Adsense Reality Check - 5 years & Going Strong!

[Juvv2096]

Thats a really good way to look at it Yukon and looks like it has worked well for you.

I guess a lot of people get too caught up on the SEO / backlinking side their site is average. Having the two working together means less chance of dropping in SERPS from algo chances and gives you best of both worlds.

the results from backlinking microniche sites are Far lower and harder to do than a site that has good content which is informative and multiple pages.

For example I wanted to try a micro niche site, and its taken a hell of alot of back building to get it noticed by google and finally move up the ranks.

On a website that has heaps of content, I added 1 page, back linked it and landed on first page.

Proofs in the pudding some times I think.

[vj3660]

yukon your concept is really good but many people don't do it.Even I'm having a issue since when we search for a review craps sites show up in first so dunno what product to buy as IM guy we can distinguish it easily .
These guys totally concern on higher commission not about the quality of product.

If people think like you IM world will be lot better than this

[yukon]

Originally Posted by vj3660

yukon your concept is really good but many people don't do it.Even I'm having a issue since when we search for a review craps sites show up in first so dunno what product to buy as IM guy we can distinguish it easily .
These guys totally concern on higher commission not about the quality of product.

If people think like you IM world will be lot better than this

I agree most won't follow through only because a real business takes real work (upfront).

What's funny is, I'm sure a lot of folks spend years trying to game something IM related, rather than spend that same amount of time (or less time) creating something totally unique & useful that will last for years.

Seriously, I have two larger sites that I do very little updates on day after day, year after year & they still bring in enough income to keep me working at home & the bills paid, can't ask for much more. I get to stay home with my family & do whatever I want, how cool is that. I still have my 3rd largest site that keeps me busy, but that work will taper off soon enough, just like the other two sites did.

Keep in mind, I did at least a solid year of real work on those larger sites, I'm still working on the 3rd site. My point here is, it takes dedication & real work today, If you want the sites to keep earning years from now. You need a long term plan to earn long term money.

If folks would slow down & come up with a business plan, even If it's as simple as the mountain bike trail map site plan, I think they would look at IM a lot different.

Like I've said before "It's easier to get repeat traffic than 100% new traffic".

[hamburglar]

I was going to send this in a PM but I think everyone can benefit from this question.

So since the starting of this thread, I got creative and produced some music. It has been well received and have over 200 views in 4 days on the video already. The community also gave me pointers on how to make it better.

Now here is my questions. I will make these downloadable on my site. Is it a good idea to make that link go to a page which request to join my newsletter? There will be a link at the bottom to skip and go directly to the download.

Or is it just better to link the files directly. I dont mind giving it away for free but I would like to have some form of capture because I intend to hopefully sell the songs one day.

Regards,
H

[yukon]

Originally Posted by hamburglar

I was going to send this in a PM but I think everyone can benefit from this question.

So since the starting of this thread, I got creative and produced some music. It has been well received and have over 200 views in 4 days on the video already. The community also gave me pointers on how to make it better.

Now here is my questions. I will make these downloadable on my site. Is it a good idea to make that link go to a page which request to join my newsletter? There will be a link at the bottom to skip and go directly to the download.

Or is it just better to link the files directly. I dont mind giving it away for free but I would like to have some form of capture because I intend to hopefully sell the songs one day.

Regards,
H

Good to see you take action!

The way I do my downloads is simply give them a single direct download link on my web page. I also have an email optin form on the sidebar of every single page of the site.

My advice is, don't make the traffic work for the download, you have to make it very easy to grab the file. The more files they download the better IMO, the reason is the screenshot below, I keep the download contents very simple also.

Here is what I would include for an MP3 download:

• TOS for download
• MP3 file
• Internet Shortcut to my sites sales page or optin page

That Internet Shortcut will get clicked out of curiosity by the traffic that downloads your files (free repeat targeted direct traffic).

Make the Internet Shortcut go to an internal page, this way you can swap out sales products & optin forms live, meaning no matter how old the downloadable file is (traffic downloaded the file a year ago) the Internet Shortcut will always point to what your promoting today.

I learned my lesson on that a couple of years ago, I was sending all my traffic to my sites Index page instead of the sales page or optin page.

Also include a TOS text file that says whatever you want + promotes your own sites Index page URL.

This is the way I currently do things for my own downloads & it works well for me. I've found that not giving traffic very many options & very little work to get the downloads has worked good so far.

[yukon]

Also, before I forget.

If you are creating MP3 files for free downloads, I would be advertising with a very quick mention of your website name "Free MP3 Download by MySite.com", before & after the actual MP3 content.

Keep reminding your traffic (without looking/sounding like spam) that they downloaded the file from your site.

Make everything as professional as possible.

[NikkiBlue]

Originally Posted by yukon

Also, before I forget.

If you are creating MP3 files for free downloads, I would be advertising with a very quick mention of your website name "Free MP3 Download by MySite.com", before & after the actual MP3 content.

