Archive for June, 2008
There has been a lot of debate about niche websites and whether they make for a profitable income or not. Some individuals argue that just a few dollars a day isn’t worth the upkeep or the initial setup, while others firmly believe that these sites do pay off in the long run. Niche websites CAN make you money. In fact, you can make a great deal of money if you take the time to correctly develop each site before moving on to the next. In this post, we will explore the right way to take advantage of niche websites in order to make a sizable income.
Tips for Creating Niche Websites –
A lot of the time, those who have tried to make money with niche websites but couldn’t were simply not spending enough time on them. A lot of people think you can throw up a one page site, put some PLR content on it and slap in the ads. You might make a few cents this way, but in order for your niche site to be profitable – it takes a bit more effort. Of course, one of the most important aspects is finding great keywords that are searched often but don’t have a lot of competition.
Once you have this covered, a great size for a niche website is around 5 to 10 pages. If you don’t remember anything about niche websites, remember this – original, excellent quality content. This is very important. When you include original articles that offer helpful information or tips, your niche site will perform much better than one with generic, overused PLR content. Make sure the content is interesting, helpful and error free. Customers are not going to trust your site if the content is terrible!
TIP: Search other sites with the same keyword as the one you’ll be using. What sort of information do they offer? Try to offer better, more in-depth and different information on your niche website!
Adding Products to Your Niche Site –
When you’re ready to plug affiliate products on your site, a great tip is to keep them to a minimum. If you have 5 pages of content and you link to 50 different affiliate products – you’re not going to be trusted as an authority. If you just add one or two products and point to them subtly, you will receive more affiliate sales.
Of course, you want to do a bit of research on the product you’ll be linking to and make sure that it really goes well with the content on your site. Some marketers choose to use affiliate products and some add their own products – and some do both. It depends on the individual but again, too many ads, products and things for ’sale’ may bring your site quality down. If you do place Google or some other sort of ads on your niche website, keep them at a minimum.
Marketing Your Niche Website –
Another common mistake that some people make with niche sites is thinking that they can simply publish it and wait for the income. You have to market your site and do some work if you want to make money with it. Some of the greatest and easiest ways to market niche sites include:
· Article Marketing (Writing or hiring professionals to write informative articles about your niche topic – then submitting them to article directories with backlinks to your site.)
· Answering Forum Questions (Visit forums that are related to your niche site and answer questions. Be helpful and thoughtful and include your site’s link in your signature.)
· Blogs (Create a blog about your niche and offer tips, tricks and information. Of course, you’ll want to link that blog to your site and vice versa.)
· Create a Newsletter (Allow visitors to sign up for a free newsletter offering information and tips. You can use an autoresponder to send the newsletter to your subscribers.)
Take your time to fully build and market each site before moving on to the next one. Don’t forget to update your existing niche websites from time to time and continue to market them as well. Using these tips and ideas, you can make niche websites work for you.
Most webmasters understand the importance of original, unique content on their website. Understanding the actual definition of original content may be a different story.
PLR vs Original Content - Is There a Difference?
I’m sure you’ve seen the ads: “Own the rights to thousands of original articles.” Private label rights (PLR)
articles are typically sold in large quantities for a quite affordable price. Many PLR packs are excellent quality articles. But are PLR packs truly original content?
These articles are purchased by thousands of webmasters, writers, and internet marketers around the world. While a PLR article may have been an original work when it was first published, it is now owned by several people and published by a large percentage of them. How original can that be?
Most of those who buy and use PLR content will first rewrite the article into their own words to make their published piece unique from the original. While this is quite acceptable and extremely common - is it really original content?
PLR is Not Original Content
There is nothing wrong with using PLR articles for your website. They’re great for start-up companies because of their low cost and can be an asset to your article marketing campaigns. Quality PLR articles contain reliable information, already formatted for readability. These pieces can be rewritten with ease and are practically ready to publish. The problem is…
No matter how much a PLR article is rewritten, it is still just another way of saying the same original idea that everyone else has rewritten and republished. PLR content can be informative; it can be entertaining; but it can also be found all over the internet.
