If you’re looking for a way to make money on the internet and have been discouraged because of a lack of results from your own efforts, or just don’t know where to start, you may want to consider creating a niche website.
Niche websites are about your interest or hobby, but they can also be anything that you feel like writing about. In this article, I will teach you everything you need to know about how to build a niche website.
Just as with affiliate marketing, building a niche website is a good way to earn passive income, which means that once you make initial and required efforts, you can profit from your niche site even without doing any extra work on it.
Building niche websites became very popular in the 2000s because Google was indexing a lot of low-quality sites.
During that time, it was relatively easy to build a niche website that would rank at the top of Google (and other search engines) for profitable keywords.
After introducing the Panda and Penguin algorithms, Google started cracking down on bad content and penalizing them. As a result, people who have created niche websites lost a lot of traffic and income which forced them to sell their domains at dirt cheap prices.
With so many low-quality domains available for sale, a lot of people got into the niche website creation business.
Unfortunately, most newbie affiliate marketers today still don’t know how to create a profitable niche website.
Instead, they focus on building keyword-stuffed sites with very thin content and then try to rank it using blackhat SEO (search engine optimization).
Table of Contents
What is a Niche Website?
A niche site can be thought of as an “authority website”. But then again, not quite. There are some differences between a “niche website” and an “authority website”.
The main difference between the two is that people will often classify authority websites as “top-notch” or “high authority” sites. Meaning, the sites that come up first on Google, above all the other websites in a specific niche.
However, this is not always true. A few years ago, if I wanted to find a website about how to increase my 5k run time, it would likely be an authority website like Runner’s World or Women’s Running Magazine.
Nowadays, there are a lot more niche sites that are popping up and taking precedence over authority websites. For example, I could go to The Run Experience, Dr. Nick’s Running Blog, etc. to find ways to increase my 5k run time.
The sites I mentioned in the previous paragraph, are just a small sample of niche sites that exist to provide information to those who are interested in distance running.
I believe over the next few years, niche websites like these will only continue to grow.
So what makes a niche website so successful?
There are actually a variety of things that contribute to a niche site’s success, but I’ll focus on just four basic points.
- Content creation
- Monetization
- Traffic
- Competition
1. Content creation
One of the biggest draws for people looking into creating their own niche sites is content creation.
There are people out there who like writing and sharing new information with others, and it only makes sense for them to start a website where they can do this.
The great thing about starting a niche site is that you can set up your own website and be completely self-sufficient.
There are no editors to answer to. This means that you get to focus on writing about topics that interest YOU!
After that, you can share content with the people who want to consume said content, not necessarily what a lot of other people are researching or interested in (more on that).
There is also no limit on how many posts you can write or how often you publish them; all you have to do is put in the effort and you will be sure to see results.
2. Monetization
Besides writing about the things you enjoy, another thing that draws people to niche sites is monetization.
If you are going to spend time putting together a website, which can be taken down at literally any moment, it only makes sense that you want a little something in return.
Some of the best ways to monetize your niche site are through:
- Affiliate marketing
- Advertising
Affiliate marketing
This is a great way to make money with niche sites because you can promote the products and services that you personally use and want others to know about.
As you gain more authority with your niche site, you’ll have an easy time convincing your readers to trust your recommendations if they come from someone they already know.
Advertising
When you’re running a
niche site, you’ll have an easier time getting companies to advertise with you because your audience will be interested in whatever it is that their products and services provide.
Even if you don’t use affiliate marketing as a monetization method, placing ads on your site is a great way to increase traffic.
Just make sure that the site will be high-quality enough for the advertiser to approve you for their program.
3. Traffic
In my opinion, traffic is the lifeblood of any website or blog online. While the ability to monetize your site is great, it’s not as important as getting targeted traffic in the first place.
If no one knows that your site exists or cares about the material you are providing them, you won’t ever make any money.
That’s why it’s important to first approach niche site creation from a perspective of growing your traffic.
Finding your niche is the first step in this process.
You can’t just create a blog about fitness and expect people looking for content on working out at home to have any interest in what you’re writing about, no matter how well-written it is.
There are a number of ways to grow traffic, but just be sure that you are focusing most of your efforts on where the most traffic can be found.
Ultimately, you want as many targeted readers as possible so they will actually be interested in what you’re working hard on providing them with.
For example, getting featured on a huge blog like NeilPatel.com could bring you hundreds or thousands of targeted readers from a single article whereas submitting your site to smaller sites may only get you 5-10 visits per month.
Finding where your niche readers are and focusing your traffic is where you want to place a good part of your monetization strategy efforts.
Learn How To Make Money Selling Other People's Products!
***Affiliate Disclaimer: This post contains product affiliate links. I may receive a commission if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links.
More Examples of Niche Websites
Below are 3 more successful niche site examples and what they do:
Knife Informer
Knife Informer is a one-of-a-kind website that does an in-depth, unbiased analysis on anything with a blade.
Knife Informer offers reviews and advice to help you make the right decision before purchasing any knife-related product.
knife Informer has been passionately delivering great content since 2008 when founder Matt Davidson saw an opportunity to provide up-to-date information about knives via social media sites like Facebook or YouTube.
Since then, it has provided quality review posts to help educate its readers on the best ways for them as consumers to make informed decisions about their purchases of all things knife-related, from folding knives to machetes.
