The Niche Site Challenge Week 40
It’s week 40 of the Niche Site Challenge.
I’ve just wrapped up a big 2000+ word article for one of my niche sites. More on that in a little while.
For those of you who’re unaware, Niche Site Challengers are in the business of building niche sites on a part time basis. Those sites rely on nothing but our silver-tongued salesmanship and our knowledge of SEO to rank articles and make them convert into pennies.
Every week, I’ll give an update with what I’ve been doing as well as random thoughts.
This week, I’ve confused myself because I opened up this word document and it was filled with an answer to a reader question. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be here or whether I’ve saved it in the wrong place, but that’s what I get for trying to plan ahead.
In a later section, I’ll answer Petar’s question about what to do when an affiliate program asks you for your site when you haven’t built it yet.
First though, let me talk about what I’ve been doing.
What Have I Been Doing In The Niche Site Challenge This Week?
This week, I’ve created a few big articles.
Now, I’d recommend (and probably have recommended in the past – too short on time to look through the archive) writing short articles when you start a niche site. Write template-based articles so that you can see how easy it is to rank for search terms in the niche. This’ll save time and if your niche is for some reason a loser then you won’t have wasted tens of hours writing good material.
However sometimes you’ll have a niche site that’s just easy. It’ll rank pretty quickly, you’ll get a variety of long-tailed keywords that you aren’t targeting and you’ll get consistent traffic even when you’re not working on the site. (I still have a site that gets tons of views every day even though I haven’t touched it in two years.)
When you have a site like that, then you can bring out the big guns. That’s what I’ve been doing this week. The “big guns” in this example are things like a “Resources” page and a “Start Here” page where you do a brief summary of all the resources and why you should get them in terms of a framework for the site.
…That’s also the part where you can switch a niche site into an authority site if you want.
Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing with a couple of sites that I feel have potential this week. After the niche site challenge is done, I’ll probably throw an ebook on the pair of them and then leave the sites as they are – maximising money made with very little more effort.
With that update out of the way, let’s answer a reader question.
Affiliate Programs Ask For A Site But I Haven’t Built It Yet… What Do I Do?
Petar asked (and I’m paraphrasing here):
“Affiliate Programs ask me what my site is. I don’t have a site because I’m looking for affiliate programs first, in order to find products to promote for my niche site.
Am I overlooking something simple?”
Yes.
There are two ways to go about this:
The first, which is what I did when I was green, was to build a site around a potential subject and then look for offers.
I don’t recommend this.
The second way is to build yourself a little portfolio/about site.
It can be a simple five page site.
The main page: “Hi, I’m Jamie… I’ve been building websites for several years. I also engage in affiliate marketing, creating sales funnels for people and providing email marketing services.”
The about page is a reiteration of the home page.
Have a recommended resources page and a blog with a couple of reviews of items on it.
You should be good to go.
Why Do Affiliate Programs Ask These Questions?
Most of these sorts of measures are taken not because they’re worried about guys who are looking to make pocket change with niche sites, but because there are scammers, spammers and other unruly souls who really take the biscuit.
There are people that spam children’s websites with porn offers. There are guys who’ll send fake traffic and even fake sales and do an Usain Bolt-styled sprint away with vendor’s money before they get stopped.
Affiliate marketing attracts some pretty sinister individuals. Of course, most affiliates are perfectly fine, but it’s the one that spoils the bunch.
That’s why affiliate programs are wary of new affiliates. You could be a criminal or some sort of shady fellow, so they ask to see what you’re about.
Think of your little website as a job interview. You’re basically just saying, “I’m an ok guy, here’s my website, here’s what I plan to do…” that’s all.
I use this site for all my affiliate program signups. Even if I’m building a niche site on some adventure sport or whatever, it’s never been a problem. An affiliate manager would like at this site and (hopefully) think, “Yeah, ok, this guy looks legitimate.”
That’s all you need to accomplish.
Final Thoughts
It’s really easy to overthink things. Whether you’re talking about niche sites or buying a car, you can easily get stuck in an analysis paralysis state and worry about little things.
The above question is a good question to ask, because it seems like you’re getting stopped before you start.
It’s a good question to answer as well. Here’s the thing: Most rules aren’t there to prevent the average guy who means well from doing something.
Nobody really cares if you steal the free shampoo bottle from a hotel you’re staying at or commit a micro-crime. The police aren’t going to knock your door in if you’re late paying your TV license.
Most rules are there to stop immoral lowlifes from ruining everything for everyone – and given the opportunity, there are people who will do that.
Most rules of affiliate marketing are definitely set up with the scammer in mind. Provided you’re not a scammer, most companies will try and be helpful: After all, everyone wants to make more money and have more success.
And with that thought, I’m going to wrap up this week’s update of the Niche Site Challenge. As always, questions are welcomes – as are thoughts, updates, etc.
Catch you all next week!