The concept of affiliate marketing
is quite simple — refer a user from your web site / blog to another
site and if they make a purchase or take action, you will earn a
commission from it. The concept of a niche site
is also quite simple… focus your time and effort on creating a very
niche specific site loaded with high quality content and rank
organically for relevant long tail keywords.
Again, the concepts are simple… however they don’t always seem to pan out as successfully as we like. So why is this?
In most cases, it’s not the business model that isn’t a success, it’s
the process of how you get there. Way too many online marketers and
bloggers are focused on the concept of “creating content” for their
niche sites and not focusing on the content promotion and link building,
which is the real meat of any successful niche site.
To make money with a niche site, you need to have traffic. Usually
this traffic comes from free organic search rankings. The formula still
works today just like it did a decade ago, however there is a TON more
competition and Google isn’t just allowing any sites to rank like they
used to.
The Many Different Approaches to Creating Niche Sites
As mentioned, the formula is still the same… but how you get there is
always changing. There are plenty of online courses out there for how
to best create simple niche sites and make a profit from them, however
they all have their own theories and formulas on what works best.
Simple Sites Big Profits is
one such course, which gives users step-by-step instructions how the
concept of creating niche sites can bring in a recurring source of
income on a daily basis. How much can your site earn? Well, that all
comes down to the niche focus, traffic to your site and how much time
and effort you put into it — all valid points that the course material
tries to help you achieve.
Marcus Campbell is the man behind Simple Sites Big Profits and he’s
been able to make a decent amount of money in the past by searching out
niche markets, building tiny sites around the concept and getting them
to rank in the search results. This all goes back to the concept of
building very simple sites, but also putting in the work to realize what
niche markets to go after and which to stay away from. It’s not just
about creating a niche site, it’s about building content out that you
can rank, while also hitting your target audience while they are in
“buying mode”.
This all worked fine and dandy until Google came around and slapped
his little niche business off the map, taking his earnings per day from
$1,000+ down to around $100-$200. This wasn’t the end for Marcus
however… instead it was just a realization that the model works, but how
he got there had to change. Through his Simple Sites Big Profits
course, Marcus walks you through the process of how to search out hidden
niche markets, while also going through the process of looking at their
competition, profitability and the best way to build a small targeted
site around each niche focus.
Some of the material within the course is dated and goes back a few
years, but again… the model is still the same, it’s just a matter of how
you get there. The course material is broken down into 9 different
steps, while also offering mini-guides, resources and tutorials along
the way.
The Steps to Create a Successful Niche Site
Inside Simple Sites Big Profits, you will gain access to the members
area and be able to walk your way through the course material as you
like. While Marcus uses many different examples of niche markets to go
after, the process behind each of them follows this actionable 9-step
formula.
- Finding a Niche
It’s not just about choosing any niche, it’s about going after one that
has low competition, is easy to rank and also has a method of
monetization.
- Finding Offers to Promote
Affiliate marketing, Amazon and Google Adsense are two of the best methods when trying to monetize a niche site.
- Traffic Sources
While organic search traffic is always the best method for a niche site, paid advertising opportunities also exist.
- Creating Your Site
Through the use of WordPress and easy to use site builders, it’s never
been easier to create simple niche sites with high quality content.
- Get Traffic to Your Site
Writing content for your niche site will only get you so far, you need
to actively build backlinks, use social media and reach new audiences on
a daily basis.
- Building Out Quality Content
When building content for your site, focus on the long tail keywords you
want to rank for, while also providing quality and giving the user an
end call to action.
- Setting Up Google Analytics and Campaign Tracking
Knowing who is visiting your site and where they are coming from is
crucial. Google Analytics is one of the best ways to monitor these data
points.
- Increasing Backlinks to Your Site
To effectively rank higher in the search results, you will need to
actively increase backlinks to your site. Without backlinks, you will
need to rely on paid advertising.
- Replicating the Process
Once you’ve been able to find success with one niche site, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to replicate it again.
Other topics covered within the course includes a directory of
recommended affiliate networks, how to reduce your advertising costs
through Google Adwords, creating attractive ads for your campaign and
also how to setup a mailing list for longterm revenue and repeat
visitors to your sites.
Using these same methods, Marcus continually provides examples and
screenshots of his own sites and their success. You can see one of them
below.
When you look at the screenshot above, you might be thinking… how can
you possibly make $320 off just 20 clicks and 4 conversions? Well, I’ll
tell you.
With 4 conversions in place, it means the site is earning $80 per
lead. Seeing high commission payouts like this is usually common in the
financial / forex space (as shown from the OfferVault chart below), so let’s assume that is the type of offer that was being run.
The high conversion would come down to the content that is found on
the site and the keywords it’s organically ranking for. “Organically” is
important to note because when someone is actually searching for
something within Google, they are genuinely interested and ready to take
action, buy or sign up.
For example… if you ranked for a keyword like “
how to make money with forex trading” or “
top forex trading services“,
and had a site that provided a great case study or tutorial that broke
down of how the service/process worked, anyone who read through your
whole site and ultimately your affiliate offer link at the end of the
post — well, they would have a much higher conversion rate that someone
else just randomly hitting your site.
Another example of this is if you were to create a “
credit repair” niche site… but focusing only on people searching for “
how to repair 320 credit score“.
It’s SUPER niche and the competition is very low… but people are
searching for it every day. Create a niche site around that topic and
promote a credit repair service and you could start making a few leads
per month on auto-pilot after spending some time on the site.
This model will work with any niche, it’s just a matter of going deep
enough, yet still having enough volume to make it worthwhile.
Niche Sites are Always Going to Make Money
At the end of the day, niche sites are always going to make money…
just like Google is going to continually moderate and penalize sites
that lack in quality content. The goal is to find yourself somewhere in
the middle where you can build out multiple sites that rank well, while
keeping Google happy and providing value to your audience in the
process. The concept stays the same… the process of how you get there
just continues to change.
To learn more about niche marketing and how to create sites in a similar fashion as Marcus, you can visit his Simple Sites Big Profits site
for more details. The price of the course is a one-time fee of $297,
which gives you access to all areas of the members site, guides,
tutorials and private forum area.
Source: zacjohnson blog http://goo.gl/yT3swp
