New Viral Fitness News Site: Goal $10k Per Month (8)
Hi everyone,
Found this site after reading ViperChill, like a lot of other newbs. Brand new to affiliate marketing, have yet to make my first penny on-line.
I got the idea for a viral fitness news site after DoYouEven.com switched over to 100% clothing. Rekindled the idea after reading several articles on ViperChill.
As much as I want to do everything myself, I can't and I won't. I'm sure there are a LOT of things I'm dropping the ball on, so I'm really looking forward to your feedback and critiques!
Traffic source: Facebook
Vertical: Fitness (Bodybuilding & Powerlifting)
Offer(s): None
Geos: US, CA, DE, IQ, JP, UAE, ZA (Need to refine)
Here's what I've done so far:
Facebook
- Created Facebook fan page
- Using Buffer, scheduled gym memes 9 times per day
- Ran a campaign for cheap Facebook likes, promoted to men 18-34 in Bangladesh, India, US. 3,479 likes. Shut off $40.74 later after reading on STM that I should have targeted better. $.01 per like.
- Ran a campaign targeting men in the geos listed above and women in US and CA; ages 18-34 for both, and who liked at least one of my competitors. Spent $56.63 for 801 likes. $.07 per like.
Website
- Hired a developer through Upwork
- Hired several content writers: one to source viral videos and write short intros, the other to write longer articles
- After publishing four articles, officially went live
- Began adding web articles to social media feed. Added Twitter.
- Applied for AdSense and rejected due to lack of content (among other items in the "you probably" list)
My plan going forward:
- Continue to outsource content. I'll edit, select 2 headlines for split-testing from the 10 I have them write, then post.
- Outsource web maintenance/enhancements except for things I can do in less than 10 minutes.
- Set budget for another Facebook campaign.
- Rinse and repeat, then apply for ad networks
Landing pages:
Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialIronAndChalk/
Website: http://www.ironandchalk.com/
Updates:
Spend for the day: $0
Revenue: $0
Net profit/loss: ($366.78)
Current tasks:
- Analyze dates and times when my Facebook fans are on-line, adjust Buffer schedule accordingly
- Figure out demographics of fans of my competitors and target Facebook campaigns
- Stay on top of my "Curate and copywrite" freelancer, who has been slow
- Hire another freelancer to source viral videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and 1+ years old competitor posts; rewrite and post
- Evaluate "Long-Form Copywriter" for a potential second gig
Updates:
Revenue: $0
Net profit/loss: ($743.88)
Since Last Week
1. After quite a bit of research, it seems premature to adjust my Facebook posting schedule based on current usage trends. I'll wait at least 30 days before tweaking posting times.
2. I wasn't able to isolate demographics of my competitors' Facebook page fan-base. I can make some assumptions, but they're probably inaccurate. Any suggestions?
3. Hired another freelance curator, and also got my current one going.
4. I am publishing two articles every day on the main site. I've got a good backlog of content, so I should be set for at least three weeks. My writers continue to add to that backlog.
5. Adjusted my Facebook page strategy. I'm looking for popular posts on pages that have larger engagement then mine and share (not steal) their posts on my page's wall. I'll continue to post articles from my viral site, but that should only represent 25% of daily posts.
Current Tasks
1. Revamp my Buffer backlog to reflect the mix of 75% Content from Others/25% from Me. It's been manual the past two days.
2. Hire "Long-Form Copywriter" for a second gig, to start late next week.
3. Check site speed and other metrics with Google webmaster tools; optimize if necessary.
4. Research SEO and SEM to identify additional strategies, if any, to start ranking.
This is definitely a long game, and I understood that going in. I'm not sure what other actions I should be taking right now. I may just need to rinse and repeat until organic traffic picks up to the point I can start advertising.
Thoughts?
Hey.. I was in your state few years back.. I started the same way as you did with facebook.. at first it was really hard to figure out but as I kept spending I kept gaining more data which helped me keep tinkering.
so i've been monitoring your page since I saw this follow-along.. but everyday I check i don't see any progress with the fans... why? aren't you paying for the fans?
that's the first thing you need to do get as much fans as you can and as soon as possible.. without enough fans there's no meaning of posting those contents... so your first goal is to increase the following as fast as possible.. adding contents and all the rest of the stuff are secondary... you should focus on getting the fans first.. then start engaging them.. once you starting getting some good engagment then you can start posting the links to your site...
it doesn't matter about your posting startegy as long as you don't have some good amount of fan... so get that first then only think of other stuff.... since your traffic source is going to be that page just focus on that page for now... optimising your site for speed.. researching seo, sem doesn't matter at this stage.. if your primary target is to get facebook traffic for now...
so here's my suggestion to you...
spend that time on researching your compettion on facebook.. find as many fans pages possible in your niche.. find as many websites as possible.. make a huge list, check, analayze what right and wrong they are doing.. and follow the footsteps of successfull websites...
Thanks for the reply! This morning, I launched two campaigns aimed at folks who either like my competition or like fitness, gyms, powerlifting, etc. I'll let those run while I research the competition.
I saw your other thread about page reach dropping, and I'll be interested in learning how to turn that around so I can plan ahead.
I am not sure I understand your business model. Are you trying to do ad "arbitrage" or sell your own products on your site?
If my newbie understanding of ad arbitrage is correct, in that I would pay for traffic and hope to make more money through ads, then yes, ad arbitrage is my model.
I really don't see the economics working out here for you ... Have you modelled out what assumptions you need to believe re traffic costs, ctrs, and rpcs in order for this to become profitable for you? I would bet that you have not, since I would imagine that if you have, you may think twice about this ...
You're half-right. :-)
I actually have thought about modeling this out and creating a formal plan, but chose not to.
Here's why.
I've been "trying" to make money online for five years. I put "trying" in quotes because I've made a fairly common mistake: I tend to over-analyze things to death and end up with nothing to show because I haven't taken any action. Sure, I've started a few blogs here and there and a Facebook page or two, but didn't take the necessary action to push the ball forward.
I have some disposable funds now, a strong desire to learn, the ability and willingness to take some risks, and the drive to quit my day job. I've always loved fitness, so this is the space I've chosen for my first of what I hope to be several big pushes. Worst case scenario: excellent learning experience in advertising, hiring through Upwork, and competitive research.
Second-worst case scenario: I ramp up paid traffic and either (1) sell the site or (2) sell private-label supplements. The second option is another one I toyed with a year ago but never got serious about.
TMI perhaps, but cathartic!
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