When identifying your niche market, remember this: Your niche market is not WHAT you are marketing, it is WHO you are marketing TO.

Defining a Niche Market

Now that I am back from our family vacation, let’s delve into some of the finer points of creating niche websites. In Step One of the 6 Step Niche Site System, we talk about researching keywords for your niche site. As I re-read this step, I realize that I left something very important out regarding these first crucial steps of the niche site process.

Before you decide your niche product, or you research your niche keywords, you need to know WHO your niche market IS.

Who Are You Marketing To?

The answer to this question is never a general answer such as, “I am marketing to men”, or, “I am marketing to women”. Let’s take our business thinking to the brick and mortar business world for a minute.

If you want to open a store that sells all natural cosmetic products, WHO is your niche market? Women? Yes, and No. Are you trying to sell to ALL women? All women do not wear makeup. Many women could care less if their makeup consists of ‘all natural’ ingredients or not. What kind of women do you want to walk through the doors of your store? Who would be your ‘ideal’ customer? The make up you are selling is a bit on the trendy side, it is also a bit on the pricey side. In my thought process, your ‘niche market’ would be women, roughly 25-45 years of age - that have disposable income to spend on your products.

I read a wonderful blog post some where… at some time… and right now, the location of the post is escaping me. However, in this post, the author said that your niche market can be defined as:

People who ___________________.

So, for the sake of our make believe brick and mortar store, your niche market would be….

“People who… women who… like, or need, all natural make up and can afford the prices.”

While this is a rough example, I’m hoping you get my point. My brain is still a little bit on vacation mode =)

A Niche Market Is WHO, Not WHAT

When building your niche websites, take a second to step back. Stop thinking about WHAT you are marketing and HOW you are using your keywords from your research. START thinking about WHO you are selling TO - your target audience. Think about they would want. Think about WHERE you can find this niche market…and how you can get them to your niche site.

Naturally, using keywords that your niche market would use to find your information through a search engine is a GREAT start. However, there are also forums where your niche market hangs out. You can get great exposure for your site directly to your target niche market just by participating in those forums. Please don’t spam the forums or be overly promotional, but with genuine interaction, you can see great, long-lasting results.

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Niche Market Defined

Google Adwords Keyword Selection Tool Improved

This is the url for the Google Adwords Selection tool:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Once upon a time, Google’s keyword finder only gave these bar graph thingys to represent search volume for a keyword phrase - now they are giving real live numbers!

How To Use Googles Keyword Finder

Go to the url above and enter your broad keyword term you are researching. Enter the ‘capcha code’ as you see it, and then click ‘get keyword ideas’. Google will ‘think’ for a minute and then give you a BIG and BEAUTIFUL list of related keywords. (There is still a bar graph showing the advertiser/AdWords competition)

On the right side, you will see two columns, one will show the number of searches for the last full month (in this case, for June 2008), and the other column will show the average monthly searches.

You are also given a drop down menu at the top where you can select your match type. The three main match types you will probably use are ‘broad match’, ‘phrase match’, and ‘exact match’. Let’s talk about what each of these mean - but keep in mind that this tool is mainly designed for those that are doing AdWords PPC advertising. This means that when Google talks about ‘your ad’, you should just let that slide and get the gist of what it means for on-page keyword selection options.

“Broad Match” is (according to Google):

“Broad matches are often less targeted than exact or phrase matches. If you decide to use broad-matched keywords, we recommend you create keyword phrases containing at least two descriptive words each.”

“Phrase Match” is (again, according to Google):

“If you enter your keyword in quotation marks, as in “tennis shoes“, your ad will appear when a user searches on the phrase tennis shoes, in this order, and possibly with other terms in the query.

In this case, the search can also contain other terms as long as it includes the exact phrase you’ve specified. For example, your ad may appear for the queries buy tennis shoes and tennis shoes store but not shoes for tennis.”

