Better late than never
Again it’s been a while since I last posted but such as life I’ve been very busy.
If you are interested in earning money online or are already doing so you will of heard of the ‘Panda’ update from Google. The update has been giving many people problems including me which is not a good thing.
The update which has been rolled a number of different times has effected a few of my sites for a unknown reason. This has had a knock on effect and thus making life a little harder.
The updates seems to be effecting some of my ‘database’ sites but I don’t know why. Some people will say that because I just list business addresses that there is not enough unique content on the site however if this was the case all of my database driven sites would of been effected but alas they were not.
Because of this I’ve started looking in to ‘content’ sites. The whole idea is you find a low competition keyword, build a site around said keyword and it should be easier to rank higher in Google, Yahoo and Bing for those keywords.
Sounds easy but it’s not as simple as it sounds. I’ve started though so i will see the test through and show you all the results.
If I don’t post before Christmas.. have a Merry Christmas!
Oops
Well it’s been a while since I last wrote on the blog and really I have no idea where the time went.
Since the last post about my fishing shop I’ve still not done anything with it. At the moment there is always something coming up and I keep getting side tracked. It’s on the ‘to-do list’ but I have no idea when / if it will be complete.
I have been busy with all the other websites though due to Google whom keep changing there search algo making it harder for small time web owners like myself to make money.
When it comes to google and making money you need your site to be listed between position 1 and 3 in order to get the unique visitors to your site. Once in those positions (and with the right keyword in those positions) you can start to make money… however lately google changed the way sites were ranked and ‘lots’ of people suffered from a drop in position.. I was one of them people!
Since this time and a drop in earnings I’ve been making some changes that are for the better but it seems to be a very long process and this is what is taking up much of my time, I’m improving the sites in general with better content, better layout and better code (I hope) in order to try and bring my sites back to where they once were.
For now though I have to keep on trucking and just get the work done as without changes to sites I will just keep on dropping down the ranks!
Fishing Goods are here
Yesterday I sent off my order for my fishing tackle and paid for it. I was told the goods / tackle would arrive today which meant all day I’ve been like a child waiting for Christmas.
It was not till 18:00 when there was a knock at the door and there stood the fedex lady with a very large package (the box of fishing tackle thank you!)
We (me+wife+wee man) went through the order and have found some stock missing so not a great first order, I’ll be e-mailing them later asking when I’ll get the rest of the stock but for now, a little photo of what I now have:
Fishing Stock
It will take a little while but soon enough you will find all this for sale on http://www.fishforsupplies.co.uk
Moving House
Well we have nearly been living back in the UK for a year now and it’s already time to move house! Since moving back to the UK after our 6 year holiday in Lanzarote we are forced to live in a rented house as we can’t get credit.
When we moved in to our current house we did know the owners were trying to sell it but because the market was/is rubbish for sellers so they took us on with a years contract for this house. In there wisdom they decided to not renew the contract, leave the house empty, loose money on the house being empty and try to sell it.. I really don’t see the logic!
However, at the moment we live at number 25 and by the end of February we will live in number 9 .. same street, same post code, same phone number just a different number. The house is so much better than the one we are in now in ‘every’ way as well.
The only problem is having to change everything over to the new address.. there must be a easier way to inform everyone we are moving!
Time to order some stock
Well as the weekend is now basically over, tonight I’ll be sitting down with the wife and a cup of tea to start going through the orders for some fishing stock. I’ve not really picked the best time as we sign for a new house tomorrow and will be moving in to the new house in February. We also have to get ready for the caravan trip in March!
The house move is a bit silly really as we will move from number 25 to number 9 in the same street. If you are wondering why then I can of course explain. As we lived in Lanzarote for 6 years, on moving back to the UK we simply cannot get credit. I’ve been and talked to the bank but being self employed (well employed by my own business) and not living in the UK for so long I will need to produce 2 years of books on the business and need to of lived back in the UK / on the electoral register for 2 years as well.
The caravan trip in March will be down in a little place called Saltfleet (little south of Grimsby). We bought the static caravan in November last year around the same time the park closed for the winter season (yes not really the smartest move) so as the park reopens in March we are of course going to have a 2 week holiday. I’ll be there closer to 3 weeks as I will be heading down first to paint and unpack everything we have been buying and been given for the Caravan.
So with quite a lot going on between now and March perhaps my timing of ordering stock is not the best but no point putting off something when it can be done today!
Hopefully once ordered I’ll be able to start selling my Sea Fishing Tackle but I don’t think this will be before March!
New Projects
I now have two new projects which I’m wanting to do the first quarter of this year. One is a new website and is currently being produced. I have the site template complete along with the logo the other is still in my head waiting to come to life!
The new site currently being produced is all about Caravan hire in the UK. The sites main function will be to offer visitors the chance to privately rent a Caravan in the UK via the web site. Caravan Owners will add there listing, information and pictures and this will be displayed. People can then leave reviews / comments and book direct with the owners thus cutting out the middle man.
