Don’t Always Trust A Guru (and my newest site revealed)…

July 8, 2010 · Posted in Ethics, Keyword Research, Marketing, SEO, Success 

Recently an IM guru (who I consider a friend) came out with a series of videos on running a profitable campaign.  Now, I am not saying who, and above all, I still respect and admire this person greatly, so I don’t want this to come across too negative because their intentions are in the right place.

Anyway, the first video was about keyword research.  I was a bit dissapointed to find that the primary way they said to find good keywords to rank for was to do the quote search and the “intitle” search.

If you get under 50,000 results in quotes and under 10,000 results for intitle, it could be a good keyword is what was said.

And that was it.

So, as I was in the middle of creating my new site, I thought I would ditch my usual method of keyword research (found in this post and emphasizing looking at average page rank of the first 10 results) and give it a whirl.

These are the results I got…but first let me tell you about the new site I was building.

I got to thinking about how I could really add value.  And I mean REALLY add value to peoples lives.

Well, I thought about it for a while and realized how silly it is for me to try and market all the things I market – double chin exercises, guitar courses, anxiety treatments, registry repair software, boil treatments, emetophobia and on and on.

First, I don’t know squat about most of this stuff, so first I have to spend time learning.  And second, they don’t really get me all jazzed up to write about, so they get boring after a while.  And finally, am I REALLY trying to add value or make a buck selling e-books and miracle potions?

So, as amazingly stupid and simple as this sounds, I came up with the idea of doing something in the profession my offline business is in – accounting.  Not the most exciting, but I do it every day, I know it inside and out, and I truly get to help people solve problems.  And most important of all – I KNOW exactly what their problems are (this is crucial).

So I came up with www.learnquickbooksforfree.com.  I won’t go into the details of why this is a problem for business owners, but basically I recorded 14 videos on how to use Quickbooks.  It’s about 7-8 hours of video training, all completely free.  And I encourage people to email me with their questions.

I could not find free training like this anywhere online.  So, it really, truly adds value to people.

And its a simple opt-in list where I can build a relationship with my subscribers.  Check out this email I got from one subscriber about the site and the help I gave her:

Mat,

You are amazing.  I have gone to many sites and forums seeking an answer for this reimbursement issue, and I always seem to get confused and not really get my question answered.  You have explained my options below and I see it so clearly and it seems so simple.

I will be using option 1 which is easiest for me to do.  You have saved me a lot of time and frustration.  The greatest thing about this is that I feel confident and I am now very excited to continue to populate quickbooks with my information and see my final reports.  I wish you could understand what it means to users like us to find someone like you who is so knowledgeable, but more than that, is the fact that you are willing to share this information and devote your time for no cost, in today’s world.   You are truly amazing and different.

Happy 4th and I know that I will have another question soon.

Thanks again!

Is that awesome or what!!  That makes you feel good and is truly adding value to peoples lives.

So, thats my new site, and it is a simple Wordpress template I found free.  I paid $10 for the domain and spent time on the videos.  I plan on getting subscribers, building the relationship, and presenting offers on any one of the 1,000’s of business affiliate products out there (for example, a Stamps.com CPA offer pays $50 if they sign up for a 4 week trial!).

Now back to my keyword research fiasco.

My first keyphrase I chose was “free quickbooks training online” and here are some stats:

1.  Between 1,300-1,600 searches per month
2.  369,000 search results
3.  39,000 quote results
4.  157 intitle results with quotes

Should be a slam dunk, right?

Final data:

5.  Average page rank – 3.6 (yikes!)

So, I did 1 video, submitted to about 15 video sites, like Youtube and Metacafe.  I wrote one article and submitted to about 25 social sites and I have built maybe 40-50 backlinks to the site.

See if you can find me ANYWHERE in the regular search results. Good luck, I can’t be found on at least the 1st 5 pages.  Do it in quotes and I’m number 1, but people don’t search in quotes.

But I have 22 subscribers so far – and they literally have ALL come from Youtube.

I know, I know, one keyword can’t determine whether or not looking just at quotes and intitle is the best or not.  BUT, I’m telling you, you can’t always blindly trust a so called guru, and you have to know what works.

In the case of keyword research, look at average page rank – that will be the best indicator of if you will rank quickly and high or not (remember www.bamboopatioshades.com?  It’s still ranked number 1 and I have done NOTHING to it!).

And there is something to TRULY adding value.  For one, it makes you feel good, and two, you build trust MUCH, MUCH faster.  Think about it in your campaigns – are you really adding value or just trying to make a quick buck?

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Comments

2 Responses to “Don’t Always Trust A Guru (and my newest site revealed)…”

  1. Mike Harmon on July 8th, 2010 4:16 am

    I’ve been reading along for a while now. I just wanted to drop you a comment to say keep up the good work.

  2. mjhult on July 8th, 2010 4:46 am

    Thanks Mike, I really appreciate it.

    Take care

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