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View Full Version : Please Give some opinions on a new Gift Blog I started.



Harold Mansfield
06-29-2009, 09:52 PM
I was trolling around the web a few days ago checking out article marketing techniques, and noticed how many people write "Top 5 Gift Ideas for (insert category here)" articles.....a crap load.

I then noticed that no one actually registered the domain "Top 5 Gift ideas" so I did, and along with a nice affiliate script I found, combined with programs that I am already signed up with and making sales, I started putting this together...hopefully to get a jump on the holiday shopping season, as well as many others.

It's still a work in progress, but i'd appreciate some opinions on the look and overall idea so far.

here's the link. (http://www.top5giftideas.com)

Dan Furman
06-29-2009, 11:04 PM
One sentence came to mind when I looked at it:

ooooooh..... nice.

Really. I love it.

Harold Mansfield
06-30-2009, 01:24 AM
One sentence came to mind when I looked at it:

ooooooh..... nice.

Really. I love it.

Thanks Dan, I really appreciate that.

SteveC
06-30-2009, 04:03 AM
It looks exceptionally nice...

I have one question thought... given the domain name, why are there more than five items...

Harold Mansfield
06-30-2009, 04:23 PM
It looks exceptionally nice...

I have one question thought... given the domain name, why are there more than five items...
First of all thanks for the review....

Yeah I was planning on making that clear in the about section. The most common searches are for "Him", "Her", "Mom", "Dad", "Kids", "Wedding Gifts", "Under $50", and "Under $100". (Also "Under $20, but I am leaving that one out). It changes in traffic with the season, obviously around Easter, Christmas, Graduations, but "Top 5" for some reason seems to be the most used parameter along with "Best" , "Unique" and "Original"

Those are the pages in the top menu where I suggest the "Top 5", based on customer reviews, search trends, and best sellers... but I also want to post daily ideas in different categories (that I have listed in the sidebar).

My logic is, given the amount of pages indexed in Google for "Top 5 Gift Ideas...", but without matching domains, with the correct permalink structure, the posts should list in the serps something like :

top5giftideas.com/for-golfers/xxx-xxx-xxxx,
top5giftideas.com/for-graduation/xxx-xxx-xxx,

and for the pages like this:

top5giftideas.com/for-her
top5giftideas.com/for-under-$50

and directly match the search requests, hopefully (with some SEO) jumping over all the other same niche articles on the search and multiplying my matched entries, but with different content on each.

billbenson
06-30-2009, 04:37 PM
You do good work eborg. I really like it.

A question. Where do you go for your logo etc graphics?

Harold Mansfield
06-30-2009, 04:56 PM
You do good work eborg. I really like it.

A question. Where do you go for your logo etc graphics?

Bill I have been struggling with that for a long time now since I am really not that artistically inclined. I actual make my own using a $40 banner program I purchased last year(here (http://www.flashadcreator.com/TLC_Examples.htm)), Gimp, and either free clip art, or if I can't find anything for free, I'll bite the bullet and get something from Getty Images.

Someone here turned me on to a color palette site (http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorwizard.asp#wizard) so I use that to come up with color combinations.

It's a struggle. I always know the mood I want to project, but don't really have the skills to translate that into an image.
Pretty much a photo and some fonts is all I know how to do.

I have found that being able to resize an image and still retain the quality, and removing the background can take you a long way :)

Basically I have gotten into the habit of overcompensating what I know how to do, to draw attention away from what I don't know how to do.

I still don't have a logo for my main blog. The oldest one (2 years old) , and the one that actually makes consistent money.

billbenson
06-30-2009, 08:41 PM
I'm in the same boat on the artistic stuff, but the end result of what you've done always looks good and appropriate for the types of sites. If you can do a decent job of removing backgrounds you doing good. I've never been able to do that.

I'm sitting here messing around with Gimp right now. I've always used Photoshop, but I switched over to LInux, so I need to figure out Gimp. Its a little different.

Harold Mansfield
06-30-2009, 08:48 PM
... If you can do a decent job of removing backgrounds you doing good. I've never been able to do that.


When I first learned how that function worked, it was with this tutorial:
Removing Image Backgrounds - Gimp | NZ Photo Info (http://www.photo-info.co.nz/articles/gimp/removing-backgrounds).

When I want to do something, no matter how insignificant it is to the total project, I can't go forward until I figure it out, sometimes wasting a whole day (or days) just staring...it's crippling....so I search out tutorials all the time.

billbenson
06-30-2009, 10:18 PM
Wait til php if you ever dig into that. Sometimes you just have to walk away from it to figure out how to do something. I can't tell you the number of times I've woken up at 5am realizing what I was doing wrong. I'll try your tutorial.

vangogh
06-30-2009, 10:34 PM
Great idea on grabbing the domain. Who'd a thunk it would be available.

I have to a agree with everyone on the site. Do you use a WordPress theme. The layout looks similar to some of your other sites. At least one anyway.

