Don't get hung up on your implementation vehicle and content management system.
Just be sure you can maintain your site easily.

What really counts is whether you can get (targetted) traffic to your site and then convert those visitors to money.

Just do whatever it takes to get visitors (build links mainly). And then do it some more.

You will know how your traffic is developing because you will include Google Analytics tracker code in every page you build. It's free and the reporting is great.

I strongly endorse Arindam's advice on traffic building. Some real pearls in there.

Keyword research is vital in SEO - but don't believe everything you read. Study your Analytics reports to see what keywords people actually used to find you. You are in for a surprise - so be prepared to think outside the box.

Yes, you can also score useful links with "gray hat" methods such as 3-way link exchange and from blog farms - but those cost plenty of time or money and are probably better avoided by the inexperienced.

Only when you have a decent traffic flow is it worth spending time optimising your site for conversion.

Stay positive, set goals, focus, and ACT.
Doesn't much matter if you get things wrong at first - you'll get better at it quickly enough.

Steve

Good response, as always.

Ezinearticles does work for me, but pretty much a trickle; maybe I don't submit enough.

I'm going to do exactly what you suggest - experiment more.

Changing some non-performing XsitePro sites to WP to see if anything happens; concentrating on link building for the next few months; and writing and link-promoting articles to see if that helps.

Cheers

Bruce

Thanks for your comment. I have not "destroyed" anything here (goodness, I wish I could, lol), merely added my opinion. And I DO NOT teach from theory; I teach from experience. So yeah if the truth hurts it is nothing weird ..

Speaking about beliefs, a true internet marketer does not follow "beliefs", he actually rips apart those beliefs and tests them for themselves. Have you:

1. Tested ezinearticles for yourself?

2. Tested Wordpress for yourself?

Do they bring great results for you? If yes, you are luckier than me and can continue to do what you have been doing BUT....

A true internet marketer also keeps up with the changes in the internet marketing circle and always tries to increase his earnings with constant testing and innovation. If u keep doing the same things you would keep getting the same results and be earning the same amount of money-no better than a day job as I see it

Also, newbies are not "poor". Nothing makes you poorer than your "poor" mindset; you need to change that a bit!

Remember once upon a time I was also a "poor newbie" like you. I learnt to build HTML sites, writing articles, and now building links, mostly by myself, and also with help from some free tutorials available on the web already!

Good luck!

And you've just destoyed some of my cherished beliefs - article marketing is good; ezinearticles is better (I'm classed as an "expert" writer, whatever that means) and WP is good for niche sites as well (says Dr. Andy Williams).

What is a poor newbie to do?

Bruce

True Ray. For centuries, writers have been using tools like allegory, symbolism and figurative speech in order to get their ideas across their readers!

I find the search for a profitable niche quite difficult. They say that there is always a new learning every day and I find your article very interesting and illustrative, no matter the size. You wrote details I didn't know at all. I think I am going to print it out and read it several times. Some great conclusion I'll try to get from it.
Thanks.