My gut tells me that, all in all, the idea of putting a lot of energy into one or two medium to long term projects just doesn’t sound that sexy to most.

It’s pretty much across the board in life though isn’t it? A crash diet that promises you will lose seven pounds in a week is much more appealing than the long haul of slowly but surely changing your diet and lifestyle to a more healthy one. Or the idea of saving up for a holiday versus whacking it on your credit card and never dealing with it later.

I like short term goals and quick results too, and if there is a fashion crisis then a crash diet to get into that little black dress might be in order; eventually it all catches up with you though, and you’re back where you started.

To be able to achieve more stable outcomes, outcomes that can see you through more than a month or two, you need to make changes to how you’re approaching things.

Would you like an example of how I took the advice I’m giving you? An example of focusing on something very narrowly and dedicating time and energy to it over the medium term and what some of the results were?

The turning point

Around a year ago I mentioned in one of my posts that I was joining Yaro Starak’s Membership Site Mastermind program which was an investment of over $1200 Aussie dollars. Even though during the course I realised that the membership site model was not something I wanted to pursue, the money I paid was worth every cent. Amongst the many things I learned, there are two things in particular that I took away and applied with precision.

1. Yaro emphasised more than once, that focusing very narrowly on a niche is critical to success and
2. In the area you choose to focus you must build preeminence.

pre-em·i·nent adj.
pre·em·i·nence n.

Superior to or notable above all others; outstanding. See Synonyms at dominant, noted.

It’s one thing to build a website around a particular niche but it’s a completely different thing when you aim to build preeminence in that niche. How can you build preeminence if you’re spread over many niche blogs in various markets and or many different modes of attempting to make money online? It could be possible if you have the time and resources, but for most of us I’d say it would be quite difficult to build preeminence in many niches at once.

Of course there are niches that we actually choose not to build authority in, and therefore we’ll hunt down cheap content, build Squidoo lenses, submit article after article and do as much marketing as we can……..across a variety of niche sites. Harping on about it I know…but….the level of success across many sites will be less than optimum when your efforts are spread thinly and you lack focus.

Yes, you can make money out of many niche sites etc, particularly if you put in a lot of elbow grease, and if that’s what rocks your world then go for it. But what I’m seeing is that most people don’t do the work. They get tired of all the fluffing around and the myriad of niches they have not one iota of interest in. They become masters of unfinished business with a plethora of unloved, weak sites that earn very little, and they do a lot of hopping around from one thing to the next online.

Build preeminence

When I started Yaro’s course, pretty much overnight I narrowed down my niche here to building and selling websites. It was almost instant that I had new people commenting and interacting with me via email and Twitter. These were people who were very interested in the topic at hand.

Previously, the subject matter of my articles was quite random. I was blogging about anything and everything that took my fancy and therefore the audience was rather random too, and I had built no preeminence in anything in particular on this blog (oh except for my initial rants about BS marketing tactics.)

Narrowing down to one topic attracted a very targeted audience like bees to honey. I was writing about something that I myself was very interested in and actually ‘doing’, and that attracted the attention of others who were in the same niche and also those who really wanted to get started in it.

Another interesting thing that happened was, rather than me have to go out and find ways to build preeminence by way of interviews, guest posts and joint ventures, they actually found me! I’m a work at home mum and a lot of the work is the ‘mum’ bit, so with limited time I actually couldn’t take up all the opportunities being offered to me! I was ‘found’ mostly via word of mouth.

What I experienced might not happen to everyone and the niche you’re in will impact how things pan out too as will the quality of your work, your existing level of expertise and various other factors, but the results I saw are pretty convincing particularly when you consider my distinct lack of time! When you share what you know, others will help build your authority for you.

As I said, the results were very quick and it was visible in my traffic stats. Once I narrowed down what I was focusing on here, my monthly traffic was six times that of the monthly average from the previous six months.

The possibilities

So six times the traffic with significant time constraints and these results are most likely a drop in the ocean to what I could have achieved if I’d been even more focused with more time.

