[Live Study] Are Micro Niche Sites Dead?

[Welsh Warrior]

I have seen a number of threads on here asking

"Are micro niche sites dead"
"Can you still make good money from niche sites"
"Is Adsense a viable option"

Now personally I have a large number of these sites that do well...but most of them have become well established and, to a greater or lesser degree, been built out to be more than their original premise.

So what I wanted to do was show that, actually, micro niche sites DO still work. Yes they take a bit more work than they used to, but given the money they can generate I still think them worth it.

Just before the weekend I was chatting with a mate who is struggling for a bit of cash - he runs a pub which is starting to take off, but a side income would be useful to him. Since he is often sitting in the pub in quiet times with nothing to do he figured there must be a way to make money.

I suggested to him we partner up on microniche sites. I have been struggling for time to carry on my building of sites as I take on new projects, so combining with a partner (one I can trust) makes sense from my end too.

The Basic Game Plan

The plan is a simple one...to build about 50 microniche sites a month. We will flip some - some profitable ones for quick cash, some of the ones that fail for us to hand to those that can get them to work.

But we anticipate keeping 15-20 a month, building up a stash of passive earners.

Details

Presumably every one is more interested in the details. To that end I will be looking at first of all keywords

Specifically my research will focus on keywords with 1300 exact searches or more a month (ideally local searches to US or UK), $.70 or above and with low SEO'd top 10 competition.

I only ever care about the top 10, the rest can go hang for all I care.

Oh and the EMD has to have .com, .net or .org available

We will create a minimum of 5 articles on the keyword and related keywords for each site before we go live, and probably add a few more on each site as we go.

We then SEO the hell out of it

Onpage

Images with keyword titles, captions, etc, the right headers, titles, keyword density, bolding, italics, underlining, interlinking etc, meta dexription, meta tags and the like

Offpage

Squioo Lenses and Hubpage hubs as tier 1 links, as will some EZA articles (for syndication more than the link). Then we will be using AMR to spin and distribute articles to point at our tier 1 properties - plus building out a few wide range niche blogs on blogspot and wordpress. We may look at things like profile linking to these depending on how it goes.

TIME

We know that the reality is that these things take time. We're not really going to even be looking at income for sites until 90 days after creation (other than for stats for this thread and a blog if we bother setting one up). At that point we will take a decision on flipping or keeping (some may go before, depending on what we need).

We'll be keeping the stats going on here, and showing (hopefully) that microniche sites work. With the level of site creation we will be doing we should find out within 6 months whether micro niche is dead or not...I suspect it is alive and well, but if not then we have learned that OUR approach to them is wrong.

If you have any tips you'd like to share so we can alter our approach, we're always open to new ideas! simply share them below.

Anyway wish us luck. Just chosen our first 4 domains, should look at getting started on development first thing tomorrow.

[BenJackson]

Case studies are always great, looking forward to your future posts

My advice to make this a really valuable case study:

1. Be detailed about your SEO strategy
2. Share exactly how many sites are succeeding over time
3. Share your costs VS ROI
4. *Post a link to one or two of your sites

*If you're comfortable with that

[yukon]

I'll take a larger site any day of the week.

Rank multiple internal pages instead of a single keyword rich Index page.

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by BenJackson

Case studies are always great, looking forward to your future posts

Cheers. I've loved reading through a bunch of case study threads on here and learned a lot - so I figured doing one would

a) help and inspire some people
b) teach me a huge heap

My advice to make this a really valuable case study:

1. Be detailed about your SEO strategy
2. Share exactly how many sites are succeeding over time
3. Share your costs VS ROI
4. *Post a link to one or two of your sites

*If you're comfortable with that

Some good points

1) I will be. Until now I have been more organic than formulaic with my SEO efforts, but doing this much at once and with end goals in mind means developing a full strategy, as it evolves I shall be updating it here.
2) That was the main intention, to show whether they are succeeding or not to allow myself and others learn from the data
3) Good point, hadn't given that much thought. Should also think about logging man hours in as well...the one thing most case studies leave out. Will try (though tracking hours between projects may be more difficult)
4) TBH probably not, though I will give it some thought

As a side note the main inspiration for doing it like this (and the project) came from how adsenseflippers.com are doing theirs. I have always done microniche sites between projects and despite my spending more time eslewhere they are comfortably my biggest earner - the idea of making a full business strategy out of it, along with using a close mate to help kick my ass along the way when my enthusiasm wanes, came from reading their excellent blog.

