November 2011 Niche Site Earnings

First, let me say Happy Holidays to all of my readers.  This time of year is so hectic, yet with Internet Marketing we have to keep up the pace so we don’t get left behind. Good thing we can shop online to save a little time.  I have done quite a bit of that this holiday season, and I absolutely love it!

Last month had some ups and downs and some of my sites were still struggling to recover from the Panda update several months ago.  The good news is, they appear to be back on the rise.

I began to question my method after the update when some of my sites lost their rankings, and I did some research to determine what I should be changing if anything.

Here is What I Came Up With Regarding My Niche Building Process:

  1. I still use exact match domain names (.com, .net, .org)
  2. I have changed the way I title my posts.  Instead of just using the exact keyword, I am adding more to to the title.  For example if my keyword was “Christmas Gifts”, I might title my post “Christmas Gifts They Can’t Wait to Open”.  It doesn’t have to be anything extraordinary, and should not take take too much time, but just having the extra wording in the title has helped quite a bit.
  3. Backlinking is still the last thing on my priority list, and again this is only because of the types of keywords I try to rank for.  Less competition is easier to rank.  I will say that for some of my keywords that have more competition, I have noticed that the sites that I created backlinks for using Unique Article Wizard have maintained great rankings throughout all of the updates and algorithm changes. I mentioned in a previous post that I was beginning to use Unique Aritcle Wizard, and I am finally able to give you this review.  It is a bit expensive with a monthly membership fee, and does take some time, but if you have the extra money and are looking to improve your rankings, it is a great tool.
  4. The number of words for the main post of your site should be well over 700.  I used to use 500+ for the main page, and 300+ for the secondary posts, but I have increased the main page to 700+, and rotate the secondary posts from 300-500.
  5. I found a plugin that I think is the best one I have ever purchased.  No more guess-work when creating your posts. When building niche sites, the idea is to get them up and running and move on.  I don’t want to spend too much time on each post, but on the other hand, I don’t want to forget something that is vitally important for SEO.  This plugin is called Clickbump SEO, and I cannot say enough about it.  I installed this plugin on my sites that were having difficulty ranking post-Panda, and within a week, rankings improved, and 2 of them were sitting at the #1 spot.  I highly recommend this plugin for any one of my readers that are building niche sites.  It only takes a minute to install, and it shows you your SEO score as you build your post.  If you forgot something, it will tell you exactly what it was, and tell you exactly how to correct it.  I really love this plugin, and have gone back and started installing it on all of my sites.
  6. Content.  This one is a biggie, and I want you to really think about this.  My niche sites had anywhere from 2-5 posts and were able to rank almost immediately, and maintain rankings pre-Panda.  Now however, I have decided that what Google wants now is more content.  We will no longer be able to maintain long-term rankings with a niche site of only 3 or 4 posts.  I am not saying that when you build your site, you should put up 10 posts (unless you are using the Wordpress feature of setting your post for the future).  In fact, that is the worst thing you could do.  What I am saying is that “over time” you should continue to monitor your sites, and the ones that are earning should be the ones that you go back and add more content to.  There is no sense paying for 10 articles for a brand new site until you know that it is going to be a winner.  So here is what I am recommending:
    1. When you first launch your site, put up one post, and make it sticky.
    2. Week 2, add 1 or 2 more posts.
    3. Do some backlinking, or purchase a gig from Fiverr for $5, and let someone do the backlinking for you.  If you are a member of Unique Article Wizard then this is a good time to begin your article promotion.
    4. Week 3, another post
    5. After this, you should begin getting traffic and showing some decent rankings if you have done proper keyword research.  Continue to add content to this site ongoing. If you are not ranking, I would move on to another site and wait this one out.  Don’t put too much money or time into a site that has an uncertain future.

I hope that you really review this post and evaluate how you are building your sites.  I want you to succeed, and I want to hear about your successes.

Now, for the moment we’ve all been waiting for:

My November 2011 Niche Site Earnings

Adsense: $994.47 (-235.98 from October)

Amazon: $37.20

CPA Network: $200.63

LinkShare: $242.00 (This was for one site that I launched on September 10, 2011.  It is not seasonal, however it does get more traffic during the Christmas holiday season)

Flippa Sale: $1,650.00 (Sold 5 of my niche sites)

Total November 2011 Earnings = $3,124.30

As you can see, my Adsense earnings have gone down, however, I have sold 11 of my sites, totaling $400.00/month in Adsense earnings over the past 2 months.  It is hard to complain about the drop when I made up for the loss x 10.

I am continuing to build more sites, but I am no longer going to post how many sites I am building as I do not think that it is helping my readers.  I feel that it is only discouraging, as we should be focusing on one site at a time.  I may occasionally let you know what I am doing, or if I decide to do another challenge, I would report that to you, but I think for now it is best if we worry about one site at a time.

Please let me know if you agree with that last statement by putting a comment below.  If many of you look forward to seeing how many sites I build/month, I may add it back to my report.

