How To Build Micro Niche Web Sites
Lately, I have been keeping myself busy building micro niche web sites. It has actually been a lot of fun to do. These micro niche web sites that I am building are very simple, one page, web sites. They are very useful and provide some excellent information to people who find them.
For over a year, I was on this super big micro blog building kick. Mainly for the ease of use in publishing content on the Internet. However, I am starting to believe that building micro niche blogs aren’t quite necessary. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with building them; however, building micro niche web sites work very well too.
Part of the reason why I am building these micro niche web sites instead of micro niche blogs is for the fact that if one of these niche sites hits off very well, I can always go back to it and install WordPress, Drupal or any other open source CMS that floats my boat.
I have been using Google AdWords keyword tool coupled with Micro Niche Finder to help me find very nice keyword phrases to target. When I find really cool keyword phrases that I want to target, I buy the matching domain name, if available. From there, I have a nice little template HTML that I have designed and I also have a .PSD template saved in Adobe Photoshop for my main header graphic.
I do pretty much everything I do with a blog in terms of SEO. I register the site in Google Webmaster tools, I make sure that I write content that compliments the primary and secondary keywords I am targeting and overall I make sure that the content is truly helpful for people.
A few days ago, I partnered up with an online buddy of mine — he reads my blog often — and together we created a neat little system. I am in charge of doing the keyword research, buying the domain name, building the site, registering in Google Webmaster tools, setting up Google Analytics, and plugging the site with a few high quality backlinks. My partner is in charge of writing the content, and I must say that he is doing an excellent job with this.
You would be amazed at how cheaply you do do what I am doing. I ordered a new HostGator.com account using their Baby Plan. The cost is only $9.95/month; however I got my first month discounted down to $0.01 because I used the coupon code: hgc25. I already have a copy of Micro Niche Finder; however, you can purchase your own copy for $99 dollars. It’s well worth the money. You visit this page and enter your name and email address to watch a free online video demonstration. A better solution, but a little more expensive, is a program called Keyword Elite.
Amazingly, we have a very simple system that seems to be working very well. I research the primary keyword, and then I reseach a handful of secondary keywords. From there I email my partner the list and he will then write the content based strongly off the primary targetable keyword while also providing a nice balance with using the secondary keywords provided.
So far we have built about five sites, nothing has been indexed just yet in Google as that can take around 7 to 14 days or longer. Once these first round of micro niche sites get indexed, I am real curious to see how well they do in the SERPS. In many ways, this is really an excellent test and I look forward to discovering the results in the up coming weeks.
Prior to finding my writing partner, I had built one site and after about a week it ended up getting indexed and then a few days later it landed the top ten listing in the search results. I was real pleased with this and that one site is what triggered me to do more. After two weeks of having this one site indexed and ranked on the top results, the domain name has already been paid for.
While that might not seem like a lot of money, when you deal with high volume though, this can add up real quick. That is my goal here with the partnership I have with my writer. We have a very simple php script that rotates our AdSense code on the page. When people visit the site, our AdSense code is randomly displayed. Sometimes his code will be visible, while other times mine will be visible. The end result is that we basically split the profits.
The great news is that we both put in equal amount of time per site. It takes me about an hour to do the keyword research, order the domain name, set up the web site, design the graphic, register it in Google Webmasters, set up Google Analytics, plug the site with a few backlinks and send my writer the work order. With all that, it also takes my writing partner about the same time to take the primary keyword and secondary keywords and proceed to write high quality content for the site. Each site has around 1000 to 2000 words. Once again, I am eager to see what the results will be and I hope that this little project will prove to be worth our time invested. Stay tuned…
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55 comments
Great idea Garry,
Hope it works out well for both of you.
If you ever feel like another part time business partner along the adsense sharing revenue idea, feel free to give me a shout,
dave.
Check out dave’s last blog post..Zion House
Garry,
You should try this on hubpages. I have found their site ranks pretty well without the need for too many links. I love that I can put in my own adsense code.
-Fred
Check out High Interest Savings’s last blog post..Prepaid Credit Cards for College Students
I like that idea of just churning out sites. It would make use of the hundreds of domains that I own. The only problem I have is time. How do you have time to keep track of all of the sites and build links to them.
A writing partner huh? Cool idea.
Check out Christine Senter’s last blog post..Finding Your Creative Personality
Cool idea indeed, Christine. LOL.
