My affiliate marketing strategy has always focused on building large scale sites. I feel this is the only way to create long-term value with an online business.
Things changed when I wrote the I Need $1000 post.
I started to think about the profit potential of niche affiliate sites. The benefit is they diversify your online income.
Last week I made the decision to build a niche affiliate income site. And I thought this would be an excellent case study for people to follow…
…But I DON’T want to turn this into another formal series of blog posts.
So I’m going to try something new.
I’ve created a brand new Twitter account for this case study.
On this account, I’ll list:
- What metrics I used to choose this site
- What tools I’m using
- How to get backlinks and search engine rankings
- Specific dates where I take action
- How much I invest in this site
- How much I make from this site
- Any ideas or thoughts that pop into my head
Honestly, I feel Twitter is the best place to list this stuff. Why? Because I’m able to give real-time updates about what’s going on with this project.
Sidebar: I’m not going to reveal the specific details of this website. But if things go well, I will create a 2nd site where I’ll give full, 100% disclosure about what I’m doing.
Will you learn something from this case study? Maybe. Maybe not. For all I know, it’ll be a complete waste of time and money. However I think you’ll get something from the process. You’ll learn about good and bad ways to build a niche affiliate site.
Like I said, I’m putting all of this on Twitter.
Here is the new account —> http://twitter.com/nobsniches
Also, I’ve created a hashtag for any related conversations: #nobsniches
Finally, I’m going to regularly update this account. Sometimes I’ll Tweet a few things a day. So be sure to check out my Twitter feed and let me know if you have any questions!
Take Action. Get Results.
Hey Steve i think this is a great idea for putting all this on twitter,i am damn interested to follow you there.I am waiting for a complete disclosure.Thank you for sharing about this great new event with us.
Good Luck and God Bless!!
With Regards!
Samuel Joshua
Samuel,
Hopefully I will do well and restart it with full disclosure. Perhaps as soon as a week or so
The reason I am not disclosing details at first is that this is in my primary niche. (that makes me most of my money) where I have a product that I know converts like mad and I know like the back of my hand.
If I can’t make it work there…it simply won’t work. Period! (at least in my opinion)
But of course I do not wish my market to get flooded and destroy my livelihood.
But if it gains some traffic, I can try again, with full disclosure. (and continue any updates on the first)
It should be fun, and hopefully some good info.
What a great idea Steve. It will be inter sting to follow your progress closely. I just followed you on twitter so I can stay updated. I love case studies. So mcuh potential to learn so many new things.
Thanks Satrap,
I hope this will be an great learning experience and hopefully I will share some good things I discover in real time. Like you said, I see potential. The whole thing could blow, up or it could do great. It is all a waiting game.
Why did I think you are already into niche sites? Or am I getting something wrong?
I love niche sites. I always pick a topic I like and write away. Cause even with a topic you like it can be so hard to write sometimes. At least to me.
Good luck and I am going to keep up with this and see what you do. In case I can help, you know where to find me 😉
Brankica,
Somewhat it is a case of semanitics. I have niche sites, but the way I appraoch them is more designed to become a thought leader, build a strong base and market to email list.
My MWR has always been getting people on the list which is fairly different from “real” niche marketing.
This one is going to be designed around marketing ONE specific product in one very specific niche.
SO far more targeted and much closer to real niche marketing. My MWR here shifts to simply selling that product.
And of course since this is my main niche I have lots of experience with the product itself and I know it converts very well and I know how to market it.
Therefore in THIS scenario the ONLY variable is the way I am setting up the site.
If it makes the money I will pretty quickly expand this into some new territory with more variables.
Steve
I got a question for ya….let’s say you’re affiliating this product (I’m assuming it’s not yours…if it is, it makes thsi question redundant) and you’re making some good sales.
Let’s say you get to the stage where you’re making $1000 or more consistently – and let’s assume the affiliate percentage is 50%. In that scenario what I don’t understand is why you don’t create your own product that’s similar to the affiliate product – but better – and sell that instead.
That way you might double your income overnight (or as long as it takes you to create the product). You’ve displayed over and over and over that you can put your own stuff together – and the Audio Files read by Morgan were a genius idea. I’d be surprised if there were very few niches were you couldn’t create better products than exist – in which case it’s a question of going into a niche, setting up a site and driving traffic and working out if the niche is gonna work.
