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Giving Away This Website is Not Going to be Easy!

25 July 2009 23 Comments

The day has come… Today, I am making the site available for everyone to see and get accustomed to! If you have not entered the contest to win this site, you may want to get on it, before the entry list closes on August 31st, 2009! I have a feeling this one is going to do well… Go ahead and visit the Golf Putter Guide website today!

Giving this site away is not going to be easy! But since I nor Kim, or any of my kids can enter… someone is going to be lucky!

Which Template Did I Use?

One of my primary goals (aside from following the guide) for this site, was to keep it as close to what YOU could do yourself, just to show how easy it can be done with a little planning and patience! I originally started using the same theme Adam and Kelvin included in the N1WAY Guide, but after seeing the css file, abandoned it for the 1-both-right-blue theme. From there, it is actually very LITTLE customization!

I created the logo with some stock images from manufacturer websites, and the simply extended the header to a taller size to accommodate my needs. The header has a left and right side, to account for the logo on the left and the banner and welcome message on the right.

Aside from those basic changes… I just worked to adjust the widths to my own desire, and changed a few link and background colors in the css file.

Did I Change Anything from Out of the Box BANS?

Yes! There are a few things I try to do on all my BANS installs. One, is to add the site tagline to the title tag, as you can see in the top blue bar of your browser, and the meta-title of all pages. I added the phrase: Golf Putter Guides” into the correct places within the code, to make it automatically appear on every page. I will write a post about that within the next day or two, but it was very simple to to get done.

Along with the title tag change, I added a way to deal with the soft 404 issue in BANS, by coding a 404.php page into the theme. You can see it by clicking on any site link, then just adding some trash to the end of the URL, to force it to 404. You can read how to fix the soft 404 at the BANS Soft 404 issue page on the Niche Store Builder site.

It works roughly 99% of the time – and I can accept a 1% loss.

Where Am I at in the N1WAY Guide

Currently, I am in the middle of step 5, where its time to get some traffic into the site. To date:

  • 24 Putter Reviews Done
  • 22 reviews in the wings, waiting to post over the next 30 days
  • 1 Completed Putting guide
  • 3 guides in the wings waiting to post
  • 39 Total pages live at launch (today)
  • 25 in the Wings (first 30 days to go live)
  • In addition, as new reviews are created and made live, it opens a whole new realm of self-generating guides that will be posted on the site! More on this later…

Fixed costs… meaning I don’t have to spend for these again (and often, not this time since I already had them)

Site Specific Time and Costs

  • $16 – Domains:  golfputterguide.com & golfputtersguide.com, each registered at GoDaddy for 1 year.
  • $82 – 25 launch review articles (future post on this)
  • $14 – Launch content (future post on this)
  • 17 Hours of time!

Time into this site was another thing… I have more time than I hoped, but that is likely due to it being the first site based off the guide, and will get easier with each new site. As many of you recall, if I were to put a price tag on my own time, its $75/hour. A few days ago, someone asked how much I would charge to build their site for them… In this case, it would have been: $1387.00, as that is what I view as my initial investment in this site.

Comments welcome…

23 Comments »

  • Ottidid said:

    That would be a wise investment for any marketer.. But with the limited funds of many newbies and veterans alike it would be easier and cheaper for them and us to learn to do this ourselves, since the longterm benefits will totally outweigh getting anyone to do this for them.. I have concidered hiring someone to do this new thing, but I know that I will build more than one and even redo some of my older sites to make them more valuable with this guide as a template to success$$

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #1, 25 July 2009 at 1:55 pm
  • Mark (author) said:

    I agree completely Otis… I actually prefer NOT to build sites for people, just sharing the info, so everyone has an understanding of the sites value (in my own eyes) :)

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #2, 25 July 2009 at 2:05 pm
  • Shawn S said:

    Gorgeous site Mark…even the 404 page.

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #3, 25 July 2009 at 3:45 pm
  • Mark (author) said:

    @Shawn S

    Thanks Shawn! Looking forward to seeing how it does in the first 90 days… I have plenty more ready to add to it, just wanting to do it slowly throughout the month.

    I have been kinda a stickler on the 404… At least this way, people have somewhere to go to, and the headers report correctly.

    Mark

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #4, 25 July 2009 at 3:52 pm
  • Sean said:

    I am green with envy. Straightup, that’s a damn good site (wiping drool from my face).

    Mine is taking a bit longer than hoped because I’m writing everything myself. No one said it was easy.

    PS, Did I mention that I like your site. Like to hear about the (future post). Thanks Mark….

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #5, 25 July 2009 at 6:21 pm
  • Jonny said:

    Mark, thats a great looking site, its great to actually see this alongside the BANS guide!

    I am getting loads of helpful tips building my own site, i have just finished researching a niche for its keywords, took me longer than i thought but feel pretty confident i can compete well in it!

    Just a quick question though! Is it ok to do all your keyword research using Google keyword tool or should i be using another paid/free tool as well?

    Thanks!

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #6, 26 July 2009 at 8:20 am
  • Mark (author) said:

    @ Sean –

    Thanks for the nice comment!! I will have the post about the content within a day or two.. :-)

    @ Jonny –

    I am using 100% free tools for everything. There ARE definitely benefits to some of the paid tools, but my goals with this are to keep costs to a minimum, and use as many of the free tools that I can.

