What is giving you THE MOST trouble in your business?

MetaData

BuSo Pro
Boot Camp
Joined
Jun 15, 2014
Messages
512
Likes
624
Degree
3
I'm curious what your biggest point of resistance is.

Where are you struggling the MOST?

What is the single thing that's holding you back moreso than anything else?
 
Figuring out how to get a large amount of backlinks, or a low amount of high quality backlinks. Ones that actually move my website up the SERPs. It's probably a problem of not having the money to buy them and not having the know-how or time to get the good ones. Can't really figure out how to get guest posts and I wonder if it's a problem with them looking at my website and not wanting to link to it for some visual quality issue. I'm not a designer :( When the summer comes, I'll get a job again and probably make leaps in business. I'm still in high school unfortunately.
 
Samwise89 said:
Figuring out how to get a large amount of backlinks, or a low amount of high quality backlinks. Ones that actually move my website up the SERPs. It's probably a problem of not having the money to buy them and not having the know-how or time to get the good ones. Can't really figure out how to get guest posts and I wonder if it's a problem with them looking at my website and not wanting to link to it for some visual quality issue. I'm not a designer :( When the summer comes, I'll get a job again and probably make leaps in business. I'm still in high school unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Try not to focus purely on Google traffic. CCarter wrote an amazing post a while ago around Traffic leaking and big branding your site to a point where you are not only relying on just Google traffic.

I've been playing around with buzzsumo, you will be surprised how well manually posting a comment on a blog or answering someone's question works. You don't even need to add a link, I've been testing just adding my brand name with no link and my direct traffic has increased ten fold.
 
That's awesome @Styx ... When you dont drop a link, people will be more trusting cos they will feel like they found it themselves, and they'll also go to google to type it in manually, then visit your site... which has got to be some good signals to google that you have a *real* brand that people search for. Love it!
 
Mandalay said:
That's awesome @Styx ... When you dont drop a link, people will be more trusting cos they will feel like they found it themselves, and they'll also go to google to type it in manually, then visit your site... which has got to be some good signals to google that you have a *real* brand that people search for. Love it!
Click to expand...

Exactly, I also am seeing a higher conversions rate from direct traffic over Organic. This makes sense in some cases but direct converts almost tipple the amount Organic does, and that's prob like you said "more trusting cos they will feel like they found it themselves".

:smile:
 
My biggest issue is trusting someone else to help out with smaller tasks so that I can do more "big picture" stuff.
 
I think one of my biggest issues is to remind myself that in order to get to the next level, I can't continue to silo up and try to tackle everything alone, instead of working with others to achieve a common goal. It's a well-worn path for me and something that I am seeking to change.
 
ALLURBASE said:
My biggest issue is trusting someone else to help out with smaller tasks so that I can do more "big picture" stuff.
Click to expand...

SmokeTree said:
I think one of my biggest issues is to remind myself that in order to get to the next level, I can't continue to silo up and try to tackle everything alone, instead of working with others to achieve a common goal. It's a well-worn path for me and something that I am seeking to change.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am guilty of both of these things. I kept trying to scale using low-quality or spun content, and automation tools. But that ended exactly as you would suspect. With penalized sites.

I'm still very wary of J.V.'s but that doesn't mean I can't purchase better content and links. It's just a matter of spending the money up front.

This also, I suspect, has been my biggest problem, along with not being on the forefronts of the industry, taking advantage of obvious "holes" that can be exploited. With my churn and burn methodology, I should have been doing that.
 
MetaData said:
I'm curious what your biggest point of resistance is.

Where are you struggling the MOST?

What is the single thing that's holding you back moreso than anything else?
Click to expand...

I think what holds back most people is FEAR. Fear has the ability to stop you in your tracks or springboard you to a level you never could have reached.

My business went through months of FEAR - that brought us to a much better place than we ever could've reached feeling SAFE and complacent.
 
My biggest challenge right now is probably automation and creating systems/processes so I can be more hands-off with a lot of the mundane tasks I hate. But right now I'm finding it difficult. VAs can only go so far, and I don't want to entrust my empires inner workings to someone halfway across the world.

Could go the intern route, but then the turnover is gonna be bad. Could go paid employees here in-country, but not economically feasible at this point. Have been using a lot of tools to help with this, but always having to sacrifice quality when you take your hands-off things.

---

And what RD just said - I never used to understand the idea that FEAR of success could hold you back. But I'm starting to realize more and more that it may be true. I'm constantly procrastinating. Planning, setting up, and then procrastinating. I'm sometimes afraid to "pull the trigger" - don't know if it's out of fear of success or fear of failure, but it always has to be kept in check, otherwise you'll get nothing done. And all the amazing knowledge, planning, setup and investment is useless.
 
Politico said:
Could go the intern route, but then the turnover is gonna be bad. Could go paid employees here in-country, but not economically feasible at this point. Have been using a lot of tools to help with this, but always having to sacrifice quality when you take your hands-off things.

---

And what RD just said - I never used to understand the idea that FEAR of success could hold you back. But I'm starting to realize more and more that it may be true. I'm constantly procrastinating. Planning, setting up, and then procrastinating. I'm sometimes afraid to "pull the trigger" - don't know if it's out of fear of success or fear of failure, but it always has to be kept in check, otherwise you'll get nothing done. And all the amazing knowledge, planning, setup and investment is useless.
Click to expand...