Hey Garry,
Without giving away any of your secret weapons, would you be able to share one of these site urls? Or maybe set up one as a typical example?
Seems like a no-brainer, make five bucks a day times a hundred…
All the best to you.
Rich Hill
Sounds good to me Dave; however, I am sure you must be pretty tied up with your own projects right now?
The only problem I have with that is that I would feel too much as if I were renting an apartment. I would much rather split the AdSense earnings with a trusted friend / hired writer than give it to HubPages.
I do apprecaite your tip though… please don’t feel like I am shooting the idea down. Your comment will provide a solution to many people who don’t want to invest money into domain names.
I for one, just like the set up I have going. Also too, I have something that can later be sold on SitePoint.com if I chose to. I don’t think anyone on SitePoint.com would be as interested in buying my username / password to HubPages.
You are very right. However, in my case, I have learned over time that many of the domain names that I am sitting on aren’t really all that good. If I knew a year ago what I knew today, more than half of my current domain name inventory wouldn’t be.
Needless to say, many of these micro niche sites I am now developing are brand new domain names that have never seen the light of day on a server. Also too, I am keeping them private from the public eye here on my blog.
You are such a jealous person… I swear, you and my wife are like peas in a pod. How much does she pay you to be my baby sitter during the day? lol
Aside, you are doing the most amazing job for me with the professional services I offer here on GCDC. Needless to say, you are book solid. However, if you feel like you can take on the extra work, be sure to check you inbox in the morning as it will be filled with work
P.S. Great chatting with you tonight… I am glad you and I had a minute to breath for a second.
Sorry Rich, I have given out as much information as I can. To protect my projects I am no longer going to be linking to them from my personal blog. I do apologize; however, I have to do this now because so many people copy what I do point blank. If a few people who read my blog had minds of their own, they would take the advice I give them and build something from that, rather than just copy cat what I have provided in the past as examples. I am sure you can understand.
Great idea(s) Garry,
Twofold, the idea to do the One Page site, and the idea to get someone else involved. That is indeed a wicked combination for you. Just what we need, Garry Conn at Warp Speed, ROFL.
Check out David Cooley’s last blog post..Wigix Marketplace
This is an excellent way to make some extra money or to sell a product. Do you mind giving us the urls ? I would like to track you
Check out Mr Javo’s last blog post..$6,700 In Cash and Prizes To Be WON!
Oh I see…
Check out Mr Javo’s last blog post..$6,700 In Cash and Prizes To Be WON!
So, I have a question about this concept. Does this mean that you only generate around 1000 to 2000 words on each micro-niche blog and then let them go? Or do you (and your partner) consistently maintain them and add new content?
The problems that I see with this (and from my own experience) is time. I have a ton of great ideas that I could run with, but I seriously don’t have enough time to implement and/or maintain them. Of course I still hold down a full-time job. Any tips?
I believe that is the whole concept. Instead of creating a blog that you have to maintain, you create a site that you do not maintain. Build it, walk away. If it does take off, you can go back and add a blog to take advantage of it.
Check out David Cooley’s last blog post..Wigix Marketplace
Hi Garry,
Yeah, keeping myself busy but usually have some time to try something new…
I’m working on something I think is pretty cool at the moment, I might hit you up with it next week when it’s a bit more complete.
I spotted one of your new sites yesterday, at least I think it’s a new one, won’t mention it here but I noticed it was only monetized with adsense but it looked like the perfect site to add an affiliate offer to, was there a reason you didn’t?
Check out dave’s last blog post..Zion House
I am just having a blond moment…
No all kidding aside, I still need to go back and provide a few external links. However, it wasn’t my intention to do the external links to affiliate programs. That is indeed a good idea and something that slipped my mind.
I think my writer and I will have to add to that rotator script.
To be honest, I am kinda getting burned out on blogs. These micro niche web sites are much more rewarding for me personally than building a blog. I have that first one that I built a few weeks and it’s doing very well. That is motivation to build more.
I believe that Google will think very highly of them as well. Yesterday I started talking to you about something that came to me. I am going to flag you down in a bit and tell you what I found. I got quite a bit of work to do prior though.
Hi Mr. Javo,
Sorry I can not. Go here to learn more.
Hi Jonathan,
On a micro blog I immediately launched a handful of articles and then save a stash of already written articles for scheduling. Depending on the site of the micro blog I may do 25 posts, 10 posts, or even as low as 5 posts. Some have had 100 posts.
