Last week I was looking at some of my older (dormant) sites to see if the new Google Core Update has affected them.
I came across one site that was seeing a small uptick as a result. Not the $$$’s change I was hoping for (that Yacht will have to wait), but small enough to pique my interest.
I had always enjoyed working on this site but gave it up for greener pastures 5 years ago (the site is 6 years old, oh and the pastures were a lot greener, but you will have to follow me on Twitter to hear more about that).
The site has been run down to just a trickle of traffic but it’s still got a strong pulse.
As an experiment I have decided to spend September working on this site and seeing if it’s worth bringing back to life full time.
And why not invite everyone along with me on this fun journey. So let’s throw the fear of failure out of the window and plunge into this adventure together.
Current State of the Union
As with anything, it’s important to first measure where the site currently stands, and then put a plan of action together to resuscitate the site.
I mentioned, the site is old and neglected, but in the words of Monty Python “I’m not dead yet”.
In order to measure the progress I hope to see over the next month, we first need to take a look at where the stats are today.
I will use the latest month’s worth of data so that we can look back and see a month over month comparison at the end of the month.
You can see the Google Sheet I am using to track progress with this link, or just see the basic info below. The Google Sheet will have a bit more information and will have historical data throughout the month.
August Stats
- Sessions : 921
- Page views : 1.020
- Revenue : $2.31
- Pinterest views : 84.98k
- Facebook reach : 4
(luckily the bar is low)
The Plan
“If you want to see success, you need to plan for success” – Aoaku
Yes you can go ahead and share that quote.
I won’t give a big lecture on the importance of planning here, but just know, we will create a plan, we will work the plan and we will adjust the plan if we need to.
Wait! How can we have a plan if we don’t have goals?
You can use that as a quote as well.
The broad goal for this is to see if I can revive the site. Great goal but useless because there is no tangible metric in that goal.
I could set goals around traffic and revenue but honestly I have no idea what goals to set. They could very well not be achievable.
I also want to limit the amount of effort I put in, as I have other sites that require attention this month as well. This is just a fun side experiment.
(If you want to know more about good goal setting, look up SMART goals).
Rather than focus on unknowns, I will focus on the knowns and set the goals around the amount of work I intend to put in.
So now that we have that explained, here are the goals for the month.
- Add 8 new posts to the website
- Add 150 new pins to Pinterest
- Share 30 posts to the Facebook page
- Share 100 posts to Facebook groups
Sounds simple? Well yes that’s the point. Minimal effort to see if we can move the needle on this site in a meaningful way without disrupting other work going on.
Will I be doing other things as well? Sure, as time permits, and I will share the details along the way. But these are the main goals to keep me on track and accountable for the work.
Ok now The Plan
Now that we have the goals, lets lay out the plan.
There are 4 weeks in the month (because this plan is being written on the 4th of September), so we will break down the rough plan week by week.
Remember, plans are not set in stone. Plans can always be changed. Especially when you get into the weeds and things need to change. But, you need to start with a plan to set your direction and keep your momentum moving forward.
Week 1:
The focus will be on getting ahead on social media posts. As this is an old site, content already exists so the best ‘bang for the buck’ is to focus on making some noise on social media.
Scheduling as many Pinterest and Facebook posts as possible and getting into a habit of sharing on Facebook groups.
Week 2:
New content. I can’t just rely on older content. The goal is to write some add some new content as well.
Week 2 will be about researching the new content and starting the content creation process.
Week 3:
More content and deep analysis into whats working so that we can double down on it.
Week 4:
Final push to the end. Finishing off any goals that are lagging behind and doing some extra work for extra credit.
The Ace Up My Sleeve
Is that some money you see hidden up my sleeve?
Why yes it is, but I’m not hiding it.
I intend to invest $300 into reviving this site over the next month.
“But that’s cheating” I hear you cry.
No, no its not. You should never shy away from putting a little money into your Niche Site projects.
Emphasis on ‘little’.
Don’t break the bank investing before you know it’s going to pay off, but don’t be afraid to spend some dollars to see if things work out.
Where will I spend this money?
Well I’m doing all the work myself, so no VA costs (Virtual Assistant, not Virginia).
Content is already in place and I will be writing the new content so no content creation costs.
The Pinterest account is already mature and sending traffic.
So that leaves Facebook.
I didn’t grow the Facebook account in the past which means it’s just a shell. A new born baby waiting to be shown to the world.
So I intend to invest that $300 into Facebook ads.
More on that in the next email.
So what’s next?
I’m going to get to work on the above goals.
You? Well make sure you are following me on Twitter for updates throughout the week
And look for another email next Monday with the progress report from Week 1.
Until then, spread the word far and wide about Project Phoenix!