Popularity Doesn’t Translate into Cash
Believe it or not, despite how popular Traffic Generation Café is, it barely makes enough money to pay for groceries (of course, when I say ‘groceries’, I really mean ‘coffee’ and ‘wine’).
What?!!
With my kind of traffic, I should be able to live comfortably off the income all that traffic and reputation should generate, right?
And if Traffic Generation Café doesn’t make that much money, then how could you, a newbie or someone who barely gets half the attention this blog enjoys, hope to generate a healthy full-time income from your online endeavors?
By the way, I actually do have a solution at the end of the post; hang in there.
So, why isn’t Traffic Generation Café making as much money as it should?
Let’s take a look at my income model for a second.
Over the past 4 years, I’ve dabbled in a few possible income streams, including:
- network marketing (yes, that’s how I got started online);
- consulting;
- subscription model;
- banner advertising;
- odds and ends like writing sponsored reviews, freelancing for other blogs, etc;
- and, of course, affiliate marketing.
The one thing that I’ve never tried to make money with is launching my own products.
Why? The mere idea of spending hours, days, weeks putting together a product that might be outdated by the time it’s actually released or be a complete flop makes me cringe.
I know, I know – we can’t succeed if we don’t try.
But I don’t want to try.
If I am going to stay up all night working on my business, shouldn’t it be at least somewhat enjoyable?
So, launching my own products is off my income stream list, no matter how profitable it could be.
However, I LOVE to promote killer products that other marketers spend endless hours, and sweat, blood, and tears creating.
I LOVE affiliate marketing.
It took me 4 years of trial, error, and frustration, and feeling stuck to figure out that affiliate marketing is the only way for me to make money that actually resonates with me.
In other words, affiliate marketing is my natural flow.
Feeling Stuck vs Natural Flow
This is so important I want to park on this topic for a second.
Your natural flow is where you are doing tasks that naturally suit your personality.
When you are in flow:
- Things are easy.
- You can get more done with much less effort.
- You produce results as if you had a magic wand.
- You can spend hours working on the task and it feels likes minutes.
- You gain energy from the activity.
- It lights you up.
- You feel inspired.
Doesn’t it make you feel warm and fuzzy to simply know that such seeming utopical state of being in your natural flow actually exists?
Most of us, business owners, are much more familiar with the opposite state of natural flow.
Feeling STUCK.
- Everything is a struggle, even the things you are good at.
- You spend a few minutes doing the task and it feels like hours.
- You feel drained of energy and tired.
- You generally feel more and more uninspired as time goes on.
- You are weighed down by these tasks.
And that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling every time I tried to monetize this blog – like pulling teeth. Stuck. No end and not much result in sight.
What Makes Your Best Money-Making Strategy Work?
Bottom line is this: if you want to increase your income, you really need get to know yourself and the money-making strategy that will work for your personality type.
Affiliate marketing is the closest match with my personality.
If you know what money-making strategies make you feel like you are in flow, great. If you have no idea, you better figure it out before you can go any farther.
The next step to figure out what we need to do to make it work.
For instance, to be a successful affiliate marketer, I need:
- the right products to promote;
- the right people to promote them to;
- the reason people should buy those products from ME and not someone else.
I think that about covers it.
Why Hasn’t Affiliate Marketing Worked for Me?
Out of the three conditions of successful affiliate marketing I mentioned above, the lack of “the right products to promote” definitely stands out to me.
In the past three and a half years, I wrote only about 8 product reviews total.
Yes, I list all the tools I use and trust in my lil’ black book.
Yes, I mention products in my posts as I see appropriate.
But it’s not enough.
Why don’t I have more products to promote?
- I don’t promote anything I don’t test/use first.
- Testing takes time; a LOT of time.
- If I only have 3-4 hours per day to work on my business, and it takes me about 8 hours to write a blog post, and I publish 3 posts per week, plus do some guest blogging… you do the math. It just doesn’t add up.
- I really don’t believe we need that many tools to run a successful online business. Just a few core things I mention in my rolodex.
- There’s too much junk out there to sift through to find a few pearls.
So yes, I’ve got plenty of obstacles/excuses that keep me from finding and offering more worthy products that would make it much easier for my readers to run their business more successfully and efficiently.
So What’s the Plan?
You/I need to decide whether you/I:
1. Continue running our businesses as hobbies, keeping ourselves “busy” doing things that have no direct impact on the eventual success of it?
