Please help me think outside the box! :)

[jollyyear]

1. I think being passionate about a subject is one thing, creating an informative Blog about the subject is another. I just can't stop thinking 'there's gotta be a hundred of people out there who know the subject far better than me!' I don't think I can ever master one subject to my heart's content and feel totally confident about it. There are a few subject I would talk all day and night and may amuse a few friends and family. But blogging it about with a view being an informative source to some is quite scary. What if I'm wrong? What if I'm ridiculed?

I would love to hear how anyone got over this fear or did you have it at all?

2. In determining niche using Seo Book Keyword, how many daily word tracker count is perceived to be good enough to investigate further? Some are too many. Some too few. I am trying to learn and practise other tools along with this but daily word tracker count seems a good starting point to narrow it down if I'm not wrong.

3. Two areas I am passionate about are saturated. London Hotels / London Bed and Breakfast and Movie Reviews. I know these areas pretty well and very comfortable to talk about. And enthusiastic about giving practical info and helping some people especially on Hotels.

4. A few areas I would love to learn are HDRI (High dynamic range imaging - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and History (in context of Autobiography / Economic trends). I am not tired of learning more and more on these areas.

I thought I would list them and hope someone could help me think outside the box.

Sorry for the long post. Just trying to gather as much as I could.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Larwee]

jollyyear I will address part of your question because it might be the most important portion. Plus the reply will be a little long.

I am a person who loves to make sure things are accurate and when I went I get involved with something I want to make sure everything is right. It bothers a lot of people, but to me being accurate is essential.

Respected mainstream newspaper have established reputations of researching and doing everything possible to make sure they have the facts. Most people trust what they read in them because of this. I'm talking about reporting of factual information rather than editorials, opinions etc.

If they happen to make a mistake they will print a correction even if it is something such as having the middle name of a person wrong.

One thing that bothers me a great deal is the fact that there are a lot of people getting their information from blogs which are written by people who are not journalists or people who aren't in the habit of making certain they have their facts straight.

A lot of people don't know what they are talking about. They express their opinions as facts or something they THINK is correct as a fact without making sure they are right.

As a result of this there are many misinformed people who depend too much on blogs as a reliable source of information.

Let me make it clear that I'm talking about when dealing in facts. Blogs that are just opinions would be a different matter. People have opinions. If people reading a blog that is just opinions, it is important that people take that into consideration.

It is difficult to fully master most topics since there often is still more to learn about the topic. A person needs to decide to make the move rather than waiting and waiting because it is possible to never be satisfied because of not knowing everything possible that their is to know about the topic.

If you are writing on a topic you know about, just make it a point to always make sure you are being accurate. If you don't know what you are talking about, don't say it until you check to make sure. If you make it a point to be accurate, you are going to gain respect.

You don't need to have a great deal of knowledge about a topic to be passionate about it. You can have a big interest in it and a desire to know more about it because of your interest in that topic. You can write about that during your learning process. Just make sure that what you write is correct, providing it is something dealing with facts.

There are people interested in learning about many different topics. Some could learn along with you as you learn more. This can provide an interesting experience. Just make sure you take the extra step to check your facts with RELIABLE SOURCES.

I once saw something that I never forgot and it is something I wish everyone, including bloggers, would remember and put into practice. It has been phrased a few different ways, but this is the general idea:

If a person doesn't know what they are talking about, the very least they can do is to shut up.

In other words, if you make it a point to be factual you should not have anything to worry about as far as what people might think.

 

[Linda Buquet]

1) You don't have to write like a news editor, copywriter or journalist. Some of the most popular blogs are just real people talking in slang, sometimes getting mad and sometimes being funny.

One blog in our industry that comes to mind that has a HUGE following is Shoemoney. He admits he has ADD, jumps all over and can't spell. Doesn't matter, people love his personality and the info he shares.

Soooo don't worry about perfection HOWEVER if you write about something you know about OR are passionate about OR are excited to learn about then it's easier for you to let your personality shine through.

2) Hard to say. Depends how good you are. PLUS you don't want to only look at how popular the KW is, but how competitive, so you need to eval both numbers.

There is no hard and fast rule so I'll just throw out some numbers. I use affiliate marketing as my oversaturated benchmark, because I already do PPC for 5 Star and know how competitive this space is.

SEObook Wortracker count: 768 (Popularity)
Google allintitle: "affiliate marketing" 825,000 (Competition)

BAD oddS - HORRIBLE numbers! (Why do I even try to do PPC in this market. Google Adwords even told me it's too competitive for Adwords to be very effective.