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by yukon

I'll take a larger site any day of the week.

Rank multiple internal pages instead of a single keyword rich Index page.

I have both, and love the authority site for how quick and easy ranking for keywords are, but I have to say the majority of income still comes from micro sites, and given the amount of people pronouncing them dead I thought this project would be worth pursuing.

My main projects outside of this are

1) developing 3 authority sites (1 health niche, 1 sports niche, 1 finance niche)
2) learning CPA, PPC, PPV etc

This micro project is meant to be a couple of hours a day - and given I tend to work about 12 hour days it seemed a good way of forcing myself into keeping the 'spare' hours productive and me off Facebook!

[Welsh Warrior]

Things going a bit slower than I anticipated - for the simple reason I have so much I need to teach my partner, and he needs to get into the swing of writing articles. In both cases once this speed bump has been crested I should imagine things will be going a lot quicker.

That said results so far are 1 website up and running as of last night, and the content for another now in place, which will be going up later today.

Each have 5 x 500 word articles on them. Plan on getting 5 in place by the weekend which will than be SEO'd with the tier strategy on Sunday.

Still excited about this, just forgot how much I have learned on the subject which your average man on the street doesn't know and needs to be taught!

[nicelife]

Hey man,

Great initiative by you to perform this case study.

According to my experience small niche often websites perform well when using Exact Match Domains(EMD) in combination with a really High Quality article on the front page.

#Cheap High Quality Content Tip
Instead of writing articles myself I usually go out and look for a high quality article and have it rewritten, that's incredibly cheap, a 1500-2000 word article usually costs $6-$7 only because they don't need to do any research.

Preferably I like to find articles that has gone viral within the niche I'm targeting and have them rewritten, this work very well sometimes.

Anyway, looking forward to getting some results from your case study.

Thanks
/Daniel

[jimbo61]

Pob lwc bach, da iawn

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by nicelife

#Cheap High Quality Content Tip
Instead of writing articles myself I usually go out and look for a high quality article and have it rewritten, that's incredibly cheap, a 1500-2000 word article usually costs $6-$7 only because they don't need to do any research.

Good tip! thought of this before but not actually done it. Where do you find the writers? Fiver? DP? Odesk?

To begin with the plan is to keep this manual - to control quality and to help teach my partner each step. As we get into the swing of things and start seeing an income I can see outsourcing as being a very important part of our business model (especially backlinking)

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by jimbo61

Pob lwc bach, da iawn

Diolch bach.

Dw'in dim siarad Cymraeg... Wyf o Mwmbles

did I get that right?

[jimbo61]

odesk is Ok, Fiverr better as at least the bulk of people on Odesk can write English, even if it is that Americanised junk

[jimbo61]

Originally Posted by Welsh Warrior

Diolch bach.

Dw'in dim siarad Cymraeg... Wyf o Mwmbles

did I get that right?

Pretty much yes, I am only a few miles from Mumbles, why only this morning I was in starbucks in the village

[phans]

good luck with this study
i am interested in the topic because MNS are what i am doing atm as well

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by jimbo61

Pretty much yes, I am only a few miles from Mumbles, why only this morning I was in starbucks in the village

There's a Starbucks there now? I know Cafe Nero (I think) moved into the old Nags Head (shame, always thought that would make a great seafood bistro).

Don't really know anyone around there who speaks Welsh though...and half my family still live in Mumbles.

[nicelife]

I get the rewrites done here on the forum most of the time.

Contact several article writing service providers and ask for the rate of rewrites instead.

Pick a cheap one and expect to put in the final touch of the article yourself.

I guess you could go to Fiverr or several other places as well it's just a matter of preference

[kengperapol]

I've just ranked a micro niche site. It may not dead but a lot harder to rank than before.

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by jimbo61

odesk is Ok, Fiverr better as at least the bulk of people on Odesk can write English, even if it is that Americanised junk

Sorry, got me a little confused there. Fiverr is better because oDesk can write Americanised English?

[AfteraDream]

Why no outsourced content?

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by AfteraDream

Why no outsourced content?

