Help with Niche Selection.

[StefffR]

I have been lurking for maybe a year on the JustStart sub, and few days ago somone mentoined BuSo there, so I checked it out and got addicted to it! You have some really great content, currently I am doing the Digital Marketing Crash Course. I want to start a blog for a year now, but I couldn't decide on a niche.

I figured out that I want to make an Informational Type Niche Site, that gets its revenue from Display Ads (Ezoic). I am from a third world country, and I am 18 years old, highschool student, so I really don't have any money to invest into link-building, so I am looking to tackle the low-hanging fruits first.

Making around $1k/month would be great for the place where I am living (country in the Balkans). I learned from the forum that big goals are good, but this is just for start.

I found a niche, in the pet vertical. It is about a specific pet, but I am afraid that the audience about this pet is too small, so I would like to expand it with some more pet kinds? How would you go about this? Would you make an animal site and then cover various pets? Or some different approach? What domain would you pick?

I am not really interested in this niche, and I read that you recommend that you should be interested in the niche you are writing, but I couldn't find anything that is viable and that I am interested in.

For example, I am into green/renewable energy, solar power, wind power, etc. but I couldn't find any underserved keywords from the Google Autocomplete and the free tool KeywordShitter. I don't think that not having interest in the niche would be a problem, because the money is a good motivator already, and I will be using other people opinions (Quora, Reddit, Forums) to make my articles better!

 

[Ryuzaki]

@StefffR, welcome aboard.

You don't need to be interested in the topic, but if you'll be the one writing all the content it definitely helps to keep you from getting bored if you can't afford to outsource the writing.

What I would do is choose a domain that's vague and general enough that any type of pet can fit under the umbrella. So like "PetInfo.com" is better than "HamsterInfo.com".

You can build out a Hamster-based site on PetInfo.com just like if you had HamsterInfo.com. But what using the more general domain offers you is the ability to expand later.

If you set up your articles as like PetInfo.com/the-post-slug/ without using a category in there, then you can easily re-categorize your site later if you want. So at the start you could have categories like (and then add the 2nd one):

• Hamster
  • Diet
  • Housing
  • Health
• Snakes
  • Diet
  • Housing
  • Health

Then you can easily add more pets, and rearrange the main menu as you add more pet types.

The point is to not box yourself in so you have room to grow as does anyone that might buy your site later if you choose to sell.

 

[StefffR]

Thanks for the warmth welcome @Ryuzaki!

Yeah, as I am on a low budget I will definitely do all the writing!

I was thinking the same about making a general site so I have more opportunities to expand. Thanks for the great reply.

I would ask you what do you think about the second part of my post,about green/renewable energy. Is there any chance I get into the niche without linkbuilding, because everytime I make a search for a keyword, there is something written on that topic, or some .gov/.org domain comes up with no so relevant post to the query, but they are still ranking. Quora, Reddit or Forums rarely ever come in the SERPS?

I would also want to thank you for your efforts on the Course and all of the post/comments you made over the years. I am reading them daily and they are so valuable!

 

[ToffeeLa]

I would ask you what do you think about the second part of my post,about green/renewable energy. Is there any chance I get into the niche without linkbuilding, because everytime I make a search for a keyword, there is something written on that topic, or some .gov/.org domain comes up with no so relevant post to the query, but they are still ranking. Quora, Reddit or Forums rarely ever come in the SERPS?

You can look at any niche from a negative or positive pov.

For example, if you have a niche with a lot of 'official' domains, it means that there is a lot of content with extremely high trust (and therefore the potential link value from that ecosphere might be higher than others). Part of the skill of working in an area like that is working out where and why those sites link out, and then taking a look at the receiving sites and their chains of connection and content.

The other comment I'd make about a niche with a lot of 'official' content is that precisely because they are official, there will be aspects of topics that they are unable or unwilling to cover because of their stature or structure or point of view. So there are potential content gaps or opportunities...

 

[adammc]

@StefffR I think a good place for newbies to start is by simply answering very specific questions in a certain niche.

"Is [product] [abc]"
"Does [product] [def]"
"Can [product] [xyz]"

Because they're answering such specific questions, the articles can be very low word count. (one of the most off-putting things for newbies is creating in-depth articles and seeing no traffic).