Typically I’ll do this… post five immediately on launch day and then have around 20 others that publish one by one, once a week.
After that pool runs dry, I evaluate my options.
1.) Do I invest time into writing more and scheduling them?
2.) Do I re-sell the blog?
3.) Do I just forget about the blog, never update it again, and collect on the current monetized content?
I understand that you are concerned with time. To help you get a better picture on what I am doing, total time put into these micro niche sites is around 2 hours.
Total time put into a 25 post micro niche blog for me is about 16 hours. So really I think you can see why I have more of an interest at the moment on these micro niche sites, rather than micro niche blogs.
Building these sites is a great way to cast my line into a pond to see if there are any fish in it. If it turns out that there are a lot of fish biting, then I can easily determine if one line cast is enough to catch all the fish, or if I need to cast more lines to get all the fish. In other words, determine if building a micro niche blog is in order or if a micro niche site can still catch all the fish in the niche pond.
That is indeed the concept. Although too, with micro niche blogs, they don’t have to be maintained either, unless you want to.
As far as going back to the site and adding a blog, man… I can see this happening, but also too, I’d have to know that I am missing out on something first. You know me man, I am all about content and writing content takes time.
For me, I am more into this with the intention of the good old, “Drag-Drop-Forget” motive like we were doing last year. I don’t want to build blogs… but who knows tomorrow that could change. I am flighty.
Great stuff man! You can count on me if you need a Stumble or Propellar link. Just IM or email me and I will be glad to do it.
In your estimation, knowing me and where I am with MMO, would you recommend keyword elite or micro niche as the better investment?
So far, my niche sites are ones that I come up with in my own mind using past experiences. Funny to say, but I have a site on sciatic nerve pain, another on head lice (got it as a kid) and another on irritable bowel! LOL (I am giving too much personal info here) All 3 are doing better than expected!
I have found that my content is much better when I personally know about the subject. Problem is, I am running out of ideas and need to branch out using one of the tools you mentioned.
I really want to do more micro sites and appreciate your post on the subject.
AL
Hey Garry, sounds like you have a great little thing going. I can really see how creating the smaller niche sites could prove to be quite useful. Since you only spend around 2 hours on them if they don’t work out then they don’t work.
But if they do work out like you said, you either keep fishing with the same line(let it sit) or throw out more lines(expand the site).
@Jonathan – Having a full time job and other priorities such as caring for your family can surely get in the way when it comes to sitting down and writing out content. That I can understand even though I don’t personally have those issues. It all comes down to if you are willing to sacrifice something that you enjoy doing right now and instead spend that time writing content. I am not quite sure what all you do but that favorite TV show that you have to watch…..write an article instead of watching it. Hell, because it’s your favorite TV show, start up a blog about that and watch the episodes. After every episode write up a post about what you thought of it. It should be quite easy to come up with a post using that method. And you don’t have to necessarily write a 1000 or 2000 word post. You can go as small as 400 as long as you are providing quality content.
I can come up with about a 1000 word article or post on a topic that I know nothing about in about 1 hour. Just fire up Google, search for your keyword and get reading. Don’t copy though, Google doesn’t like that, but while you are reading copy down key points and then expand those points into sentences. Before you know it you’ll have a nice keyword rich article in about 1 hour. When you are first starting out it may take you a little bit longer than 1 hour but you will eventually get the hang of it.
Of course, if you are writing about a topic that you are interested in you don’t even have to do much research if any at all. Writing about what you are interested in is better because it will be easier to write a more natural post meaning that you don’t have to worry about getting keywords in all over the place. Writing about what you like will give you the advantage of knowing what exactly people are searching for and will give you some great content that in turn Google will love because it is highly relevant.
yeah, thought it was a bit odd…
I have a perfect affiliate offer for the site I saw, feel free to email me if interested, not to worry if not, I’m sure you have your own…
Check out dave’s last blog post..Killeeneen
Sounds to be a great idea Garry.
Pity you can’t share the info. Best of luck with it.
Check out DOC’s last blog post..7 Reasons People Collect Stamps
Hi Allyn,
Thanks for the vote/submit offers, I very well may hit you up on that!
Micro Niche Finder vs Keyword Elite… good question… To begin with, MNF is cheaper than KE and it is a program that I have used for almost a full year before purchasing KE.
KE is better for sure, but it is more complicated to use. I myself still haven’t quite “mastered it yet”, but what do I know, I am just a dumb guy from Tennessee.
