There’s no Secret to Niche Marketing
January 6th, 2009 | 47 comments
Over the past several years I’ve been profiting from small, niche mini-sites. Lately I’ve sold several of them and shifted my focus to email marketing, blogging and other things, not because it’s a weak business model, but because I wanted to shift my own business model to things I personally enjoy doing more.
Niche marketing is typically one of the first business models people get into, whether they realize it or not. The purpose of this post is to advise against those who are now doing exactly what I was doing when I first began and that’s searching for the “secret!”
I honestly believed for the longest time that there was some kind of a secret that successful niche marketers were holding from me and the general public as a whole… you know, the “thing” that separated them from me 
If you’ve been keeping up with my blog, reports, or coaching forum for any time at all you’ll notice there are a few things I CONSTANTLY say over and over and over again. Every time I get ready to mention one of these things I question whether I should mention it AGAIN or not, but I always decide to go ahead and mention it because these things are just not mentioned enough in my opinion and they are VERY important for “newbies” to understand. Things like the importance of retaining visitors and realizing there are no secrets to success!
That goes for just about every online business model out there! There are certainly important factors that you need to know before becoming successful with anything, but all of that important information is out there and 99.9999% of the time it’s absolutely free! (Buying ebooks is still a good idea from time to time… it’s kind of like outsourcing research, as Andy Beard once put it.) But you are not being kept from any secrets that are keeping you from being successful with niche marketing!
I won’t get into the specifics of what it takes to succeed with niche marketing because I do that for free in my niche marketing report, (I no longer own that product) but I will tell you the basics:
1. keyword research and competition analysis are crucial! If you aren’t researching you might as well just invest in lottery tickets!
2. Ad placement is crucial, as traffic that doesn’t convert into income might as well not be traffic at all! Use a proven template if you’re doing html sites or a proven theme if you’re a WordPress user. If you go with just any template or theme you may find yourself working much harder than you need to in order to get your site(s) to convert!
3. Target high-paying markets. That doesn’t mean you have to compete for phrases like “debt consolidation.” Dig deep into high-paying markets like debt-consolidation and target low competition phrases WITHIN highly competitive markets! This can make the difference between $10 from 25 visitors and $1 from 25 visitors!
4. Don’t spend an eternity on one site. If you’re spending months at a time per site, you’re not going to get very far! I’m not saying you should create a bunch of incomplete sites, but once a site is complete and you’ve done some promoting move on. NOT every site is going to make you alot of money. Some do and some don’t. Put 100% effort into each one then move on.
5. NEVVVVVVVVER give up! I spent months and months and months and months before i started to see a decent return on my time and monetary investments. Some people profit much sooner and some later. But 99 out of 100 people who just stick with it no matter what eventually make big profits with niche marketing and that goes for just about every other business model as well!
I promise you making money with niche marketing isn’t all smoke and mirrors. Thousands of people do it every day!
Whether you leverage WordPress to do it, you use powerful software to do it like Andrew Hansen or you leverage the power of article marketing to do it like Tim Gorman and myself, the basic principles are always the same, there are never secrets and those who realize that and NEVER give up are those who are successful in the end!
photo credit: andercismo
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How to Create an SEO Friendly Adsense Site
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Article Marketing and Niche Marketing with Tim Gorman – Interview
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6th January, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Enjoy your blogs Josh. End of last year I started doing mini-sites and I am keen to see how they go this year.
Statement 5 is so important, because as you are learning an internet business there are many frustrating and disappointing times. At times it takes a steely determination to continue on.
6th January, 2009 at 6:14 pm
# 5 is so true. Everyone expects to just throw up a couple web pages and then sit back while the cash rolls in. But it takes some work in the beginning to build some momentum and really get things going.
6th January, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Hi Josh,
At what point do you give up? I have a niche site for about a year, on which I do almost no promotion and no new content. the site promotes a CB product and gets me 1-2 sales a month.