And then once it’s working create your own product – earn more income. Plus you might be able to get more sales of your product via affiliates in that market too?
Now to me that would be a good ‘niche site strategy.’ And funnily enough it’s something I’ve been thinking about for the diversify reason…(not that i don’t have enough on my plate at the moment!).
Be interested in your thoughts…
Good question Paul,
First of all, I do Have a product in the same basic niche that has been doing pretty well for a couple of years now. It was my first foray into that niche and actually does pretty well there.
This product though is done by some of the real “thought leaders” of the niche. While I have a presence they are considered have a chachet I don’t quite swing. (sort of like Darren Rowse for the blogging niche)
Now besides having a sales page that converts like gangbusters, they actually pay MORE than 100% on their product to top affiliates.
More you say… yes, these guys are quite aggressive and have a whole series of upsells, so they pay more than the purchase price for the program per sale.
I could make a new product, and perhaps some day I will, but honestly besides the money I make there I am kinda bored with that niche so I am trying to branch out. (hence starting this blog)
The big difference in this from my previous sites in this niche is that I am going against my normal build a ton of quality and get em’ on the list technique and trying a targeted approach to JUST sell the single program. ANd trying to do it with as much outsourcing as I can.
Just trying to see about creating a -system- where I can set this up with minimal actual work. (I have more than enough “real” projects to work on).
Hope I cleared up the differences here.
It might not work out, but worth a couple hundred to check it out.
Good info Steve. I like this alot. However, I am not yet into affiliate marketing. Still in the learning process. Looking forward to making some good money.
Eddie,
Well hopefully this will give you some good ideas on a couple of different ways. I still say trust and brand building followed by email markerting is the best way…but this should give more of the alternate “mini-site” view that many people find to be very effective.
Hi Steve,
Looking forward to seeing the results of this case study. I can’t wait for the full disclosure portion of it though. I think the case study wouldn’t be complete without the full disclosure portion so that people can see the real results of the study. At the same time, I can understand the need to operate without opo up competitors at every turn. Good luck!
It probably will not be long before I start over and duplicate it in a new area. I just want to make sure it works in an area I know is profitable first…since the outsourcing part requires me to lay out hundreds of dollars.
Hopefully It should be a good learning experience. At very least a lesson in what not to do.
I’m a big fan of case studies. This one sounds very interesting although, as a consumer, I don’t like sites which are focused in marketing ONE specific product in one very specific niche.
To be honest, I am not sure I even like them as a marketer. That is part of the reason why I have avoided them. I know lots of people do a lot of these micro-niches successfully so I sort of want to see if I could make some work.
It is all about the learning experience and trying new things.
I don’t have statistics but I have the feeling this kind of sites are not so popular after Panda.
Almost all IM’ers I know are focusing on more authoritative niche sites (I don’t find a better way to call them) and building backlinks slowly.
But that’s just a feeling based on the people I know 🙂
I don’t disagree. I have always followed the authoritative site strat. It would still be the one I would “recommend” and I doubt that will ever change.
But before I completely dismiss anything I want to really test it.
The final results could possibly be, “this is BS; it really doesn’t work” but it could be that I have been wrong. At least for the first run, I have a feeling it will land in the middle. (mainly because I know the product converts).
The second one, I am less sure about….for the exact reasons you stated. But the only way to really “know” is to test.
…But for building backlinks slowly…yes I definitely agree. Although I am going to use outsourcers to build some links for this test (I don’t do that here or on any of my main sites either). I am going to do this in a controlled fashion.
No 1000 links in a day for me. That is a certain way to bring the banhammer down. I don’t even need to test “that”
It’ll be a complete waste of time and money for you but not for us. 😀 Am I being selfish here?
I am sure we’ll learn a lot. I’ve just followed you and I’ll be waiting for you to share the progress. I am not into affiliate marketing. This doesn’t mean I4d suck at it. I’d love to learn more about it.
See you very soon!