I had a blast with MNF and it didn’t take me long at all to grasp using that program. Sometimes MNF gets a little BUGGY and I have to email James Jones to have him fix it. With that said though, James has been a jewel with providing me with quick responses and excellent customer support.
If I had to choose between one or the other, I would choose Keyword Elite. The reason being is that I have used MNF for a year and I can see where it’s limitations are at and I can totally see Keyword Elite having more potential once I fully know how to use it like I did with MNF.
Also here is a third option for you, which I did myself, give WordTracker.com a spin. They offer a free 7 day trial offer. Granted, you have to plug in your credit card, AND!!! if you con’t cancel, you will get billed. However, during the 7 day trial you have FULL use of their service. Also, they don’t stuff or HIDE the cancel button…
I tried it for the 7 days and I cancelled. The reason why I cancelled is because I wanted to time to evaluate whether wordtracker was something I was willing to pay for. I still am torn with making a decision on that too.
All in all though too Paul is the fact that you mentioned something in your comment to me that is something that I have done too very successfully, and that is simply flying blind — meaning not using any kind of software — and going on pure gut instinct.
Before you purchase ANYTHING check out the Google AdWords keyword tool and also check out Aaron Wall’s Free SEO Tools. Get a feel for these programs and then if you want something better, start researching the programs that cost money.
The niche sites that you are working on are great! You’d be surprised with the amount of article content you can write after doing some basic keyword searches using the various programs all mentioned here in the post as well as in my comment here to you.
Hey man… you seem to be a pretty skilled writer. Need a job?
Hi Doc,
There is no pity here at all. Between the information provided in the article coupled with the information in the comments, we are reaching near e-book levels of free content that you can study and use for your own ventures. What is there for me to reveal? I already explained what I am building and already explained the tools I am using. I have given you everything you need to build your own sites. Go build them.
I think the Stamp Collection Blog is going to be great for you in terms of learning more about what I do for myself. BTW I have the articles written for you and will be adding them into your blog some time today.
But, how do we do this again?
Ok, 1 page, got it, oh darn, what was the next step?
Check out David Cooley’s last blog post..Wigix Marketplace
The next step is then transferring the domain name to me… I’ll be sure to take real good care of it for you David.
Oh, OK, How do I transfer a domain??
Do you have to fax a copy of the registration to the main registration office, so they can check my registration and help me change the registration so that you can be the owner?
How much does that cost?
How long will it take?
Can I have it back when it makes a lot of money?
How much money is a lot of money to you?
Check out David Cooley’s last blog post..Wigix Marketplace
great stuff man. I am getting to the point where I need to invest in software like KE in order to go deeper and bigger.
I use Wordtracker’s free tool, but the 7-day trial will be something I will try next time I am on vacation so I can get the most out of the time.
Flying blind is a lot of fun, but I need to get a business plan together here soon.
I have bookmarked this post so when I am ready to pull the trigger, I can use these links.
thanks as always!
AL
Check out Allyn’s last blog post..How To Rejuvenate Your Lawn This Fall, It’s Easy!
If you flew that plane blind on the three niche sites you mentioned, then I’d say you are doing just fine. However, having some tools will give you the ability to focus in on targeting keyword phrases within these niche topics that will score you a lot of traffic and also allow you to trigger AdSense ads that are high paying.
Hell yeah I do….but the tips that you provided on exactly what you are doing are just WAY to hard to follow!!
I mean can’t you just like do all this for me and maybe you would be cool enough to just give me the site for free? You know, I really do hate doing work and I am always looking for the easy way out.
If you feel lucky and want something easy that has the high potential to gain you results, you can always try this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_roulette
Hey G, Id be interested to know what that Adsense Rotating Script is, and does google freak out on different Adsense Id’s being on the same site?
Check out shane at make money blogging’s last blog post..making money with facebook and facebook indexing
Hi Shane. It is just some basic php code that randomly displays a variable.
I like it, this is an interesting project Garry. Are they one-page sites? If I may ask, where or how did you look for your writer partner?
Check out Hander’s last blog post..Old red clay solids as firebrick alternative
Seems like a good idea! And an excellent blog btw GC, I only came across it accidentally when I was looking for a adsense optimesed wp theme, and I found SEOAdMax which looks good btw. I will have to refer to this article later again when decide to do my own one page sites.