I tried Adwords, but the converting keywords are expensive. Should I try to develop it further via SEO or is it a better idea to just sell the site?
I think of selling it and bam..in a few days a sale comes in and gets me torn between holding/selling.
6th January, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Your free reports & blog advice have been so helpful to us Josh. I am hoping we can get some financial freedom soon to pay it forward.
6th January, 2009 at 6:17 pm
thanks for the posting, it really opened my eye to more of your little butvery oiwerful details /step by step guides .
thanks and i shall meet u at the top.
6th January, 2009 at 6:21 pm
There is just the one secret to niche success, the one that everyone likes to ignore. It is that four letter word W-O-R-K. Without it success is extremely hard to find!
6th January, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Well done Josh. Niche sites and blogs are my favorites as well. Now I am concentrating on setting up a number of blogs, using the services at WordPress Direct.
The main drawback with using Adsense on blogs is that I make almost no money. Any thoughts on that.
Web pages on a site can earn over $2 per day, but almost nothing on blogs. I wish I know the reason.
6th January, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Great post Josh…I’ve known for quite some time that there is “No Secret formula” or “Magic Button”. It is important to note that all of us reading your blog should never give up. I am still waiting for my big breakout moment. I am confident it WILL happen.
Paul
6th January, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Josh,
Your post actually DOES lay out the main steps for a workable ‘success’ strategy.
Now, each person’s tools, methods, and purpose brought to bear in EACH step may vary… But together these ‘steps’ make up the basis of a ‘system’.
Once we develop our own best working SYSTEM (which may NOT be what works best for someone else), then it’s just a matter of using that system over and over – To rinse and repeat for developing an income stream in virtually any niche or market.
Reliable Toolkit + Step-by-step Action Plan = SYSTEM
Duplicating/Repeating Your System = Growing, Reliable Income
6th January, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I N-E-V-V-V-E-R give up, but the frustrations can be monumental. I work extremely hard to provide valuable content to my membership sites. My biggest frustration has been to find a platform which will automatically generate and deliver to the new subscriber, upon AWeber opt-in and verification, his Password for re-entry to the site. If he doesn’t buy during his first visit, he can’t get back into the site (and from there access to the Payment Page) on a next attempted visit, and he is effectively lost to me. Webmasters and platforms unwittingly create barriers between the customer’s wallet and the Payment Page. It’s a mistake to expect the new subscriber to go to the trouble of selecting his own Password. It should be automatically generated and delivered to him as part of the “Thank You.” But I keep on being told that “it can’t be done.”
6th January, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Josh,
I completely agree 100% with this post. The key is to do everything possible to give away as much value as possible to build up a large readership (repeat visitors).
I have been working on the same niche website for about 1 and 1/2 years. I now have a high traffic website and make good money from the site from affiliate commissions. I didn’t see a dollar the first 6 months, but now it makes close to a full-time income.
I model a lot of what you do as far as providing great value and interacting with your readers…I just do it in the fitness niche.
Thanks for setting a great example for me to follow,
Rusty
6th January, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Hi Josh, what is your criteria for moving on to another site (in point 4 of your post)? How do you define a “complete” site? Are you just talking about PPC or growing a site organically?
6th January, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Thanks for the great post Josh. I think #4, is good, I have a few complete sites and maybe I just need to get some new ones up this year.
Thanks
Bryan
6th January, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Hi Josh,
Thanks for the pep talk. I, like everyone else, had the impression that all I had to do was put up a site and then lay on the beach everyday drinking boat drinks. Well that was wrong but it is actually fun learning what does work and what I need to do to make money.
I was wondering what wordpress template you would suggest for a a niche blog and an adsense blog.
Thanks for all your help.
6th January, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Thanks for the 2009 wakeup call Josh. I also appreciated the links to other solid IM’ers that you list in your blog.