For now, I hope that you have learned something from this post, and I hope that you have a very safe holiday season.

Melissa

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Pictures In Post

I wanted to talk just briefly about adding pictures to your posts.  I am sure you have all heard that there is potential, and have probably done it with some of your sites.

I am learning more and more that adding pictures to your website posts is a fantastic way to boost your rankings.  It is working for me.  Every site that I have updated to include pictures in the post has gained in the search rankings.

Take a look at the screenshot below:

When adding a picture to your post, make sure that your keyword is not only in the Title Field, but in the Alternate Text field as well.  Test it out on one of your sites.  Ad an image to all of your posts, use the post title for the Title and Alt Tag of your image, and see if your rankings improve.

By the way, that image of a wedding cake was just an example.  I do not have a website in the wedding cake niche.  Way too broad for my liking!

I’d love to hear feedback on this.

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Popular Questions about Niche Site Building

How Do You Get Your Sites to Rank?

I have received some questions that I would like to share with all of my readers, as I think it is where many affiliate marketers get stuck and overwhelmed.  It’s where the “Make or Break” comes in to play.  My goal is to get ALL of my regular readers to “Make It”, hence the whole purpose of this website.

Please remember that this is free information, and I have no reason to steer you down the wrong path.  I want you to succeed, but remember that the information I am giving you is what has worked for me, so I cannot guarantee anyone’s success, as you have to put the work in, but the results are well worth the frustration.

The future depends on what we do in the present. Gahndi

Question 1:  When Do I Add the Articles to My Niche Site?

I add my articles at the same time.  I used to add them, and adjust when they post, but I believe that if there is more content on your site when Google stops by, the better chance you will have of ranking sooner.

Question 2: How Do I Select My Niche and/or Keywords?

If you do not currently have a favorite niche, you have to go out and find one.  The only way to do that is by putting a keyword in your keyword tool (I only use the free Google keyword tool), and let your mind take you where it may.  Chances are the first keyword you put in will not be the right keyword for you, but if you look through the results, you are bound to find another one that you can put right back in the keyword tool to get more results.  Eventually, you will find a good 3 word keyword phrase with at least $1.00 CPC, and anywhere from 800 – 3,000 matches. I would check it in Google WITHOUT QUOTES  and make sure that there are no more than 500,000 competing pages, at least to start.  If it’s good, then check it WITH QUOTES and make sure it is reasonable. Also, if trying to earn with Adsense, make sure there are at least 5 sponsored ads when you search for the keyword without quotes. It is all about testing and all keywords are different.  If you are in a highly competitive niche, it doesn’t matter how many competing pages there are in quotes, it will still be difficult to rank.

Example: I have a website around a keyword that has 880 exact matches, Almost 1 million results without quotes, and 73,000 results with quotes, and it is sitting at page 1, and is one of my highest earners.

Go figure.  The numbers are not always accurate with keyword tools, so you just have to go for it.  Don’t let your mind think too hard about it.  If most of it looks good, and the domain name is available, BUY IT, then LAUNCH IT!

Question 3: What Do I Do Other than Content to Make My Sites Rank?

In a nutshell, nothing… at first.  I make sure that the following things are in order, I launch the site, then I move on to another one:

a.  Use keyword 3-4 times throughout article.  Make sure that you use it once in the first sentence and bold it, and use it once in the last sentence using italics.  Link your posts back to the main page using your keywords as anchor text.  Be careful not to use the same keyword every time, as Google will not give you love.  If you are promoting a product or CPA offer, make sure those links are above the fold, and your links back to your home page are below the fold.

The one thing I do once I launch my site is add it to Backlinknetworks.com.  It is a free service, and it does give it a little help at the beginning.  In my experience, it has been enough to rank my sites.  If I have a site not ranking after 4-5 weeks (most times they are on 1st page within a week), I will do some Squidoo pages, Hubpages, and articles.  I recently joined Unique Article Wizard, but it is too soon to give you a review, and since it is a paid product, I would prefer to wait until I see some results (or no results) to give you a proper review.   Honestly, my entire process from finding my keyword to launching my site may take a total of 45 minutes (keeping in mind that I outsource my article writing).

If you are choosing non-competitive keywords, and properly optimize your site, backlinking is not as important at the very beginning.  I am NOT SAYING that it is not important, especially if you plan to build sites that you do not have to continue to add content to, which is what I do.  In that case, you may want to add some backlinks down the road so that they do not drop in the rankings.  Backlinks are also very important in getting your “other” pages to rank, and not just your main keyword phrase.  In that case, make sure that when you set up your articles, you are linking to ALL pages of your site (using different articles of course), and not just the home page.

I truly hope that all of you will take my advice, and start your niche site army.  There is great money to be made in this area of affiliate marketing, and the possibilities are endless.  The sky really is the limit, but you have to build the sites.  End of story.

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