Although they are a lot of these sites already out I believe mine (of course I would though) will be better in many ways. I’m adding in a lot of extra functions for bother users and subscribers but I’ll also be offering information on the caravan park which again will involve pictures and possibly video’s. You can visit the site now but of course there is nothing there, just yet! Caravans for Hire
Hire My Holiday Home
The second project will focus on an already running and successful site I own Local Used Cars. At the moment the site is doing very well with plenty of Unique Visitors daily, plenty of reviews and of course ratings.
I’ve decided that it’s time to add a classified script to this site to allow for a ‘Auto Trader’ effect. I think the script will be custom made to allow for better functions so this is not going to be a quick project.
The idea will be the same as Auto Trader in a way, you will be able to add your car for sale, add pictures / contact details and display the advert to anyone on the site.
Although companies like Auto Trader are highly ranked in places like Google my little site is not very far behind at all and with some clever advertising / link building I’m sure I can get it even closer. Of course if Auto Trader wanted to buy my site before it becomes big competition they are welcome to.. asking price.. £500,000 .. should help me buy a nice house and live debt free for a while!
Of course these projects are not something that can be done over night and take time so I would not expect anything to be live anytime soon. Hire My Holiday homes will be the first contender out and possibly within the next few months.
Fishing
In a previous post I talked about wanting to sell some fishing products online, I’ve now managed to get hold of a catalog in order to start ordering stock.
To simply get the catalouge has actually taken around 3 weeks of e-mails to various companies. It’s been a bit of a suprise the number of large companies in the UK that will not sell to ‘Online Only’ businesses.
The standard response has been “we only sell whole sale stock to shops made from bricks not ones that are online only”. I know a big thing with this was about supporting your local fishing shop which is a good idea. Local fishing shops are one of the best places to get your bait along with local fishing information, this can’t really be beat. However in this day and age money is tight for many so if there is a bargain to be had it’s going to be had online.
I think the local fishing shops really need to consider selling more online than off, it will cut down overheads in the long run, they can offer products cheaper keeping the end user happier and of course will in the end give them more profit as they can reach a larger market.
As I’ll be moving in a few weeks again… I’ll be waiting before I order some stock but I’m looking forward to trying to enter the online shop market. Of course if this fails, I’ll have plenty of stock to keep my fishing when I have time!
Keep an eye out on www.fishforsupplies.co.uk for the upcoming shop!
AdMonsters Conference December
In December I had a 1 day conference in London I went to. This is the second event I’ve now attended with the first being a trip to the Googleplex in London.
The conference was for small to medium sized publishers and, being honest, was not that good!
The day started off with introductions from the people attending some of which worked for big companies in the UK. After the introductions the talks started with various people from the UK talking about how well there business was doing and that they were rolling in it!
Whilst at the conference I didn’t really pick up on any great hints and tips other than make a site look good and have plenty of content (plenty / good content has always been a big factor anyway) so I was a little disappointed with the day. On the upside I did manage to meet more employees of Google which is always good and they are always really nice people.
The biggest let down to the whole day was the drinks reception at the end of the night. We all headed to a pub across the road which is fine. Once we were there we all got a free drink or 2 but that’s when I stood there and noticed how all the people attending the Admonsters conference were, in a way disowned by the Admonsters staff as they stood in there own corner of the bar talking amongst themselves.
There were Google staff in the pub with us who walked around chatting to us all and answering lots of stupid questions (well done girls for putting up with the stupid questions) so I was a bit shocked by Admonsters not making an effort.
All in all a waste of money generally and I can’t see myself going to another Admonsters meeting. I did meet some nice people though and made some new contacts which to me was more valuable than anything I learned from the conference.
Holidays are over
Now that Christmas and the new year is over I’m back to work. Work has been going well these past few weeks with plenty of changes happening.
UK Lawyers & Solicitors had a face lift and got a new good looking template. The design was done by a company called Logo Nerds which I have to say did a great job.
Other than the usual work I do I’ve started looking in to the possibility of selling some Fishing Products. I already own the site Fish For Supplies which just has a list of the fishing shops in the UK. I’ve looked in to buying some stock, adding in a e-commerce shop to the site and selling direct to the public.
I’ve managed to get most things sorted so it should not be that long before I own and run my own online shop.
Site Updates
Over the next few weeks I’m going to be changing some of my site. The changes might be smaller ones that you don’t notice, however, my site about UK Lawyers and UK Solicitors will be having a full face lift with a new design and template.
I’ve decided to make these changes in order to make the site ‘better looking’ and will also offer better html code, cleaner and hopefully will help the site load just that little bit faster.
The design and new logo are currently being made by a company I use often so I’m hoping for this to be live by the start of next week.