Bloggers Journal

Recently I wrote on how niche websites are ideal to generate quick income – in theory.  In the article I decided that I’ll be using a niche site to learn about SEO and achieving a good search engine ranking.  It’s a great method – I hope – to put theory and research into practice, giving me experience and content to write about here.

I’d been thinking of a niche site for a while, and when I saw Pat Flynn and Tyrone Shum started a niche site duel, I though I should really get my own project rolling.  A number of other people have joined the challenge and are also blogging about their experiences.

I’ve also been discussing the idea with my networking group.  Tom, from Stand Out Blogger has been undertaking some niche market research, and has shared his research openly through his blog.

My Niche Site Motivation

I’ve mentioned briefly what my motivation is, but I think it’s important to go into it a little more.  I’ve been around the internet for a while, and have created a few websites.  However, I’ve never been particularly great at getting my websites ranked.  I’ve managed a few select keywords.

However, since I started blogging, I have joined many lists, just to get free ebooks to learn many things like,

• developing traffic
• marketing
• advertising
• seo
• social media

The list goes on.  However, the best way, I think, to really get a true understanding of what is going on, is to apply it to a project.  Now this site is a project, as is my Disney site.  However, these two sites are quite large, and applying so much to them is difficult.

I decided to work on SEO and apply it to a niche site.  That way I can learn more about affiliate marketing and advertising using streams like AdSense.  At the same time, I can really find what works for me on SEO.

What is my niche?

Many times over, I’ve read that any blogging venture you pursue should be something that you are passionate about.  Now I’ve read different ways of trying to develop ideas for niche sites.  In a really useful podcast, Pat Flynn interviews Glen Allsop.  In this audio, Glen mentions three main ways to identify problems.  I recommend you check out the audio

Anyway, I tried this approach, but didn’t find it was for me.  I focused on things that I knew about.  I want to help people, so that made it a little easier.  Think of everyday problems.  As you can imagine, forcing yourself to think wasn’t being productive.  One day I was out driving, and on my way home, it hit me.

My niche was frugal living.  Living on a budget.  I thought, heck, I’ve been doing that for months.  We’ve worked to pay for our wedding – which is in November.  And we’ve had to cut back big time to cover costs.  But we did it.  I realised that this experience is great for starting a niche site.  I’m not the only one living on a budget.

As much as my budget living was a choice, many others are forced into the position.  It’s hard – of course it is.  So my topic was set!

Niche Site Step 1

Now that I’d decided upon a topic, I brought the topic of niche sites up with my networking group.  This paid of no end, as I received some great tips and assistance in choosing a domain for my website.

I’d received some awesome tips from Tom at Stand Out Blogger, and Pawel from Self Employed Cafe on choosing my domain.  They both used Market Samurai to research.  Pawel actually did a video call through Skype, and showed me the competition and gave me some tips too.

So now I have a domain.  It’s bought, registered and pointing to my webspace.

Niche Site Setup

I’ve had the niche site for about two weeks, and owing to offline commitments, I haven’t had time to really get my teeth into it.  I’ve installed WordPress, and a theme.  I’ve also written some basic articles too, and linked up with some products to promote using ClickBank and Amazon.  I’ve also installed AdSense and AdBrite.

This is essentially what I have so far.  The forth coming blog posts in this series will share my experiences and efforts to rank high on Google.  My aim isn’t necessarily to earn lots of money, but more importantly to understand how SEO works, so I can apply it to bigger authority sites I wish to create.

Stay tuned for the next installments, where I will share some of the tools and methods I’m wanting to use.

Part 2 – Niche Website Development – Tools of the Trade

Image Credit – cayusa