What does it mean to market to a niche? Niche marketing is about finding small opportunities on the Internet, like small topics that people might be interested in and search for. Big companies and webmasters with a lot of experience don't care about these areas because they are not important enough. But you might be interested in starting your own small business.
A small, simple website might not bring in thousands of dollars every month, but it could bring in $100, for example. That's fine, as long as it doesn't take too much work to make this mini-website. This way, you could use the same business model again and again. Taking into account that each small business could make around $100 per month, you could make $1,000 per month with ten niches. Does this make more sense? What if you were able to make 50 websites?
Researching keywords is always the first step in this kind of business. You need to find small markets where you are the only seller. Word track is a great tool for finding opportunities in niche markets. It tells you how many people have searched for each keyword and how many results each search engine has. You need to focus on the KEI column in particular. KEI is the index that makes sure the number of searches and the number of competitors is both about the same. The better it is for you, the more people search and the less competition there is. A KEI of 10 or more is good, but you should look at keywords with a KEI of 100 or more if you can. A gift is anything over 400.
Once you know what your niche is, you need to find content that fits it. Don't worry about what you'll sell; you'll figure that out later. Content is the "fuel" for any business on the Internet. So where do you look for content? Well, if you know a lot about a subject, you could write your own articles, but if you don't, you'll have to look elsewhere for content.
There are many article directories with a lot of useful content. You can also search the web to find a lot of content. Use search engines to find websites, blogs, forums, etc. Last but not least, you can always go to the library or buy one or two books to find information like in "the old days."
When you have enough content, it's time to register a domain name. You should pick a name that has something to do with your target audience, but if you want to make several small websites, you don't have to register a new domain name for each one. You can save money by having one global domain name and making subdomains for each business.
Now the question is, "Since everything looks good, how do I make money with these sites?" Follow this three-step formula (CTM):
- Make something
- Generate Traffic
- Make money from your site
You can get more traffic by making your website content search engine friendly and by studying your competitors to make a better SEO plan (but this is another chapter). By blogging and pinging, you can make sure that the search engines will spider your site. WordPress is a great choice for making a blog because it lets you post both articles and pages. With WordPress, it's easy to make small websites. Lastly, there are three easy ways for your site to make money.
- Join a program for affiliates. Find people who already have affiliate programs set up and sell products that are related to your market niche. When you sell other people's items, you will get a commission. The site http://www.clickbank.com is a good place to look for affiliate programs for products.
- Google Adsense. Sign up for a Google Adsense account and put Google ads on your website. When someone comes to your site and clicks on one of those ads, Google will give you a cut of the money it makes.
- Sell something you can make on your own. If you can do this and want people to be able to buy your products with a credit card, setting up a Paypal account is the easiest way to do it. If you don't have one, you can make one at http://www.paypal.com.
It's like a game to start a small business. You don't have to spend a lot of money on them, but they won't make you rich either. But if you play a lot of these games, it can turn into a serious business.