OR
2. Do we figure out how to overcome whatever it is that’s keeping us from making money?
OR
3. We might as well quit now and forever hold our peace (and stop whining about it).
I suppose it’s safe to assume that most of us here are #2 kind of people, right?
So where do we go from here?
Here’s the plan of action as I see it:
- Figure out what your natural talents are.
- Find the best money-making strategy that fits your natural talents. (I highly recommend focusing on just one to start)
- Develop a plan to put that money-making strategy to work in your business. (not the ‘big’ picture; rather small actionable non-intimidating steps)
I do realize that this doesn’t really address the all-important ‘how-to‘ of it all.
My goal here is to get you off your rear, stop complaining about not making enough money (and trust me, I am talking to myself here as much as you) and start doing something about it.
Plus, as you can tell from this post, I am not the best ‘how to make money online’ advice giver – I’d rather you learn that part from those who actually have done it themselves, trained others to do it, and are ready to share that practical knowledge with you.
‘Want to Make More Money?’ Bottom Line
The bottom line is we don’t make enough money in our businesses because we choose to beat our heads against a brick wall instead of removing that brick wall to begin with.
Don’t make money because you have no traffic?
Then take your time to learn how to drive traffic.
Don’t make money because you haven’t developed authority and trust with your readers?
Then take your time to build an audience business.
Don’t make money because you don’t have a product?
Then stop doing everything else and create it.
Don’t make money because you have no idea how to?
I bet you there’s an app for that!
You see my point though: the only thing that stands between you and online income is YOU.
Hi,
Yes, it is very important to use the right product for promotion in a right way to get high quality revenue from traffic what you have…..
However, Having own product is always a best choice for making healthy money…
Thanks..
Best Regards.
Paul
Indeed, Paul.
Hey Anna,
It’s great to see such an honest post here. But I think you need to spend some time working on your monetization methods. The fact is, you could pump out a simple product about blogging with the most evergreen strategies that will last for years (albeit not the fastest working/most effective strategies), sell it for $50 and launch it within a week. Easily selling several copies a day with a few placements around the blog.
I’ve watched you for years, it’s about time you put a product out. I’m sure you will some day, maybe now. Looking forward to more content, and a product 🙂
You are very right, Jamie – I haven’t really made the step that would turn Traffic Generation Café from a hobby into a business, i.e. turning this wealth of knowledge into a product.
Thanks Ana! I’ve never really thought about the fact that you ought to focus on the income streams that suit you, instead of trying to push your square peggedness into a round hole. And you know what that translates into, for me, at least? Sitting down with pencil and paper and just making lists of what I want to do with my blogging time. As I make my list, if I feel that “ugh” feeling over a point or two, I know that those points I need to skip or, if I just have to do them, try to delegate them to somebody else. If I feel that little “zing!” of interest or “I can’t wait to get to THAT!” then I know that that’s the point I need to start on. Thanks again. Great post!
Love your idea of sitting down with a pen and paper (yes, it’s still good to use those occasionally!) and watching your emotional reaction to what you are writing down, Amy. I think it’s a perfectly great way to find out where your heart might be!
PS ‘Vomiting chicken’? LOVE it! And love your writing style as well. In my family, pickles will go with any meal of the day (unless my breakfast consists strictly of coffee… lol)
Look forward to seeing more of you around Traffic Generation Café!
Hey Ana,
First off, let me start by congratulating you on standing your ground as a transparent blogger! I have known TGC for a long time now and it’s very easy to say you make all the money on the internet. Though it sounded surprising Ana, but reading your article has lifted my spirit the more.
Now I can see that there are still worthy and transparent bloggers who care very much about their passion than possession. I really admire you Ana, the time you spent crafting this post not minding what people will say or feel. You are after engagement with your readers and that’s to an extent what blogging is all about. This explains the reason why I added you to the list of my top “Superstar Engagement Bloggers” in a post I did recently on my blog.
Making money is not an easy thing, as it requires not just resources but basically your time. Now I have learned one important thing from you that the very first step to making money on a blog is “YOU” It’s is the YOU in YOU that will determine if you are ever going to make money and NOT your popularity. WOW! This is a lesson well learned and I can’t wait to share this TRUTH with my blog readers Ana! I am really inspired by your heartfelt story, you are indeed a blogger worth following.