Only to begin with, for a number of reasons

1) I want this to be a self funded project as much as possible. Whilst obviously the domains have to be bought prior to income, the idea is simply that we need to be looking at keeping this affordable (as a bonus, doing it this way means anyone following the study can jump n and try it for themselves without too much of a financial hit)

2) My partner has ZERO IM experience. By starting with the article writing aspect and teaching him things like keyword research and SEO as we go he can have an instant input to the business, that isn't held back by his lack of IM knowledge

3) Habit. I write a LOT by trade (doing article marketing for a few IMers), and tend to like to keep things in house.

But as the project progresses this will completely change, and we will be looking to reinvest profits into outsourcing and scaling.

[AfteraDream]

Originally Posted by Welsh Warrior

Only to begin with, for a number of reasons

1) I want this to be a self funded project as much as possible. Whilst obviously the domains have to be bought prior to income, the idea is simply that we need to be looking at keeping this affordable (as a bonus, doing it this way means anyone following the study can jump n and try it for themselves without too much of a financial hit)

2) My partner has ZERO IM experience. By starting with the article writing aspect and teaching him things like keyword research and SEO as we go he can have an instant input to the business, that isn't held back by his lack of IM knowledge

3) Habit. I write a LOT by trade (doing article marketing for a few IMers), and tend to like to keep things in house.

But as the project progresses this will completely change, and we will be looking to reinvest profits into outsourcing and scaling.

Well, it's good to teach the guy about how to start in IM.

Good luck guys, there seems to be opportunities in niche sites still. No matter what some are saying.

[JSProjects]

Originally Posted by paulmthw2

Having a network of micro niche sites , i would say that its far from dead. Actually my profits have been rising non-stop.
It all depends on the correct choice of the best niches out there.

Agreed. The micro niche sites that are "dead" are the low quality sites with mostly poor - or even worse - spun content that provide no real value.

[JoshuaG]

No offense, but if your goal is 50 sites a month you're going to see some dismal returns. Careful keyword research is paramount to building a successful micro niche site. You simply won't have time to do enough digging if you expect to get 50 sites up.

If you just pump them out in bulk like this you'll end up with $500+ in domain fees and meager gains for the vast, vast, majority of your sites.

If you get lucky and a few start earning, your earnings will be low and you won't see a positive ROI on the project for years.

You can't expect to sell the clunkers for any substantial amount. No ones going to pay a fair price for sites without earnings.

If I were you I would take a serious look at your model and re-think it.

[jficarro]

I guess the difference between micro and authority is the number of pages?

My niche sites that do best are ones that I consistently add to and update with fresh new content. IMO it's harder to rank a one or two page site, especially in Google. So most of my sites end up being huge with sometimes thousands of pages.

When people talk about "micro niches"... is there a reason for keeping them so small (few pages)? I know posting daily to hundreds of sites is a hassle, but I look at it as keeping my readers happy and good SEO.

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by JoshuaG

No offense, but if your goal is 50 sites a month you're going to see some dismal returns. Careful keyword research is paramount to building a successful micro niche site. You simply won't have time to do enough digging if you expect to get 50 sites up.

If you just pump them out in bulk like this you'll end up with $500+ in domain fees and meager gains for the vast, vast, majority of your sites.

If you get lucky and a few start earning, your earnings will be low and you won't see a positive ROI on the project for years.

You can't expect to sell the clunkers for any substantial amount. No ones going to pay a fair price for sites without earnings.

If I were you I would take a serious look at your model and re-think it.

If I were concerned I wouldn't be able to find that number of micro niches with EMDs I would. But I have my system down very well now (I also create some micro niche sites every week for clients), and finding viable options that meet my criteria doesn't take too long at all. A few hours every Sunday should uncover enough for the week.

Take a look at the criteria - and remember all this is a 100% MINIMUM, many will be higher. Where do you think I am skimping?

Specifically my research will focus on keywords with 1300 exact searches or more a month (ideally local searches to US or UK), $.70 or above and with low SEO'd top 10 competition.

I only ever care about the top 10, the rest can go hang for all I care.

Oh and the EMD has to have .com, .net or .org available

Any advice on what you think I should be looking to improve on that is, of course, most welcome.

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by jficarro

I guess the difference between micro and authority is the number of pages?