My low bench mark as far as just knowing this would be a fairly easy ratio for a fairly skilled person to target is:

SEObook Wortracker count: 800 (Popularity)
Google allintitle: "key phrase" 5,000 (Competition) (my secret low competition phrase I've never done anything with.)

NOTE: So using the above you have a range of RATIOS you could use for any numbers in-between. But there are still other variables to look at before deciding on a niche that depend on other factors. These numbers would just be initial screening to see if a niche has potential.

Now since I used to do SEO for a living I'd tackle something much more competitive than 5,000. If I were a newbie I would probably try to stay under 2,000. If I didn't care about making big money right away but wanted a good easy market that I could learn in and feel some fast success I would look for a ratio of around. 200 popularity vs less than 100 competing. (totally guessing at those numbers and they could vary a lot depending on your situation.

2 OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS TO LOOK AT!

1) Who's on top in the search engines? Even if it's a low competition phrase, if all the top sites in Google are news sites and well established authority sites, it would be hard to crack for a newbie.

2) How would you monetize? Are there products that people looking for that key phrase would be looking for? Do those products have an affiliate program? One good thing to look at: do your keyword search in G with no quotes or allintitle. Check out the Adwords ads to see how many are promoting something and what THEY are selling.

NOW based on the potential niches you mentioned I found a hot one for you. Hot in # of searches VS hardly any competition. NOT HOT as far as monetizing the niche.

So if you were interested in pursuing a niche that would be hot right now, has growing interest, something you are interested in learning more about, would enjoy blogging about, would be easy for you to learn and see some early success, but may not make you much money, let me know and I'll tell you by PM so I don't give the niche away and create competition for you.

If you don't want to start off with a hot easy niche, but really need to make money fast, then I'd give this niche away here and use it as an example.

Let me know if you want to know the niche so you can decide. Then I'll tell you the niche in private, but post the general details publicly so everyone can learn in the process.

 

[Larwee]

I want to clear up one thing since both Linda and myself mentioned journalists.

I agree you don't have to write like a news editor, copywriter or journalist. My point is if you are writing about a topics that deals with facts make sure you have your facts straight.

People enjoy reading the works of real people who aren't professional writers. Still you owe it to your readers to have your facts straight. Too many don't bother to make sure if they have the facts straight or not.

I also mentioned it is a lot different when you are dealing in opinions since that is what they are.

I didn't want there to be any confusion over what the two of us said.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Ya we both were writing at same time so I didn't see his post until after I was done so none of my comments had to do with Larry's post. We were both addressing the your questions from different angles.

 

[jollyyear]

OMG!!

I did expect some .. some.. but not really this much detailed insights!

I totally respect what you are saying, Larwee. I have a lot more to say but will limit to saying 'Thank you' for now.

Thanks, Linda. I would love to pick your brain on this. Please PM me or did you say I should?!?! In either case, I would very much apppreciate it. Can't wait!

My home network is down and will be down for a while. I am sitting in a cafe. I just quickly copied and pasted all the replies to my ducument so I can read them later and take all in slowly...

Will be back soon.

Those are amazing insights and advice and I am really grateful!!

 

[Linda Buquet]

I'll PM you just the key phrases to see if you have any interest in them. If you do then I'll just share the numbers and general info out here in public. If you aren't interested then I'll use the key words in my examples.

 

[Rob_TID]

It might be difficult to SEO for "London hotel"

But it is not so difficult for "cheap chelsea hotel" or "chelsea 5 star hotel"

In fact both of those keywords have made me sales (for different cities). Sure, they don't get a lot of traffic, but I make up for that by having a lot of pages.

If you are using a wordpress blog, then I suggest you get to know how pages and "page parents" work intimately.

Your ten main pages will be the 10 main areas of london (or however many there are)

chelsea, earls court, etc etc etc

Under each of them is
cheap hotels
luxury hotels
backpackers
motels
etc etc

Simple dividing this information up into a well structured site and then making recommendations would be very useful.

And the SEO would be easier for those keywords.

PS: HDR has been done to death and is already starting to decline in popularity.

Good luck.

 

[Linda Buquet]

OK jollyyear is excited to do something with the niche I found for him.
Normally it may be a little boring for some people but it's a red hot topic right now with lots of interest and very low competition.

As I explained to him it may not be a big money maker right away but he's really interested in the topic, so doesn't mind and sees it as having good long term potential.

SO THE KEYWORDS ARE PROTECTED but I want to continue research and discovery with him out here in public - because I don't offer 1 on 1 support and want to use this as a learning experience for all.