About affiliate marketing, I am at the moment putting more of my strength to it. I have come to know that it’s all a matter of knowing what best to promote, and if one can learn the proper channels to bring the right products to the table of those who needs it, then making money will become a hobby.
It’s weekend Ana, and I have a “Food for Thought” enough to think in the right direction as regards making money online.
Have a wonderful weekend and do expect a word from me on this down to earth and well crafted post on my blog soon Ana.
Cheers!
Jackson
Thanks so much for your encouragement, Jackson – it wasn’t easy to write this post, but I am glad I did, for all the reasons you just mentioned.
Truth is making money blogging is an absolute reality. It just takes work like anything else we do.
Hello Ana,
Wonderful post. I have visited your blog long back through Harleena’s blog and coming again now. I was little busy with my blog and family too.
Affiliate marketing is a great source to get earning online. Along with that my income source is “sponsored reviews”. This is my first source to getting earned. I’ve just started with the affiliate marketing. Let’s see, I will get success or not.
After reading this post, I can say that I can sell my product in a right manner and get success in my affiliate earnings.
Thanks for sharing the awesome tips.
Have a great day ahead!
Thanks for coming by, Nisha.
Glad to hear sponsored reviews work well for you. Personally, I didn’t feel like it was the right fit for this kind of blog, but I know there’s good money in it.
Look forward to seeing you around!
Hi Ana,
Wow.
I look to YOU for advice about blogging and traffic and online marketing, but this article made me realize I may just be making more money than you online.
That said, I think I can help.
IN 2008 I sold the rights to an information product that I developed for $87.5K, plus ongoing royalties. It’s still paying me around $50K a year or more. That’s nearly half a million bucks for work I did six years ago…
This product is NOT the “making money niche”, but it’s something that people are willing to pay for (obviously) and I’m happy to have the side cash while building my new passion, Shoestring101. I won’t try to advertise it here, not my style… but I will tell you and your readers exactly HOW I was able to monetize my blog.
First off, I discovered a solution to a problem that many investors face, and started a free blog and email service so people could see how I trade stocks and options with safety.
At a certain point, someone asked “Have you written a book or something? I would buy it if you did. Where can I find your book?”
BINGO.
Here’s the part I think Ana needs to do, it’s five steps:
1) I announced my intent to write a comprehensive guide to the way I trade stocks and options safely.
2) I posted a table of contents… what KURT thinks needs to be in the book.. and sent emails to my list and asked them what else THEY would like to see in the book.
3) I continually revised the table of contents according to what my audience was demanding. There was a lot of stuff I never would have thought they would need.
4) I put a crappy little PayPal button next to the finished table of contents and disclosed that my schedule is pretty tight… I barely have time between trading, running my businesses, and being a Dad… but that if there was enough interest I would take the time and write the book. Only $200 to pre-order your copy, totally refundable if I don’t get a serious enough response to warrant writing it.
5) After collecting several thousand dollars (I guess folks reading my blog and watching me trade real-time believed enough in the method to see the whole thing spelled out!)… only then then I sit down and slog my way through my first book.
Ana, I would LOVE to see you doing better with all this amazing information that you share here on your blog. Believe me, with a little feedback from your “crew”, we would all love to support you in making the traffic and INCOME generation guide to end all guides.
Put me down as your first customer. I for one would consider it a bargain to have all the best stuff in YOUR brain for a measly 200 bucks 🙂
Anyhoo, that’s my $.02. I think maybe more’n a few of your readers will back me up on this one.
Keep Stepping,
Kurt
That’s pretty brilliant, Kurt. Truly. So simple, transparent, and to the point; love it!
I think you and I need to talk…
Traffic generation cafe is one of the best blogs I read over the web, but telling that it does not make money has come a shock to me. Money or not, this is a awesome blog please continue it.
I do appreciate the compliment, Prateek.
Hi Ana,
Willing to earn money? can’t get success in a week or in a month as well. It takes a lot of time to get success in and to earn handsome amount online. It might be difficult for lazy people but this is a reality no one can earn without spending hard work or time.
So true, Mustafa.
I added your website to my blogroll. I am following your posts and advice to get more traffic. Your posts are helping a lot of people.
That’s so very kind of you, Bindhurani, and I really appreciate the compliment.
With that said, believe it or not, being on a blogroll of a completely unrelated website might actually hurt Traffic Generation Café in the long run – Google doesn’t see that connection as natural.