All the best for 2009
6th January, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Excellent post Josh. The two most valuable points you made were “keyword research” and “never give up”. A lot of people don’t invest time into keyword research and end up giving up way too early in their efforts. Half ass something, and you will get half ass results.
Dennis Grubbs
6th January, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Hi Josh,
Great post and inspiring. I have several niche websites but I really need to fully promote them before moving on – that’s my problem.
However, I have found a few that produce good results and I’m starting to build on those (SEO, list building, more content, more authority etc).
It has taken me a year to get to the stage where i’m actually (but slowly) starting to ‘get it’.
I am struggling with email marketing though but I think that I’m very close – I spoke to you a little about it a few weeks ago and will sign up to your coaching course soon….
…can’t wait to crack it!
Great post,
Alex
6th January, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Great post! It is true that these basic facts are not mentioned enough, and when they are mentioned most people over look them while seeking the “secret”.
7th January, 2009 at 12:48 am
Hi Josh,
I agree with you that keyword research and competition analysis is so very important when come to building niche sites.
It will determine whether you can make money on the site or not. With no keyword research and competition analysis, you are simply wasting time and money.
John Tan
7th January, 2009 at 12:54 am
I have been reading that quite a few people have been making money this way but it is definitely difficult right off the bat. Over time though it must be really easy to know how to start a new site and make it profitable.
7th January, 2009 at 1:00 am
You hit the nail on the head. It takes work. Do the work and never give up. Hard not to succeed in the end if you have that attitude.
7th January, 2009 at 2:59 am
You are absolutely right about these tips, Josh… and yes, they are extremely important. While all of them are very important, the one that made it for me is the call to NEVERRRRRRRRRRR give up. I know many people who have given up because they didn’t get the results they thought they would get after just a few months. It does take time (doesn’t everything), but eventually one begins to see good results.
I guess Internet marketing is like the Chinese bamboo tree. You water it for so long and nothing happens, but after some years it grows to ninety feet tall within mere weeks. So – yes, you are absolutely right there about NEVERRRRRRR giving up. Thanks for sharing this, Josh!
7th January, 2009 at 3:53 am
Hi Josh,
Thanks again for another great blog post about niche marketing! I’ve been following your blog for a few months now, and I find it an invaluable resource for those of us pounding away to make money online. Thanks for everything!
Best,
Shane
7th January, 2009 at 3:59 am
Hey Josh,
Great post.
May I add: find one system and stick with it.
I jumped around from one guru’s secret to another, finally settling on your $5.00 a day system. I am seeing great results finally!
Thanks for everything.
7th January, 2009 at 6:56 am
Hi Josh. I am a newbie in online business from Russia. I really like your blog because of the all valuable information that you give. I read your 5dollarformula report and got excited about it. So far I never found anything like that in russian internet and especially for free. Thanks a lot. My question is can I apply your 5$/day formula with free hosting and free domain for my niche sites or would it be useless?
7th January, 2009 at 8:09 am
Thanks for a good post, Josh. It does take a lot of work to see results, but as long as you keep on keeping on your income will grow. This isn’t a get-rich-quick thing. It takes time and loads of patience. But it is worth every bit of frustration – especially the freedom of being your own boss!
7th January, 2009 at 11:53 am
Awesome post Josh.
Niche marketing is just a matter of following a step by step blueprint, sticking to it and having multiple successful sites.
My biggest mistake is that I didn’t build enough sites when I started. Once I started to realize, everything changed.
Franck
7th January, 2009 at 12:04 pm
That’s so funny! I was just explaining to someone the other day that there IS NO BIG SECRET.
It’s such a great and effective marketing gimmick, though, isn’t it? Everyone seems to be using the word ‘secret’ in their sales pages to entice gullible buyers. And the reason it IS so effective is because, deep down, everyone wants to believe it.
They want to believe that if they just found the right system or program, etc., THEN they would be making big money fast.