There was the possibility of offering a membership to my readers but I decided to create an ebook that would span more than 200 pages and cover, step-by-intricate-step, all the things people said they wanted to know. An ebook meant people could move as quickly as they wanted to through the steps and make only one payment, as opposed to dripping the content out over months and asking people to commit to a recurring membership fee (this is not the ‘right’ approach, it just suited my situation at the time).

That one ebook has generated thousands of dollars in sales since it was released in March. I might add though that this is not your typical ebook. What I mean is that 200 pages is not typical, and the detail and presentation of the book is quite high; so take my results for what I am: not typical!

It’s not rocket science

Are you seeing the light?

Do you think you’re ready to narrow down and focus for a bit? Focus on building authority around something? Are you thinking that you can’t apply this to your area of interest or expertise?

It’s not rocket science, and yes many people see success when blogging on random subjects within a broad market; however if you have the opportunity to focus in on a topic, in particular one you enjoy and can should share with the world, then it’s a place to start.  It’s a place to begin, and perhaps eventually to become known as the most preeminent in your niche, or at the very least one of the most preeminent.

If you create something of interest, of quality and of value then others will reference you, they will send people your way. I do it all the time.

Chocolate: Lindt

Facebook fan pages: Leigh Kostiainen

Buy and sell websites: Flippa

PPC: Jen-PPC Mom

Frugal living: Forest

Green living: Stephen

Running with my dog: PoochTo5K

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ = You!

Not everyone is the dominant player in their markets, but with their niche carved out they have a targeted audience.

One step at a time

So if I can generate these results on limited time and I admit with a somewhat limited focus, what can you do with the time and knowledge you have?

I encourage you to create something that you have some level of fire in the belly for; something that you know others are passionate about too; something substantial, sustainable, authoritative and as Nathan Hangen would put it, create art!

Now don’t all of a sudden go quitting your job, dumping all your domains and registering www.Kumbaya.com (sorry to break it to you but it’s unavailable). One orderly step at a time please!

Start by just getting your head around not stirring 20 pots on the stove and begin thinking about what you have to share and then move forward consciously.

Resources:
You can read all about how to build preeminence, and how to funnel that into a membership site if you want to, by downloading Yaro’s free report. He calls it a report but it’s seriously a bible! This is not an affiliate link, it’s a genuine recommendation for his free ebook.

Looking forward to hearing what you plan to create!

The two other monetization methods I employ to make money from my niche blogs are email marketing to a list of subscribers and advertising products as an affiliate. For the two example pregnancy sites used in the domain name case study, the affiliate product component earns very little income which is certainly a reflection of the amount of effort I’ve put into it for these sites. Banner ads, reviews and links in posts are few and far between, there is certainly a lot more money to be earned there. Importantly though is the fact that I am building a sizable list of subscribers to whom I can promote to in a more personal manner.

Gathering a list of subscribers cannot be underestimated in terms of how much you can leverage that list to earn money. To build a list with any real seriousness you need an autoresponder account. I mentioned in my last post that I use AWeber and I highly recommend them. You can visit their site and learn more about what they offer but don’t waste time umming and ahing, if you understand the value in building a list of subscribers then get signed up now at AWeber and get your first form up. Of course you need something to give your site visitors in exchange for their email address too.

So I have my AWeber account all set up and I have a free report that I give my subscribers in exchange for their email address. Here are two examples of how I have that set up on these particular blogs; Get Pregnant Fast, and How To Get Pregnant Tips. Both of these opt-in forms lead into the same list I set up in my autoresponder account. I get free traffic to these blogs daily and as a result my subscriber list grows daily.

It can seem like you’ll never be able to build a list when you first start out but it is possible and you don’t need ten thousand subscribers to make it all worthwhile. I set up these blogs and only on the odd occasion now do I revisit them, that doesn’t mean I couldn’t improve them but they are not my core focus, they are niche blogs. Below is a screen shot of the number of subscribers my hands off approach has gathered in around ten months and remember, the second blog was only built in October 2008 and the opt-in form added in mid November that same year.