    Paid tools really come in handy when chasing the long tail with little competition, but you can get the same results by searching google with the intitle, and quotes.

    Mark

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #7, 26 July 2009 at 8:31 am
  • Polly said:

    And the longer you work on this site, the harder it will be to give it away! It’s hard to see how this site could fail. What a fantastic job you’ve done – like Sean, I’m envious and hoping against hope that I’m lucky!

    I love the 404 page, really original approach. But, more than that I really like your idea of inviting reviews and guides from your visitors on the About page. Lots of original content (hopefully) and truly engaged visitors. Have you used this before and, if so, was it successful?

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #8, 26 July 2009 at 12:10 pm
  • Mark (author) said:

    @ Polly –

    The 404 page has always been one of the things I try to change second – right after I remove the “Sitewide keywords and meta”. :-)

    As far as asking for user reviews – its very hit and miss… and I have had temporary success, but unless you continually remind visitors about it, it kinda just fades off, and most will never see it.

    Mark

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #9, 26 July 2009 at 12:18 pm
  • Rochelle said:

    Wow! I completely agree with all the accolades you have already received on this site!

    Here is my input (not criticism, just my thoughts):

    – Re: Images shown on “Understanding the Different Types of Golf Putters” – There are four images, each with text on them. Most have text at the top, two at the bottom. I would change the bottom text to the top, so all text is at the top. The bottom text somewhat blocks the images of the putters.

    Actually, that’s all I could come up with. The rest looks perfect!

    Rochelle

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #10, 26 July 2009 at 12:21 pm
  • Gerri - Ninety Nine Ways said:

    Hey there Makr, good job on the site so far. I like the way it is looking. What I also like is the way you broke down just how much people will need to invest in terms of time and money. But, as mentioned above by Ottidid, the longterm benefits will outweigh the investment.

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #11, 26 July 2009 at 12:36 pm
  • Sonia said:

    Nice looking site. It really looks like a professional review/info site and not an affiliate site. I never knew there were so many different types of putters, but I guess I wouldn’t since all I know is the putter they give me to play with at goofy golf.

    On your golf putter guide page, do you plan on making links to your review pages that would have ebay listing on them, i.e., a link from your heavy putter info section to heavy putter reviews and listings?

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #12, 26 July 2009 at 1:29 pm
  • Mark (author) said:

    @ Rochelle –

    Thanks Rochelle – I am still kinda playing around with different layout thing, trying to avoid tables completely! I had not noticed the inconsistency!! Thank you.

    @ Gerri –

    Thanks for the breakdown comment – I am actually moving onto0 a second site right now as well, building it in WordPress versus BANS, and will do the same for that site also.

    @ Sonia –

    I am not a golfer… so this is all new to me as far as the numbers of putters also!! What surpises me, is how many are so closely named! Odyssey XG 1, Odyssey XG 2, etc, both being completely different putters.

    I still have “Plenty” of content that is not yet live on the site. It will all be “Weaved” together over the next 2-3 weeks. :-)

    So – to answer the question about linking the guides to the reviews… Yes, as long as it is applicable and has related items :-)

    @ All –

    Kelvin had emailed me yesterday and asked what I thought the best part of this guide was SO FAR.

    I told him… and will tell you all… If you write the MONEY PAGES (reviews in this case) first, the rest of your content is self building, based on the content already written in the reviews!

    Ex: Once you have 30 reviews – it only takes 10 minutes to build a “Top 5 XX List”, linking them, and writing them, based on the content you have already completed!

    I will have a very detailed post on it this week…

    Mark

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #13, 26 July 2009 at 1:50 pm
  • Marty said:

    Classy looking site Mark!
    Did you use PhpBay? I didn’t see it mentioned.

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #14, 27 July 2009 at 3:38 am
  • Dave Courtney said:

    Wow…great looking site Mark. Very clean and organized layout. Easy to read and navigate. Simple color scheme. Very impressive.

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #15, 27 July 2009 at 12:38 pm
  • Nadiya said:

    As always – a work of Art – this site is Amazing Mark!

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #16, 28 July 2009 at 12:03 am
  • Elijah said:

    Man – if there’s anyone to be testing out N1WAY it’s you. When I grabbed my copy and got access to the learning center I had to stop and think for a second about all of the core elements they are talking about which I learned from your blog over a year ago.. Though I’ve given up on feebay, N1WAY is an absolutely amazing guide to follow re: setting up niche affiliate websites..

    Your site is going to be a money maker – good luck to the future winner!

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #17, 28 July 2009 at 2:25 am
  • Steve.N said:

    Beautiful, but…

    On the contact us page, place the contact details at the top of the page. The fact that this information takes up just a few lines means that the extra information that you have on the page can still be seen by the viewer, and they can decide for them selves if they want to read it.

    Can’t wait for the rest of this series…

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #18, 31 July 2009 at 10:54 pm
  • Fernando said:

    Mark,

    Great info all around. Can you give us your take on the BANS vs. WP platforms since you have built sites on both? I realize that it may come down to personal preferences but I’m concerned with getting your site/content indexed as quickly as possible. I have built many WP sites and love the fact that Google loves the platform – but have a soft spot for BANS. Any feedback would be AWESOME!!!

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #19, 25 August 2009 at 2:10 am
  • Nate said:

    Which template is this?

    1-both-right-blue theme??

    Thanks!

    Reply – Quote
    Post Comment #20, 30 August 2009 at 9:56 pm

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