Headphones Addict
Headphones Addict is a passionate, free website written by and for music lovers.
The site strives to provide an unbiased opinion of all modern headphone types through detailed reviews and articles about the latest headphone and earbud trends on their blog.
I’m a user of both cable and Bluetooth headphones and this site has been a fantastic resource for me and my friends as we explore the different options out there.
I’ve been able to get great deals from headphone manufacturers looking to advertise on the site, and have even discovered new brands because I was introduced to them through interacting with other readers on this site.
Best Tent Cots for Camping
Best Tent Cots for Camping is a blog that reviews the best tent cots available for camping enthusiasts.
Recently there has been increased interest in this type of camping equipment and it’s not difficult to see why! They’re easy to use, reliable, and affordable too!
I am sure you have a lot of questions about starting your own website. You may be feeling intimidated by the idea and thinking, “Everyone else has great content already! What do I even need to start my site?”
Well luckily for us beginners, these 3 sites should put our minds at ease because they were all just like us when they first started out too!
They had no custom design or anything fancy but still managed to be successful because everyone can use their beautiful layouts as inspiration.
Why do I Need a Niche website?
Niche websites are very popular for both beginners and advanced internet entrepreneurs. You might want to start your own website niche. Here are several compelling reasons for that.
- High volume is not needed
- Very flexible
- Some of the work can be outsourced
- Can easily create passive income
- Can be easily monetized
- You Can Focus on Something You Like and Know
High volume is not needed
One way to build a successful website is by choosing keywords with low search volumes and low competition.
I know this might sound counterproductive, but taking this approach will lead to steady traffic.
The primary source of traffic for this strategy comes from Google organic traffic, but you can also get some social media shares or link backs if your content resonates well enough on sites like Facebook or Twitter.
I think people are so concerned with search volume that it can lead them into a false sense of security when pursuing new content topics and keyword research strategies.
I’ve found success in niche markets where my competition doesn’t even show up on SERP tools’ radar because their focus has been on high-competition key phrases instead of the low-hanging fruit that is out there.
Just keep this in mind, your website is not just a one-trick pony. You need to be targeting various keywords that are relevant to your niche.
Very flexible
Niche websites are popular
because they offer flexibility, and you can build one on just about any topic imaginable.
You have the freedom to choose something that you deem interesting to research it further to see if there’s a profitable niche that would be ideal for creating a site around.
I believe that the best way to build up a successful niche website is by starting small. You don’t want your site to become too overwhelming and complicated for users.
This gives you the flexibility to create content that is targeted to address the needs of your users needs in a quick and efficient manner.
You don’t have to be a full-time blogger or work for hours on end in order to build an authority site. You can do it as a side hustle, devoting a few hours a week to it.
Niche websites are a lot of fun and you will realize that running one can be more like a hobby than anything else.
You get to create content on a topic that interests you, target your readers with specific interests in mind, and discover new ways to engage them every time.
Some of the work can be outsourced
Very few people are experts at every single topic, and if this includes you, you’re ok. You can simply outsource the work to someone who is more able to create content on whatever niche topic is most popular that month.
This way, you will always be able to provide content on the most in-demand topics and will boost your visitor’s trust in you as an authority in your niche. The best part is, you can take the credit.
A huge part of becoming an authority in your niche is ensuring that you have a variety of content available for people to consume, such as the hundreds of articles based on very low competition keywords.
There are a lot of different types of articles, from short-form answers to longer pieces (pillar content) that will be around for years.
You need to have the right balance between both in order to build up your portfolio and establish yourself as an expert in this field.
The more varied and thorough information there is out there, the higher chance someone has at finding what they need from your site.
Regardless of whether you are writing product reviews, buying guides with affiliate links, or informational content, you want to be accurate and consistent.
Can easily create passive income with niche sites
There are two reasons why niche sites can make a great source of passive income.
First, building an online business is much cheaper than other businesses. This often translates into more profit per dollar compared to brick-and-mortar businesses.
Second, it is way easier to get started with building an online business because there are no operational costs, rent, or utilities to pay as you would with a traditional business.
You can take your time and learn how to run your niche site empire and start earning money once you start building links, getting on the first page of Google, and establishing domain authority.
Can be easily monetized
If you’re looking to learn how to monetize your niche site, it can be tough to find the right information.
However, there are some quick and easy monetization methods that will help you get started.
Most people use Amazon affiliate links or Google AdSense (or other display ads). But depending on your niche site you might also want to consider using both methods to see which one works best for you.
Amazon
As far as affiliates go, I don’t think you can beat Amazon.
Amazon sells just about everything so chances are they’ll have something related to your niche market that would be worth promoting too (and Amazon makes it easy to seek out the most popular and relevant items for your niche with their bestseller lists).
You could start off with a new Amazon affiliate site or you can promote affiliate offers from other affiliate programs much easier than promoting your own product. All you need is an account on Amazon Associates.
I have an Amazon affiliate site where I promote portable countertop dishwasher units. This thing has been getting me $74 per month in passive income for the last 10 months straight.
That’s not even counting the referral fees from purchases other people make after clicking on my links.
It was a pretty big deal when it got my first referral from an order (I remember thinking “wow, somebody actually bought this!”), now I’ve got referrals coming in every few days as new customers click on my Amazon affiliate link.