My niche sites that do best are ones that I consistently add to and update with fresh new content. IMO it's harder to rank a one or two page site, especially in Google. So most of my sites end up being huge with sometimes thousands of pages.

When people talk about "micro niches"... is there a reason for keeping them so small (few pages)? I know posting daily to hundreds of sites is a hassle, but I look at it as keeping my readers happy and good SEO.

With 'micro niches' the target is almost always one keyword, with some minor keywords targeted by sub articles.

For example an authority site might be called "curtain rail city" - curtainrailcity.com - targeting all sorts of things to do with curtain rails. But a micro niche site will be "oak curtain rails" (I havent looked up stats here) with oakcurtainrails.com - and from there you have minimal amounts of articles targeting things to do with oak curtain rails. the growth out of these sites is possible (I have done it multiple times), but because it is so laser focused and easy to rank it can often be easier to leave it earning well on what it's focus is (with only occasional updates) and move on to creating another one.

Both business models, in my experience, work - it's about choosing hat is best for each site

[yukon]

Originally Posted by Welsh Warrior

Still excited about this, just forgot how much I have learned on the subject which your average man on the street doesn't know and needs to be taught!

That's easy to do. When you do the same IM processes everyday no matter how difficult they are you get proficient over time & get into a groove (creating content, seo, etc...). It's very easy to forget that others new to IM need to take it slower & focus on the details first.

It's just like learning anything else, you get faster & better over time by doing repetitive task.

[jficarro]

Originally Posted by Welsh Warrior

With 'micro niches' the target is almost always one keyword, with some minor keywords targeted by sub articles.

Thanks, that makes sense and would in many respects be easier to rank (because of the laser focus).

So.. seems to me, I could have a 1000 page micro-niche site, but all focused on one narrow keyword with few exceptions.

duhhh. micro-niche NOT micro-site. Forgive me, I've only been doing this since the Internet went public

[jimbo61]

I struggle with what people know, as I find it easy now to get rankings for sites, I can look at a site and know what needs doing in seconds, but it all comes with experience.

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by jficarro

Thanks, that makes sense and would in many respects be easier to rank (because of the laser focus).

So.. seems to me, I could have a 1000 page micro-niche site, but all focused on one narrow keyword with few exceptions.

duhhh. micro-niche NOT micro-site. Forgive me, I've only been doing this since the Internet went public

Lol, exactly. The idea is to build up a network of these rather than one or two large authority sites with thousands of pages.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both models vs each other. For instance a large 'authority' site will likely find it easy to knock up a quick article on a keyword not worth buying a domain for, and rank quickly due to it's own inherent authority.

but at the same time if it is going to a slightly more difficult job the laser targeting of a micro niche makes that a more likely candidate.

I admit that, for the most part, I have tended to micro-niches. but over time a few of these have developed into authority sites in their own right, and a couple more I have created with the explicit aim of becoming a large authority site in it's own, wider niche.

Horses for courses an' all that!

[JoshuaG]

If I were concerned I wouldn't be able to find that number of micro niches with EMDs I would. But I have my system down very well now (I also create some micro niche sites every week for clients), and finding viable options that meet my criteria doesn't take too long at all. A few hours every Sunday should uncover enough for the week.

Take a look at the criteria - and remember all this is a 100% MINIMUM, many will be higher. Where do you think I am skimping?

Again no offense here what-so-ever.

I think there is skimping in lots of ways and also an overvaluation of the outcome.

I have my doubts that there is such a bounty of profitable keywords with exact search volume of over 1300 and low serp comp. that it would only take you a few hours once a week to find them. (Although I only have experience with higher CPC values, so my view is slanted here)

- AND -

That you have the time to get all the sites up while simultaneously doing your due diligence on your keywords, from niche selection right up to serp analysis.

Like how are you analyzing your competition? Just taking a quick glance or what?

And how many pages on average will each site be?
50 sites x 5 pages a site is 250 profitable keywords / month.
That quite a few to find and analyze.

Or are you just building 1 page sites and only need 50 keywords/month?

Even if those keywords are out there in droves are they likely to have a decent CTR? Or is that not a factor you consider(which of course takes time)?

And what about costs?
Domain - $10
Link building - $??
Content - $??
Building the sites? - $??

With such a low CPC where's your ROI on all this stuff?

It sounds like you have experience, and it works for you, but from where I'm coming from I just don't see it.

