now; however hopefully within the subsequent couple of months.

3. Google’s disavow hyperlinks instrument may very well be working, however its very sluggish.  I had given up on cleansing up the hyperlinks to my survival knife web site.  Nevertheless, roughly 9 months after submitting my disavow hyperlinks file, it seems that I am lastly getting some traction in Google as soon as once more.  The jury continues to be out with my web site, however the early indicators are very promising.

The Remaining Replace for Area of interest Website Undertaking 1

What Occurred to Area of interest Website Undertaking 1: BestSurvivalKnifeGuide.com?

I’m going to do my finest to supply a fast recap on a undertaking that began nearly 3 years in the past.

Early on within the undertaking, I seen that there have been hyperlinks being constructed to my web site that I didn’t construct or request to be constructed.  I feared that my web site was being focused by adverse web optimization.

Strive as I’d, there was nothing that I might do from the spammy hyperlinks that continued to pop up.  The undertaking moved on, and I used to be nonetheless in a position to maintain onto my primary spot in Google for quite a lot of months.

Nevertheless, the dreaded day got here when the adverse web optimization hyperlinks pointing at my web site lastly took impact and my web site began dropping in Google.  The drop got here on October 4th, 2013 when Google Penguin 2.1 was launched.  (This Google replace was a hyperlinks replace…so it is fairly clear the the adverse web optimization hyperlinks had been lastly acknowledged by Google and my web site dropped).

Nevertheless, simply to substantiate what was happening, I introduced in a hyperlinks knowledgeable to research the hyperlink profile of my Survival Knife web site.  Certain sufficient, he confirmed what I had suspected, my web site had been penalized as a consequence of spammy hyperlinks.  

At this level, the case research was basically over.  Nevertheless, I nonetheless put in plenty of effort to try to get better the positioning.

Restoration Efforts

I detailed a whole lot of my restoration efforts on this weblog put up.  This is what I attempted in a nutshell:

• Disavowed all spammy hyperlinks in webmaster instruments
• Emailed as many web sites I might that had been linking to me with low high quality hyperlinks
• I noticed no outcomes from my above efforts, so I took the drastic step of transferring to a model new area.  I didn’t 301 redirect any of the hyperlinks, I simply moved the content material.
• I believed I used to be beginning to see a restoration; nonetheless, it was quick lived and never everlasting.  The visitors continued to die to the positioning.

Promoting the Content material and Shutting it Down

Regardless of all my efforts for a couple of yr attempting to get better the positioning, I simply couldn’t get visitors again to the positioning.  Quite than spend extra time on a web site that wasn’t incomes a lot cash, I gave up on the undertaking.

As a result of this was a public undertaking, I might nonetheless get contacted by Area of interest Pursuits readers that had been fascinated with what was happening.  One reader had a web site in an analogous area of interest and requested if he might purchase all of the content material from my web site.

We a had an extended dialogue, and I used to be lastly at a degree the place I used to be prepared to simply let go.  Consequently, I offered all of the content material on the positioning for $900 (I consider), and fully deindexed my web site.  The brand new proprietor of the content material was in a position to take it and publish it on Google as if it was contemporary (as a result of I had deindexed the content material beforehand from Google).

Consequently, I now not have a web site within the survival knife area of interest and this undertaking is formally over!

In whole, I made about $6,000 from the positioning whereas it was up and working.  Greater than the earnings although, I feel the case research was fairly invaluable because it actually did present step-by-step how anybody can construct a distinct segment web site from scratch.

I confronted some extra challenges as a result of I ran the positioning so publicly, and that publicity finally proved to be its downfall with all of the adverse web optimization hyperlinks.

So, that is it…Area of interest Website Undertaking 1 is totally over…no extra updates! 🙂