747 subscribers added with very little effort whatsoever and this is on just one list. I also give away a free chapter to my getting pregnant ebook from which I gather more subscribers onto a different list. I’ve found it surprisingly easy to build a list of subscribers using a simple but still thought-out niche marketing strategy.

So what do you do once you build a list, how do you get that list of subscribers to buy from you? Well it was about five months ago when I learned there is a way to really maximise email marketing. Just like you need to have a niche marketing strategy you should also have an email marketing strategy. You can follow a simple step by step email marketing cycle that has been proven time and again. I’m not about to spell it all out here, goodness knows my posts are too long as it is! You can find out all you need to know quickly and easily by reading New Age Email Marketing, it’s a tiny $7 and in true Josh Spaulding style, cuts to the chase, just the way I like it! Go get it and put it to good use rather than randomly send out mail that won’t convert your subscribers. I have some tidying up to do on my autoresponder for this particular list I’ve discussed in this post!

For these example niche blogs my main strategy is to send traffic to the sales page for my getting pregnant ebook and making sales. If you don’t have a product of your own you would simply find a product to promote as an affiliate or use PLR to either sell as is, which I don’t recommend, or to use as a base to create your own product. If you are serious about PLR then I can’t help but plug PLRWholesaler.com. I’m a proud member and affiliate, as far as I’m concerned it is the best deal going, I’d be surprised if anyone could beat it! A one off payment and you’ll have so much PLR you’ll really wish you’d found it sooner.

The end result of the strategy I have in place is income. This is just one way to make money from niche blogs; AdSense, promote affiliate products and build a list. By far the most solid, sustainable and profitable path within the structure I’ve outlined is building a list of subscribers to whom you can market.

If you really want to capitalise even further on this process, then rather than sell someone else’s products simply create your own. Funneling traffic to my ebook sales page does result in conversions and I get to keep 100% of the profits of each $49 sale. Better still is that the product is in the ClickBank marketplace where, as you can see in the image below, a handful of affiliates are having a wow of a time earning over $30 a sale and I receive my $11 share. I’m pretty happy for my affiliates and it’s great receiving my hands-off share of their marketing efforts. This is just ONE example, ONE niche, ONE sales page and I have not really done it justice as it’s not my main focus.

A Niche Marketing Strategy; do you have one and more importantly does yours make you money?

This is one strategy that works, all you have to do is do it which is usually the missing ingredient when it comes to making money online. Action creates results, whether those results are good, bad or outstanding, there is a great deal to be gained from them other than monetary. Experience is your best teacher.

Michelle Adams
Taking Action!

Update: I’ve since sold both of these getting pregnant sites.

It’s easy to throw a niche site together without much of a strategy; you simply whack up some AdSense and affiliate ads and wait for the money to roll in right? It’s usually pretty depressing though when you find your AdSense clicks coming in at .10 cents and affiliate sales sitting near to zero.

In my last two posts I discussed the use of keyword rich domain names and their effectiveness for helping rank niche sites. Of course a domain name, whether it be keyword rich or not, is not the only thing you need to power a niche marketing strategy.

I tend to think if you’re going to do something you might as well do it properly. I’m not talking about spending months on end on a niche site, I’m talking about setting things up in ways that act as a catalyst for your sites to make good money not just a few dollars here and there.

The two example niche blogs I focused on in my domain name case study are consistently earning money. The monetization methods employed on these sites, as pictured below, are; AdSense, affiliate products and email marketing to opt-in subscribers. The majority of income is generated via ebook sales and AdSense does a nice job of topping up the monthly earnings too.

The methods I’m using are hardly earth shattering however the thing that makes the most money is often the one that people avoid and or grossly underestimate in value; an opt-in form to build a list of subscribers. I know you’ve heard that before today but there’s a reason why it keeps getting air time; it works!

I’ve seen many niche blogs with AdSense and affiliate links plastered around but no opt-in form. Setting up an opt-in form can be done for free but if you’re serious about making money online then the one thing you should invest in besides domain names and web hosting is an autoresponder account. An autoresponder account helps manage the process of capturing email addresses of your site visitors and automating the sending of emails to your entire list of subscribers. I use AWeber and highly recommend it;  for true beginners there is an easy to follow wizard as well as loads of support on how to best utilise your AWeber account.