Unique Content Can Take Your Profits to New Levels
Unique content is made up of fresh ideas, carefully researched facts, and can be written personally for your website. How does this benefit you?
- Truly original content drives more traffic to your website because you are publishing ideas and information that isn’t already available everywhere you click.
- Originality and new resources will help retain visitors, increasing your respect and your credibility.
- Unique content can increase your search rankings by gaining a variety of quality backlinks. Other websites are interested in original ideas, just like your readers.
- Content written specifically for your website allows the usage of keywords for search engine optimization to flow naturally within the text - ranking high without sacrificing readability.
You don’t have to throw out your PLR content - but a successful website with growth potential is built around unique, original content custom written to suit you and your business.
Do you need quality content for your website or marketing campaigns?
Article marketing campaigns continue to be one of the most popular ways to drive traffic to your website, create more conversions and make more money. While most people know what article marketing is – a lot of people aren’t sure how to do it properly. If you’re not following the unspoken rules, you could be forfeiting a lot of customers and a lot of sales. Here are those rules and some helpful tips on how to follow them.
Article Marketing Rule #1 – No ‘Spammy’ Sales Techniques
Sure – you’re submitting articles in order to pre-sell your products or services. However, the key to article marketing is to make it seem as if you’re not selling anything. If your articles are full of blatant plugs for your company or your products – potential customers will only see the fact that you’re trying to sell them something.
What is the first thing you do when you answer a telemarketing call, receive junk mail or open a spam e-mail in your inbox? You hang up the phone, throw the mail in the trash or delete the e-mail. This is how your potential customers will feel when your articles are full of hype and ’spammy’ sales techniques.
Following the Rule –
With this rule in mind, there are a few things you can do to keep your articles informative and attract potential customers rather than scare them away.
- The first and probably the most important thing you can do is provide honest and helpful information. Make sure your tips and tricks are truly useful and that your readers can take the information and run with it - without having to purchase your product. You’re thinking, ‘But…I want them to purchase my product.’ Well, they will be more likely to purchase the product if they have already been give helpful information that actually works!
- When your article marketing article outlines a problem that people usually experience – don’t just offer them your product or service as a solution. Offer them several solutions and include yours. If your product or service is good enough – it will stand up to the other solutions and your readers will be receiving real, valuable help rather than just a sales pitch.
Article Marketing Rule #2 – Always Provide Top Quality Articles
One serious mistake that many internet marketers and business owners make with their article marketing campaigns is thinking that it’s just good for a back link. For this reason, many of them hire cheap writers or purchase low quality articles to use in their campaigns. Not only can this turn readers off and prevent them from visiting your website – it can also hurt your reputation and credibility.
One of the main reasons for creating article marketing campaigns is to brand yourself as the expert in your niche. Everyone emphasizes how important this is and for good reason. When people read your articles and they are low quality, contain spelling and grammatical errors or are not interesting – you will quickly lose credibility and lose your niche to someone else. (Probably someone else who only uses top quality articles with their campaigns!)
Following the Rule –
No matter what sort of industry you’re in, you can create or purchase top quality articles and you should. When you demand only top quality for all of your campaigns – you will quickly see the benefits.
- If you’re creating your own articles, make sure to proofread them and fix any spelling or grammatical errors. Also make sure that they are compelling and keep the reader interested. Try to look at your own articles as if you were a stranger seeking products or services like yours – or, get someone else to read the article and give you feedback. Is it interesting? Are there any mistakes in the article? Keeping the article clean, interesting and compelling will help build your credibility.
- If you’re not able to create your own articles, hire only the best writers to produce them for you. Ask for samples before hiring the writer and make sure to provide the writer with important resources to help them create the best articles. It is helpful to get a writer who has past experience creating article marketing campaigns – and who already knows the subtle rules of article marketing!
By following these two unspoken rules of article marketing, you can build your credibility and become the expert in your niche – no matter what it is. You can also drive more traffic to your website and get more sales or sign-ups.