Google AdSense
In my opinion, the easiest
way to monetize a website is with Google AdSense. All you need to do is comply with their terms, sign up then paste the Google AdSense code into your website. Once you do Google takes care of the rest.
It’s worth mentioning, too, that Google AdSense has three types of ads: text links, image links, and content. Image links are what you’ll see on most blogs. Content ads are what you’ll see when you browse the web.
I’ve had great success with text link ads because you get paid in cash for every click on your text link ads.
You can place text link ads on your site, and other places on your website. My advice is to place a text link ad on all pages of your site except for your homepage and blog page (if you have one).
You Can Concentrate On The Topics You Know Best
With a lot of various topics and niches that you could pick for your niche site, it’s possible and even advised, that you pick something that actually interests you.
Take it from someone who has been building niche sites for more than 9 years. One thing I can tell you, it’s a lot easier and more pleasurable to work on a site when you actually care about the topic.
Not only is it more enjoyable, but your workflow will be much faster because you’ll know what steps to perform first and in what order.
And if you already know the subject well, you can probably compose the short articles pretty quickly.
You do not want to be stuck trying to research everything about a topic when you’re tired because it won’t be long before you give up on it.
In the event that it’s something you like and care about, you won’t have any trouble researching because it’ll interest you enough to actually go through numerous articles.
Another advantage that you get when starting a site on something you already enjoy is the fact that more often than not it will be your business focusing point as well.
You can produce content for various websites if you’d like, but issues like monetizing your website, connecting with others in the niche, and making contacts for the future – you can deal with all this easier when it’s a subject that you simply enjoy.
Once again I am not saying you cannot create multiple niche sites on various subjects, but focusing on one area is generally advisable mainly because you’ll be able to:
- Discuss every detail of your niche and post a lot more content on the same subject, as well as make a good and in-depth site
- Create relationships with people in the area that you will probably be able to utilize regarding your other sites or work opportunities in the future.
In case you have multiple websites but are still not making progress online, then it would be advisable to consider focusing on one niche to determine if you can generate some profit with it.
Steps to Creating a Successful Niche Site
- Choose your niche
- Do keyword research for your chosen niche
- Setup your niche site
- Create Your Own Content
- Promote Your Content
- Build Quality Links
- Grow Your Email List
- Experiment With Monetization
Step 1. Choose Your Niche
Before you start your niche website, choosing a niche is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. A good niche site will generate extra income and build your brand.
You need to decide on a topic that interests you and then do some research into what people are searching for in this area so that it’s more likely to get traffic from search engines(SERPs).
Don’t make the mistake I made when I first started, which is getting into a niche I knew nothing about, or worse, one that I wasn’t even interested in.
I thought I could just throw a bunch of articles together and people would think that they were interesting, but if you’re not interested in what you’re writing about then it’s really hard to be original and for it to stand out.
Over time, I had a niche site with about 10 articles and that was it. I got bored and stopped writing. The site never did well and I didn’t make any money from it.
The lessons I learned from that experience were to choose a niche that interests me, research a topic I can write about 50 to 100 articles or more on, and also is a topic that people are searching for in my niche.
The key point here is that niche research is very important and can be the most time-consuming task, but it’s also one of the most crucial parts of building your niche site.
Picking a niche you know nothing about is like trying to climb a mountain with only one leg. To make things easier on yourself, start by choosing topics related to what you already know.
Once you get comfortable with niche research, then you can start branching out into different niches that may or may not relate to your niche.
If you are planning on building niche sites for the long-term, it would be best if they were niche topics within your niche.
Step 2. Do Keyword Research for Your Chosen Niche
In today’s world, it has become more and more difficult to stand out from the crowd. There are so many websites out there vying for people’s attention that you need something special if you want to get noticed.
One way is by providing great content. But another equally important way is through keyword research on your chosen niche.
Good old-fashioned research can make all the difference in how your site fares online and what kind of traffic (and leads!) it generates.
What are the best ways to research keywords for niche sites?
The old-fashioned way: Google keyword planner
Google Keyword Planner is free and simple to use. It’s not perfect, though; it doesn’t give accurate information for all keywords and can be manipulated by marketers.
That said, if your site is looking to target large commercial terms with decent search volumes (100 plus searches per month), then Google Keyword Planner is pretty reliable.
Another great tool is Google Trends.
It’s probably Google’s best free tool, in that it allows you to see search volumes for words or phrases over time.
You can also use third-party tools like SEMrush, Moz, or SEO Powersuite to get more in-depth data on keyword traffic and trends. [
But these are premium tools, which means you need to pay and their results may vary from each other.
Whichever path you decide to take, once you have identified a topic that isn’t too competitive and is interesting enough to be covered, it is time to write some interesting and relevant articles.
Don’t worry too much about the length of your articles at this stage, as you can always split them up later on if needed.
However, the minimum length you should go for these days is around 600-1500 words.
Also, do not write for the SERPs. This is one of the classic SEO mistakes that beginners make. Write for the reader only.
If you provide helpful, instructive information that people want to know about, then your site will naturally begin to rank higher in SERPs.
If your articles are well written, people will naturally want to share them on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter with other people in their circles.
This is the best way to drive traffic to your site.