They're super low competition, and super low volume, but if you create enough of these posts, you'll begin to see traffic, which results in ad earnings (and a dopamine kick), which motivates you to keep on going.

I've also noticed that these type of short-form question articles are prime candidates for Google's knowledge cards, especially when the feature image is named the exact same as the post title, e.g is-product-abc.jpg

For example,

Below is a screenshot of traffic from a very simple info website I created with a friend.

The articles were ULTRA simple, often not more than 150 words, often using copied text from the product manufacturer, and using a simple article format of:

is [product 1] [abc]? the answer is YES - here's why...
is [product 2] [abc]? the answer is NO - here's why...

By following this formula, we could've posted tens of thousands of posts without ever running out of ideas.

The domain had no backlinks, yet every post we published would rank immediately, because we were the only people answering that specific question. (oftentimes we would rank above the manufacturer's own website)

We started posting these simple questions in early 2019, and by Q4 we were making $600/m off ads. Traffic would grow every time we added more content (we stopped updating in Q4 2019)

To give you a quick example of this type of article:

"Is [Ginger Beer] Halal?" - replace Ginger Beer with any of the millions of products out there and you've got some super low hanging fruit.

The top result for this question appears to have been posted recent (it's not in web archive and the site is brand new), yet it already has 41 views (as per the counter on the page), the content is just 40 words long and the Domain Rating is a tiny 1.7.

This isn't my blog, but it illustrates exactly how the process can work for brand new websites.

We did the exact same thing with a different type of question, posted about 200 or 300 of these uber simple articles and were making $600/month within a few months. It's so darn easy it feels like free money.

Now, we stopped updating this site as we have much bigger businesses to take up our time with, but it was an interesting experiment.

However, if you're an absolute newbie, I think this is a great way to whet your appetite for building websites.

A couple of further notes on this:

1. When it comes to these longtail question posts, people are typically looking for a fast answer. As so, the bounce rate will be very high and the content is not ideal for affiliate sales. We tried hard to get these people onto Amazon and other offers but once they had their answer they left the page.
2. This is somewhat of an arbitrage, so it probably won't last forever as google gets smarter. For instance, if you read the post I gave as an example above, you'll notice the text is almost garbage (it's a dictionary copy+paste). In general, whenever there isn't many ads displayed on a search result, Google isn't dedicating much computing power to it, so it's easier to game the serps. However, as Google's knowledge cards get smarter, I expect this to become more difficult.
3. Ahrefs will show that many of these questions get 0-10 searches per month. However, in my experience, this is often way wrong. Some of our articles which Ahrefs said receive 0-10 searches would garner hundreds of visits per month, so just throw as many out as you can and see what sticks.

I was just looking into a potential new affiliate for one of our products who is using this tactic well:

"Can [pet] eat [food]"

So much low hanging fruit!

 

[_fish]

Damn man that reply deserves its own thread. Some people swear by always having at least 500 words or even 1000 or 2000 words now. You are showing us that it can work with far fewer words.

I think the best lesson to learn here is that there are so many ways to win at this game and it's bad to get bogged down by details or trying to get everything perfect. People can win with 150 words and people can win with 3000 words. Just publish shit!! Don't spend more time thinking about it than doing it.

 

[adammc]

@_fish thanks! Though, I wouldn't rely on this as a long term strategy for two reasons:

1. Google will get smarter and figure out that these are low quality answers

2. These positions are built on quicksand, and knocking you off the top spot won't be difficult for established sites. The only reason larger sites tend to avoid this low-hanging fruit is because the search traffic is apparently so low.

But, negatives aside, I think a newbie site builder who attempts this and starts seeing $100/month in their bank account will be much more likely to continue building and growing than someone who spends months writing 2,000 word articles and receives tumbleweed.

 

[StefffR]

@StefffR I think a good place for newbies to start is by simply answering very specific questions in a certain niche.

"Is [product] [abc]"
"Does [product] [def]"
"Can [product] [xyz]"

Because they're answering such specific questions, the articles can be very low word count. (one of the most off-putting things for newbies is creating in-depth articles and seeing no traffic).

They're super low competition, and super low volume, but if you create enough of these posts, you'll begin to see traffic, which results in ad earnings (and a dopamine kick), which motivates you to keep on going.

