My First N1Way WordPress Site is in the Books!
Last week I talked a bit about Building an N1Way Guide Site with WordPress, and the pros and cons of using pages versus posts. Well, I launched it over the weekend and thought I would share the methodology behind the site. I also decided that its just not worth talking about how to do something without showing the actual site to everyone, it just leaves too many unanswered questions! Besides, I blogged about the niche on my Niche Store Builder site in January, when I talked about How to Find Great Domain Names. Yes, its been collecting dust since then…
I chose a .net domain for the primary domain (carbikeracks.net) but I also have carbikecarriers.com, pointed at it as well. If I ever decide to sell the site, I will simply 301 the .com to replace the .net and give it a few weeks to reindex. This is ONLY because people prefer .coms.
What Were My MAIN Objectives within WordPress?
You all know very well, I am trying to do my best to stick to the N1Way Guide Motto – “Do Only as Much as Needed – and Nothing More“, well in my case, that involved a bit of backend setup, to make sure I could also follow along with later chapters, mainly, easily replicating my efforts and building more sites!This first site was simply a learning process for me, to hone the exact methods – and dig through other sites MUCH quicker!
As I started building the site, you will recall that in the building with wordpress post I had a few main objectives:
- Write my Review Posts ONCE – and Use them Over and Over again!
- Use Custom fields as often as possible – to avoid having to do things twice!
- Use the custom image files to automatically generate the thumbnails and different sizes needed for the different sections. (Upload 1 image, it resizes automatically)
- Do it all as quickly as possible to move onto other sites!
To that end, I used POSTS for almost everything on the site! Along with posts, I mixed in the variants of the way people look for the items, with TAGS. I ended up with a perfect combination of categories and tag-categories to build several menus and custom areas within the site.
So – the Reviews are Mainly sorted by [BRAND] – then I used the TAGS for [STYLES] that people commonly search for.
- Posts – [brand model bike rack review] Tags – [2 bikes rack, roof bike rack, hitch bike rack, etc]
Within the posts themselves, I used custom fields for both the images AND to call the search functions of the phpBay affiliate plugin.The result.. is that once I get my articles back, I can post them, insert the image link, the keyphrase to search for, and I am done. Less than 2 minutes per post!
The Most Important Part – EVERYTHING Else is Automatic! 
(Well, not writing the guides)
Which Theme Did I Use?
Like Adam and Kelvin in the N1Way Guide, I used the free Arthemia theme. Unlike the way they built theirs however, I spent several hours inside the code to make sure everything works like I want. As you see when you browse the site:
- Home Page – Shows the 3 latest Guides and 5 Latest Reviews… with thumbnail images.
- Sidebar shows “Top 5 Picks” for specific racks I chose to feature.
- The Main Menu is made up of 2 custom pages (Buying Guides, Reviews), 1 main category (The drop list in Reviews). Then a separate function to pull in my Tag Hierarchy (Types of Bike racks).
- The individual posts, have the post content, the listings, and at the bottom… links to all other reviews in that specific category. (I decided NOT to show additional thumbnails, on these landing pages, there is only 1 set of images I want visitors clicking on)
Note: I have already tried sharing the theme with my own edits in place with others. Unfortunately, there is too much customization that relies on knowing some technical stuff in Wordpress, and in the cases I have tried to help, I ended up installing the theme and doing all of the configuration myself. Its just too technical! That said… I am more than happy to share this theme… but if you need installation help, I have to charge a fee of $30. It takes me a bit of time to do it, which includes changing some of the way your site may already work, but does NOT include a logo or anything else.
Before I can do anything… You MUST have at least 2 guides and 5 reviews in place. Just hit the contact page to request an install and we can go from there.
I don’t like doing this – but posting what needs to be changed is not going to work in this case, and I will be overwhelmed with support requests. I DO PLAN on recording a screencast over the next week or two when I setup the next few sites, to show how its done for those of you who cannot afford to pay for this.
Where am I At with the N1Way Guide?
At this point – I have just launched the site! Literally!
- There are currently (2) Guides, (1) Top List, and 25 Reviews.