Step 3. Set up Your Niche Site
Now that you know what niche you want to pursue, and have done your keyword research to generate topics to write about, you need to set up your website.
There are four things you need to do to get started:
- Choose a Good Domain Name
- Find a Hosting provider
- Decide which Content Management System (CMS) to use
- Select a theme (Plus Some Essential Plugins)
If this is the first time you have created a website, this list may seem a bit intimidating, but the steps are pretty simple.
The best part is you don’t have to be an expert in any of these. I know I wasn’t when I created my first website, so I learned these steps through trial and error.
No worries though, I am going to guide you through them step-by-step.
Choose a Good Domain Name
One of the most important parts of building your site is choosing an awesome domain name that represents what you’re all about.
If it’s not memorable or informative in some way, chances are people aren’t going to visit your websites in droves like they would if your domain was cool or catchy.
Take some time brainstorming potential domain names for your website. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, there are plenty of websites out there that can help.
Additionally, it’s important to choose a good domain that isn’t already in use. You can easily check this when you go to purchase or register your domain name.
All you need to do is type in the name you desire, if it is available you’ll get a confirmation that it is, if not, the provider will offer other alternatives.
Ideally, you want to select a top-level domain (TLD) with a .com, .org., or .net extension. These are the most common and thus will give you the best search rankings.
If you can’t get a .com, go with a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) like .co or one of the other options available.
When it’s all said and done you want the name of your domain to have the keyword embedded in it.
And as I mentioned previously, you also want it to be easy for visitors to remember, thus creating that all-important brand recognition.
For example, if you’re building a niche site about cooking healthy meals using slow cookers, something like ‘slowcookerrecipes.com‘ might make for a good domain name because those are common search terms used by individuals looking for recipes to make in a slow cooker.
Another way of identifying what sort of name may work well is by typing in your primary keywords into Google Trends and seeing which names show up most often.
It will give you some good insight into the popularity of different words and help you discover a name that’s more likely to stand out in your audience’s mind.
So with that said, here are a few things to consider when deciding on a domain name:
- Is it short and easy to remember?
- Does it reflect your niche topic?
- Can it be easily shared through social media or email?
Remember that you want people to visit your site often and recommend it to others. That will only happen if your name is memorable and informative enough for them to recommend to others.
If you have a generic name, it doesn’t tell the audience what your site is about.
Also, remember that anyone who visits your site will want to know if they can trust you as a source of information.
In some cases, the subject matter itself might already instill trust from them, but more often than not that’s not automatically going to be the case.
So you need to do your part in establishing that trust from day one by creating a web address everyone can remember and recognize as a legitimate source for information.
Find a Hosting Provider
When it comes to choosing a hosting provider, most consumers look for the one with the biggest list of features.
But this isn’t the best route to choose! The truth is, if you purchase an expensive host, chances are they offer mostly all of the same services as everyone else.
There are some very important considerations when choosing your hosting provider for your niche website, especially if you plan on making money with it.
Know Your Needs
Knowing what types of content will be hosted on your niche website is extremely important when choosing a hosting provider.
This is because the size needed for data storage and bandwidth is different for every niche website.
For example, a site that features video tutorials for training your pet dog will require more bandwidth and data storage than a site dedicated to knitting using images.
It’s also important to have a plan that allows you to smoothly grow as your niche website gains momentum.
It might not be necessary to have an extremely large amount of bandwidth or storage space now, but as your niche site becomes more popular you want to be sure that your hosting provider will allow you to upgrade when necessary.
Know Your Budget
How much are you willing to spend? Can you go unlimited with your hosting plan, or would it be better to pay for what you need?
Hosting providers can offer different plans that fit into just about every budget. Make sure you pick the right one.
Many beginners make the mistake of choosing a hosting plan without doing their research.
They might be tempted by the cheapest option available, and this can turn out badly for them in the long run.
If you want to make sure your website is completely secure and safe from any future downtime (i.e. not getting hacked or crashing) it’s best to choose a professional host with a good reputation and good customer service.
Uptime (Speed), Security and Support
Web hosting is a
very important aspect of owning and running a website. It’s the backbone, without which your site would be dead in the water.
If you want to avoid frustration with your website, it pays to ensure that you have an uptime (speed), security, and support plan for web hosting.
Let’s start with uptime. Unreliable speeds can lead to dissatisfied customers, who then go elsewhere to find a better service that meets their needs (and they will tell their friends about it, too).
A slow response time when someone visits your site could be the difference between them coming back again and telling everyone how poor it is, or going to a competing website and telling everyone how good it is.
If your site takes an age to load, your visitors will get bored waiting, click the back button and go somewhere else.
If you want a successful business or organization running from your site, slow speeds are not what you need.
In addition to speed being dissatisfactory, there’s also the fact that widespread and frequent downtime would lead to a serious loss of goodwill and unhappy visitors.
Put simply, if your website is down for several days or weeks, you could find yourself with no web presence at all; something which would be catastrophic for most companies looking to make money from their internet output (be it as an independent business, or as part of a larger conglomerate).
Security is another potential problem with web hosting. If your site is kept secure and free from hackers and the like, you can have peace of mind knowing that your data will be safe.
The last thing any website owner wants to do is give away their private files, so being sure that your hosting service operates as securely as possible is essential if you don’t want to lose valuable information.