I’ll share a few specifics here today and in future posts about the model above and will begin with looking at the AdSense arm. I’m covering off AdSense first for the simple reason that it’s so popular yet it often proves disappointing due to seeing tiny .10 cent clicks. There are ways to steer your AdSense clicks toward the higher earnings bracket for your niche but it takes more than just picking colours for your ad block and popping the code in your sidebar.

Most people are already aware that there are some niches that attract very high AdWords costs; the cost advertisers pay Google when their ads are clicked. The flip side of course is AdSense, where you receive payment when someone clicks on the ads displayed on your site. If an advertiser pays $15 every time someone clicks their ad then it would make sense that the AdSense payment will be higher too. Of course not every niche is going to cost advertisers over $16 per click like the keyword mortgage does.

Using the example sites from my domain case study I’ll show you a neat way that I use to increase AdSense income. It might still seem small but when traffic starts building there’s going to be a percentage of those visitors who will click on your ads. If you can double your click value you can make quite an impact on your earnings over time.

Below is a screen shot of keyword searches in the getting pregnant niche using Google’s Keyword Tool. The values listed in the right hand column are the estimated costs per click that advertisers would pay for these particular keywords. If an advertiser is only paying Google .09 cents a click then how much do you think the AdSense share would be?

This second screen shot shows the opportunity for much higher AdSense earnings and there are keyword phrases in this market that cost advertisers as much as $15. Remember these are the costs advertisers pay not the amount an AdSense click will pay out. It stands to reason that the AdSense pay out will be higher when the cost to the advertiser is higher. There are instances where your AdSense payments can be penalised by Google but that’s for another post some other day!

The next logical step of course is to focus your site’s content around the higher paying keyword phrases to generate the relevant ads. This isn’t ground breaking news but this simple way of increasing your AdSense earnings is easy to overlook. There are instances where you will want to cover specific topics that are low paying phrases but for the most part you can easily integrate some of these higher earning phrases into your blog posts. The other thing I’ve found is that this method helps me make quick decisions on what keyword phrases to focus on in each blog post rather than over thinking it. As a side note; depending on how you intend to drive traffic to your site will depend on what other things you need to consider when selecting your keyword phrases such as competition and search volume.

Can you apply this to any niche? Yes of course. There will be some niche markets however that might have very few related terms that show any promise of higher earnings but remember AdSense is only one arm of the monetization model I’m covering. If you look at the estimated cost per click for your niche sites you’ll soon start to realise whether you should be devoting prime virtual real estate to ads that might be only ever going to return you 10 cent clicks. There are so many ways to monetize your businesses so if AdSense is looking like it’s not going to earn it’s keep then look for alternatives.

In future posts I’ll be sure to cover both the affiliate and opt-in methods mentioned above. Meanwhile, if you don’t have a niche marketing strategy or you do and it’s not making you money then now would be a good time to bed down some goals and what tactics you’ll employ to reach them. Let me know how your strategies are going if you have any, I love hearing from action takers!

In my last post I mentioned that I’d  conducted a case study on the use of keywords in domain names and today I’m publishing the results of that study for my blog readers.

This case study is focused on a niche I’m targeting in the TTC market. The majority of you probably don’t have a clue what the heck TTC stands for but it’s a market I highly recommend you get into! TTC stands for trying to conceive. This is a huge market that is so hungry, individuals will pay up to $100,000 to solve their problem! ($100,000 is what it can cost to go through numerous IVF cycles.) But I digress!

The niche keyword phrase I was, and still am targeting is: getting pregnant fast. This phrase doesn’t have a million searches a month, however it is a highly specific long tail phrase that drives targeted prospects to my sites.

The most significant area of interest at least for me is that I have two sites targeting this keyword phrase. On one site I’ve used the exact keyword phrase as the domain name and the other site’s domain name contains three words but only two of them are derived from the targeted keyword phrase with optimization focused within the blog pages.