If they could just realize that you are correct in this – there is no big secret. You just have to follow a sensible proven pattern and put in the work – how much time and money they would save.
Good post!
7th January, 2009 at 1:19 pm
As I read through the comments, I just realized how many people commented and used their name as their link anchor text and how many didn’t.
it also occured to me that I’ve been commenting on this blog using my real name rather than the primary keywords for my website home page.
Then it occured to me that commenting on a “no follow free” blog like Josh’s is a waste of time if you aren’t using your keywords as anchor text for your link back.
I’ve read this very same advice on this blog. Something to think about all of you who commented and used your real name rather than your keywords – mine is Online Marketing and if I want to get some Google juice from commenting on blogs, this is the way to do it.
7th January, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Hi Online Marketing, good point, but (1) it sometimes looks funny using keywords as your name and (2) it’s not natural to use keywords for every link – I am making a conscious effort NOT to use keywords for every link, as I think that is one reason for lost rankings lately. Big G is always watching
7th January, 2009 at 3:27 pm
A very comprehensive and informative post. Josh after reading your blog for quite some time I think that when it comes to good advice on niche marketing – you are the man to approach. Thanks for such an excellent post. Especially I loved the fifth point : ‘Never Give Up’ is the key to open all doors of success.
7th January, 2009 at 6:15 pm
@ Free – First, please read my comment policy. The point is to never give up… “giving up” never even crossed my mind when I began! I think what you need to do here is obvious. You said you do almost no promotion and add no new content. Do I really need to tell you what you need to do?
@ Fred – The only reason for that is ad placement… it has nothing to do with whether the CMS is a blog or not. I highly recommend Mark Mason’s Niche Adsense WP Themes.
@ William – That doesn’t sound like a problem that should cause anyone to consider giving up! I’m not a developer so I can’t answer that for you, but if I were in that situation I would just find a developer and pay him/her $20 to figure it out for me… that easy.
@ Kris – For a niche mini-site via my $5 mini-site formula, I move on once the site is up and running, optimized and I’ve submitted at least 20 articles to promote it.
@ Andy – I recommend these for WordPress and these if you’re not using WordPress.
@ Leonid – Glad I’ve been able to help! I don’t recommend using free hosting or free domains for ANYTHING other than personal sites that aren’t monetized and even then I would register a domain and put it on a cheap host.
@ Online Marketing – That sounds a little odd doesn’t it? Here is a little advice:
1. If the blog you’re commenting on has a comment policy, read it before leaving a comment.
2. If a site or page receives an incoming link that is not nofollowed and it’s not using the preferred anchor text, it still receives authority. It doesn’t help with the ranking of the keyword you’re targeting, but the page still receives just as much authority, which will then be passed through the internal pages.
3. There is MUCH more to gain by commenting on blogs than a link. How about networking, branding and friendship? If I don’t know your name there is very little chance I will look at your site or even care what niche you’re in. If I know your name and you leave intelligent comments I may very well look into who you are. That’s not just me, that’s just how networking goes.
@ Kris – True statements.
7th January, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Well, I’ve been chastised. I’m the guy who left the “Online Marketing” comment. However, I felt I could get away with it because I do leave comments under my real name.
I actually got on the kick because I left a “ticket” on Josh’s Conrtact page asking about the Ultimate Linking manual and noticed at the bottom of the page you have your Internet Marketing and Make Money Online keyword phrases as links.
Then I noiticed that you actually have a different URL for that page. And that got me thinking about leaving anchor text on heavily trafficed pages on other websites I own leading back to my Online Marketing page. So I tried an experiment.
Just curious if the JoshSpaulding.com site is also on a different server so you get more “juice” from it?
Hope I’m not getting too heavy or esoteric for this post.
7th January, 2009 at 9:56 pm
@ Bob – lol you haven’t been chastised
Just read my comment policy and you’ll understand.