Also, since your website doesn’t have anything to do with traffic generation or ever blogging, your readers might not appreciate a blogroll link that doesn’t have anything to do with design.
Once again, I truly appreciate it, but might be better if we keep Traffic Generation Café off your blog.
Hey Ana,
Thought I commented on this already, but obviously not. I’m very surprised to hear about TGC and the talk about the money. What I’m more surprised about though is that the subscription model didn’t work out. Me, I love creating my own products … and yes it does take time but I’m willing to put in the work.
I tried/am trying affiliate marketing and the learning curve for it may take longer than the four years for you. I know I’m not doing it correctly but I’m continuously learning.
Currently I’m not making any money from my site because I’m trying to build up a following and stuff but maybe that’s an excuse … who knows. I attended the webinar and learned alot and as I’m writing this, I may need to view it again if the replay is still working.
Great post Ana. Really telling and you’re right. The only thing standing between someone making money and not making money is themselves.
– Andrew
Truth is I prefer the ‘busy’ work (like hanging out on G+) to the real work, like sitting down and writing content for a membership site for instance. I know where I fall short (not making my priorities priorities), now I need to stop thinking about it and start doing it.
I think you are looking at it the right way: build your readership first. However, it’s never too early to think about how your are going to start monetizing your audience once it’s in place.
Ana got from Don’s link on G+ and must say the post is really informative.
I remember asking you this question on one of your post recently about not having seen a make money post from your end, and you said its on the pipeline.
Thanks for sharing this plan with us, the unstuck plan. No doubt that the need to move with our natural flow makes less stress out of work and makes us live a much happy life.
Looking forward to your success not only in traffic but in seeing your earning soar.
Thanks once again Ana
I think I don’t publish my reports because I don’t really want to know how much/little I make from Traffic Generation Café. lol
Did you find them helpful, Peter, even though you saw that I wasn’t making that much? Encouraging or discouraging?
Hi Anna,
Isn’t this the real issue most offline businesses have as well? Of course it is; they simply don’t understand how all the tools work together to help them make money.
Now, if you’re a business-to-business company like I am, you cannot necessarily afford to put all your eggs in an online basket. Most of my business actually comes from offline networking and referrals.
When they come to my website and blog, it validates me and offers me huge credentials. I just signed a $6,000 consulting agreement and I’m negotiating a $35,000 consulting agreement with a Fortune 1000 company.
All from referrals. Sometimes those referrals started online at someplace like a LinkedIn group, they came to my blog, read it contacted me, experienced me and then referred me.
It’s not often though that many jobs come directly from the Internet, but that’s because the majority of Executives and decision makers, and business owners are not online all that much. They are working.
So, I had to think through the strategies I use online and how do those strategies then reinforce and validate me so that I can break through to the large contracts I want.
I think there is an extreme amount of online competition right now and when I look just through Facebook I cannot believe all the ads that look alike. I wonder how many are being ignored?
Maybe your audience that is visiting your site loves and values you, but they may not be your paying customers? That’s why I love and appreciate your change-up strategy to connect your audience with those they may want to buy from. GENIUS! Well played!
I know you will make money and find out how you can create the lifestyle from the great work you do here.
Thanks so much for your openness and transparency. You are not alone as you said. Most bloggers just don’t know all the options they have and haven’t created the strategies they need to monetize their efforts. I know you are inspiration to many now!!!!!
Thanks again for sharing your struggles and your solution.
~ Don Purdum
Thanks for your encouragement, Don, and it’s great to hear that you seem to have your ducks in a row, meaning you know what you want to do when you grow up. lol
And I hear you about using your online presence to confirm your offline expertise; that’s exactly what blogging meant to do for a business model like yours!
I do love connecting people with products/people they might need to grow their business – a perfect way for me not to have to create products and make a few dollars on the side. 😉
By the way, have you seen the new Brazzlebox social network for small businesses? You might find it interesting/useful: https://plus.google.com/115854344437995415484/posts/XehrpCXWLtf
Hi Ana,
Thank you for the very kind words. No, I have not heard of Brazzlebox but I will definitely check into it.
If I can be of any help as you weave your way through this jungle or you want to pick a brain, let me know. I’m happy to be a resource if I can help.
~ Don
Love this post, Ana, thank you. It took me about two years of thinking that I really ought to have info products to sell before I finally got around to it. Now that I have, I find it’s easier than I thought and also that I’m enjoying creating these products very much – as much as my teaching work. Over the past few years my work has gradually become more focused on writing, and I think it’s the writing that’s my natural flow.
