Niche Websites Are The Best Kept Little Big Secret For Remote Workers and Freelancers

June 18, 2020

With more of us working as freelancers and from home, it makes sense to stay informed about the various online opportunities available to us. Here's one of them.

Niche websites…do those two words ring a bell? Better yet, do you know what a “niche website” is?

What are Niche Websites?

Niche websites are designed for a specific market and act as a source of revenue for the website owner. For example, let's say you create a niche website about cake decorating. The topic “cake decorating” is a niche in the general cake market industry. Your site is targeting a specific market in the cake business and supplying information about that topic i.e. cake decorating. This targeting technique is utilized in order to get better rankings in search engines for your specific market..

What Are Micro-Niche Sites?

Before we go any further, I would like to touch on the subject of “micro niche” websites. Micro niche websites cater to a specific market in the cake decorating field such as decorating wedding cakes or cake decorating for kids.

However, micro niche sites are not as flexible as standard niche sites simply because there’s less to write about. Consider the content you could provide on a niche site about cake decorating than a micro site catering to decorating wedding cakes. What’s more, micro-niche sites have fewer keywords and generate less traffic.

Why Are Niche Sites So Effective?

Niche sites work because search engines give more precedence to sites if the search term, for example “cake decorating” is used more frequently for that particular product or topic. Of course, a general website can rank as well; however, they won’t generate as much traffic for a particular term. A niche site is specifically focused on one keyword or topic.

Let’s take “cake decorating.” A niche website would be created exclusively about cake decorating and may sell cake decorating products as well. The site will have exclusive content about how much fun cake decorating is, the different types of cake decorations, which decorations to use for specific events, prices, and so on.

A generic website might sell products associated with baking cakes along with other cake decorating items. Therefore, even though baking cakes is a popular topic as far as cakes are concerned, who do you think will get the higher ranking when someone searches specifically for cake decorating? You got it, the niche site will attract more visitors.

Now The Tricky Part

The above information is no secret, but here are a few clandestine notions about niche websites that will instinctively make you more curious about them.

This may seem weird in contrast to what you have heard, but when it comes to niche sites, it’s better to find the right keyword before selecting a product. Using this method is more advantageous. Why? Because it’s more difficult to make a product a much sought after keyword. What you need is a profitable niche. Sure, cake baking has traffic and back-links but is it converting?

Look at it this way. If you are introduced to a sales person at a baking event who considers themselves an expert on multiple baking topics, they may or may not spike your interest. However, if there's a booth over in the corner advertising their expertise in cake decorating, which happens to be exactly what you're interested in, who do you think is more likely to get your business? The cake decorating guru of course!

Niche sites are about making money, there’s very little feelings involved! In spite of this, you are sure to find a product you like with the appropriate keywords to get you in the rankings and start the money flowing.

For example, suppose you are interested in creating a niche site about “baking cakes.” It’s a very broad keyword. However, a money keyword would be “best baking pans for cakes” or “cake baking pan reviews” due to the extremely high commercial-search traffic. Someone looking up the term “baking cakes” may be simply browsing and not looking to make a purchase. That being said,, a person performing a search for the “best pans for baking cakes” is more likely searching in order to buy.

Using the Google Keyword Tool is for finding long-tail keywords that are more focused like “the best sized cake pans to use for wedding cakes.” According to the experts “you might receive less search traffic but the keywords usually have a higher conversion value.” Assigning a conversion value will assist with tracking, developing, and accounting for your return on ad spending.

Okay, you can always take the easy route. There are a ton of niche websites for sale. But let’s pretend that you’re taking the traditional route and starting from scratch.

Here’s what you need to do after finding your niche:

• Purchase a domain name and web-hosting from a reputable hosting site.

• Install your new niche site at your hosting-provider. Some hosting sites offer installation services.

• After your site is up-and-running sign up for a publisher or affiliate account, it’s usually free.

• Market your niche site and wait for the traffic to come streaming through.

• Create supplementary content to keep visitors returning or recommending your site.

Now What?

You’ve gone through all the necessary steps, and now you're curious to know if you can just chill-out while your niche site does all the work. A bit of advice: If you do no sowing there will be no reaping.

To keep the flow of visitors coming, you should continuously add fresh content. How often and how much is solely up to you. WordPress makes it fairly easy to add fresh content. You might want to take that into consideration when setting up your niche site.

Niche sites are fun to manage. Still, if you haven’t the funds to build a realm of niche sites that generate cash 24/7, you will have to get down to roll your sleeves up. This means taking on every task from learning how to customize a template, create a blog using basic HTML, learning how to submit an RSS feed for additional traffic, etc. Despite that, once you get the hang of it, it's like a cakewalk!

What Gives?

It is not easy to determine which niches are best for earning money. Especially today where trends can change overnight. Just make sure you do your research. Oh, and another thing. Keep in mind, that taking the niche website route should be viewed more as a side-gig to your main gig until you're able to create revenue. Also take into account that some niches are more profitable than others.

Ultimately, you will eventually figure out what works best for YOU and that’s the best niche of all!