We’ve all heard about the guy who built an internet business and became a millionaire seemingly overnight, and of course, everybody wants to figure out how they can get a piece of that action.
While I will not say overnight riches are possible, I will say that it is definitely a way to make money and add an additional revenue stream to your income. If you have an interest in something that is a hot “niche” which people do a lot of searches for, you can position yourself to funnel off a piece of all that virtual money flowing around you.
Being successful with niche marketing requires you to find keywords that have a good profit potential, high demand, and low supply. The old law of supply and demand applies here just as in any other business. The more people looking for your product or service, the greater the demand is, and the more visitors will be drawn to your website, which can result in higher income and sales of your products and services, or commissions from any other businesses that you are affiliated with.
Keep in mind the other part of the economic equation: supply. The fewer other sites on the internet targeting your specific keyword, the higher your search engine rankings will be- which puts you at or close to the top of the rankings when a search is done. (Who do you know that digs back four or five pages in Google searches?) High rankings equate to high traffic, which equates to sales and profit.
So, the most important thing is to decide on your blog’s “niche.” Make it something that a lot of people are interested in, but that not so many are already working in that you’ll have a hard time getting any attention. For instance, “weight loss” might seem to be a great niche, UNTIL you check out all the competition. This doesn’t mean you should give up your idea, but why not isolate a certain aspect of that broad niche, like Pilates exercise, walking for programs for weight loss, or a whole food diet? Those subsets will have much less competition for a new blog, and by becoming “the” expert on your specific niche, you will get a lot of traffic.
How do you get people to come to your blog? There is no magic in this- you have to write compelling content. Give people information that they need and that is important to them, and you will continually bring new people to to your blog. Frequent posting is also extremely important to bring in traffic.
Monetizing your blog:
To make money with your blog, you can offer products or services that are related to it. For instance, if you had a Pilates blog like we discussed earlier, and have a significant following of Pilates devotees, you are obviously giving them the content they want. You might offer an e-book or DVD with “10 Best Pilates Exercises,” or find some affiliate advertising that you can promote with your blog, and for which you will receive a commission for each sale.
With your Pilates blog, you could also talk with other related companies- health clubs, makers of Pilates equipment, even fitness apparel manufacturers about possibly advertising on your site.
Be sure to join eBay and Amazon’s programs and promote all of their best sellers that relate to your blog in your side bars, which gives you an additional outlet for earning commission.
Maximizing the profit potential of your blog is really important. Be sure to continue to post quality content for your readers about your niche-how-tos, reports of the latest news, new techniques, anything related to your niche that readers would be interested in reading about. Also look into special discounts and free promotions that you can offer in partnership with the companies you advertise for. Email newsletters to keep your readers up to date on what’s going on with your site are also helpful- as long as you respect their privacy. Your goal is to encourage them to look at your website, not annoy them by flooding them with spam. I personally think that once a month, perhaps twice, is the most you should email your readers.
Another way to monetize your blog is to work with Google. Google AdSense has lots of good tutorials for putting their ads on your blog to make money. With AdSense, you get paid each time one of the ads is clicked. (PPC, or pay per click advertising.) One bit of advice I have about Google ads is not to make them stand out, but so they blend in. Overkill will put off your customers, and that definitely is not your goal.
Take some time out to do some research about how best to optimize your blog so that it is most successful for you.
