Do Niche Sites Still Work In 2018?
Let’s get ahead of the curve here.
Every year, people ask, “Do niche sites still work in X?”
They wonder… is it all a long-gone strategy from a bygone era that won’t work anymore.
Well, we’re getting towards the end of 2017, and let me tell you – niche sites still work in 2017.
But will niche sites still work in 2018?
We’ll address that in this article.
For the “Too long, didn’t read” crowd:
Yes. Building Niche Sites still works in 2017, and will still work in 2018.
Let’s look at the major reason people think that internet stuff won’t work in any given coming year.
The Big Bad Google
Most people think of niche sites as a way to “game” the system. They think they can put up a tiny website using magical SEO criteria and it doesn’t matter what’s on that site… those magical criteria are going to help them make tons of money and ride into the sunset.
When you think of niche sites as a quick pump-n-dump scam, then you have one big enemy who you’re trying to outsmart.
Google.
Google are trying to stop little guys like you from making money with niche sites (despite, you know, them making their money from sites and ads) and they’re getting wiser to your tricks and schemes.
This year’s finally the year they’ll kill niche sites for good.
Well… here’s where those guys are wrong.
A niche site is just the same as any other site in the eyes of a Google spider.
Google algorithms try and display the best result for the search term a person queries.
It doesn’t matter to Google whether that’s a niche site for your ten page website or an Amazon listing.
If you build a high quality website that hits the spot, then it will not be de-indexed or penalised unless you do something stupid. You can build niche websites in 2018 without doing anything stupid.
Adsense And CPM? Never Your Main Earner
Here’s some other dumb argument I see. “You can’t make money with little sites… you’d need tens of thousands of visitors to make money.”
Yeah… that’s true if your business model is based on advertising blocks on your website. Programs like Adsense give you pennies per click or pennies per thousand impressions. The intricacies of maximising these programs are numerous and complicated. They’re also totally irrelevant.
Sometimes you’d be ok to use Ads on your website. But it should never be your main earner. It’s stupid and unprofitable and there are better ways. Here’s a list of other stuff you might want to try:
- Selling a service you deliver
- Selling a service that someone else delivers
- Creating a product and selling it
- High value affiliate programs
- Selling specific advertising to specific audiences and specific targets
The last one is something I’ll discuss later… but think in terms of local or industry specific advertising.
None of those things require you to get thousands of visitors and all of them are better than a “paid per click” or “paid per impression” model.
This will be true in 2018 just like it is in 2017.
Micro Niche Sites In 2018? Well, Maybe But…
“But what about micro niche sites in 2018?”
Well…
You can rank with a single page website if that page is good enough. The size of the site isn’t the biggest factor in online ranking by any means.
But it is important.
Time on site is a big factor for SEO. If you have one page, then it has to be a good page.
Also, more pages mean more opportunities to rank for more keywords and search terms.
If you talk in terms of a “micro niche site” as in “very thin content site” then you’re in for a rough time, and you should add more pages in most cases.
If you mean instead “micro niche site” in terms of the site topic being a micro niche, then go ahead.
Specificity of information is not bad. You can write about the most obscure topics and across all the searches in the world, you’ll find an audience. Whilst it’s always better to write about big topics, there’s nothing wrong with writing very specific, targeted information. With the right call to action and affiliate program or offer, you could make decent money doing this.
Final Thoughts
Firstly, you’re absolutely welcome to bookmark this page and come back and tell me I’m an idiot in one year if I’m wrong.
But here’s the thing: If you create high quality niche websites, they will work in 2018. They’ll work in 2019.
A niche website is just a specific topic website. You can do with it what you like and make of it what you will.
If you make a terrible website in 2018, it won’t make money. The same was true for 2017 though, and 2016 and so on. The better your website, the more money you’ll make.
It doesn’t matter how competitive a niche is – you have to be among the best. That’s the standard.
The content doesn’t change; you write the highest quality, most relevant information you can.
The monetising doesn’t change. You must look for high paying markets with high paying opportunities. This is true every single year.
Marketing does change… but it’s hardly rocket science. Create good material. Find ways to put it in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
That’s how to succeed with niche sites in 2018 and beyond.