What is a Niche? And Why is it Important?

One of the things that many people try to do when they first start out trying to make an income online is spread themselves over a HUGE area and expect to make loads of money. This generally doesn’t work because you tend to loose your focus or simply do not have enough time to attend to everything. Instead of trying to spread your self all over the place, you should instead try locating a niche to start in.

A niche is simply just a specific topic of focus.

An example might be truck horns which sound like train whistles. Now this topic is an ultra specific niche and probably not one of the best ones to start out in. The idea is to find one area that you completely immerse yourself into.

When you are beginning online, you may want to choose a niche (at least to begin with) in which you already have knowledge and skill, so that you don’t need to spend a lot of time researching it. This will save time in a lot of research and the content just seems to flow easier when you have a decent amount of knowledge on the topic.

Here are some things to consider when choosing a niche:

Is It Popular?

Before choosing a niche, do a Google search for it first. Are there over 1,000,000 results? If so, this is probably not a niche that you wish to focus on as a beginner. Why? Because the more sites there are, the more competition there is, and the harder it is to get noticed. So, contrary to popular belief, it is better to choose a niche which no one else has tapped into, rather than the one that every Tom, Dick, and Harry is promoting. Now, this isn’t ALWAYS the case and at times having a lot of competition can be a good thing since you know there is a good demand for the topic. But for beginners, it is best to choose something less saturated.

Do You Like It?

Now, obviously it is going to be impossible to like every single niche that makes money, but you are more likely to be successful if you choose a niche which appeals to you. Remember that you are going to be working on this topic for a rather long time before getting results (at least 1 to 3 months) and will need to add unique content to the blog or site at least once to two times a week during that time. If you have no interest in the niche, it will reflect in your content and may not produce the desired results. To start with, try and pick something you like, just because it is far easier to write about something you love, than something you hate.

Can You Monetize It?

The whole point here is making money so there has to be a decent amount of products which you can advertise on your blog or site which are in the niche topic you have chosen. Remember, the content will draw in the traffic, but the ads are what make money. Look through affiliate offers at Commission Junction, Clickbank, and Linkshare to be sure there are products to promote. You can also do a Google search for your topic and see how many Google Ads appear on the top and right of your search. This will give you an idea of the Adsense revenue possibilities for your site.

Finding a good niche which you can monetize if the Golden Ring and it is not always an easy task. It may take some research and you may have a few flunkers. Just don’t give up. When you do hit a winner it will be well worth the efforts you put in.

To Your Wealth!

RPRCKWYQ5PBS

Why Use WordPress For Your Website?

Wait a second… Isn’t WordPress just a blog?

Well yes, and no. While WordPress started off exclusively as a blogging platform, it now has almost as much functionality as any “normal” website out there today. There is almost nothing you can’t do with WordPress, and it has a lot of benefits for the beginner.

Let’s take a look at the biggest benefit of using WordPress for your first website. It is EASY to learn, and no programming knowledge is required to get set up!

In almost all aspects, WordPress does most of the work for you, so you don’t have to worry about it. A few clicks and you’re done. Let’s take a quick look at the two main features you might worry about.

Easy Design:
Now, a lot of us don’t have time to take out of our days to come up with a site design. With WordPress that is taken care of for you! Simply browse around for a template you like, right from the WordPress Dashboard, click install, and she’s done! Of course, you will probably need to do some tweaking, but the backbone is done for you.

SEO:
For many people, especially those just getting started, SEO can be a really frightening subject. Unlike conventional websites (AKA made the old fashioned way), WordPress does its best to help the beginner perform at least the basic SEO steps needed to be properly formatted and seen by the search engines.
You don’t need any special knowledge, or any programming skills. Simply hop into your WordPress Dashboard, go to plugins, and search for SEO. You will see a mountain of plugins for your SEO needs. And the best part? Click it, install it, and forget it! Don’t worry yourself with slugs, or meta tags, or post optimization, you can worry about that later, for most new bloggers and site owners, the important thing is to get started!

So the next time you consider starting a new site or blog, consider WordPress, it is easy to install, easy to learn, is free, and will save you a bundle of time in the end.

Monetizing Your Blog Using Google Adsense

Google Adsense is the perfect place for any new fledgling blogger to get their feet wet with monetization and make their first dollars online.

Why is Google Adsense such a great place to start? Well for one thing there is no fuss and no muss in terms of getting it set up. Simply create your account, select the size and type of your ad, copy and paste the code into your blog, and away you go!

I’ll take you through the steps to creating your own Adsense account and get your blog making money.

Step 1: Set Up Your Account:

The first thing you will need to do is to set up an account. To do this simply hop on over to the Google Adsense page and fill out the form. If you already have a Google account, say for Gmail, Adwords, or Analytics, then this step will be incredibly easy and super quick.

If you don’t, this step will take you about 10 minutes to do.

Step 2: Select the Ad Size and Type:

This is a rather important step. Google gives you two main choices, text and image ads. Depending on your blog and your visitors expectations, one may prove to me more effective than the other. If you don’t put a lot of images or videos in your posts, then you should choose an image ad. This will break up all the text and stand out. If, however, you do tend to place images and videos in your posts, you should choose text ads for a more blending effect. It is a very delicate balancing act that takes a bit of getting used to and may require some testing, but it shouldn’t take you too long to get it.

Now, to talk about size. A good size for your ads is going to depend on your site and the placement. The most common sizes are 120×60, 200×600, or 125×125.

The 120×60 ads are the most common ad types which show as a horizontal banner.

200×600 “skyscraper” ads are a vertical banner with a little more space to them.

125×125: These are square boxes designed to house single image ads mostly.

Once you have selected the type of ad and the size, Google gives you additional options to further customize the ad. Font size, and colors can be changed and used to match your blog colors to give a better blending effect. Now you simply go to the next step which is naming your ad and grabbing the code generated for you.

For beginners I would suggest you select one 200×600 and one 120×60 ad code.

Step 3: Placing the Ads on Your Blog:

Now that you have everything set up, and you have the Google Adsense code, it is time to place it in your blog. It is important to remember that per Google’s TOS you may not place more than 3 ads on a page. This not only makes the page look spammy, but it also ensures that your readers will run for the nearest exit, looking for another site.

So, you will want to insert the 120×60 ad code into the bottom of your posts (there is scripting to do this for you automatically) and the 200×600 “skyscraper” into the side bar of your blog. This will coincide nicely with the basic blog design, while at the same time not inundating your readers with ads.

Voila! You now have your site monetized with Google Adsense! Your very first internet business has begun.

Now add that content and get those visitors!