I'm not crazy about the background, but that's more my personal taste. I tend to prefer backgrounds without much going on in them. Just looking for things to nitpick. And really I am just nitpicking. The site looks great as was the idea to grab the domain.

Harold Mansfield
06-30-2009, 11:29 PM
Do you use a WordPress theme. The layout looks similar to some of your other sites. At least one anyway.
.

Yeah it's on wordpress. It's what I'm most comfortable (and fastest) with. I do use this theme on a landing page as well, just changed a few colors around..actually going for a [non-seasonal, non-descript] "gift wrapping" kind of look.

As far as the domain, I guess so many people concentrated on ranking their article, that no one thought to use it as a domain and the results just started piling up...just a bunch of single articles from many different sources....that's the only reason I got it....everyone else already did the work and created a niche search term.

Funny, when I was checking to see if it was available for "giggles" the only thing I could think of was "Who ever has that has to have one killer permalink structure, just totally commanding the serps".

Like you said, "Who'd da thunk?"

I also have always wanted to do some kind of "Gift Idea" site in the back of my mind...just some wild theory I have always had that it would be easier to convert since everyone buys gifts more than a few times a year for all kinds of occasions, and we are quicker to get it out of the way and over with than we are when buying products for ourselves, which we investigate a few times before dropping any coin....if we ever pull the trigger and purchase at all.

We never second guess buying for others, especially when it is expected of us. We just do it. The only thing that we consider is, "How much can I spend ?" and "What to buy?"

I never quite researched the theory for validity, but all that was on my mind and it looked like it was worth the $10 to give it a shot.

vangogh
07-01-2009, 12:01 AM
The site seems like a good fit for you. I know you like working with affiliate products and the top 5 gifts theme seems perfect for affiliate products.


Yeah it's on wordpress

I didn't do a good job with my question. What I meant was do you use the same theme or maybe same 2 or 3 themes across your sites? I've noticed a similar layout and thought you might be using the same started theme.

Harold Mansfield
07-01-2009, 12:14 AM
I use that particular theme on 2 sites (including that one). I normally use a different theme on something new, but this one is so easy to use and get up and running, and the developer just sent me an update on it about a week ago, which put it fresh in my mind when this idea popped into my head.

You know it's funny, now that I think about it, I read about the affiliate script 3 months ago...liked it, but couldn't figure out how I would use it and just put it on the back burner.

The update for the theme came a week ago...I never even unpacked it.

I just got my first decent Amazon payout for the first time since I started with them, and that made me want to work harder on Amazon, but I had no ideas...(edited)..which is how I was checking out gift articles in the first place !

When I saw the domain available, all those things rushed into my head at once and made a complete picture..3 months of separate, partial ideas came together in a matter of seconds.

I guess if you cram enough stuff in your head, eventually something will pop out.

I just hate to face the boring, repetitive , time consuming task of SEOing another site from the ground up.

Harold Mansfield
07-01-2009, 12:15 AM
Wait til php if you ever dig into that. Sometimes you just have to walk away from it to figure out how to do something. I can't tell you the number of times I've woken up at 5am realizing what I was doing wrong. I'll try your tutorial.

LOL ! I have definitely been there.:)

vangogh
07-01-2009, 11:10 AM
I think it's called being prepared. That's how you make your own luck and how you're able to see opportunities when they're presented to you. You put in the all the prep work and then seemingly out of the blue a whole bunch of pieces fit together easily. But they only git together easily because of the work you've done and the knowledge you've gained in the past.

Harold Mansfield
07-01-2009, 11:22 AM
I think it's called being prepared. That's how you make your own luck and how you're able to see opportunities when they're presented to you. .

Is that what that is ? I have always heard people say that but had no idea what they were talking about ("Making your own luck").

Funny, it doesn't feel that prophetic, feels more like a new puppy running around sniffing everything until he can find something to chew on.

KristineS
07-01-2009, 12:32 PM
I like this site very much. It is nice and clean and a great idea.

By the way, for good stock images that are relatively inexpensive, try Istockphoto. We use them and you can buy good images for a reasonable price.

Harold Mansfield
07-01-2009, 02:11 PM
I like this site very much. It is nice and clean and a great idea.

By the way, for good stock images that are relatively inexpensive, try Istockphoto. We use them and you can buy good images for a reasonable price.

Thanks for the review and thanks for the tip. I actually have Istockphoto bookmarked, but never browsed around..I will check them out now.

vangogh
07-02-2009, 12:14 AM
Making your own luck is simply being prepared. There are always opportunities in front of us, but most of the time we're not ready for them so we don't get to take advantage of them. When you put in the work prior to the opportunity then you're ready when it comes along. It might seem like luck, but it's just that you were ready.

dynocat
07-02-2009, 12:50 AM
Very clever idea and nice site. Good luck on sales.

Harold Mansfield
07-05-2009, 11:47 PM
I noticed that when I started this thread, and for many days before, there were no paid ads for "top 5 gift ideas" in Google, then I noticed 1 or 2...today, it is full.

Coincidence ?