Often times the fear of failure drives you to your next "speedbump" what happens next usually involves this question, "IF I do this then I will have to do x,y,z,a,b,c... In my case it was If I do this then I need to have $10,000 for x and $50,000/year for that. Jumped in head strong and have had the best quarter in our company's existence.

As far as interns are concerned Politico - definitely don't be afraid to systematize an entire working process. From there you don't have to worry about lack of quality or fear of wasting time with training. If anything I would rather train slow and make sure that my interns/team know what is expected of them and their position than half-assing and having to pick up the broken pieces later.


Just my 2 cents

-RD
 
The perfectionism.

I have at a certain point always to remember myself that "done is better than perfect".
And also being always conscious and avoid going on autopilot, applying the pull instead of push.
 
Last edited:
Me and my sites are addicted to G traffic. While that's a nice problem to have, I need to get off the G bus and start to ride the train.

Sooner or later it's going to blow up in my face (again) and I don't feel like staring over for a second time.
 
This discussion about fear is so important. It took me a long time to realize that business is as much about psychology as it is anything else.

As I see it, there are two types of fear:
  • Fear of Success
  • Fear of Failure
The Fear of Success (The Jonah Complex) is an interesting one that has been with us mythologically for a long time. Being afraid of what you must become. Being afraid of rising to the challenge and harnessing power and influence. Being afraid of the responsibility that inevitably comes. It's an outwardly focused concern bubbling up from deep within the psyche.

The Fear of Failure is an inwardly focused concern bubbling up from societal concerns. It's the opposite. It's fear of taking risks and losing what precious assets we already have. It's holding on so tightly to what you already are and have that you squeeze the life out of those while blocking out all future possibilities. It's the fear of what others may think of you if you don't succeed. It's the fear of how your self-image will change if you can't jump over the hurdle. It's the fear of going backwards outwardly, without realizing that it's pretty far backwards psychologically anyways.

Both hinge on taking proper risks. If you can engage your intellect and figure out which of your possible paths will have the least chance of failure while producing the highest yield, you can really improve your ability to succeed. Taking the right risks.

In terms of trusting portions of your business to other people, you have to compartmentalize so hard that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. No dots are ever connected by anyone but you.
 
The biggest issue I'm having at the moment is converting traffic into cash - monetisation.

I'm working on it step by step but fuck it takes time. Front end optins, sales funnel design and testing, sales pages, offers, bonuses, etc...

I'm currently working through the ConversionXL conversion optimisation course to deal with front end options and then as soon as I get that to my 3% target, I'll be moving onto sales funnel design and testing.
 
Staying committed to a project.

I've only been in the game for about 3 months now and everything is just so exciting to me! It seems like each week I have a different idea that I just can't wait to go after. Instead of buckling down and REALLY working at a project, I just move on to the next one. I need to learn to prioritize my goals and give one project my all.
 
not having the cash to invest in the business. I'm doing free stuff but it's a lot s-l-o-w-e-r this way...
 
Even to this day I think organization is my main issue, got past the stage of "Been scared of failing" #YOLO
But I do also need to get out of the habit of thinking everything has to be perfect in order for it to work

as Nike say "Just Do It" something we all can learn from...
 
Consistency of Discipline in Scheduling.

img-bw_jedi_kgh_04.jpg
 
For me, it's paralysis by analysis. The bane of my existence.

With SEO/SEM/IM or whatever, there are usually such a significant number of variables out there, that it's sort of a bit like government and politics. If you're looking for something to worry about, to drive you insane, or to spend an endless amount of time debating towards no real end, there is enough out there that you WILL find it and you will find a nearly limitless supply of it. *hint* For me, it's research. I come across a subject I want to know more about, or an interesting problem that I need to learn more about diagnosing, and I just get stuck in an endless loop of research, never actually making any forward progress. Eventually, you have to reach a point of saying, "Okay, that's enough." and making some sort of forward progress. As some say, just do SOMETHING every single day, even if it's something small.

I think I've developed this habit of running around in circles somewhat due to some of the clients I've dealt with. If any of you guys ever take on any client SEO/SEM work with large businesses/corporations, you will know my pain. It never ceases to amaze me how some companies still manage to make decent or sometimes obscene amounts of profit entirely despite themselves. It's also amazing how some of them can make forward progress despite being exceedingly slow to ever do or implement anything. I like to refer to it as "institutional inertia". One example is, my current lowest paid client is a large, international, mid-eight figure company that is on its way to an IPO. Their monthly budget, for a company this size, is freakin ridiculous. I have small local clients that spend more on SEO with me than they do. The sheer amount of troubleshooting, writing recommendations until I'm blue in the face (which may or may not get implemented in the next 12-24 months), etc. can really leave a person with the feeling of "What's left to do? Well, I can analyze the hell out of a bunch of stuff at least." :wink: It's a tough habit to break, and it helps to be under the gun from time to time, when you can no longer afford to waste time, to snap one's self back from that "endless feedback loop".
 
In my experience it is having the right people around me that I can rely on. For instance it has taken me a botu three months via e-lance and Odesk to find several copywriters of a good consistent quality. If like me you hate writing then this can rally set you back. There enough good backlink providers out there in my experience (many on this forum) but quite often content writing is your bread and butter, especially setting up multiple new sites.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back