Step 1: Find a Niche
One of the most important factors in the success of your site is finding a profitable niche. The process is simple but not always easy. A good niche is the perfect combination of several things. It should be a topic that you know a lot about, that others want to know about (demand), but the supply of information is somewhat limited. Here are the steps to finding a great niche. Brainstorm First get a pen and paper and start writing down the things you are interested in. Think about what you like to do? What do you do after work? What do you do on the weekends? What do you read about? What do you watch shows about? Is your hobby reading or watching T.V.? You can also think about topics that relate to your job or profession. What is your field of expertise? How can your knowledge help people? What do people ask you about a work? One article I recently read advised readers to write down things that they would like to learn about.
One of the most important factors in the success of your site is finding a profitable niche. The process is simple but not always easy. A good niche is the perfect combination of several things. It should be a topic that you know a lot about, that others want to know about (demand), but the supply of information is somewhat limited. Here are the steps to finding a great niche. Brainstorm First get a pen and paper and start writing down the things you are interested in. Think about what you like to do? What do you do after work? What do you do on the weekends? What do you read about? What do you watch shows about? Is your hobby reading or watching T.V.? You can also think about topics that relate to your job or profession. What is your field of expertise? How can your knowledge help people? What do people ask you about a work? One article I recently read advised readers to write down things that they would like to learn about.
In this case I would advise that you do some research and make sure you love the topic before you choose it as a niche. If you dont LOVE your topic your research will be boring and tedious, and you run the risk of your sight looking like a sales pitch rather than an expert making recommendations. Supply Research Take a few your favorite topics from the list youve created and start to narrow them down. Come up with a question or a problem that you want to solve. Now, take your questions and type them in to your favorite search engine How many results come up? If there are millions the supply is probably too great so try to make your topic more specific or tweak your question or keyword to get a better result. Demand Research Researching demand is a little trickier.
What you have to do is try to find out how many people want to know about what you have to tell them. So think to yourself, what would you do if there was a topic you needed to learn about? Most people would start with their favorite search engine. Here is the quick and dirty way to come up with demand info. Lets use Google for example. Go to Google and type in the question or keyword you just came up with. Surround your question with quotation marks (” “). This will narrow the field to only the sites that contain your key word. Are there a lot of sites that are relevant to your topic? Are there any SERPs? (the little ads on the top and side of the results page) This will give you a good idea of the demand because the companies paying for the SERPs did a ton of sophisticated market research before they put those there. These can also be good resources to find partnerships. Now lets get a little more sophisticated. Find a good keyword tool..
Step 2: Build a Site
All right if you pay attention to anything I say make it this… what I am about to say is very important. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE PAY A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR A WEBSITE. There are a ton of services on the market that will get you up and running without costing you a fortune. You may have to pay for a domain name and maybe some small hosting fees, but keep the fees small. You can get a great professional looking site for not a lot of money. Dont fall for the hype. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and (Im sure) hundreds of other sources are offering free site building tools and if you have an email address you already have an account. There are also sites like GoDaddy that will set you up with a whole package for just a few bucks a month. You can even use these techniques from a blog. The moral of the story is find a site builder and play with it until you are comfortable. Ive tried Google Sites, Microsoft Office Live, and Blogger. All three are very easy to use and will give you a professional looking website that you can get up and running quickly.
All right if you pay attention to anything I say make it this… what I am about to say is very important. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE PAY A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR A WEBSITE. There are a ton of services on the market that will get you up and running without costing you a fortune. You may have to pay for a domain name and maybe some small hosting fees, but keep the fees small. You can get a great professional looking site for not a lot of money. Dont fall for the hype. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and (Im sure) hundreds of other sources are offering free site building tools and if you have an email address you already have an account. There are also sites like GoDaddy that will set you up with a whole package for just a few bucks a month. You can even use these techniques from a blog. The moral of the story is find a site builder and play with it until you are comfortable. Ive tried Google Sites, Microsoft Office Live, and Blogger. All three are very easy to use and will give you a professional looking website that you can get up and running quickly.
Congratulations! Your site is now up and running. You are ready for the fun part, Making Money. Good Luck.
Dayle is the founder of Affiliate Now
For More information on how to start or run your affiliate marketing business check out Affiliate Now: The Affiliate Marketing Research Center