“Exact Match” is

“If you surround your keywords in brackets-such as [tennis shoes]-your ads will appear when users search for the specific phrase tennis shoes, in this order, and without any other terms in the query. For example, your ad won’t show for the query red tennis shoes. Although you won’t receive as many impressions with exact matching, you’ll likely enjoy a higher clickthrough rate, because users searching for these terms are typically looking for exactly what you offer.”

You can read the complete explanation here.

I believe that when I use this new data from Google, that I will be using the ‘Phrase Match’ or even the ‘Exact Match’ option. I have done some reading around the web today, and there is talk of the broad match keyword traffic volume results appearing to be a bit inflated.

Also, don’t forget to use Google to check how many competing pages you for each keyword phrase. =)

I think this is just terrific to see these keyword traffic stats from Google. I’m not sure exactly what possessed them to release this data, but I have no doubt that many webmasters and niche site creators are all saying a big “Thank You” today!

My family and I are leaving in the morning for our long-awaited beach trip. I will be checking email occasionally, so if you leave a comment, please be patient with me until I moderate and approve ya!

Thank you! Now go find some great keywords. Any questions - fire away!

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Better Keyword Finder

When Using Article Marketing (ie, Bum Marketing), How Long Should An Article Be?

Let’s think about natural human behavior - especially natural human behavior online. When folks are searching for information online, they are really ’scanning’ words and looking for answers that ‘pop out’ to them. I do it. Also, those that search for information online are going through a LOT of words and get a bit tired of reading all the fluffy stuff to try and find their solution. Readers are more likely to click the back button than they are to click the url link to your niche site when reading articles.

In order to generate a better click thru rate for your articles, the following needs of an article must be met:

1) A Title That Pops And Gets The Reader to Click It

2) A Short ‘Answer’ To Their Problem

3) A Place To Go To Get MORE Answers To Their Problem

You’ve got to get the reader to look at your article in the first place, to read the whole thing (or at least scan through it, and then get them to click on the link for where you would like them to go next.

Long articles have a much harder time ‘converting’ than short articles do. Think about it - you are searching the internet for a solution. You see a article title in your search results that catches your eye…. you click it. The page you are met with is this huge 750-1000 word article that seems so over-whelming that - you don’t even read it. You might read the first paragraph, but if the reader isn’t unbelievably good at keeping a readers attention, they are gone via the back button.

How Long Are Successful Article Marketing Articles?

On EzineArticles, the required minimum length is 250 words. Yes, ONLY 250 words.

Here is a better thing to think about - EZinearticles allows a max of 300 words in your author resource box (you know, the area of the article they allow self-promotional links? ) This is precious space for someone who is marketing with articles!

Keep your article body length short. Give them a solution, or at least get them thinking about the beginnings of your solution. Then, make your bio/resource box ‘flow’ with the rest of the article.

Don’t use all that “About the author’ stuff or try and market you, or your author pen name - just keep writing and flowing with the topic and get your links in there. Make sure the last thing you type is a strong call to action and get them on their way where you’d like to guide them - and do it quickly and efficiently.

I like to use two links in my author bio area. One is a strong anchor link to my niche site, and the other is a link directly to the Clickbank product I am promoting. If you read a previous post I made here, you also now know how to get affiliate links into your Bum Marketing articles, too.

When you are involved with internet marketing, it is hard to browse the internet like a ‘normal’ internet user. We know too much now =) We can filter out the crap sites from the good ones. We get distracted by how someone monetizes their site or their Wordpress theme. Happens to me all the time. However, sometimes I find I AM searching for info like a ‘normal’ person. These moments catch my attention as I evaluate how *I* behaved.

We are in the process of buying a new car (not NEW new, but new to us). I was searching for information on certain vehicles, etc and was amazed at how I behaved.

When searching for info, I want my question answered quickly. If I was met with too much fluff, I used the back button. If was a short ’semi-answer’, I scanned for where I could get the FULL answers (ie, the links to other pages and other resources).

I wanted instant gratification

When using articles/ article marketing to promote your niche website, give your readers instant gratification. Keep it short and you will enjoy a better click-thru rate and more sales.