That’s a great thing to be able to discover your natural flow, Angela – even though it’s called ‘natural’, it’s not an easy task for most of us.
Thanks +Ana Hoffman — there are many other of your tips I want to read today but this is a subject that I’ve thought about a lot and wanted to leave comment.
I, too, decided a few years ago I should monetize my blog and took and course and installed a shopping cart all ready to sell my products — but what would they be? Someone suggested selling a package of blog posts. But, come on, you know how much effort goes into writing a post. I’d end up working for pennies. Then I researched affiliate marketing. But I learned the number of people who actually make real money — not chump change — is minuscule. I hope that Laura’s webinar helped show the way and I wish you all the luck in the world.
Back to me — I decided that my blog would be a portfolio of my work and a tool to build my brand. I’ll never make money online, but my blog has helped to attract business offline. And if I really pushed I could make some real money. But I’m in working retired mode and pretty happy with the business I’m getting now.
One more caveat about affiliate marketing. If you post affiliate ads all over the place I think it will detract from your blog content which is the draw for most of your traffic, in the first place. Sorry to ramble, but affiliate marketing may not be the silver bullet. I truly hope it works for you.
Thanks for taking your time to comment, Jeannette.
Affiliate marketing has actually been the only constant stream of income I’ve had from Traffic Generation Café in the past 4 years.
As I mentioned in the post, I’d tried many other income streams (I am pretty sure just about every way it’s possible to make money from a blog) just because others had said I should. Never worked for me.
What Laura’s course helped me with was taking the pressure off trying to make money in ways that would never work for me because it wasn’t natural and I struggled every step of the way with it.
So glad to hear your offline efforts are paying off, Jeannette.
Once again Anna, you made me think, and think hard. Just wish I recieved your email yesterday.
Better late than never?
Hi Ana,
Getting unstuck, by feeling good, and moving into action on income channels which feel great to you, is the way to prospering. So happy you noted that idea.
I trashed my old blog to prosper with my new blog.
3400 posts, and a ton of forced, strained, unclear work, down the drain. Or, better put, working really hard and long, to make some dough online, and to experience success, versus working from a fun, light, playful space, enjoying the heck out of the ride, being clear, and hitting the ground running with my new blog.
In a few days – maybe tomorrow actually – I’ll be publishing my 2nd eBook in the Blogging from Paradise series, and my 3rd eBook is halfway written too. Life has become SO much more fun by getting super clear on my blog, my brand, and by just opening income streams that I feel 100% clear on, and that I enjoy working.
You love doing affiliate stuff. Affiliate marketing sings to you, so keep on running with it. I love writing eBooks, and offering my freelance writing and blog coaching services, so I’m running with that. To get to this point I had to trash my old blog and the many worn out income streams, that I held onto, that didn’t sing to me.
Kudos Ana. So happy you’re rocking it out, and to see the amazing work you’re doing is inspiring to me.
Keep it up.
Of course I’ll tweet in a bit.
Have a fun weekend 🙂
Ryan
Being in tune with what’s natural to us makes such an incredible difference, doesn’t it, Ryan?
Just because someone else does it, doesn’t mean it’d work for us. Yet that’s exactly what we assume when we first start online.
Learning what works for us is always a challenge and, yes, there might be some trashed blogs along the way. However, finding that one thing where true passion lies is like finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, isn’t it, Ryan?
So glad you got it, and I now I am on my way to hopefully do the same.
You make such a valid point. It is so important to figure out what your natural flow is so that you are working on things that you enjoy. Once you work this out, you will be more motivated to get stuff done.
I know that there are ways that I could make more money online but, like you, I already know that I hate certain things so I will not force myself to do them.
At the moment I am working on a series of projects, so that I can pinpoint where my natural flow lies. Then I will be able to zero in and fully commit.
Now that you have acknowledged exactly how you want to increase your own money making activities, I would like to wish you good luck with future affiliate earnings. 🙂
We all have very limited time to work on our businesses, so we might as well figure out how to maximize our earnings from the efforts we put it, and figuring out our natural flow is the quickest route from A to Z, isn’t it, Victoria?
I wish you the same; thanks for coming by.
Hi Ana, I can totally relate to everything that you have said about feeling stuck! Time certainly flies when you are into the task at hand, but when you aren’t feeling it then it can be like wading through quicksand. I am glad I’m not alone in this feeling.