I do not own JoshSpaulding.com and the server that a site is hosted on has absolutely no impact on it’s “juice” (authority.)
8th January, 2009 at 2:28 am
Keywords? Maybe not everyone wants to use keywords to link to their site for SEO on a blog. I would prefer to brand myself, rather than a keyword. There is obviously less competition for my name in Google, than say “internet marketing” or “make money online”.
So it benefits me in two ways. First it benefits me, by the fact that they will know or at least assume I was the one who left the comment on the blog and not some bot. So people recognize me by name not a keyword and a url.
It also benefits me in the way that I get ranked for my own name, for whatever link I used in the comment, so if I build a brand based around my name, then people will be Googling just that… my name.
On top of that, I have plenty of other places that I can use to get ranked for the other keywords.
8th January, 2009 at 6:40 am
You are spot-on Josh. I have seen so many people give up after a couple of weeks, saying that they are wasting their time and money – it is not funny.
In spite of not seeing much over the last few years, I have not given up and know that it is only a matter of time that I will crack it big
Keep up the great posts.
Kind regards,
Barry
8th January, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Ah, it’s so nice to see open-minded posts on IM without all the secret/trick stuff. Good points.
I wonder what you think about outsourcing, particularly pricing it to stay competitive…I’ve been reading a discussion on the subject.
8th January, 2009 at 3:19 pm
I know this question is off-topic but a lot of sharp people read this blog so I thought I’d give it a shot.
I’ve written a number of ecourses from 4 weeks to 12 weeks long. I was using Google Checkout but I can’t figure out any way to do an autoresponder to follow the checkout process.
When someone spends that level of money with me, I want them to feel confident by immediately getting a thank you and the first lesson of the course. Any suggestions?
8th January, 2009 at 3:22 pm
@ Bob – Unfortunately I’ve never used Google Checkout, so I can’t help. I’m sure you can get that answer and more from the community at CWJ though.
8th January, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Thanks for the response Josh. Actually, I was hoping you or someone might know of another way to sell it. I’m certainly not married to Google Checkout.
There are tons of articles aout there on “How to write an ecourse” but I can’t find anything on how to actually sell it online.
8th January, 2009 at 3:33 pm
PayPal
8th January, 2009 at 9:27 pm
1shoppingcart, 2checkout, paypal
dlguard+payapl+getresponse (or any other payment processor combined with dlguard)
GetResponse is fully integrated with DLGuard and will protect your download and can setup the autoresponder to automatically have them opted in once they purchase the product. Then you can already have your followup emails setup for that list and it will automatically send them the email you are talking about. Completely automates the entire process.
If you run into trouble the support Sam Stephens provides with DLGuard is phenomenal. I would say it is probably the best customer service in the business.
11th January, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Hi Josh, I would just like to say that you are spot on. I’m just starting my first website and I will follow your advice: never give up!
14th January, 2009 at 11:15 pm
The same goes for dating software, if you want to start a dating site then you have to find a niche market that isn’t being done yet and then if you market it properly you can make a little bit of money.
Michael
16th January, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Josh,
It’s been a burning question for as long as I have read your reports or Tims. And that is….how on earth can you get a 20% or better click thru rate on your niche sites? I’ve used the exact same strategies as the both of you and I don’t even come close to getting a 10% CTR. Have you noticed a decrease?
16th January, 2009 at 6:57 pm
@ Bob – It’s hit and miss. Some niches get higher CTR’s then others. It’s all about ad placement though. That big large rectangle directly below the title converts the best. That is laser targeted traffic!
Another thing to consider is that when you’re visiting your own pages you’re creating Adsense impressions, so the CTR may very well be higher than you think.
Don’t go by the CTR that adsense reports. Look at the number of UNIQUE visitors you get and the number of adsense clicks.
18th January, 2009 at 12:18 am
Thanks Josh for the response. I realize the CTR will be lower because I do visit the site, but I never thought about checking unique visitors. Great idea!!