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Length Of Successful Articles

Testing The Potential Profitability of a Niche Market

There are three great tools online that will help you decide if you want to target a certain niche market with your next Wordpress niche website. Better yet, there is yet another free tool online that will let you test your niche for free.

It’s called Squidoo.

A Squidoo lens is like a mini micro-niche site, right? Right! So, if you are thinking about targeting a niche for your next niche site, take a peek at Squidoo and see what is going in. There are now like half a MILLION lenses on Squidoo, so there is a lot of juicy info and niche research available to you.

Open your trusty Google search tool and type:

site: Squidoo.com

after that, type in your product, or keywords, or topic and see what Google returns.

For example, if I was thinking about making a niche website about bowling balls, I would search Google like this:

site:squidoo.com bowling balls

or,

site:squidoo.com “bowling balls”

And then I would take a peak thru whatever Google returned. I would take a look at the lenses, see how they are optimized and ranking.

But, What Will THAT Tell Me About The Potential of a Niche?

There is yet another free tool online that will give you even more insight on a niche. It is called Squidaholic.com. If you find some lenses that are on your potential niche, check them out on Squidaholic. It will show daily traffic, who links to the lens, what search terms the lens ranks for, etc, etc, etc.

I’m tellin’ ya… Using this method I have found some unbelievable niches. There are folks getting 500, 600 hits a DAY to their lens. ONE web page getting that much traffic. I would share who and what, but… I’m not in the business of disclosing niches that others have worked so hard for. However, the info I have is all public info =)

After looking at Squidaholic stats, take another peak at Google and search for terms related to that lens. How is it ranking? Take a good look at the other sites listed in the search returns. This is true market research and something you’ll need to get better and better at.

Now, you have some choices - you can a) create your niche website right away, or b) pass on that niche, or c) TEST that niche.

If you feel there is ‘room’ within the Squidoo site for another lens on that topic (ie, you think you can do better than the lenses you found), put a lens together and test the waters. If you make even ONE sale, make a niche site for it. You’ll already have a great place to promote your new niche site (that lens).

What If There Aren’t Any Lenses On Squidoo About My Niche?

This could be a very, very good thing! Squidoo already has a LOT of topics/niche markets covered (and RE-covered). If you find a topic that is NOT already on the Squidoo site, definitely test it! I know *I* would!

Final Thoughts

There are many ways to ‘test the waters’ of a niche before you jump into creating an entire site to the topic. This is just one way… and a FREE way… and a pretty RELIABLE way. Naturally, by creating your own Squidoo lens on the topic, you will gather much more information about a niche market =)

I was going to post this over at PotPieGirl.com, but I opted not to. I don’t want some ‘others’ getting a big idea on how to use this in a negative way. Right now, this blog is only being visited by 6StepNicheSite.com users, so keep it under your hat and try to use your knowledge for good =)

Have a great day!

Jennifer

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Will My Niche Be Profitable?

Whew! Exhausting…and a lot of opportunity to lose a reader in the process! Wouldn’t it be nice if you could simply put your affiliate link straight to the product in your article? But article directories, like EZineArticles, don’t allow that, right?

Wrong! There IS a way to get your affiliate link into your article marketing author resource box so you can send your readers STRAIGHT to the affiliate product.

This is a neat little trick that I’ve been using. It is approved by EZineArticles, and it DOES work! I was doing my ‘hell day’ for one of my sites and found myself using this little trick - it made me wonder if my new readers here at 6StepNicheSites.com knew how to do this, too.

The short answer to getting an affiliate link in your article is to a) buy a domain name, and then b) redirect the domain name to the affiliate page.

Sound expensive and complicated? It’s so NOT! You don’t even need website hosting to do this…. just a domain name!

To do this today, I bought a cheap .info domain name at GoDaddy.com (a whopping 99 cents!). I did NOT redirect the name servers to direct the domain name to my hosting account. Instead, I went into my GoDaddy account, clicked on the domain name I wanted to use, chose “forwarding”, and then put my Clickbank affiliate link in the space for the url you want the new domain to go to. This makes it so when someone clicks the link for mysupernewdomainname.info, it redirects them immediately to the affiliate sales page.