Let’s face it – even some of the best writers flub on grammatical accuracy or overlook a glaring spelling mistake. No matter how deeply the rules of the English language are embedded into your brain – there is always room for stubborn writing habits and the occasional slip of the eye.
Today, I’d like to address a commonly confused duo in English – complement and compliment. Often times, when two words are pronounced in the same manner, it is quite easy to interchange one letter when writing. However, these two words mean completely different things and it’s time to set the record straight.
Complement
Complement is a noun and a verb – used to refer to a person, place, or thing that “goes well” with another. As an adjective, complementary describes an item that completes or supplies something that is lacking, as seen with an artist that paints with complementary colors or the complementary angles of a 90-degree triangle. Appropriate uses of the word include:
- A glass of red wine complements an Italian dish nicely.
- This Norman Rockwell painting will complement the art dealer’s collection.
- Married for 20 years, their personalities complement each other well.
- The red hat complemented my outfit perfectly.
Compliment
This flattering noun and verb will deliver praise to another, as does its adjective – complimentary. But, also don’t forget that complimentary can also refer to free items – like the complimentary breakfasts offered at most hotels. Appropriate uses of the word include:
- He complimented me on my sense of style.
- I received a lot of compliments on my Christmas tree decorations.
- I was suspicious when Dwight was complimentary in regards to my burnt dessert.
- Thanks for the compliment!
In the end, just remember that:
Complement with an “E” means “to complete” and “to enhance”
Compliment with an “I” means “to praise” and “to flatter”
The next time you post a blog, you might just want to take a minute and consider whether or not it’s breaking any laws, or has the potential to break any in the future. Far from being just a harmless medium for posting thoughts and opinions, there are many legal issues that you have to keep in mind not only as a blogger but as a reader as well. From copyright issues to slander and libel, not to mention the problems comments can cause – there’s more to blogging than just throwing a few sentences together.
For example, if you’re a business blogger and you’re posting an opinion on the latest business news from a company or organization, you have to make sure that your post is based on fact. If you have an error in there, you could find yourself facing a lawsuit (although more than likely, most companies will settle for an apology and correction). Depending on your post, you could also be liable for a libel or slander claim – so make sure you know what you’re talking about and you have the facts to back it up.
Copyright infringement is also a hot potato, especially with the ease that blogs can be picked up by external sources. This can be down to your RSS feed, or something as simple as your blog turning up on social media sites like Digg or Technorati. The next thing you know, your blog is appearing elsewhere online. While this can be beneficial as far as links back to your post (which helps your ranking with the major search engines), it doesn’t help if you aren’t being credited and the post is being passed off as someone else’s. Of course, the flip side of this is if you use sections of other people’s blogs without crediting them as the source. Sure, it’s nice to bring a news story to a wider audience, but make sure you link back to the owner – not only is it professional and courteous, it could save you a big copyright theft case.
Another surprising area where you need to watch what’s going on is the comments area on your blog. While the legality of who is responsible for comments left on a blog is still a little patchy, the general consensus is that the company hosting the blog is responsible – after all, they are the ones allowing comments to stay public. Therefore, any defamatory or hateful statements will be blamed on you if you leave them for everyone to see – the best idea is to moderate all comments and post the ones that you feel don’t break any ethical, moral or legal issues. You can even place a disclaimer on your blog stating that all comments are approved at the discretion of the blog owner.
At the end of the day, blogging is a fantastic medium for sharing both personal and company news quickly and efficiently. This doesn’t have to change – but just make sure that the next time you’re about to open up to the rest of the world, it’s not going to end up being the last post you make for a long time.
The first Priceless Writers newsletter will be winging it’s way into our subscribers’ email Inboxes shortly. With the finishing touches regarding design and content almost complete, we look forward to expanding the interactivity of the Priceless Writers experience.
Full of invaluable information, special VIP offers and more, the Priceless Writers newsletter will continue to evolve as we implement new ideas and features into it. If you have any requests or suggestions yourself, please feel free to leave a comment. Alternatively, you can email us with your suggestions - please put “PW Newsletter” in the email title box.
Look out for the newsletter at the end of June!
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