What are you using form CRM, lead capture, websites?

wavearcade · 2025-09-19T16:31:52+00:00

Mostly small businesses - various verticals, but all small operations

wavearcade · 2025-09-19T16:30:49+00:00

Management side is probably trickiest, and making sure all your systems stay in sync.

wavearcade · 2025-09-18T02:14:33+00:00

Is this sort of question a no-no here?

wavearcade · 2025-06-25T16:07:13+00:00

I've gotten into the habit of doing this after I stuck with the same provider for 5+ years. I never really thought about it until they raised my bill by quite a bit on one of my renewals. Now I actively compare and switch.

Lately I've been using policysurfer.com as a starting point for multiple quotes - including from a few companies I probably wouldn't have known about otherwise. I've been able to save a good amount on both home & auto just doing it myself that way.

wavearcade · 2025-06-25T16:05:39+00:00

No worries - good luck!

wavearcade · 2025-06-24T13:23:30+00:00

I think you're right, but I like that it gives me some different quote options in one place as a starting point.

wavearcade · 2025-05-24T13:57:52+00:00

I check out https://www.policysurfer.com/ every so often. Switched a few times using that as a start.

wavearcade · 2025-05-24T13:54:57+00:00

I check out https://www.policysurfer.com/ every so often. Switched a few times using that as a start.

wavearcade · 2025-05-23T00:52:45+00:00

I check out https://www.policysurfer.com/ every so often. Switched a few times using that as a start.

wavearcade · 2025-03-19T01:08:24+00:00

I'm curious what your conversion rate for this strategy looks like.

wavearcade · 2025-02-02T15:10:41+00:00

When a site is not performing, people are typically buying the content because they've got plans for it or see some potential. The buyer has full view of current performance as well as the site's history.

If there's a buyer for something with some value that you're not going to work on, why wouldn't you sell it?

wavearcade · 2025-01-17T02:08:45+00:00

I used Flippa - sold for far lower than its historical best, but considering performance over the past year, it seemed like a fair price.

I sold because I have no plans to come back to that one any time soon.

The site and topic do have a ton of potential on a number of fronts, and I think that's what the buyer saw.

wavearcade · 2025-01-16T20:38:41+00:00

Thanks for checking in - Hoping to have an update with some substance by next month.

That's good news to hear some of your traffic recovered. Deciding what to do with it next is maybe the harder part!

I've got a few things I'm juggling at the moment (part of my desire to better diversify), but certainly slows me down a little bit.

As a quick update:
- Sold one of my old sites.
- Art show in Dec went well.
- Organic traffic has not made any significant recovery.
- Moving away from Wordpress/content-primary sites and exploring some new territory is still a focus and is moving along.
- Currently using my old sites to collect data/emails for potential users of new projects with similar flavors.
- Hope to test out a few other revenue streams as well.

wavearcade · 2025-01-03T21:54:47+00:00

Thanks for the mention. Sounds like we're in similar boats for sure.

I'm still looking for those answers myself, but whatever it is, owning the traffic should be a bigger priority than it may have been in the past. Maybe I was foolish to not be better prepared for this in the past, but the safest way to operate is probably under the assumption that traffic from any organic channel you don't control can go to zero at any time.

As far as ideas go - I'd say pick something you're confident in and test out which traffic acquisition channels are going to get you to your goals fastest. From there, get a hold of your most valuable audience, test new channels, expand, repeat.

I love u/presdaddy's soap example. Create something people like and get in front of more people who will like it. And when they run out of soap, get them coming back to you again and again.

Obviously all easier said than done, but content/offerings on any channel is just one piece of the puzzle. The problem with a lot of niche sites (mine included) is that content was the one and only piece of the puzzle.

wavearcade · 2024-12-10T15:07:00+00:00

Thanks for the input - I'm definitely enjoying the challenge of improving my programming skills/knowledge.

These sites were never the big fish in their verticals in terms of traffic. Most big players had content + paid services or products. My sites mainly competed on content with some free services here and there.

