As part of Pat Flynn’s Niche Site Duel 2.0, I’m going to be starting a new niche website from scratch and slowly build it up into a sustainable and mostly passive source of income. I’ll be documenting my progress on this blog as I go so you can follow along and learn from my successes and failures.
Without a doubt, the most crucial step to building a successful and profitable website is choosing the right niche and keyword to target. Making a poor choice here is like a horse stumbling out of the starting gate. Sure the horse can get up and try to continue the race, but he’s already at such a disadvantage that winning is no longer realistic.
On the other hand, a wise choice will give you a leg up on the competition and put you on course for victory.
There are many factors to consider when choosing your niche and it is really more of an art than a science. Let’s take a walk through the process and discuss some of the key elements to consider.
Follow Your Passion or Follow the Money?
Some people say that if you follow your passion the money will follow. Others believe you should look for a proven market where people are already spending.
While these may seem like two completely contradictory points of view, they don’t have to be.
You see, if you sit down and think about it you’ll come up with all sorts of topics that interest you. Some will have very little profit potential but if you keep searching you’ll find something that does.
Put visually…
I don’t recommend targeting a niche that doesn’t interest you at all. If you’re only choosing a subject because there is money to be made there you’ll have a very hard time keeping up momentum and your site will most likely fail.
I learned this the hard way when I created a number of small sites targeting various keywords that didn’t interest me at all. I found it very difficult to write about them and the sites quickly faded away.
Remember, you don’t necessarily have to be an established expert on the subject. You just need to know a little more than the average person or be curious and interested enough about it to learn more and then share what you learn with your readers.
Brainstorming
If you’re just starting out you might not have the slightest idea what topic your website should focus on.
Don’t worry, that’s ok. There are a million different ideas out there and you just have to choose which one is best for you.
I like to start out with a blank piece of paper and just write down every topic idea I can think of in ten minutes. Don’t worry about keywords or competition or anything else just yet. Just write down every idea that pops into your head. That should give you at least a few dozen topics to consider.
Another way to come up with new ideas is to simply make a conscious effort to look for them. Keep an eye out for any niche ideas as you go about your day and jot them down so you can go back and research them later. I use the Evernote app on my iPhone to quickly save them on the go.
Once you have a list of potential topics you can start whittling them down. There may be some topics that just aren’t practical for whatever reason and you can just eliminate them. But don’t be too quick to toss aside a topic until you take the next step and do some keyword research.
Keyword Research
The next step is to start researching keywords for each of the topics on your list. As you make your way through the list you’ll be eliminating keywords based on two factors:
Demand – if the number of searches is low that means your traffic potential is low. You need to find a keyword that is in demand so that you’ll get a decent amount of traffic once you get to the top of the search engine rankings.
Everyone has their own opinion of how many searches make a keyword worthwhile. For a smaller niche site I prefer a keyword that gets at least 3,000 searches per month, but that’s not a rule set in stone. Remember, even if you rank number one in Google you won’t get ALL the people searching for that keyword.
Competition – Many people think that competition is bad, but I couldn’t disagree more. Competition is great because it means there is money to be made. If I see a keyword with no competition at all I question why and tread carefully. If no one at all is targeting a keyword there is likely a reason why.
Of course there is such a thing as too much competition. If all the sites already ranked are very strong it will be tough to knock them out. There are some keywords that are just so difficult to rank for that it just isn’t worth the time and money needed to make it happen.
To use an offline example, let’s say you wanted to get into the food industry by making your own soda at home. Would you try to come up with a unique flavor that few people are selling and make it a niche product? Or would you go after Coke and Pepsi with your own brand of cola?
The key is to find the “sweet spot” in which a niche has enough competition to indicate it is worth going after, but not so much competition that it will be impossible to rank for.
There are tools you can use to help you in your keyword research.
If money is tight you can use the free Google keyword tool to help you locate popular keywords. This option only gives you the number of searches and you’ll have to look at the level of competition manually by searching for each keyword at Google.com.
That is not an efficient use of your time so I suggest using a paid keyword tool such as Market Samurai or Long Tail Pro. I own and use both of those programs almost daily. They’re a huge time saver and well worth the small investment.
With either keyword tool, you start out with a seed keyword and then sit back while the program generates hundreds of related keywords that you can sort and eliminate based of various criteria. They also let you take a snapshot of the competition and give you important stats such as how many sites are linking to them, whether or not the keyword is part of their Title, etc.
I’ll go into more detail on how I use each of these tools in a separate post, but they offer similar functionality and either would be a good choice.
Profitability
A high number of searches and low competition might seem like a dream come true, but there’s one more thing you’ll want to check before throwing your hat into the ring.
Can you actually make money?
If you’re creating a site just for fun than it really doesn’t matter, but I’m going to assume you’d like to actually make some money from this venture. If that is the case then you need to make sure there is money to be made.
Most niches can be monetized in one way or another, but some are ready to be money-makers right out of the gate while others might require some creativity and ingenuity on your part.
Google the search terms you’re targeting and see if any AdSense units pop up. If you don’t see any at all that could be a bad sign because it indicates there are no advertisers bidding on those keywords.
Take a closer look at the top 10 results for your keyword search. Are they commercialized sites where people are making money or are they strictly informational or hobby sites?
Another trick is to go to Amazon and search for the keyword there. Are there any books on the subject? Does Amazon carry products in your niche? How many and at what price level?
What you’re looking to determine here is whether or not someone is already making money in the niche. If not, you have to question why? Is it really an earth-shattering idea no one has thought of or is it just an unprofitable waste of time?
The Bottom Line
Researching niches and keywords is more of an art than a science. You need to find the intersection between what is in demand, what you think you can rank for, and what interests you enough to keep you going.
A niche that works for me now be the best choice for you. But don’t worry, there are plenty of niches out there and with a little work you’ll be able to find one that fits you like a glove.
