Straight from my blog, but you can read the whole thing here.
A while ago, the old simian read Rob’s description of his website galaxy concept over at his blog Eurekadiary.
Sadly, his graphics skills are lacking, so here is a new diagram for you to enjoy:
The concept was nice and interest was piqued again when Rob announced that he was selling off one of his galaxies because he had lost interest. Having talked to Rob before, the blind ape started bugging him about a possible e-mail interview.
Glad to be able to present this to you Rob has provided great answers to my questions. I urge you to visit his blog as well as his forums Political Fury - Political News & Discussion - Powered by vBulletin, ChefClub.net - Cooking & Recipe Community
Do you still make website galaxies to use in Internet Marketing?
I use the concept that drove the first actual “galaxy” I created. The concept is to reserve keyword real estate through purchasing relevant domain names and pushing link power to your site with an internally generated linking structure. Of course, you need to push links to the sites in your galaxy or it will be more like a “black hole” - a vacuum of websites that simply takes up pointless space, sucking up everything closeby including your time, energy and money.
I still practice the galaxy concept but not to the extent at which I created this initial galaxy. I will probably look to galaxies in the future, but a lot of my websites are very niche, product driven sites where a full blown galaxy might be overdoing it… my time could be better spent in other places.
The traffic posted at your auction was ok, if not overwhelming. Did it
continue to grow in the same rate during the auction?
The traffic seemed to have peaks and valleys because of the product I was promoting. It was a weight loss product and the traffic increased around the new year, probably due to the “resolution” types.
Even though you did not make as much as expected at your auction, I find the concept quite nice. What are your experiences, is it still a good
concept?
The concept is solid - you’re using keyword dense domains with keyword driven content to drive links to a specific web property that you want to boost for those same keywords. Instead of hunting around to search for great links, you’re creating your own in an organized fashion. But again, you still have the mission of promoting all of those sites.
What are good points about the concept? What is bad or might have to be changed?
The concept is good in and of itself and it offers results. However, the amount of time dedicated to planning the galaxy, coupled with the fact that I didn’t really care or have interest in the topic my first galaxy was created about (weight loss) was discouraging. I loss interest in regurgitating the same content in different ways.
For this reason, I would recommend using the galaxy concept in a much more refined, drawn back approach. Instead of buying all the domains, find some domains at blogger and wordpress that THEY host that you can throw in the mix. Instead of building galaxies to support narrow niches, use it to send niche traffic to pages/sections on more general sites.
For example: instead of making an entire galaxy about 1 weight loss product, perhaps I could have had a website about “health” in general and make mini galaxies about various parts of my #1 sun site I wanted to promote - weight loss could be one, excercize another, a mini “quit smoking” galaxy, etc…
How did the galaxy perform as a marketing instrument? How much did it make?
The galaxy performed okay, but it would have done much better if I put the right effort in. As I mentioned before, it got very boring and mundane to regurgitate the same info about 1 weight loss product. The galaxy made a decent amount… low 4 figures… but compared to the effort I put in I don’t think it was worth my time mainly due to my own errors and not the concept.
I think it WOULD be worth it if I was building smaller galaxies to support a site I was excited about in the long term. Each mini-galaxy would promote a niche page/category/keywords of the larger site.
How big should a galaxy be? Is there a minimum size? A maximum?
As your wife would probably say, size doesn’t matter (lucky for you). I’m joking… but in all honesty, size is something you definitely need to manage. Don’t get too ambitious… put together something that is manageable that will not strain your time so much that you have to drop everything else. If it isn’t time sensitive, build parts of the galaxy at a time… taking breaks in between…
The size of the galaxy should reflect how important the site is for you and how much potential it has. If you’re building a galaxy for a search term that gets 1,000 searches a month you’re wasting your time… make sure your time and effort is well placed by building a galaxy around topics and keywords that are important today and will be important and searched for tomorrow, next month, next year and hopefully many years down the road.
Are there refinements to the concept, changes, additions you would like
to share?
Definitely. If I were going to make another galaxy, my number 1 complaint was that I had to rewrite info on the same topic over and over and over….
Instead, make ONE mini informational site about a keyword/niche that will be a planet site… make it yourself and make it good. Hire 5 cheap writers and send them the link to this site. Ask them each to rewrite every article on the website in their own words, tossing in new things, rearranging things, taking things out, etc…
Of course that costs money but even with a 5 page mini-site… duplicating that 5 more times in your own words can be excruciatingly painful and make you lose interest in the project. Spend $75 to outsource that, work on other money making ventures while they do the rewriting, and you’ll have a lot more vigor and energy to dedicate to helping the site perform.
I would also say that a galaxy should be just one small part of your overall plan. If it’s a plan you care deeply about, consider putting a galaxy to work for you in addition to many other methods.
One Last Note…
I registered a few dozen domains for this “galaxy” based on speculation of a product that was to supposed to come out a year later. I didn’t start building my galaxy until about 2 weeks before the product went on sale. All I can say is… WHAT AN IDIOT!
If I had started that galaxy immediately I’m pretty sure I’d be telling you it was one of the best systems I have ever put into place. All of my sites would have gotten indexed early and before my competition. They would have had plenty of time to get link juice from other sites and for google to notice those changes. I waited too long is one of the reasons this plan was only moderately successful. If I carried through with the project early and completely, and with the hindsight I share with you now, I think I would have hit the cover off the ball.