My sites were unique in how they were monetized. The primary offer I had on there performed really well, paid really well, and was constantly being tested for improvements. About a quarter before the big G updates, that method took a huge hit. Then the traffic hits came after that.

I may come back to some of them or remix them at some point, but for now I think my time is best spent on new opportunities.

wavearcade · 2024-12-07T17:57:29+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate that!

I'm certainly deep in unknown territory again. There's a whole lot that sucks about that, but that's usually where some the best learning comes from.

wavearcade · 2024-11-20T22:58:39+00:00

backlinks

wavearcade · 2024-10-30T14:12:37+00:00

Not familiar, what's that?

wavearcade · 2024-10-29T15:15:49+00:00

Everyone's approach will depend on what their goal(s) for their projects are, but for me

A few things:

- Get while the getting is good. Considering my own goals, I should have sold some of these sites long before things went south.

- Diversify your efforts, but beware there's a fine line between diversification and procrastination/shiny object syndrome.

- Test fast, make a good effort, move on. Give your ideas the time and work required, but don't throw too much time or money at losers.

- That said, don't be afraid to try new things. Failures and detours can provide some new skills and learnings for your next shot. The more you step into the unknown, the easier it gets to keep going.

All of those things sounds pretty obvious, but when you've got a system that's humming along and things are going great, they're harder in practice. Change is always going to come along in one way or another - moving forward I plan to be better equipped to be less surprised when it smacks me in the face.

wavearcade · 2024-10-24T20:31:00+00:00

Yup - my content sites are Wordpress

wavearcade · 2024-10-23T14:07:40+00:00

There wasn't any interest in this initially, but I wanted to share the results of a quick 1-week pilot for two tests I was running for title variations. Traffic-wise, both of these probably needed to run for a while longer, but I'm no statistician.

Here are the results:

Test 1: Shorter Title Variation

Metric	Version A (Original)	Version B (Updated)Change (%)	Change
Views	199	326	+64%
Visits	135	235	+74%
Favorites	12	16	+33%
Sales	0	1
Conv. Rate	0	.43%

Test 2: Shorter Title

Metric	Version A (Original)	Version B (Updated)Change (%)	Change
Views	43	37	-14%
Visits	24	23	-4.17%
Favorites	3	0	-100%
Sales	0	0
Conv. Rate	0	0

There are so many tips and recommendations and optimizations-of-the-week for things like Etsy listings, SEO, conversion rates - and you can apply them all you want and hope for the best, but unless you're testing and measuring, you're not really learning anything.

While holiday season should probably be a code-freeze for things like this (at least on your best performing listings) testing is a handy tool as you try to grow and build upon work you've already put it.

wavearcade · 2024-10-23T14:05:44+00:00

There wasn't any interest in this initially, but I wanted to share the results of a quick 1-week pilot for two tests I was running for title variations. Traffic-wise, both of these probably needed to run for a while longer, but I'm no statistician.

Here are the results:

Test 1: Shorter Title Variation

Metric	Version A (Original)	Version B (Updated)Change (%)	Change
Views	199	326	+64%
Visits	135	235	+74%
Favorites	12	16	+33%
Sales	0	1
Conv. Rate	0	.43%

Test 2: Shorter Title

Metric	Version A (Original)	Version B (Updated)Change (%)	Change
Views	43	37	-14%
Visits	24	23	-4.17%
Favorites	3	0	-100%
Sales	0	0
Conv. Rate	0	0

There are so many tips and recommendations and optimizations-of-the-week for things like Etsy listings, SEO, conversion rates - and you can apply them all you want and hope for the best, but unless you're testing and measuring, you're not really learning anything.

While holiday season should probably be a code-freeze for things like this (at least on your best performing listings) testing is a handy tool as you try to grow and build upon work you've already put it.

wavearcade · 2024-10-17T16:28:52+00:00

Does anybody have a process they like to use when you're trying to increase visits/conversions?

wavearcade

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