Then, I clicked another tab on the same screen and chose ‘url masking’. This makes it so when someone clicks your forwarding link, they are sent to the sales page (with you affiliate code in tact), BUT they don’t SEE your hop link in their browser window! Since it is ‘masked’ it will show the domain name you bought for this purpose.

Nifty, huh?

Best part is, if the affiliate program I am promoting doesn’t convert well, I can simply pick a new one and have the domain name redirect to THAT product instead!

Now, as we have discussed, the purpose of article marketing (aka “Hell Day”) is not just to get traffic and eyeballs on the products you are promoting, it is also to generate well-keyworded back links to your niche site. Based on this, and based on the fact that EzineArticles will allow TWO links in a bio box, I make one link to my niche site and the other link it my re-direct.

Are You Sure This Is Ok?

Yes, I am sure. But just to clarify, let me quote EzineArticles editorial guidelines:

EzineArticles.com Editorial Guidelines: (AFFILIATE PROGRAMS):

Affiliate links will be allowed if the link is a domain name you own which forward/redirects to the affiliate link from the top-level of the domain name. For example, it is permissible to forward to an affiliate link from:

http://your-company-name.com/

…but it would not be permissible to forward to an affiliate link from:

http://your-company-name.com/page.html
http://your-company-name.com/subdirectory/
http://your-company-name.com/subdirectory/page.html
http://sub-domain.your-company-name.com/

Any article with an affiliate link that does not adhere to this guideline will cause the article to be rejected.

Cool, huh? For 99 cents you CAN get an affiliate link within the articles of your article marketing campaigns!

Want the complete directions? Read GoDaddys step by step guide page here.

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Affiliate Links In Articles?

Here is PotPieGirl’s painfully basic answer for “What Is FTP?”

FTP is how you take files and stuff that are on your computer and get them on your website.

Want a more detailed and in-depth explanation of FTP? Read this from wikipedia.

Think this: When you download a file, you take it FROM the internet and put it on your computer. When you upload a file, you are taking it from your computer and putting it onto the internet.

Yes, it can be that simple - if you let it be that simple

For the sake of making Wordpress niche sites, FTP is how you will get your WordPress themes and WordPress plug ins on your site so you can use them. Once you do it just one single time, it will be easy for you. Just always to remember to make sure what you are ‘uploading to your server’ is being put in the right file. All themes and plugins are uploaded into the wp-content folder that is found under the domain name you are working on. Themes go into ‘themes’, and plugins go into ‘plugins’.

After you download a new theme or plug in, make sure you ‘un-zip’ it first. Un-zipping (or extracting) is a simple process of ‘releasing’ the files within a download to their non-compressed form. Files and folders are compressed before being ready for download to make it smaller - which makes it download faster and more easily.

Next, you would sign in to your FTP program and upload the new file/folder into the appropriate place.

For my FTP needs, I use a free program called FileZilla. While there are many free FTP programs out there, I started with this one, found it easy to use, and never tried another.

This is what it looks like when I am about to upload a file or folder to my server:

The file on the left are the misc themes and Wordpress plugins I have in my infamous “WordPress Stuff” file on my computer. On the right are the areas of my website where I can put these files. If it is a WP plugin that I want to add to my site, I would click ‘plugins’ on the right and make that area expand. Then I would find the plug in on the left that I want to add, right click it, and choose ‘upload’.

Done.

Now that theme or that plugin is available for me to use with the wp-admin area of my niche website.

That’s all there is to it

If you would like to use FileZilla, you can find more info and download it for free from here.

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What Is FTP?

If you are new here, we are learning how to make small “mini-sites” using WordPress at the main part of this free tutorial site - 6StepNicheSites.com. Feel free to go take a look around - and if you have questions, or just want to join in the discussion, come on back here to the blog!