- I have 3 additional guides ready to publish, 1 a week for the next 3 weeks.
- I STILL have to link my guides to my reviews, more on that later… its actually planned like this for me!
- I have 15 additional reviews, ready to trickle feed over the next 3 weeks.
- My sitemap is in my robots.txt file.
- I submitted the site to DMOZ.org to attempt and get listed.
- I have Alex running through a Site Launch Package for me.
Aside from a little bit of cleaning up within the posts and pages for things like meta-keywords or some page title optimization, its done…
Whats Next for this Site and Other Sites?
Taking the Outsourcing your Work section of the N1Way Guide to heart:
- I have an Affordable Content Writer with Rob at TextBroker
- I have a WordPress Theme I can easily use over and over with minimal changes
- I have Alex Spreading the News of my Site Launch
Which leaves me with just a few things to come up with…
- Find My Markets in TeraPeak
- Develop My Site Launch Report of articles and send to Rob
- Find Free images using Manufacturer Stock or Non-Rights Managed Images in Google Image search
- Publish the Posts
- Launch the Site
- Move on for 30-90 days!
In total, I have roughly 12 hours of development time into the theme and content, and $186 into the cost. ($140 into content, $30 into the launch package, and $16 into domains.) While I realize the cost side may be alot for others, as each new site is developed… they should begin generating income almost immediately, and offset my costs.
How are Your Sites Coming Along?
Hi Mark,
I am really impressed with your Car Bike Rack Review site – you did an absolutely fantastic job on the logo design and theme customization. I like the fact that the site is very easy to navigate and is uncluttered, making it easy for the visitor to find what he/she is looking for!
Caro
Mark, I noticed that your guide and review links in the overhead navbar link to the non-www url while all other links on the site seem to link to the www version.
Hi Mark,
One thing I noticed right off the bat was how easy your eye flows from a graphic to the text or the opposite. You know exactly what you are going to get if you click on a link. Not get all excited if you are in the final stages of making a purchase, then get frustrated and click out of the site.
People can easily scan for categorized information and then move on to a more complete review.
@Caroline – Thanks Caro… I really didn’t touch it all too much. Just tossed a small banner for the logo, and then everything esle was in the coding of the theme.
@Shawn S – Thanks for the find! I am using the canonicalization of www, which converts the links on pageload – but the guides and reviews main menu links are hardcoded… [fixed]
Thanks again for paying more attention to the details than I did!
Love the look of the site. Nice and easy to navigate. Will your offer include instructions/install of that ebay link at the top of the page? Either way will definitely be asking for an install
@Buzz S –
Thanks for the comment Buzz! I still have tweaking to do and I am considering moving the auction listing portion higher in the review pages… call to action, sooner, so to speak.
@Cherie –
Cherie – The header and top sidebar ad blocks are just google adsense blocks of code. (Ads > Image ONLY Ads) The sidebar bottom, is a CJ partner.
I hope to do the video asap… I just want to install it all a few times on new sites to see how easily it can be done by others.
Mark
What about the ebay listings ad for the UK on the right? Is that a standard ebay link?
@Cherie – You are seeing the UK ads, because you are in the UK. Adsense will put up ads targeted to the user…
Mark
Ah, didn’t realise they were adsense, I suppose we could put up our own ebay ads there instead?
@Cherie – Most definitely could!! BUT… if they are in fact from your OWN eBay account and you want to promote them, methinks you have to use a different code than your ePN code.
There has been alot of discussion about this in the BANS forums… and I would check with ePN before linking to your own items. I know on some of the ecommerce sites I handle, we use a completely different coding system.
eBay store referral credit rules.
The key thing… the visitors MUST BUY IN THAT session, there is no cookie for 7 days.
M
Mark
A truely AWSOME site. I have been on the fence regarding whether to use BANs or WP for my site, mainly because I already own BANs. But this may have pushed me over the eadge to WP
Since you’re already proven to me that your quality is great (both with this site and with the Niche Report), I’m going to continue working on the minimum content needed for your install help and then I’ll let you know when I’m ready.