Finally, it’s important to make sure that your web host provides good customer support and services when problems do arise.
Even the best web hosts can experience some difficulties at points; this isn’t a reflection on the quality of their service, rather it’s an inevitability of doing business.
Therefore, you need to make sure that your web hosting service is easily contactable should things take a turn for the worse.
Good customer support teams deal with issues quickly and efficiently in order to get the problem resolved as soon as possible, minimizing downtime and ensuring that your site remains up.
Transferring to Another Host Provider
Most hosting providers have automated transfers set so that you can easily change from one host to another seamlessly, but this isn’t always the case.
In some cases, the transfer may be entirely manual and take up to 48 hours.
It’s important to find a provider who has fast file transfers to make sure your site is up and running as soon as possible after changing hosts.
Also, make sure to ask what features they offer that your current host does not.
Here are some things to consider before making the switch:
- File Transfer Protocols: FTP, SSH, FTPS
- SSL Certificate Compatibility
- Database Management Tools
- Website Control Panel Feature
- Data Backups and Continuous Data Protection
- Server Location
Get in touch with Support or Sales Teams to ask about these services or visit the website for more information.
Now that we’ve covered the basic steps of choosing a good niche website hosting provider, let’s go on to what Content Management Systems are good for your site.
Determine Which Content Management System (CMS) You'll Utilize
When building your niche
site, you want to use a good Content Management System. A Content Management system (CMS) is software that allows you to manage your website content without having any technical knowledge beforehand.
With CMS’s, you can create, publish and maintain content on your website without worrying about the technicalities of the platform.
The CMS will do the hard work for you, leaving you free to have fun creating great content.
Just as with anything else, there are some good CMSs out there and then some that aren’t so great.
You need to find a CMS that is reliable, easy to navigate, customize-able, and user-friendly. Moreover, you also need to consider the technical support available by the developers.
By far, the most popular CMS is WordPress. It has over 60 million websites that are hosted on the platform, which goes to show just how popular it is.
WordPress has dominated over 30% of all affiliate sites using a content management system.
However, WordPress is not the only good CMS on the market. There are others like Joomla, Drupal, and many more (see below).
They meet the same high standards for easy-to-use features with user-friendly interfaces.
Nonetheless, no matter which one you choose, you will be on your way to saving time while running your online business.
Select a Theme (Plus Some Essential Plugins)
This is the last step of setting up your niche website, and probably just as equally important as everything I have mentioned in this section so far.
No matter how safe you are with your choice of niche, website design plays a huge role in the success of your site.
You should always try to go for a theme that is SEO optimized or at least has some sort of SEO plugin that can help you optimize it yourself.
To find a theme that has this option and is customizable, you should look for WordPress themes.
WordPress is my personal favorite platform when it comes to blogging because of its simplicity and accessibility. It’s free and easy to install and there are tons of plugins available that will help you optimize your site for SEO.
That means more clicks and higher engagement with your content.
You can search any niche site-related keywords on Google to find out what “keywords” that are being searched for.
This will help you determine the best possible theme by seeing which themes are most popular.
Let’s use an example. You are building a niche website around affiliate marketing, you could search Google for “affiliate themes WordPress” or “best WordPress themes for affiliate sites“.
When the results pop up on the first page for either of these queries, you’ll see that there are multiple results.
You’ll also notice that a majority of these results have titles such as “10+, 20+, or 30+ Best Themes for Affiliate…”.
And if you drill drown further, you will see that they all have two themes that keep occurring. They are Astra and OceanWp.
What these two have in common is that they are free, they are fast, they offer a variety of webpage templates, and they work well with page builders.
This website is built using the Astra theme, and I can confidently say that it is the best theme for niche websites.
This theme has everything you need to build a niche site, and it’s easy to use thanks to various tutorials available on YouTube.
When it comes to speed, check out the page speed test results I ran for Astra:
Compared to other WordPress themes, my load times are much quicker than some of my other affiliate sites using other themes, which means our users will see more pages in less time. That’s crucial for SEO.
To extend or add extra functionality to your themes, you also want to install plug-ins.
Plugins are tools that can help you customize your website with very little effort at all, just as long as you know how to use them properly.
Some of my favorite ones are:
- Rankmath – SEO
- reSmush – Image optimization
- WPForms Lite – Contact Forms
- Wp-Rocket – Caching
- Anti-Spam Bee – Spam
- All In One Wp-Migration/UpDraft – Website Backup
- Elementor – Pagebuilder
- Really Simple SSL -Free SSL
- LuckyWP Table of Contents
- a3 Lazy Load – Mobile Image Optimization
These are the ones I am personally using, but there are a ton of plugins available. All you have to do is go to your WordPress Admin > Plugins and find the ones that would best suit your niche site needs.
However, I would caution you not to go overboard with plugins. You can get carried away and it will slow down your website because too many things are running in the background.
Step 4. Create Your Own Content
“Content is King!” is a phrase that’s often repeated by internet marketers, but it couldn’t be more true.
If you want to create a niche site that will actually produce any kind of revenue, then you’re going to need plenty of content to keep the visitors coming back for more (and hopefully spending money on your products).
The more content your site has, the better. But it’s not enough to just have any old content, you need keyword-focused and engaging content for your niche website.