Let’s first focus on the site with the keyword rich domain name, www.GettingPregnantFast.org.  I started this blog in September 2008 making it almost eight months old. Please click on the images to enlarge and click your back button to return to the post.

The site has around 85 backlinks and was social bookmarked to around 15 sites. Other than a couple of articles I ran through an article submitter and a couple of classified ads the site has not been marketed.

Of the average 700 visits Google sends to the site each month, over 200 of them are via the targeted keyword phrase. 200 might not sound like a lot but it is when you know just how targeted those visitors are.

So how have Google rewarded this site in terms of ranking in the search results? Well for all its wonderful original content within 18 posts which have not been updated since early December, the site is today ranking in position 2. Below are some screen shots of Google’s March and April keyword ranking stats which show the average ranking to be position 4.

We know that toolbar page rank isn’t the best method to determine whether you can outrank a site or not however it can be a nice surprise to take over sites that range from PR0 to PR4. Oh except when one of those other sites is your own. And that brings me to the other site I have targeting the exact same phrase. The root domain for this site is a squeeze page which is a static html page and the main action is on the blog which is installed on WordPress. You can check it out at the following link. www.AboutGettingPregnant.com/blog

I started this blog back in June 2008. At first I didn’t really focus on on-site optimization, I was too busy tidying up the sales page, autoresponder series and so on for the ebook that ties into both of these blogs. So I decided to try and funnel some targeted traffic to this blog too and expected it to rank easily for the phrase: getting pregnant fast. I started targeting this phrase shortly after I built the experimental keyword rich domain site.

This site has approximately 190 backlinks, which isn’t many, but more than double my other getting pregnant blog mentioned above. This blog has had a little more marketing thrown its way than the newer blog.

Out of the monthly average of 900 visits that Google search sends to the site, only around 100 are via the targeted keyword phrase: getting pregnant fast. Less than half of the newer blog.

So how has this site fared in the fight for a position on the front page of Google. Well with a PR1 finally awarded I had high hopes that this blog would blast its way to the number one position, joking. There is a reasonable amount of content on this site, it attracts comments and is approximately three months older than the .org blog. Well Google have spoken and relegated this site to position 10 today. Below are the Google stats for March and April which show an average of position 7.

Below are some recent screen shots of search results in both Yahoo and Google in that order.

Okay so there it is, a whole lot of data that is made slightly more interesting given I was able to study two sites in depth rather than just one.

Domain name keywords, do they matter? Well trying to find a conclusive answer is virtually impossible. There are surely a great deal of variables that have resulted in the keyword rich domain outranking not only my own site, but the other 11.5 million sites that mention this phrase in their content. But do I conclude that the domain name has helped in some way? Yes!

For my niche markets I will go after a keyword rich domain every time and if I can’t get one I’ll move on to another niche phrase. This is not my only example but it’s the only one I’m willing to delve into here. Believe me when I say you can use a keyword rich domain name to help rank for long tail phrases that have much more search volume than this little example. Be aware though that there is more to niche marketing than a keyword rich domain!

Would you choose a keyword rich domain for your niche marketing even if it had to be a .org?

Update: I’ve since sold both of these getting pregnant businesses.

I’ve seen time and time again people question whether having their keywords in their domain name will really make any difference to their search engine ranking.

A fairly common response to this question is that if you’re building an authority site then it isn’t all that relevant and if you’re niche marketing then it ‘might’ help but it’s really not all that important.

Well with a case study under my belt I’m here to tell you that if you’re not trying to grab a domain name with your niche phrase in it then you could be missing out on organic traffic.

“But Michelle don’t you know all the good domain names are taken anyway?” Well for .com they might be but there are still some .org, .net and .info names up for grabs. So that then brings up the next question about whether a .org, .net or .info is worth venturing into right? This is another area of debate and often people giving their opinion have absolutely no proof behind their statements. Well again, my case study says at the very least a .org will perform just fine! I’m working on pulling together the facts of the case study for my blog readers so stay tuned for that, it’s definitely going to be eye opening!

It can seem as though there are so many myths and hurdles to wade through when it comes to making money online. When it comes to niche marketing what are the biggest hurdles you face with your business?