KEY PHRASE 1
SEO Book 373 (popularity)
Google allintitle: "key phrase in quotes" ONLY 53!!! (competition)
an ezinearticles piece is in top 10 on G (good sign of easy pickings)

KEY PHRASE 2
SEO Book 213 (popularity)
Google allintitle: "key phrase in quotes" ONLY 10!!! (competition)
an ezinearticles piece is in top 10 on G (good sign of easy pickings)

There aren't a lot of Adwords ads for the phrases which is a bad sign and means there may not be many good products that are a match to monetize the niche BUT I know some things that would work and think it's more that since this is a recent hot topic no one's thought of how to tap into it.

NEXT STEP

Now take variations of 1 or 2 of the key words and do deeper research. I just grabbed the 1st couple good phrases I saw.

Take the 1 or 2 most root keywords and plug them in following this example to generate more phrases. See if there are any other 3 - 5 KW phrases that have that much or greater popularity in SEObook, yet low competition.

OK NOW jollyyear - in exchange for helping you, I want us to make this a little case study, if you don't mind. So as you try or find out things post it here just leaving out your KW and niche. (no blow by blow needed, don't take a lot of time. Just say OK I found 3 more good phrases, I'm ready to get started, I think I'll start a blog or ask us what the next step should be.)

 

[dangregory]

I'm going to be the contrarian here and remind people that:

1) Some of the most profitable blogs have very little quality content in terms of "factual" material - they can be completely rants, personal essays, responses to news items and highly personal reactions and

2) You don't have to be a reporter. Period. This means toss out everything you might have learned in journalism class if you really want to make money on the web.

Trust me, I speak from experience.

I have a journalism degree. I also have many weird interests and talents and can write fluently on many subjects because I'm a true expert in them.

You know what? I kept many blogs for years that were informative, had high quality content, and contained amazing material. I had loyal readers in the tens of thousands.

And I never made money off of them.

When I stopped writing as a "writer" and began writing as a salesperson then I was able to start making full-time money in this industry.

That meant not being a writer snob and really taking a hard look at sites that were flashy with images, low on quality text, high on overly promotional and obvious advertising. I needed to "relearn" how to publish a money-making website from the ground up by really looking at what other successful publishers were doing.

And when I started creating new blogs and websites where GETTING THE SALE became my primary reason for every action I took with developing the site, I began to make real money.

By all means, you may want to keep those fun blogs going where you talk about hobbies or obscure topics you love - for fun. But maybe not for profit.

A big mistake that many gifted writers make is thinking like a writer or a teacher, not a salesperson.

You need to ask yourself - am I a content provider or a marketer?

Because if you tend toward writing instead of selling you will have to develop an entirely new skill set. I know I did!

And forgive me, but worrying too much about how factual and accurate your data is on your site is using a different set of criteria - one which is going to make your writing stiff, impersonal, and unappealing because it's too journalistic.

People don't go online to read newspapers. Don't write like a newspaper writer. Online writing by its very nature can be more personal, fun, and still informed with the facts.

Okay, this is my rant for the day - I hope I haven't hijacked this excellent discussion and I wish you all the best with your online career.

Dan

 

[Linda Buquet]

I agree with you Dan to some degree, about different styles and about some people doing well if they try more of a direct selling approach. If you are a prolific writer, can write in different styles, are a pro marketer and have a sales mindset - I agree and you have the freedom to do it whatever way works for you.

However, I don't think you have the freedom to make that choice if you are none of those things - not a writer, not a marketer, have no sales mindset - then starting with a niche you know about, so you can write from the heart or be a reporter or be a story teller are easier ways to start for some newbies.

Never meant to imply that any suggestions in this thread were the best way to go for anyone - especially a pro. Just easier for a newbie to get going and try to see some early success with some of these methods, so they can learn and build up from there to find their own unique style or turn into a skilled selling machine.

jollyyear has said his main goal right now is not making a lot of money but gaining experience by writing about something he knows or wants to learn about anyway. So more it's more like someone who wants a hobby that makes a little extra on the side vs a pro affiliate that needs a big money maker site.

Different strokes...

 

[dangregory]

Great points, Linda.

I do think thought that while you are writing about your passion and getting experience with online publishing that studying some of the copywriting teachers out there like Robert Bly or Joe Vitale could also be very helpful. Keep in mind that copywriting is almost 180 degrees away from simply writing about what you love. It's more about learning how to emphasize the buying/purchasing aspects of your content.

It's not that hard to incorporate some nice reviews into a blog of products you genuinely love and use - and place some affiliate links within those posts. That's the best way to start making a little money with your online publishing efforts I feel - with Adsense being less lucrative because you tend to make less with that.

