I’ve always felt that with enough dedication, anyone can start a new website and succeed. Even now in 2014, while ranking is difficult and expert marketers seem to have made it challenging to compete. Some say making money online today is impossible.  I’ve set out to prove them wrong.
However, I want to make sure this experiment is fair. Therefore, I’m going to level the playing field. I’m going to put myself in a brand new blogger’s shoes. This new niche site is going to be completely anonymous. This means I’m not going to use my Author Rank, current followers, my email list, or my current websites to drive traffic to this one. Other than knowledge, I will have no advantage over someone who is just beginning blogging today.
The Tools
While there’s a lot of marketing tools I could use, I’m going to limit myself to the basics. My toolkit for this website currently contains the following products and services:
- Hostgator Hosting. Fast, reliable, and easy to work with. Here’s why I use Hostgator to power all of my websites.
- Studiopress Theme – Looks great, has great customization options, and is great for SEO.
- GetResponse Email Marketing Service – My email lists have always been my biggest money maker, and I’m not expecting this to change with this new website.
The Niche
While I’m not going to reveal the niche specifically, I will certainly tell you a little bit about it. The main keyword has 18,000 searches a month, and very little competition. There is only one website I’ll be competiting with, which is a forum that I feel I can outrank with enough work.  Usually, this would indiciate that there is very little profit to be made. I’d say this is true – in fact, there are zero products related to the niche itself. However, based on market research I’ve done, I feel I could quite easily persuade the audience to purchase courses related to the main topic of the website, as I could easily tie the two together.
Because there’s no high CPC keywords for this niche, I’m going to utilize interest-based ads to monetize through Adsense. While the sheer volume of potential visitors should get a good amount of clicks, I feel affiliate sales will be my biggest earner.
The Traffic
I will be using the traffic techniques I share in my free 7-day traffic building course to drive traffic to this new site. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to utilize every technique mentioned in the course simply because there is such little competition at the moment. However, I’m feely confident that the techniques available to me will be able to pull in the type of audience I’m looking for.
The Goals
My main goal is to outrank my only competitor for the niche’s main keywords. I’m conducting this experiment or to prove that it’s still possible to rank in Google rather than making money from the website, so revenue is only my second priority.
I do not think it is unrealistic to be pulling in 100 visitors a day and making $25 a month by the end of this year. Because this is an evergreen niche and the site will continue to make money even if I quit working on it, I would honestly be happy if it was just making enough to cover the domain renewal!
The thing about this niche is it’s very, very new, and has a lot of room to grow. It’s relatively unheard of at the moment, and as soon as I get on the front page I’m going to begin spreading the word about it. A lot of the buzz will be spread by me, and it won’t be long before it’s being spread by word of mouth. It’s certainly possible that this website could be making several hundred dollars a month by this time next year. Of course, there are no guarantees!
Fears, And Overcoming Them.
Despite my experience with marketing, I do have a few fears I’m worried about. I like to see a return of investment on my time. Therefore, I tend to overanalyze things and spend more time researching than I probably should.
Sometimes the best thing to do is just jump right in.
The thing about entering uncharted territory is that you always come out with something. Don’t ever put off your website because you feel it won’t make money. I worked on my first websites for years before realizing that they were failures. However, the knowledge I gained from that experience was invaluable, and I most certainly wouldn’t be where I am today had I not failed so many times before.
Therefore, I’m not too worried if this site isn’t as successful as I’m hoping it will be. The knowledge I gain from it regardless will be worth just as much as the money anyway.
Will it happen? We’ll have to wait and see. I’ll post periodic updates on here to document my progress, and allow us all to see how things are working out.
Because if I can pull this niche site off, so can you!
James,
I just came across your site by chance (my luck “B” day) & it was your post about (How To Quit Your Job To Blog Full Time) that 1st. brought me here, then I’ve read thru 4-5 of your other (great content) posts, like your wanting to drop out of college.
Starting your 1st. blog at the age of 11 & your wanting to get rid of material things, has really inspired me. FYI: I’ll be having my 14yr. old son read this to see if it will open his eyes to do the same for him. I’ll be buying your book (Blogging For Profit) to help enlighten me & learn some more. That’s a for sure…
After coming across your site (helpstartmysite) I will be Unsubscribing from a bunch of Guru-Goonies that I’ve been following (4 2 long) not to mention having fallen sucker to some of their hype & shiny objects (filling n lining their pockets w/my $$$), all I ever get from them is another offer & them peddling theirs or other affiliate products in every email I get.
I know you don’t know me, but todays my birthday & I have to say Thank You, finding you is the absolute best “B” Day present I could’ve gotten. I’ve been struggling w/this whole MMO for almost 2yrs. now & haven’t made a dime (yet) & quitting isn’t an option. I’ve been doing my damndest to survive & then trying to raise a son & on a measly ($869.59) disability ck. a month really sucks. I can honestly say I see a dim ray of light @ the end of this tunnel.
Thanks & God Bless U & Urs
David
PS: Would U consider being my mentor ?
Beings that I’m on disability time is not an issue, it’s all I have & I can n will put in 8-10 hrs. a day to make this work. I just want a better life (than I had) for my son. Please Consider it, my email is davntenn@gmail (dot) com
David(Quote)
Hi David!
First of all, happy birthday! I hope it’s been great and you’ve been enjoying your day.
I’ll admit, I also struggled for quite a few years before I really ‘figured it out’ and things started to take off. While I know there were a lot of mistakes I could have avoided, struggling early on taught me a lot and I do not think I’d be where I am now if it weren’t for those experiences.
A lot of people fall victim to what’s known as “shiny object syndrome” and it really puts a hinderance on the purchaser. I’ve always found it’s best to find the one method that interests you the most (that’s also scalable) and focus solely on that one method until you’re making money. That’s the way I took things and it worked well. When you jump around between a bunch of different things you never really have the time to fully devote to any of them.
I’m not really a guy to push a ton of products onto people because quite frankly, I don’t think they’re necessary. I started my business with less than $100 and only bought the bare necessities – web hosting, a domain name, and an email marketing service. Looking back, I wish I would’ve had a mentor because it would’ve saved me a lot of time, but I didn’t think it was necessary at the time. Big mistake haha.
Being a mentor myself I know just how valuable they can be to the right person. Mentors won’t do the work for you but they’ll put you down the right path and save you a ton of time and money in the long run.
Unfortunately because I work very hard to help my students succeed, I do have to charge for my mentorship services ($1000 / 6 months OR $250 a month.) It’s honestly a great investment, because everyone that signs up (and actually does the work) ends up with a successful business. You sound like the type of guy who is willing to work hard and actually wants to succeed, so I know it would be a good consideration for you. If you’d like more informtaion, check out my “Hire Me” page at he top of the site and scroll down to the bottom where I talk more about mentorship. Additionally, feel free to email me at any time at james[at]helpstartmysite[dot]com and I’ll get back to you ASAP.
Also, if your son wants to learn more about entrepreneurship he’s welcome to email me as well. I started my business around his age and would be willing to answer any questions he may have.
Talk soon!
James McAllister
James McAllister(Quote)