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by JoshuaG

Again no offense here what-so-ever.

I think there is skimping in lots of ways and also an overvaluation of the outcome.

I have my doubts that there is such a bounty of profitable keywords with exact search volume of over 1300 and low serp comp. that it would only take you a few hours once a week to find them. (Although I only have experience with higher CPC values, so my view is slanted here)

This aspect I have no concerns on at all - tbh with you I often wonder why people have such a hard time finding such keywords. Maybe my ideas will dry up as I push things and I will find it more difficult, but as of now I haven't really struggled at all.

- AND -

That you have the time to get all the sites up while simultaneously doing your due diligence on your keywords, from niche selection right up to serp analysis.

Like how are you analyzing your competition? Just taking a quick glance or what?

competition analysis =

• # of backlinks to page (though still trying to find a reliable indicator now there is no yahoo site explorer)
• Is it a top level domain?
• Have they done onpage SEO well (headers, titles, images)
• Is the keyword used 'intitle'
• Authority of parent site (this I am testing but tbh, the likes of Amazon and co aren't hard to outrank)

they're the focus of my investigation on each keyword.

And how many pages on average will each site be?
50 sites x 5 pages a site is 250 profitable keywords / month.
That quite a few to find and analyze.

Not each of the 5 pages will meet the same criteria. Only the main keyword the site is based on is done to that standard, I accept far lower stats with regards sub-article focused keywords.

Or are you just building 1 page sites and only need 50 keywords/month?

No, 5 x 500 word articles on each site as a minimum. But as I say the criteria is loosened for the 'minor' article keywords.

By minor article I mean those not on the front page.

Even if those keywords are out there in droves are they likely to have a decent CTR? Or is that not a factor you consider(which of course takes time)?

TBH this is something I am hoping will be something I learn from this test - what drives clicks and what doesn't. I have focused on product keywords (though products such as the mentioned 'oak curtain rails' rather than 'dewalt power drill DW880' or whatever), and found those to be fine. The majority of these sites will follow the same pattern, though I may test a few different areas out as well.

I am hopeful I can gather some meaningful data from this test myself, as well as just seeing if micro niches are still a viable target.

And what about costs?
Domain - $10
Link building - $??
Content - $??
Building the sites? - $??

The majority will be done manually to begin with. As I said in my original post this came about as a friend of mine is in need of a side income - and as he runs a pub he has a fair few hours where he is manning the bar but not actually doing anything - this is about tapping into that 'down time' and making it profitable for both of us.

For myself I will be doing what I can manually, but outsourcing if I find I don't have the time...I'll be allocating jobs to me and my partner and will decide if my schedule allows me to get the jobs done or if I need to use a link builder/content writer/VA.

But everything we will be doing will be replicable by anyone who wants to do it themselves, there is no use of complicated issues that you need pages and pages to understand. The most complicated software I use is probably Market Samurai and AMR, both of which are pretty easy (and relatively cheap) to pick up.

With such a low CPC where's your ROI on all this stuff?

Again the issue is that is just a minimum put in there for the sake of people seeing stats. I am certainly not going to be looking at something with a CPC of .70 if it also only has 1300 exact match searches, but neither will I discard it if it has 7000. It is about looking at what works and what doesn't.

The plan is to reveal the stats for each site once a week (probably Fridays), with regards what their keyword stats are. Obviously not the keywords themselves (we know how that will go), but people are then free to decide if they like what they see, or if they think that I aiming too low etc.

It sounds like you have experience, and it works for you, but from where I'm coming from I just don't see it.

That's fair enough, and don't think you have got my back up by questioning me (I know my writing style can seem a bit, shall we say 'blunt', on forums), I appreciate questions - especially ones like yours that get me thinking about what I am doing and where I can improve etc.

Let me know if you have any ideas/thoughts/questions - I can do with all the help I can get!

[JoshuaG]

Thanks for the reply. I'm still a bit skeptical, but the proof is in the pudding. If you guys work hard and pull it off, more power to you. Good luck!

[jficarro]

I'll be following this thread too. I used to be very light on adsense and got a little money from time to time. But then I got a client that made his whole living on it. Ever since then, I've been obsessed - and not doing too badly.

I understand what Joshua's saying, but to me, if I have 30 sites that only pull in $10/day (not that difficult), then I have a pretty good income stream coming in separate from other IM projects and clients.