The best way to begin creating content for your niche site is to do keyword research. This will help you figure out what people are searching for, so it’s easy for them to find exactly what they’re looking for.
I have already discussed keyword research earlier, and it was from the aspect of coming up with some niche ideas. However, it also applies to content creation.
Just as with your niche site ideas, you want to be sure to choose keyword phrases that are being searched on the internet.
But it is not just the keyword phrases you want to target, you want evergreen, meaning content that will not expire over time.
Evergreen content is key if you want your website to rank well in the SERPs for a long period of time because the keywords will remain relevant as opposed to out-of-date, short-term trending phrases.
Some examples of evergreen content would be:
- Product Reviews
- How-to Content
- Tips and Tricks
- List Posts
- Question and Answer Style Content
- Video Content
- Informational Step By Step Content
- Podcasts
Also, you can create evergreen content by using the evergreen optimization strategy. This refers to writing blog posts that are optimized for long-tail keywords that will be relevant for years or even decades.
These types of keywords tend to be far more targeted than short-term trending terms and phrases.
Additionally, you want to use your keyword phrases as the titles of your articles. This is one way to draw in more targeted visitors via SERPs. However, you don’t want to create content that’s boring or too long-winded for someone to read.
Instead, make sure you are writing engaging headlines and subheadlines with your keywords strategically placed throughout for maximum SEO benefits.
Although you want to engage your visitors, you also want Google, Bing, etc… to pick up those keyword phrases.
In addition to writing engaging titles and subheadlines that include your keywords, it’s important to use them within the content so Google, Bing, etc… will be able to pick them up as well.
Within a post, you should target one main keyword phrase and sprinkle variations of it throughout.
The best way to do this is to write naturally as possible, just as if you were speaking to your reader directly. However, be sure that the content still contains those keywords strategically placed within for maximum SEO benefits.
You can also use any free keyword tool to see how much search volume a specific term gets.
Off the top of my head Google Keyword Planner, Keyword Surfer, Ubersuggest, Moz, KWFinder, and SEMrush come to mind.
However, the search volume will vary among each tool, so it might be a good idea to use just one tool for search volume.
Once you have the proper keyword phrases and appropriate amounts of evergreen content, you can focus on formatting your content more efficiently for a profitable niche website.
Step 5. Promote Your Content
We all know how important it is to create new, quality content on our niche sites in order to grow traffic and make money online.
But the sad truth is that while you might be great at creating content for your niche site, you might not be so successful at promoting it.
A successful niche site is one that gets a lot of organic traffic from Google and other SERPs.
While you might have created some great content, it’s not going to do you any good if no one ever sees it. Here are a few different ways to promote your content:
Write Guest Posts
While guest posts might not be as successful as they were a few years ago, it’s still an excellent way to promote your content. All you have to do is find a popular site that covers the same topic as your website andreach out to their webmaster about writing a post for them.
Just make sure your article is good enough so that everyone will want to share it and click through to your site. Also, consider adding your bio at the bottom of the article so people can find out more about you.
Social Media
Every successful website owner knows the importance of social media marketing. If you have a large following on one or more sites, then consider asking them to share your new post.
You might even want to create an official hashtag so people can follow along and see your content at their own leisure! Just make sure you’re not too pushy when asking for shares, or else they might unfollow you.
Email Marketing
If you have a successful
blog, then there are probably hundreds of readers who would love to receive your new posts in their email.
However, many of them might not know that you have a website and would miss out on all the great content you publish otherwise.
To make sure your readers can continue receiving your awesome content when they aren’t online, add an email signup form to the bottom or top (or both!) of each page on your site.
You can also add it to your sidebar for even more exposure.
There are numerous SEO benefits associated with posting regular content and promoting it using various marketing techniques.
It will help drive targeted traffic and build brand awareness in addition to increasing search engine rankings.
Video Marketing
Videos are extremely successful in attracting a large audience and boosting SEO. It’s also a lot more fun compared to just text on a page, so people will definitely stick around for longer!
All you have to do is find a popular social video site like YouTube or Vimeo and upload your post as an ‘unlisted’ video. Then, just embed the video on your blog and share it over social media.
Content Upgrades
One successful way to gain more exposure is by adding a content upgrade to your post which you can use as an opt-in offer.
For example, you could create a PDF checklist or worksheet and add it as a downloadable PDF at the end of your post.
This will not only improve your site’s SEO but can also significantly increase your email subscribers.
Once you have them on board, provide value with high-quality content and send them useful updates through email marketing campaigns periodically to keep them interested and engaged.
Engage With Influencers
Finally, another great way to promote your content is by engaging with influencers. These are those who have a large following and could attract a lot of attention to your website if they share it on their social media platforms.
The best thing about this tactic is that you can potentially leverage their brand and audience to increase your traffic, while simultaneously boosting your own SEO.
Whether you create a Twitter account for the sole purpose of sharing other influencers’ content or find a popular social media site to connect with influencers on, this strategy has a lot of potential rewards.
Step 6. Build Quality Links
Link building for your niche site project is vitally important these days because It has become increasingly difficult these days to rank highly on Google without having a strong backlink profile.
The main reason for this is that for the past 9 years, Google has been actively going after low-quality sites and penalizing them.
Some link-building strategies that were formerly considered significant are now disregarded by Google. Some may even get you in trouble.