Back to shane’s question what does Google have to say about different adsense ID’s being on the same page?
Hi Garry, any updates on the results of these sites? What sort of revenue do you aim/hope for when creating these niche sites?
Thanks
I also plan to do this since a long time but I am afraid to start since I never seem to find time to work on my current projects. Starting 10 sites at the same time, well, seems like a nasty job, because you need links and building links takes time. You say 1 hour but you need to invest more over time.
hi,
. Thanks for the great post. cheers
i am new here, i like to read your post about the micro niche site, i did thought about this a few months back but didn’t do much about it due to time factor. Having a partner is a really good idea, it help us to maintain the discipline and pick us up where we feel we wanted to sit it down. Maybe i also need a partner
mikerambling.com
Check out mikerambling’s last blog post..Thinking of submitting your Blogs ? Try this Top Blog directories
Hi Gary,
I am a new reader and somewhat overwhelmed at this point. I really can appreciate all of the hard work tha you have done creating micro niche web pages and one question for you, I am not trying to copy you, I would just like to know what do you feel is the best way for a noob like me to learn how to create a micro niche web page as well as a blog and monetize both of them.
I have a lot of ideas on what I want to build for a niche, however I just don’t have the savvy or the know how to get it done. What program do you use? You mention a template html and psd template… I assume that is for photoshop, however where can I learn to put all the ins and outs together for creating a site and blog?
Thanks
Scott
Hi Garry,
I think I found you by fate, a Dennis Edell left a note on my blog which made a comment to a blog on a subject that I was currently thinking about, no,do, follow. When I got to your blog I recognized your name as the person I have just bought a wordpress plugin from. It works great by the way and I will more than likely become one of your repeat offenders, whoops customers. Keep fighting the good fight Gary.
Paul Leadbetter
Check out Paul Leadbetetr’s last blog post..The Blog Talk Monitor is free for all. blogforsuccess
Hi Garry,
I’m late to this discussion, but I’m hoping you’ll respond anyway. I’m wondering why you only chose to make money by using AdSense on your micro-sites. Why not use the same mico-site concept to sell affiliate products?
By the way, if you find you (or any of your subscribers) need another copywriting/SEO partner on a venture such as this, please do keep me in mind. This sort of thing is right up my alley.
Susan
Hi Garry, any updates on this? Is it producing any revenue? I worked on a PHP script that could create these kind of sites in minutes. But just wondering how to increase traffic.
I didn’t read all the comments above, so sorry for a possible dupe. My question is simple – did you ANY social media (delicious, stumbleupon etc) promotion of your micro niche websites? Or, may be pings? OK there is no WP yet, so there is no ‘pinging facility’ out-of-the-box. But, I just wander, what if to take an extra 10-15 minutes to setup a single post WP instead of single page plain old web site? May be it would be beneficial, if not in terms of Google PR(let’s say), but at least as a faster indexing?
What do you, Garry, think about this?
Garry, I don’t get why there is a difference between a micro blog and a micro site. Isn’t a micro blog merely a micro site build using CMS?
Whether it’s a blog with 1000-2000 words or a site with the same amount of words the time used shouldn’t be that much different?
But I guess I’m missing something here…
Scott, I actually asked the same question in relation to an earlier comment from Garry. Unfortunately it seems like he’s too busy with his micro sites to have had time to stop by here for a while
Yeah… no replies on it. Well, if anyone’s interested in my script, click on my name
This was a very inspiring post to read. I have a friend who is a great and fast writer. I can do all of both tasks, but prefer to just build or just write. How has this business come along? Can you share some stats on how long it took before you saw money on average? I believe you said your very first micro niche site paid for hosting after 7 days…is the the average? thanks for sharing this.
How are your micro niche sites performing? I am curious about doing a few micro niche sites myself. I watched the video for micro niche finder and it looks like a fairly simple process. I'd bet that there are thousands of micro niches that haven't been discovered.
Great info. But this really needs a follow up of how your results ranked, and the stability of those results. Looking forward to hearing more, thanks for this!
I loved this micro niche website idea when I first read about it on your blog Garry. I have been following along and reading your tips and have found this method is working fairly well. I tried article marketing, but this method is much better.
I know this is probably confidential, but I am trying to get a ballpark idea of what kind of money can be made in microniche web sites. Is $5 / month reasonable? Could one typically expect more? What might be considered a high-paying microniche web site? Any info you'd care to share would be appreciated!
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