I've also noticed that these type of short-form question articles are prime candidates for Google's knowledge cards, especially when the feature image is named the exact same as the post title, e.g is-product-abc.jpg

For example,

Below is a screenshot of traffic from a very simple info website I created with a friend.

The articles were ULTRA simple, often not more than 150 words, often using copied text from the product manufacturer, and using a simple article format of:

is [product 1] [abc]? the answer is YES - here's why...
is [product 2] [abc]? the answer is NO - here's why...

By following this formula, we could've posted tens of thousands of posts without ever running out of ideas.

The domain had no backlinks, yet every post we published would rank immediately, because we were the only people answering that specific question. (oftentimes we would rank above the manufacturer's own website)

We started posting these simple questions in early 2019, and by Q4 we were making $600/m off ads. Traffic would grow every time we added more content (we stopped updating in Q4 2019)

To give you a quick example of this type of article:

"Is [Ginger Beer] Halal?" - replace Ginger Beer with any of the millions of products out there and you've got some super low hanging fruit.

The top result for this question appears to have been posted recent (it's not in web archive and the site is brand new), yet it already has 41 views (as per the counter on the page), the content is just 40 words long and the Domain Rating is a tiny 1.7.

This isn't my blog, but it illustrates exactly how the process can work for brand new websites.

We did the exact same thing with a different type of question, posted about 200 or 300 of these uber simple articles and were making $600/month within a few months. It's so darn easy it feels like free money.

Now, we stopped updating this site as we have much bigger businesses to take up our time with, but it was an interesting experiment.

However, if you're an absolute newbie, I think this is a great way to whet your appetite for building websites.

A couple of further notes on this:

1. When it comes to these longtail question posts, people are typically looking for a fast answer. As so, the bounce rate will be very high and the content is not ideal for affiliate sales. We tried hard to get these people onto Amazon and other offers but once they had their answer they left the page.
2. This is somewhat of an arbitrage, so it probably won't last forever as google gets smarter. For instance, if you read the post I gave as an example above, you'll notice the text is almost garbage (it's a dictionary copy+paste). In general, whenever there isn't many ads displayed on a search result, Google isn't dedicating much computing power to it, so it's easier to game the serps. However, as Google's knowledge cards get smarter, I expect this to become more difficult.
3. Ahrefs will show that many of these questions get 0-10 searches per month. However, in my experience, this is often way wrong. Some of our articles which Ahrefs said receive 0-10 searches would garner hundreds of visits per month, so just throw as many out as you can and see what sticks.

I was just looking into a potential new affiliate for one of our products who is using this tactic well:

"Can [pet] eat [food]"

So much low hanging fruit!

Hey, thanks for the awesome reply!

I really like this strategy, and about the negative sides you mentoined - can't you just make the posts longer (like 500 - 800 words), with additional information, not by adding random stuff that doesn't bring value, but with adding some sub-headings that you find from the "People Also Asked".

You would make the answer that people are searching right after the introduction, so they don't get frustrated finding it, and then afterwards with the other sub-topics you can keep people interested if they like them, if not, it is all good you build more authorithy with your page in Google's eyes?

Also which niche would you recommend for this specific strategy?

 

[adammc]

@StefffR yeah that's true, you could go back through and sure-up some of the content to secure its position.

Also, when you notice a certain type of article is ranking, it can be smart to go back through and more of them.

I couldn't recommend a specific niche in particular, but I'm sure this would work with almost any.

@StefffR We're running a lot of youtube ads at the moment which are driving 1,000+ sales per day, so I can attest that advertising on YouTube can be very, very effective.

Will it work for the videos you propose? I'm not sure. Though my friend did have a photography product site and one of his most successful ways of driving traffic was longtail post "best photography spots in [town/city/location]"

 

[BlackMoney]

@adammc Thanks for writing such an in-depth post. I really like the idea of using such a low hanging fruit just to get into building websites for profit business.
The thing which stop me most of the time are those 2000 word articles and as English isn't my native language, my only option is to hire a writer. With writers it's like with everything. Either you pay good $$$ and get a good product or you are cheap and get a bunch of smelly crap
Content wise, this idea of short answers to questions, seems not as a big of investment as it would be with big, in-depth articles. Thanks again for the idea!

 

[adammc]

@BlackMoney You're welcome! And as someone mentioned above, over time, you can turn those short articles into much larger ones to help secure your position in the serps.