You can avoid this from happening by building quality backlinks for your profitable niche site with these 11 white hat methods:
- Create unique and original content
- Register for a resource page
- Exchange links with others
- Use your immediate network to help you
- Register your site with online business directories
- Convert linkless mentions into links
- Find broken links and offer to replace it
- Recover any link that you have lost
- Respond to press inquiries
- Use ego baiting
- Steal your competition’s backlinks
Create unique and original Content
The key to link building is putting out content that no one on the web has seen before. Google and the other SERPs like original content and they will reward you handsomely if you can provide this to them.
Another way is to see what your competition is doing and write something longer and better.
Earlier I mentioned using Google Trends to scout out keywords and gain some insight into potential competitors, but there’s another free tool you can use.
That tool is BuzzSumo.
BuzzSumo is an awesome tool that allows you to find what content is performing well on any topic.
Using the social engagement metric, you can find who has shared the content on the top social media platforms and forums.
In addition, there is an Evergreen score that you can use to see the value of the content over time. This score measures the total engagement over a 30-day period after the initial publication of the content.
The higher the score, the better the indicator that the topic is relevant to the niche you may be pursuing.
Register for a resource page
Your blog’s resource page is
an often overlooked area of your site that should be used to promote other content on your niche site and enhance your link building.
A blog’s resource page can offer additional information about the blogger, give readers a link back to another article they enjoyed reading, or point them to related sites.
The possibilities are endless because you’re only limited by what you put into it! For example, if you need help with SEO or want more visitors for your blog then this post is right up your alley.
If you’re feeling stumped on how to go about using your blog’s resource page, here are some ideas:
Blogger bio
The first thing people will want to know when they come across one of your blog posts is who is behind the content.
When readers like what they see in your profile and they’re looking for more material, they’ll come back later to see what the blogger has been up to.
Include a link in your resource page bio that takes readers to a post about you and a little more information about who you are.
Links from other posts
You can have multiple links on your blog’s resource page, but don’t forget to add a link to the posts on your site that are currently popular.
Links back to your blog
Make sure you have a direct link somewhere on your resource page to get readers back to where they came from.
You can use an archive, categories, or tags section on your sidebar if you don’t have more space for this option.
However, it’s a good idea to have a link on the resource page as well.
Link to relevant posts
Don’t forget about other blogs in your niche that can bring more traffic to your site. You’ve already given them a backlink, so now it’s time for you to ask for one from them!
Don’t just go after big names when there are other blogs in the same niche that have a respectable following.
Be sure to check out their resource page when you are looking for places to link back to. Your readers will appreciate the extra information it provides them, so don’t forget about your site’s resource page when promoting content.
Exchange links with others
Earlier in this article, I mentioned writing guest posts as a means of promoting your content. Along with that, you can also use them to exchange links with other bloggers or site owners.
What does this tell Google? Reciprocal link exchanges used to be popular back in the day when hyperlinks were king. Nowadays, Google is much wiser about how these things are done.
It won’t make sense to simply exchange links with someone because what will happen is Google will actually punish you for doing so.
What these link exchanges are usually used for now is establishing a way for both site owners to benefit from each other’s content, traffic, and social media following.
You can find suitable sites that have different content from yours and reach out to them via email or social media. Chances are, they’d be happy to help you out with a link exchange if it means helping them as well.
In return for linking back to your site on their blog posts, ask that they also do the same in return on some of their posts.
It’s important not to overdo this because having too many backlinks pointing directly towards your site can cause Google’s algorithms to identify you as a spammer.
Use your immediate network to help you find
Your friends, family
members, and even co-workers may know of some other blogs or written content that you can use as a means of promoting each other.
It’ll be much easier to link up with these site owners with the help of your connections.
Many people choose to stick to social media sites since they’re free, easy to access through mobile devices, and straightforward when it comes to connecting with others.
Remember that not everyone is on some sort of social media platform, though, so don’t forget about these people while looking for potential link exchange partners.
Register your site with online business directories
The idea of utilizing business directories for link creation is a touchy subject in SEO. This is because people tend to abuse them by submitting their site to directories that are low quality or find useless pages where they can list their website.
This is a Blackhat SEO approach since you are essentially spamming business directories with your link to try and get Google, Bing, etc… to notice them. If they see this, they might penalize or blacklist your site because of this.
If done responsibly, however, you’ll find that business directories provide a great number of possible link exchanges.
Most directories will require that your site is updated and has quality content in order for them to accept it into their list.
Use business directories like Yelp, Google My Business, and Yellow Pages because they have a good amount of authority and trust from Google and the other SERPs.
Convert linkless mentions into links
If someone mentions your niche site but doesn’t link to it, then there’s an opportunity that you can take advantage of.
Reach out to them and politely ask if they would consider adding a link. Many times people won’t go back and add a link to your site, but there’s always a chance they’ll be willing to do so.
Remember that this isn’t the same as guest blogging because you aren’t just providing content for them in return for a link.
You’re simply asking if they would add one from their site pointing back towards yours.
Some people like to mention other sites in their posts with links but not give out links to the sites they’re referencing.
In this case, it’s a good idea to get their permission to use a quote from them for your own site and include a link pointing back towards theirs.
Find and replace broken links
Broken links are a problem that can seriously hurt your site because they prevent search engines from crawling pages and indexing them.