I’ve had my fair share of painfully slow unproductive days, Kostas; it’s definitely good to know why and what I can do to hopefully never have one again. Not realistic, but it’s good to have hope against hope, right? 😉
Hi Ana,
You are SO right in all that you wrote, and I can well relate to it 🙂
Yes, making money isn’t easy, especially if you cannot devote the time you’d like to, or don’t have those kind of resources and contacts. Even affiliate marketing, isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and a few of my friends who are into it, are ALL the time promoting products or writing reviews, but I wonder how many of them try and test it, something I also strongly believe should be done. That’s because over time, your readers begin trusting you and believe that all that you promote is bound to be good!
I hope there’d be a recording of the webinar as I am not home and with Dad, celebrating his 75th birthday, though would love to hear what Laura suggests.
Thanks for sharing this with us. Have a nice week 🙂
Happy Birthday, Harleena’s Dad! 😉
That’s the thing with affiliate marketing: you really truly don’t need that many products to run an online business and, in all honesty, I’d never recommend something that people simply don’t need. That means I have to sell a LOT of the basic products to make enough money.
I am working on it though… How do you make most of your income from blogging?
Thanks for your kind wishes Ana – we really made it a special one for him:)
Well, I don’t earn from my blog, though lately I started off with a little – through conventional ad banners on the site and Google Adsense – nothing much I know, but enough to sustain the blog, which was only created to help people in more ways than one.
It’s because of this one intention in mind that we started off with a new community forum also, so lots going on to keep one busy.
Thanks once again 🙂
And you are doing such a wonderful job at that, Harleena – helping people! I only wish helping and earning wouldn’t be mutually exclusive. lol
How refreshing to see someone who provides SO much VALUE, is totally transparent… and honest! Thank you Ana! This reader is most appreciative! 🙂
Very kind of you, Julie; it was painful, but needed to be written.
The “not as much money as it SHOULD” is a bit of a stretch in my opinion. The “should” is what we would like to have, but i doubt there’s any objective measure or set of criteria as to how much a website “should” make. Depending on which subjects you write about, your social circles etc. etc. the wording you choose, you get lucrative or less lucrative e.g. Adsense ads; and then depending on how your visitors feel that day or about the subject, you get a different click-through rate than others. Weigh this with other factors such as whether you sell affiliate products, your own products, Amazon or similar etc. there is a unique profile in each case. And all these “what’s your website worth” calculators on the web are a laugh – all they themselves try is attract visitors via that wording but their “results” are fiction at best. So I doubt that any beginner should start with a normative idea such as “should”. recently, with all the updates and any niche being saturated with at least eleven incumbents that block SERP 1 to 10, getting clicks and sales is a matter of waiting for one’s turn, like in the civil service 😉
All very good points, Darragh; ‘should’ is in the eyes of the beholder.
One thing I know fairly for certain that most people would expect me to make a lot more with Traffic Generation Café.
I think they (unrealistically) expect themselves to make X number of dollars in X number of months and then they look at my blog with all its traffic and say “shouldn’t you be a lot farther ahead?” Most likely they:
1. never made a dime online or
2. promote anything and everything they lay their eyes on without considering the end value.
So you are right, no one know what a blog ‘should’ make, but everyone knows that whatever it’s making isn’t it. Being human?
Hi Ana, never making a dime is actually easy: just set up a website in a niche where the competition all has domains 5 years or older, great Trust and Domain and PageRank, lots of backlinks and having commented on a lot of high PR blogs for years (and gotten published …). Then publish grammatically incorrect articles with bad spelling that are thinly veiled copycat efforts of existing material elsewhere on the web as one has little knowledge of the subject anyhow. Then sit back and wait. Works each and every time. This WORKS. The problem is: the opposite is effort and does not automatically work as reaching above SERP 11 under the circumstances given above means to either kick aside one of the incumbents or else … well, that is actually up to everyone to find out. It is quite obvious that tackling such opposition head-on can’t work so very well. If you can’t have the low hanging fruit (always worth a try), buy a ladder. Or grow a tree yourself etc. etc. We see: it’s possible but not as easy as it once was. And given the competition not everyone will share their just-discovered secret sauce with everyone, certainly not without considerable, pertinent reciprocation.
Love your ‘buy a ladder’ analogy, Darragh; haven’t heard that one.