I’m glad to have y’all! (I’m from the south USA, Georgia, so pardon my accent… “y’all” means You All)

Just a quick note…

This is a LEARNING place…not a PROMOTION place. While I am always a big fan of the no-nofollow concept, I am not disabling no-follow in this blog at this time. I may look into a plug in that allows commentors links to be followed after a certain number of comments, but at this time, all comments are NO-FOLLOW.

I apologize if this keeps anyone from commenting, but I want to avoid the ‘opportunists’ and give us alla safe place to ask questions and learn.

Thank you for your understanding!

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Welcome to the 6 Steps Blog

Works great for me. While it may look confusing when you first look at the tool, it really is quite simple.

About eBay Affiliate RSS Feeds

I am making a pretty big assumption here that most of you know how to make a RSS feed from eBay that includes you ePN (eBay Partner Network) affiliate link. If you don’t know how to do this, please speak up and I will do a post or make a pdf with pretty pictures that will walk you through it.

RSS Feed to Code Conversion Tool

I am really pleased with this simple, free tool. You can see it in action on one of my newest WordPress niche sites that I am testing an idea on (feedback will come when my over-all test results are concluded). The site is on Diabetic Supplies and the link goes to a page that has diabetic testing strips eBay auctions.

All I did was go to eBay and generate my affiliate RSS feed, then I copied the feed address and went to this tool:

Cut n’ Paste JavaScript

and filled in the blanks.

Then, I took that code and put in in the HTML area when creating that WordPress page.

Easy! The auctions automatically update so you don’t have to fool with it ever again.

Questions? Fire away!

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eBay RSS Feeds on WP

While using UAW takes a bit more time (in a way) than simply writing one article and submitting it the same to a mass of article directories, in the long run it saves me time. Need a unique version of your article? Click a button, copy, paste…done. Have a few months passed and you’re ready to do another article marketing campaign? Click a button, done. Want to target new keywords in the anchor text of your article bio box? Open a file, make changes, save - done.

While UAW is a bit more expensive than most new niche site developers care to spend on a tool, there is a way to get UAW to pay for itself (or MAKE money off it). All that info is below.

It certainly makes MY ‘Hell Day‘ a lot more tolerable! It’s good stuff

Here’s How Unique Article Wizard Works…

You write an article and break it into 5-7 paragraphs that have about 3-4 sentences each. Save it as ‘keyword’-article1 (or something identifying like that).

You then take that article are ‘rewrite’ it (change it up some), but still keep the original paragraph structure and amount of sentences. Give this article a unique title. Save it as ‘keyword-article2′

You then rewrite/change it up one more time, give a unique title, and save it as ‘keyword-article3′

Next you make one big file of different bio boxes. You can have different words, or different anchor text (part I love) and then save it as ‘keyword-bio’

Then, you upload all 3 articles and the bio box file into UAW, choose categories, choose whether you want a Unique Article Wizard link in each bio box (this is your affiliate link….hint hint), choose categories, and how many articles to have distributed each day.

Done.

Depending on the length of the article, the UAW system can make thousands of unique versions with those 3 articles (sentence rotation or something like that). You usually get one single email a day letting you know that x amount of articles were submitted to various directories.

Once your article(s) are in the UAW system, you can go in your dashboard and get your own unique versions of your article - each time you refresh the page, a new unique version is shown). You can use these for Squidoo, other article marketing, blogs, etc, etc, etc.

By allowing UAW to include your affiliate link in each article that goes out, there is a very good chance a couple of sales will cover your cost each month. Thats what happened to me long before I ever started talking about it.

While the ‘hard part’ with UAW is on the front side with the three article writes, once it is done, it is DONE. After 4 months, and with one click of a button, you can RE-submit more versions of your article all over again.

Usually, I upload my articles to UAW and then immediately go get a unique version for Ezinearticles. (they only allow hand-submits- so UAW does not submit to them). Then I make a lens and break the paragraphs up into individual modules with good keyworded titles, dress it up with pictures, polls, RSS feeds, etc, and then that is done, too.

All in all, it is a good product/service - but like everything else, you get out of it what you put into it.

Learn About Unique Article Wizard here

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How UAW Works