In addition to not being indexed, broken links also have the possibility of being penalized if Google’s algorithms identify those as low quality or spammy.
This means you run the risk of having your rankings drop as a result of your link building efforts.
I use SEO Powersuite to accomplish this, but you can use free tools as well. Just search for “broken link checker” and you should find some free tools to use.
Also, Chrome has a broken link-checking extension that you can add to your browser.
After you have a tool at your disposal, add the URL you wish to check and note the pages that return a 404 error.
Once you have that, find the contact info for the webmaster or site owner. Reach out to them and offer to replace the broken link with one pointing back to your site.
Recover any link that has been deleted
This almost goes hand in hand with broken link building. The key difference is that if you were being linked to previously and lost the link.
Reach out to the webmaster and ask if they could replace the link pointing to your site.
Don’t immediately assume that it was not meant to be. Sometimes people forget about adding links or label something as spam without knowing why.
Reach out to them and let them know you’d appreciate having the link back on their website because it helps with your SEO efforts.
Respond to press inquiries
Many people don’t realize this, but reporters are always looking for sources to cite in their articles to provide more information on the subject.
If you reach out to them and tell them that you are an expert in your niche, they might mention you when writing about it.
HARO (Help A Reporter Out) is an example of a service that can be used for this. It’s free to sign up and the only requirement is that you build your profile to show that you are an expert source for the topics they cover.
Exploit ego baiting
Ego baiting is a tactic where you quote someone in your post but link to their site instead. This gives them the opportunity to brag about being quoted while providing a backlink to your site.
As mentioned previously, a tool like Buzzsumo can tell you who has shared content similar to yours before. Perform searches on Google for quotes related to your site’s niche.
Once you find the people who have mentioned similar topics, reach out to them with a nice email asking if they would consider sharing your content as well by including a quote that you could then link back to their site.
Keep an eye on your competition
This will give you an idea of what types of topics people find valuable and want to be linked to from other authority sites.
You can use tools like SEO Spyglass to see the number of backlinks pointing towards a site as well as a list of domains that link to them.
This is beneficial because it gives you an idea of where you should focus your efforts to not only get a link from these sources but also beat your competitor’s site to it.
I use this tool because I can compare multiple sites at once and dig into their backlink profiles. You can see their most linked content, who links to them the most, and which websites you need to target.
Step 7. Grow Your Email List
One core component that a successful niche website has is an email list. The more people you’re able to get on your email list, the more traffic, and sales your site will drive.
The conversion rate of visitors from a website is typically low compared to those who come from an ad or a blog post referral.
For every 100 clicks, you might only have one or two conversions. That being said, if you can keep the traffic your site receives high enough, you can go viral.
Here are some ways that you can start growing your email list today:
Offer a Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is something of value that you’re giving away for free in exchange for an email address. For instance, if you have an eCommerce website selling dog leashes.
A lead magnet would be an ebook that teaches people about different dog breeds and how to train them. This is valuable because it provides real value to your readers instead of just another way for you to promote your product.
Once someone opts in, they will be sent a confirmation email with the link they need to click on to confirm their email address. Once they do that, you can start sending them content related to the lead magnet.
Design an exit popup
An exit popup is a box that appears when someone visits your website and asks if they’d like to subscribe to your newsletter.
This works because people are already on your site so it’s easy for them to give you their email address.
You can use plugins like SumoMe or PopUp Domination to create an exit popup that’s triggered when someone is trying to leave your site.
The plugin will ask if they want to subscribe to your newsletter, explaining the benefits of subscribing. Once they click ‘no thanks’ they are redirected back to where they were trying to go.
Step 8. Experiment With Monetization
In addition to coming up with niche site ideas, you also want to consider how you’ll monetize your website.
This can get pretty complicated depending on what type of site you have and how many pages it has, but the most popular options include:
Advertising
You can use services like Google AdSense or Media.net to place ads on your site. They typically payout every time someone clicks an ad (CPC model), or you can place a set amount of ads on your site and get paid for every 1,000 views (CPM model).
Affiliate Content Marketing
This is where you make a commission from sales you drive to other retailers. The process works pretty simply create an affiliate link with your referral code on it. When someone clicks this link and makes a purchase, you get a percentage of the sale.
Paid Reviews
This is where companies will pay you to review their products or services on your site. You can use platforms like ReviewMe to find these opportunities.
The company will typically give you one of their items (electronics, clothes, accessories) for free in return for a review.
These are just some of the most popular ways to monetize your site, but there are many others so be sure to explore all your options.
Regardless of which way you go, once you have an idea in mind, it’s time to find a hosting company that can support it.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a way to generate more business online, it’s time to get started with building niche sites. Today, niche sites are easier to build than ever before. It’s also much less expensive.
While you need to put in some work up-front to do the research and find a profitable niche market, once your site is built it pretty much runs itself. However, you need to stay up-to-date with any changes in SEO practices and incorporate new monetization methods as they become available.
Whether you’re looking for a link-building strategy or how to leverage affiliate content marketing on your site, these are just some of the ways that you can stay ahead of the curve when it comes to making money online.
The more time and effort you put into understanding what’s happening now, the easier it will be for you to start generating revenue tomorrow.
Until next time,
Happy blogging!