Plus, some might turn out way better and you can sell the lesser ones.

Can't wait. I hope you stick with it and let us know your results.

[AfteraDream]

Originally Posted by JoshuaG

Thanks for the reply. I'm still a bit skeptical, but the proof is in the pudding. If you guys work hard and pull it off, more power to you. Good luck!

I think it depends on what Keyword research tool you use. If you got a good one, fast one then it's not as boring and long to find them. And I see people building 80+ sites a month so this case study is really doable.

I have found 1000+ keywords myself and that took me like 2 weeks. I'm done with it for now and can be building sites for a long time. And I lost some more keywords too by not saving them

[JoshuaG]

Originally Posted by AfteraDream

I think it depends on what Keyword research tool you use. If you got a good one, fast one then it's not as boring and long to find them.

I have found 1000+ keywords myself and that took me like 2 weeks. I'm done with it for now and can be building sites for a long time. And I lost some more keywords too by not saving them

...yea you think you did.

My bet is you'll be singing a different tune after you get those sites built and see how many actually rank as easily as you think.

Sorry for being a doubter, but I've built quite a few micro niche sites in my time (maybe I'm bad at it lol) and these just aren't reasonable numbers to me even with the help of good tools, which I do use btw.

[AfteraDream]

Originally Posted by JoshuaG

...yea you think you did.

My bet is you'll be singing a different tune after you get those sites built and see how many actually rank as easily as you think.

Didn't say it was gonna be easy! According to my keyword research tool they are low comp. Couple of sites I built got first rankings in 4th or 5th page with no linkbuilding.

I'm betting that kw research tool I use will be good and shows good data.

How about you stop being so pessimistic, eh.. not really AdSense enthusiast..

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by AfteraDream

How about you stop being so pessimistic

Pessimism is just as valid as enthusiasm imo...as long as it is coming from experience rather than just being a general nay sayer.

The whole point of this is meant to be 'do micro niche sites work' but obviously what it really is, is 'does my method of micro niche sites work'. Here he is doubting my methodology, and the 'ease' we find these niches...so either we prove him wrong, or he is right.

Whatever happens we all learn something, so there are gains to be made for everyone reading along with this case study.

Josh - how do you go about your niche sites then? I'm intrigued to see what works for you

[JoshuaG]

Originally Posted by AfteraDream

Didn't say it was gonna be easy! According to my keyword research tool they are low comp. Couple of sites I built got first rankings in 4th or 5th page with no linkbuilding.

I'm betting that kw research tool I use will be good and shows good data.

How about you stop being so pessimistic, eh.. not really AdSense enthusiast..

Lol, if its not gonna be easy to rank them then of course its easy to find tons of keywords!

Unfortunately, the whole point of building micro niche sites is to target keywords that are easy to rank for!!!

Your right though, I should stop being pessimistic. Experience is the best teacher.

Also thanks for pointing out I'm not really an enthusiast. I'm total changing my tag to "AdSense Realist"

[WilliamBlah]

I'll be following this thread with great interest. Let me first say that I am yet to see regular earnings with micro niche websites. I am pretty new to the game, and while I consider myself widely read and knowledgeable, I don't feel I have the expertise and wisdom gained through experience - although I hope this is gradually changing.

My keyword research normally takes me between 30 minutes to 1 hour to find a keyword (with suitable minor keywords) that I feel is profitable. In the case of micro niche websites this means:

-Confident to rank in top 3
-High enough CPC (with several active advertisers)
-High enough search volume

If even one of these factors is not to my liking, it makes the keyword completely useless to me.

One recent gem of wisdom I feel I have acquired is in not using any keywords which Google gives images, videos or maps at the top of the search. You would in effect be competing with 3-4 essentially immovable competitors.

My main current source of frustration is theme/template based. I tend to dawdle when it comes to actually dealing with the website set up. Keyword research, sourcing articles, on-page SEO, off-page SEO - not a problem for me at all. Perhaps what I need is to find a partner willing to do the bits that annoy me. Perhaps I need to get motivated and do the bits myself anyway.

[AfteraDream]

Originally Posted by JoshuaG

Lol, if its not gonna be easy to rank them then of course its easy to find tons of keywords!

Unfortunately, the whole point of building micro niche sites is to target keywords that are easy to rank for!!!