Hopefully you will do just that…
A while ago, the old simian read Rob’s description of his website galaxy concept over at his blog Eurekadiary.
Sadly, his graphics skills are lacking, so here is a new diagram for you to enjoy:
The concept was nice and interest was piqued again when Rob announced that he was selling off one of his galaxies because he had lost interest. Having talked to Rob before, the blind ape started bugging him about a possible e-mail interview.
Glad to be able to present this to you Rob has provided great answers to my questions. I urge you to visit his blog as well as his forums Political Fury - Political News & Discussion - Powered by vBulletin, ChefClub.net - Cooking & Recipe Community
Do you still make website galaxies to use in Internet Marketing?
I use the concept that drove the first actual “galaxy” I created. The concept is to reserve keyword real estate through purchasing relevant domain names and pushing link power to your site with an internally generated linking structure. Of course, you need to push links to the sites in your galaxy or it will be more like a “black hole” - a vacuum of websites that simply takes up pointless space, sucking up everything closeby including your time, energy and money.I still practice the galaxy concept but not to the extent at which I created this initial galaxy. I will probably look to galaxies in the future, but a lot of my websites are very niche, product driven sites where a full blown galaxy might be overdoing it… my time could be better spent in other places.
The traffic posted at your auction was ok, if not overwhelming. Did it
continue to grow in the same rate during the auction?
The traffic seemed to have peaks and valleys because of the product I was promoting. It was a weight loss product and the traffic increased around the new year, probably due to the “resolution” types.
Even though you did not make as much as expected at your auction, I find the concept quite nice. What are your experiences, is it still a good
concept?
The concept is solid - you’re using keyword dense domains with keyword driven content to drive links to a specific web property that you want to boost for those same keywords. Instead of hunting around to search for great links, you’re creating your own in an organized fashion. But again, you still have the mission of promoting all of those sites.
What are good points about the concept? What is bad or might have to be changed?
For this reason, I would recommend using the galaxy concept in a much more refined, drawn back approach. Instead of buying all the domains, find some domains at blogger and wordpress that THEY host that you can throw in the mix. Instead of building galaxies to support narrow niches, use it to send niche traffic to pages/sections on more general sites.
For example: instead of making an entire galaxy about 1 weight loss product, perhaps I could have had a website about “health” in general and make mini galaxies about various parts of my #1 sun site I wanted to promote - weight loss could be one, excercize another, a mini “quit smoking” galaxy, etc…
How did the galaxy perform as a marketing instrument? How much did it make?
The galaxy performed okay, but it would have done much better if I put the right effort in. As I mentioned before, it got very boring and mundane to regurgitate the same info about 1 weight loss product. The galaxy made a decent amount… low 4 figures… but compared to the effort I put in I don’t think it was worth my time mainly due to my own errors and not the concept.
I think it WOULD be worth it if I was building smaller galaxies to support a site I was excited about in the long term. Each mini-galaxy would promote a niche page/category/keywords of the larger site.
How big should a galaxy be? Is there a minimum size? A maximum?
As your wife would probably say, size doesn’t matter (lucky for you). I’m joking… but in all honesty, size is something you definitely need to manage. Don’t get too ambitious… put together something that is manageable that will not strain your time so much that you have to drop everything else. If it isn’t time sensitive, build parts of the galaxy at a time… taking breaks in between…
The size of the galaxy should reflect how important the site is for you and how much potential it has. If you’re building a galaxy for a search term that gets 1,000 searches a month you’re wasting your time… make sure your time and effort is well placed by building a galaxy around topics and keywords that are important today and will be important and searched for tomorrow, next month, next year and hopefully many years down the road.Are there refinements to the concept, changes, additions you would like
to share?
Definitely. If I were going to make another galaxy, my number 1 complaint was that I had to rewrite info on the same topic over and over and over….
Instead, make ONE mini informational site about a keyword/niche that will be a planet site… make it yourself and make it good. Hire 5 cheap writers and send them the link to this site. Ask them each to rewrite every article on the website in their own words, tossing in new things, rearranging things, taking things out, etc…
Of course that costs money but even with a 5 page mini-site… duplicating that 5 more times in your own words can be excruciatingly painful and make you lose interest in the project. Spend $75 to outsource that, work on other money making ventures while they do the rewriting, and you’ll have a lot more vigor and energy to dedicate to helping the site perform.
I would also say that a galaxy should be just one small part of your overall plan. If it’s a plan you care deeply about, consider putting a galaxy to work for you in addition to many other methods.
One Last Note…
I registered a few dozen domains for this “galaxy” based on speculation of a product that was to supposed to come out a year later. I didn’t start building my galaxy until about 2 weeks before the product went on sale. All I can say is… WHAT AN IDIOT!If I had started that galaxy immediately I’m pretty sure I’d be telling you it was one of the best systems I have ever put into place. All of my sites would have gotten indexed early and before my competition. They would have had plenty of time to get link juice from other sites and for google to notice those changes. I waited too long is one of the reasons this plan was only moderately successful. If I carried through with the project early and completely, and with the hindsight I share with you now, I think I would have hit the cover off the ball.
Hopefully you will do just that…