When you post up for a review, you always assume (especially in affiliate marketing) that you are giving a niche away to others to check out and possibly dive into.

Unless you have a "category killer" for a domain, it's a risk.

I knew it was an untapped search result to capitalize on, but seeing people spend money on it, really makes me feel good. I also found this site (http://www.topgiftideastore.com/),although the domain was registered before mine. Same theme and everything.

I guess no idea on the web is truly original, it's all about your spin and the execution.

billbenson
07-06-2009, 02:18 AM
You get a lot more adwords results if you quote the search phrase. I only get two without quotes. None of the pages I checked or source contained the keyphrase. It would be really interesting to know if any of those results have your keyphrase in their adwords keyphrase. You can't be sure.

I bet you could do a pretty cheap exact match adwords campaign ie [].

I've never tried this, but it could be fun to run some adwords ads with the ad and landing page optimized for your keyphrase (I'm intentionally not using it; no point in drawing attention). put a lot of different products on the landing page(s). Look at your stats in a month and it might tell you what products you should push and optimize for?

Just a thought, but its interesting stuff eborg. Keep us posted.

vangogh
07-06-2009, 11:25 AM
Maybe your site has started to grab some organic results that are now forcing a few other sites to spend on the ads to keep the same level of traffic they had been getting.

Harold Mansfield
07-06-2009, 11:53 AM
You get a lot more adwords results if you quote the search phrase. I only get two without quotes. None of the pages I checked or source contained the keyphrase. It would be really interesting to know if any of those results have your keyphrase in their adwords keyphrase. You can't be sure.

I bet you could do a pretty cheap exact match adwords campaign ie [].

I've never tried this, but it could be fun to run some adwords ads with the ad and landing page optimized for your keyphrase (I'm intentionally not using it; no point in drawing attention). put a lot of different products on the landing page(s). Look at your stats in a month and it might tell you what products you should push and optimize for?

Just a thought, but its interesting stuff eborg. Keep us posted.

I had to read that twice..adwords is still my weak point, but I may just do that...just to throw a few bucks at it.


Maybe your site has started to grab some organic results that are now forcing a few other sites to spend on the ads to keep the same level of traffic they had been getting.

I don't see how, I barely even started doing any SEO, I did notice a few search traffic referrals, but no real traffic to speak of.
I'm, going to work on the SEO side all week...I know I have one page on the first page of the serps, but still a very long way to go.

vangogh
07-06-2009, 12:12 PM
The domain itself could mean you rank for a few things and the content too. Maybe you aren't pulling traffic yet, but maybe a few other sites noticed your site ranking and so jumped into more AdWords. I'm just speculating of course.

billbenson
07-06-2009, 01:11 PM
If you go that route, eborg, shoot me an email or pm and I'll lay out at least what I would do.

Harold Mansfield
07-06-2009, 04:34 PM
If you go that route, eborg, shoot me an email or pm and I'll lay out at least what I would do.

Thanks, that would be helpful. I'll shoot you an email when I get to that point.


The domain itself could mean you rank for a few things and the content too. Maybe you aren't pulling traffic yet, but maybe a few other sites noticed your site ranking and so jumped into more AdWords. I'm just speculating of course.

Well one thing for sure, it has made me re-evaluate a few things, and started me leaning towards reverse engineering...grabbing a "category killer" first (no matter what it is), and then building on top of that, instead of trying to brute force my way into some traffic with good ideas.

It has taken some time, but I am starting to realize that I can let the niche find me, instead of always trying to find the niche.

Harold Mansfield
07-23-2009, 01:46 AM
Interesting update. Checked Google and have 3 first page listings for the search term...not as much traffic as I thought that would bring and only a few low dollar sales.
Strange.
I have first page results on search terms that are far less competitive on other sites that give off more traffic.

Looks like I'm going to have to put some real SEO on it and go for another key phrase.
That kind of sucks. :(,

vangogh
07-23-2009, 02:09 AM
Maybe the terms are less competitive than you're thinking or maybe the terms aren't quite the match for your site as you thought.

How are the snippets under your link in the results? Are they something that would improve click through or are they something that might have searches look to the next result? It could be you're right about how competitive the queries are, but your results may not be the ones getting clicked.

billbenson
07-23-2009, 04:45 AM
I've never done this on this small of a scale, but try this in Adwords (don't mean to push on adwords, its just worked well for me).

Write an adwords group for each keyphrase that you think might be good. Optimize the ad and landing page, and keywords. Just use keywords in [keyword]. That means you have to have an exact match. It could give you an idea of what keywords G likes for that page. Shouldn't cost much for exact matches.

Harold Mansfield
07-23-2009, 01:34 PM
Maybe the terms are less competitive than you're thinking or maybe the terms aren't quite the match for your site as you thought.

How are the snippets under your link in the results? Are they something that would improve click through or are they something that might have searches look to the next result? It could be you're right about how competitive the queries are, but your results may not be the ones getting clicked.

Well, it's not number one yet. I'll have to make some moves with it this week end, too busy today.
@Bill Benson , thanks for the advice I may just do that