Your right though, I should stop being pessimistic. Experience is the best teacher.

Also thanks for pointing out I'm not really an enthusiast. I'm total changing my tag to "AdSense Realist"

Well define easy... no backlinking? Pretty sure that won't happen fast.. Running one SEO campaign from WSO forum and getting to the first page, how is that? Costs 30 bucks, you do nothing except pay..

Oh and btw I don't necessary go after EMDs..

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by WilliamBlah

I recent gem of wisdom I feel I have acquired is in not using any keywords which Google gives images, videos or maps at the top of the search. You would in effect be competing with 3-4 essentially immovable competitors.

I agree with that, I also avoid ones that have google shopping options at the top of the list

[isaacsmithjones]

Aww... End of the thread already..? lol.

Deffo following this. Really interested to see what happens.

I've never been able to profit from the few micro-niche adSense sites I've made. I've been able to make a few decent clickbank sites, because I have enough data to be able to realistically estimate ROI, but I can never guess CTRs for adSense.

But yeah, this thread might motivate me to have another go at adSense.

So good luck, and keep up the good work!

Thanks =)

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by isaacsmithjones

Aww... End of the thread already..? lol.

Deffo following this. Really interested to see what happens.

Lol, no, not at all - just been a very busy weekend (shattered after a hard game of rugby yesterday and spending all day at 'the taste of christmas' at the ExCel arena today)

Will be putting up the KW stats of the sites sometime tonight/tomorrow morning. 4 Made so far, think my partner has a handle on what I have him doing atm so should see things pick up pace a bit more now.

[chrome]

I prefer niche...micro/niche over large authority sites. I've built and owned both types over the last 11 years....niche sites always outperform especially ad CTR.

[Black Hat Cat]

Originally Posted by isaacsmithjones

Aww... End of the thread already..? lol.

I'm guessing they've been tripped up by a little thing called reality, lol. There's no way he/they can do what is outlined in this thread without outsourcing.

[Welsh Warrior]

Originally Posted by Black Hat Cat

I'm guessing they've been tripped up by a little thing called reality, lol. There's no way he/they can do what is outlined in this thread without outsourcing.

Interesting you would rather address someone else rather than me (who you are commenting about), especially as I had already answered this point.

Why do you think the two of us will be unable to complete this? I explained that actually I was a little ambitious to start with because I forgot how much I needed to teach my partner, I wonder what other obstacles you forsee that will require us to outsource?

Outsourcing is in the plan, just a few months down the line.

[dengwen168]

Case studies are always great,please share more details about the project, thanks a lot.

[Welsh Warrior]

So I have indeed been slacking on getting this updated. Let me ask people - what stats would they like to see?

Obviously at this stage things like rankings/income/traffic will be minimal, but I can include them.

What i was thinking is also KW info. Specifically exact match searches, competition numbers, competition breakdown of top 3-5 (Pr, backlinks, age)...give each keyword a code (I'm not actually going to show my KWs here) and include that sort of info once, then refer to the code of each site with regards traffic, income etc later on.

6 Sites up and running so far, should have 2 more tonight

[jficarro]

Originally Posted by Welsh Warrior

So I have indeed been slacking on getting this updated. Let me ask people - what stats would they like to see?

Obviously at this stage things like rankings/income/traffic will be minimal, but I can include them.

What i was thinking is also KW info. Specifically exact match searches, competition numbers, competition breakdown of top 3-5 (Pr, backlinks, age)...give each keyword a code (I'm not actually going to show my KWs here) and include that sort of info once, then refer to the code of each site with regards traffic, income etc later on.

6 Sites up and running so far, should have 2 more tonight

Even if they (rank, traffic, income) are minimal, I'd like to see them. I was trained as a scientist, so for me - the data is what it is. Even $2/day is something (especially if you end up with 100s of sites).

This is a tall order. Even just keeping everyone informed is time consuming. I'm hoping for your success!!!! But regardless, I hope you just keep at it and just let the chips fall where they may. And please do keep us informed.

[Tim_Hawksworth]

Hi,

This is great thread and well done for sharing.

What platform are you using for the sites ?
Wordpress ?

Any chance of seeing ( just one ) of your sites so we can see
what you are experimenting with ?

Thanks and wishing you all the best.



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