So I encourage any beginner to, yes, keep writing and learning about online publishing, but also commit to the learning curve of discovering how to incorporate salesmanship and marketing into what they do. If not on the first few blogs, maybe on a few new and experimental blogs where you have more of a sales focus and see how your sales links convert.

Believe me, the profits that are available to writers at this time in history through online publishing are amazing - and writers have more power than they EVER had to take their talents and turn them into a juicy full-time income.

Beginning by implementing a few affiliate links on a blog with quality content on it can be a wonderful way to get a taste for this business - and to combine that with having fun writing. I just want to encourage people to study up on the marketing side of things because that can be a little different than simply blogging about stuff you enjoy - dont' be afraid to incorporate a marketing mindset as well. It can really pay off!

There's a woman named Amy Bass who runs thenicheblogger.com which is a membership site devoted to teaching passionate bloggers how to make nice money from blogging about subjects they are passionate about. I'm not affiliated with her in any way, but I know several people who have had a great time learning her simple blogging tips and using blogging to start making nice money. She might be someone to check out if you'd like to start combining the idea of writing with earning some money from your work.

Dan

 

[jollyyear]

Thank you again, Linda. I did more digging on keywords based on the first key phrase and decided to go along with it. I wrote a few thoughts on the topic and kept them in my Word document but am waiting to finish my study on WordPress and 'How to Blog' and stuff. Just want to make sure I know all the basics before it goes live. With my home network being finally back in place, I hope I can speed up the whole process.

.....

I had my own business for a few years which was doing good enough for me to depend on. I decided to wrap it up cos I needed flexibility on a physical location. I like to travel around, live for a few months or years in another country then move on to next and so on. Online business seems an answer to that!

I am not expecting online business to be any easier nor see it as a fast money earner. No fear of putting lots of time and effort but one thing I want from it is that I would like to work clever, not just hard.

With Linda's advice, I decided to blog about the topic that I would like to learn myself. This will be my hobby/break from my prime money making blog/website. It will be a means to expand my knowledge on the topic. I am looking into writing not more than two articles per week. I would like to be realistic on my capability and willingness on time consumption on this blog. I am not expecting to see any money to be made within 6 months. Blog will be still tailor made to be keywords friendly. I will be neither a marketer nor a reporter on this topic, just a personal diary sort.. In process, if anyone learns from it as I certainly will, that's a good reward itself. I can see that it's not going to achieve my initial plan though.

When I started to read around about affiliate marketing, I set a target for myself, which is, achieving income in 3 months. That 3 months is from the point my blog/website goes live. Even one penny is good enough for me to encourage myself to carry on, learn more, improve and try to establish a successful online business.

I would like to be a marketer, not a reporter. I would like to think that I have a sales mindset. The only thing is I will sell a product/service that I would like to buy myself. So providing factual and useful info, not inflating its value in any sense, is important. For this reason, lots of ebooks don't appeal me especially as Google is my best friend. Of course, I don't disregard the possibility of good valuable ebooks that I don't know about. I would like to see myself delivering an added value to other people's lives in a normal course of business.

So, I am still searching for a niche that would bring me even one penny of revenue in 3 months time and that I would like to work as a true marketer. And I hope this shouldn't be too difficult.

I am intrigued to find out more about Dan's Conduit Method. Anyone has any idea? I will PM Dan and hope he can spare some time....

I am a little bit confused with the result of SEO vs Adwords. For example, say Dog food. SEO is 453. Adwords is 135,000 in October. Since SEO word track is daily, I multiply 30 to give an approximate figure for a month to compare it with Adwords. It's 13,590.

SEO is a number of word count people used in searching that key word. What does Adwords mean?

Thank you in advance again.

 

[fire3fly]

Have No Fear, and Move Forward with Your Interests

For years, I would avoid posting to forums, writing articles, even starting a blog terrified me. In the end, I found that I was hurting and limiting myself.

Sometimes, especially in affiliate marketing, you just have to go for it. Write about the things that interest you, and be free with it. If a million other people can post their opinions online, you have every right to as well.

You might find that you are an authority on a subject or niche, and maybe you can do it better than anyone else. Think positively, and creatively and you are sure to find success.

One of my favorite quotes is "Get out of your own way", and it's so true. You are only limited by your own mind. Remember that your mind is boundless and has no limits.

Best of Luck!

Carmen

 

[chelle66]

I say just go with it. I'm no expert, and I've got blogs that are going great! One is about dating and relationships - other than being happily married now and having dated a bunch of losers in the past I'm no "expert" - but 30,000 pageviews a month would make me think it's going pretty well!

Another one of my sites is about real estate marketing. I am no guru in that field either other than having a couple years experience in real estate. It's going pretty well too, other than the fact I need better monetization methods, lol.