Again – great job!
BTW – regarding the logo and images – did you use the resource in the guide for your images or get them elsewhere, and did you outsource the logo or any of the images?
Thanks
Ben
Mark , great site. Will your video on installs also include “how-to” on the drip feeds? Also any thoughts on the new EPC Ebay payout scheme?
Thanks,
Musqui
Hi Mark,
The site looks really good. I like the way you have the site organized using as little effort as possible, don’t get me wrong I know you have the initial customization of the theme but Wordpress is so much easier to link around than BANS. I still love BANS though
Ben
@Ben – Thanks Ben… most of the images are from Google image search (non licensed images) or the manufacturers themselves.
The logo is just a quick setup in my graphics tool…
@Ben Johnson – I agree completely with what you are saying about the ease of using WP and tying everything together, quickly and easily!
The GPG site in BANS is rocking in serps and traffic, all engines… which is what its supposed to do. The only drawback is the manual side of it for me.
Add a review > add a snippet to the [brand reviews] summary page > add a snippet to the [all reviews] page, etc etc.
With WP… Add the review > everything else just happens!
Mark
when looking for non-licensed images in google, what do you type into the search to get them?
@Cherie – I usually just look for the same manufacturer type images that are used by many others. I use an if then… < if > this picture is being used by 25 other sites < then > it must be ok for me to use it to!
Google search DOES however have a way to filter out licensed images in their advanced search, but its still pretty new and requires a meta tag to label them licensed or not.
Hey Mark,
Love this series of posts, and they’re such a huge help with building my site. Can you tell me how useful Terapeak is in this process? I’m thinking of signing up but I want to be sure my money is spent wisely.
Is this the only tool you use to research niches? And what is the criteria with Tera peak that identifies a profitable niche?
Thanks for all your help
Ray
@Ray – Terapeak and Google Adwords Sandbox are the only two tools I use Ray.
Here is a good post about Terapeak and site metrics. It doesnt say what to LOOK for, but it gives enough about what to AVOID!
Without Terapeak – you are
tossing darts intoflinging poo onto a wall, and hoping to see something stick…Hi Mark
Great looking site!
What did you use to make the drop down menus? Is it a WP plugin?
Dave
Hi, Mark, Really appreciate the series. One issue I’m having trouble rapping my brain around on this N1Way-style site is the very limited listing of ebay items. Seems like you’re giving up all of the long tail traffic from the many different keywords in listing title/descriptions. I assume, Kelvin/Adam determined that this style performs better?
@Dave – Thanks Dave – The drop menus are actually just a part of the theme functions.
@beth – The method is actually nothing new… the ebay listings are used to compliment the content. I have used a rule of “250 words / 4 listings” ratio for quite a long time on my own sites.
M
Thanks for the reply, Mark. What I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around is the 4 or 6 listings on the page with this model. Is the goal to get the visitor to want to buy one of those 4-6 items, or is it to get them to click through on one and then have them find what they want from all the listings on ebay?
Part of what I struggle with is that I think that a key added value we can provide on these sites is much better categorization than on ebay. For instance I’m a horse person and do a lot of horse-related sites. ebay knows nothing about horses and their categorization shows it. So, my ebay store for this category is actually a better place to shop than ebay. But if I only show, let’s say 4 items, and then they click through to ebay for more there back to the poor categorization.
Really appreciate any thoughts as I know Adam, Kelvin, and yourself wouldn’t be doing this approach if it didn’t work, but i’m wondering if it works for certain niches better than others.
@beth – You are actually RIGHT ON TRACK Beth!
The best way for you to build YOUR site, is to get the buyer all the way to the point where they have their credit card in hand – and simply go to eBay to complete the purchase.
Instead of:
“Look at all these Bridles you can find at eBay” where the “Browser” goes to shop further… maybe buying, maybe not.
You build your site to send the message of:
“Look at this EXACT type of Bridle, Here it is, this is why you want it, this is why you need it, are you ready to buy it? If so… here is the one you need”
… and send them to eBay to complete the purchase.
