Q: Hello Alice. First, thanks for your valuable time and support, you're very much appreciated. If you could spare a moment, I'd value feedback on this site: Audio Book Gift Shop.

In your experience, would it be more effective to build a bunch of niches around the main site and then SEO for each specific sub-niche site?

Thanks,

John Mignano

A: First, thanks for the kind words John and I am glad I can be of help.

As for the site, audio books are a great market and you have some terrific products, but as you have determined, reaching a wider audience might be a challenge for you. I’d like to suggest a few things for your site, if you don’t mind:

1. For me, the page is really busy. With so much to choose from and all the text on the page, I have a hard time deciding on where to look and the same is likely to happen with all your visitors.

2. Though it may work well for some sites, I personally don’t like the green and you may want to do some research on colors that provoke readers to react. The green background on the menus doesn’t seem to draw my eye in.

3. I think the 3 column design is a bit dangerous, again leading to the “Where do I go now?” feeling from visitors. Internet users like to be led by the hand. Designing a website that tells them exactly what they should do next will likely get more reaction.

4. I would definitely keep the search feature due to the amount of books you have available. Many of your visitors probably know exactly which title they are looking for and this will make it easier for repeat visitors/buyers to find exactly what they need without having to flip through pages of titles.

5. I would move your header graphic to the top of the page so people know where they are when they get there. It will also help with branding yourself if you choose to do so. Maybe move the ads at the top down and insert the graphic or create a smaller graphic for the top left corner and move the ads over to the right. Your ultimate goal is to sell more audio books, so there’s no need to make ads so much of the site’s focus.

6. For your product descriptions, I must admit I found them a bit confusing. There is a brief synopsis of the story/content when I browse the category, but when I click on a product that information is way at the bottom of the page. I think what’s in the audio book is the most important information and should be kept toward the top of the product page. The miscellaneous details could be moved down. Also, the way the story/content information is formatted (in plain Verdana text without a headline) doesn’t command any attention. Bring the eye in with a headline, bold important parts of the text, etc.

Again, I think you have a great thing going and you just need to take a look at the site as someone who is visiting for the first time and has no idea how to get to what they are looking for. This will help you to create a more user-friendly site that attracts and keeps visitors coming back.

Yes, your idea of creating sub-niche sites can work, but it will take time. I really feel the goldrush days of SEO (circa 200-2003) are over. SEO can definitely be a part of your promotional plan, but realize that this will be a strategy that might take a bit of time to come fruition.

You definitely have a challenge in the fact that you are selling to a variety of audiences interested in different types of books, so that is why your niche site idea is a good one. But what can you do now to start generating some good traffic?

One way to deal with this would be to start looking for the audio book crazy crowd or even targeting specific groups (like sci-fi fans, health nuts, etc) through other methods that can produce faster results. Try your hand at press releases and content distribution (articles, special reports, etc), and finding targeted affiliates to start promoting your products.

Just a few things to get you started. Overall, I’d clean the site up a bit, so it’s easy to get around and find exactly what people are looking for. Then promote the heck out of it!

Helpful Resources:

=>Learn more about creating free publicity with the Press Release Profits Course.

=> Learn all about setting up and maintaining a profitable affiliate program with Affiliate Manager Sweetie.

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