Mouh
🙂
Hopefully these are not a complete waste of time for me…but you never know…and if it is you guys learn that for free, for sure! 😉
Thanks for dropping by Mouh!
Great idea Steve. Some people have had success and I was starting to try this until I read your No BS affiliate marketer. I like the no bs strategy better as there is a better chance to sell more products rather then just a single one.
Just curious.. How many of your own products do you have?
Personally I have only two “for sale” products. As I hope you see from the NO BS guide I try to pack a lot into my for sale guides.
I do try to put a lot in the free ones too…but obviously not AS much. With “free” guides, though, I have quite a few. 4 That I made for this site and about 6 for my other niche.
It is always good to have those lead magnets and having different ones that appeal to different people help. Plus you can always give them away as unexpected gifts/bonuses for products or to email subscribers.
Hey Steve,
This is interesting. Just follow your twitter experiment account. Keen to see the process of traffic!
Cheers,
Ming
Ming,
Me too! It shall be a lot of fun! Thanks for dropping by!
Knowing your targeted audience and what they demand is a key to success in finding ways to make money online with affiliate marketing.
In my opinion three points are very important.
1. What products and services to be the most popular right now.
2. There is a particular issue that people in that niche are looking for and which is currently in demand.
3. It is always important to hear what people say in that niche, they are the best guide to promote products.
Paul,
Very True. I just talked about this in a post recently. Staying on top of currentl event and mixing this with your posts (both current within the niche and mixing current from industry in) are important parts of the equation
Man, I missed the train, didn’t I?
Anyway, I’ve followed you on Twitter 🙂 Very eager to see the results Steve. I’m looking forward to the “getting on page 1” topic! All the best!
Duy.
Nope you havent misses the train yet! I sent out my first large batch of jobs. Outsourcing a bunch of stuff and I am waiting to see results start trickling back in.
(or not)
Good thinking Steve! Damn, now why didn’t I think of it first 😉
I am just starting to go the other way actually, cutting back on my many niches and focusing on just one or two.
One niche to rule them all as you so eloquently said once 😉
Good to be back and running again though – tell you what!
Alex,
Kind of ironic, you are trying out my method and i am trying out yours :).
I still think the way to go is for the deeper niches, getting people on autoresponder sequences and all that. But maybe with minilmal effort, some $$ and good outsroucing this can all be vaiable too. Or maybe I will just waste a few hundred bucks. We shall see.
With the first one I am doing, I know the product converts like a champ. SO I am pretty sure I can make my money back. But if that is ALL I do…chances are I would get killed with any other product(s). So we shall see if it goes on
Hi Steve,
Just ck’d out your new Twitter feed and got some good tips just from scrolling thru, such as building backlinks TO backlinks…
As for diversity, I know that’s the cool, but I’ve found it super-challenging finding EDU sites where you can actually post, let alone find DoFollow posting…
thanks!
Michael
Michael, glad you like it. I will admit, finding those .edu/.gov sites, particularly is you are looking for relevancy, is not always an easy thing. Sometimes easier said than done. That is why I am trying out a certainly “grey hat” method for getting some of these links. So far i have ALWAYS done my own links. But at least checking out the careful selection of these outside links. Could all be a bust. Or maybe it will work. We shall see.
Hi Steve,
I am in learning process of affiliate marketing and I think your knowledge about how to create a niche affiliate income really help me.It is good to know that you choose twitter for all these stuff.Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Pete! I hope you enjoy the entire series. Hope it will be useful for ya.
Hi Steve,
I am looking forward for your case study and it is good to share your knowledge on how to create niche affiliate income. I think it is worth to follow you on twitter.
Steve,
Nice post. I built a niche site two years ago, that produces $500-$100 per month in profit through Adsense and my eBooks.
It is geared for military officers in the Army National Guard and has 77 pages. I own that niche.
Right now, I am building a mega site, but I will build more niche sites in the future.
Thanks for sharing this great post.
Chuck
Thanks, Steve. Followed your new twitter account. Look forward to learning from this work in progress. Aloha. Janet
I’m new to affiliate marketing and landing on your page seem to be good to me. I really love your articles and what you are sharing with. Have bookmarked your site and will be reading it regularly. Thanks a lot Steve you are a blessing to me