Keep in mind – this is not just to optimize the eBay buying experience, its also to make sure we please the search engine gods… and provide a useful experience for “Their” visitors, giving them a reason to continue sending traffic.
Mark
Okay, makes sense … but here’s where I’m still lost. So, a customer gets to your site and gets to the “Yakima Raptor Bike Rack Review” page, likes what he reads, and decides that’s what he wants to buy.
So, there are only four listings from ebay on your page. Is that enough to make a decision to buy one? And, if he clicks on one, it takes him to the specific product page and the breadscrumb trail on that page is:
Sporting Goods>Outdoor Sports >Cycling>Accessories>Car & Truck Racks>Roof
So, if he wants to look at others, he’d have to search on ebay. So, he’s back to the lousy ebay categorization.
So, I’m wondering why you wouldn’t have a “see more” link on your page to a page with more specific listings – either on your site or a link to a specific search on ebay.
Again, really appreciate your insight, cause I’m struggling with the best way to present to my customers. Thanks so much.
@beth – No problem at all on the insight Beth.
In the case of the “Specific” bike rack you are talking about… it shows 4 of that EXACT product (not always possible) so if the visitor is in fact interested in buying that EXACT item, they have 4 choices right in front of them. If the same products came in 6 colors, I would likely have 6 separate pages, each with color option in place, showing ONLY that color item.
Keep in mind, I am not showing them 4 “Random” Bike Racks, they are 4 of the EXACT ones.
If for some reason they DON’T want one of those, they have other choices of other reviews, directly below… so they can browse further on MY SITE, before jumping to eBay.
All said – if search engine traffic was not involved you could build page after page of product listings, but doing so, now you have reduced the VALUE of your CONTENT to a search engine. (Its the same thing they find on eBay – eBay is the authority) There is no rule that you cant have 2-5 or more pages, but you will need to do something to each those pages to increase the value to search engines.
The ultimate goal is to get the buyer as CLOSE to the buying process as possible on your own site – THEN send them to eBay to buy it.
Mark
Okay, I’m following ya and I can see how you need to really think about this approach when choosing your niche for these types of sites. Makes sense for the sites Kelvin/Adam and you have shown. I’m going to try out some of those type of sites.
The one I’m dealing with right now is a collectibles niche (XXXXXXXXX Horses) and I don’t think just a few listings will work for this one. While there are a dozen or so categories within the niche, collectors won’t be satisfied with just seeing a few listings. I think that’s probably true with most used and collectible markets. I have a used saddle store, that’s similar. You don’t just find one xxxxxxxxxx saddle and stop there. You’re going to want to look at all potential choices.
I’m still building out quite a bit of content for this store, but think I’ll need to deviate a bit more the model and include more listings.
Does this make sense to you …. or do you think I’m missing something? Thanks.
Private email sent Beth…
Mark
Love the racks! Just 2 points
1 I don’t have PHBay so can I use the Epn tool?
2 The “View All” parts on the bottom of each have a different title but the same snippet, code prob?
Thanks for all your work.
@Dave – You can actually use ANY tool to pull the listings in, EK is fine, as well as WordBay, a free plugin for listings in wordpress.
2 – Thats coded like that by design.
It changes to reflect the other [same-brand] reviews in the system on every page.
Mark
Hello:I was very excited to find this site, building a niche store with Wordpress, though since yesterday, N-1way site is down with a note saying opening again on Oct 26th! Its down for a week! Do you know any alternative way to read N-1 Way manual in the meanwhile?
Hi,
I love the look of golfputtersguide site, what theme did you use for it?
Thanks
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Niche Guide Topics
Time & Money Spent Developing Site
- 1.5 Hrs - Initial Research
- 3 Hrs - Site Development Planning
- 4.5 Hrs - Draft Review Pages to Admin
- 2.5 Hrs - Template & Code Customization
- 4 Hrs - Finalized 24 Product Review Pages and added 11 category summary pages
- Added a home page, and Launch site!
- 3.5 Hours: Added 2 more Guides + 10 more reviews
Money Spent to Date: $186.00Niche Guide Tags
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