Keep reminding your traffic (without looking/sounding like spam) that they downloaded the file from your site.

Make everything as professional as possible.

YUKON-
Thanks again for your contributions to the forum. This thread and the Silo Arcitecture thread have helped me greatly!

Two questions :
1)Are you hosting the MP3 downloads on your own server? I provide free mp3 downloads and have been using sites such as Podmatic and Soundcloud because Im afraid of burning up bandwidth...but I really dont see those sites sending back any traffic and I could probably build my list faster without them.

2) Did you diverse hosts for your own sites? I think earlier in the thread, you mentioned linking between sites. Ive always hosted my sites on the same reseller account and still managed to get PR3,PR4 , but that was before the Panda mania .


Thanks

[sultanmehmet02]

nice artticle

[yukon]

Originally Posted by NikkiBlue

YUKON-
Thanks again for your contributions to the forum. This thread and the Silo Arcitecture thread have helped me greatly!

Two questions :
1)Are you hosting the MP3 downloads on your own server? I provide free mp3 downloads and have been using sites such as Podmatic and Soundcloud because Im afraid of burning up bandwidth...but I really dont see those sites sending back any traffic and I could probably build my list faster without them.

2) Did you diverse hosts for your own sites? I think earlier in the thread, you mentioned linking between sites. Ive always hosted my sites on the same reseller account and still managed to get PR3,PR4 , but that was before the Panda mania .


Thanks

I don't use MP3s for my downloads, that was only an example for MP3s. Still, it's the same setup only swap out the MP3 with another file type, keep the TOS & Internet shortcut the same inside the download file.

I strongly suggest that you host your files on your own hosting. The goal here is simplicity for your traffic. External download sites are full of their own advertisements, If your going to place an advertisement in front of your traffic, make sure it's going to pay you, not a 3rd party file host.

You want your traffic to see a download prompt directly after they click your download link/button on your own page.

Let me tell you a little horror story that actually happened to me when I setup my first site.

When I setup my first download site I was also a bit worried about bandwidth being maxed out, so I hosted my first 300+ files on mediafire for free.

Exactly 1 year after I posted my first download on mediafire, the files stated to expire on mediafire, I was thinking OMG what the hell is happening!

I never found anyplace on their site that mediafire deleted files after 365 days (1 year).

I went a solid week (10-12 hour days) trying to fix all those dead downloads (total nightmare).

Luckily I was established & had told my traffic to help me find broken download links, they were very helpful.

By the time all this happened with mediafire I was working on something like file #450+, so it was a total mess.

Lesson learned.

I run the same Hostgator for all 3 of my larger sites, haven't had any problems.

[MarathonMan]

Yukon, I will gladly stand behind you on your philosophy that not only is generating MFA sites irresponsible to your visitors, it's NOT a good long-term business practice.

I own several authority sites, and I have never generated a single link. I have never written a single self-promoting article, and I have never bought advertising of any type or form.

Yet I get tens of thousands of visitors daily and have dozens of excellent Google rankings.

My strategy is to focus ONLY on content and user satisfaction, as while keeping on-page SEO prominent while expanding and generating content. In the end, Google always delivers the traffic to me, over all of the honestly horrible half-assed spun articles and MFA minisites that clutter my niche's SERPs.

As a user, I have NEVER found what I was looking for on a MFA. Ever. Sure, of the thousands of visitors I have on any given site a large percentage simply find what they want and never click an ad or buy anything - but that's OK. An authority site with viable and useful content will be around far longer then any MFA site, earn far more committed users, and generate several orders of magnitude more revenue.

[TryBPO]

Hey Yukon,

Here's another idea or thought that could break you away from being so dependent on search traffic:

If it's a subject you're really into and you've had the site up for a while and are getting considerable traffic (i.e., it looks like the site's a winner)...consider starting a podcast.

It's relatively easy to produce and get podcasts out. If you're going after niches like kayaking...there's likely to be little competition and we've found it's a GREAT way to drive traffic to a site.

People digest content in different ways...many of the people that listen to our AdSense Flippers Podcast are "new" to our brand and ultimately end up going to our site. If your passion is kayaking, you can talk about the best places to go, must-see spots, equipment (with affiliate links in the show notes) etc.

Particularly for you, Yukon, if you have that level of traffic and your subject is something you're truly interested in...check out if there are other podcasts on that particular subject. If there aren't or you feel you could add some value there it could be a great way for you to expand the traffic and the brand on the site.

[Super Saiya]

Thank you, Yukon

I am building one site in my sig as a user generated content + community. Nothing for sale.
I hope to grow traffic by various of activities and focus to be Number 1. Site of Pet Lover Socialization focus solely on ways to Help Pet by providing everything online users can do to Help Pet.

Guess, I am on the right track.

[Kris79]

I always been for Quality over quantity. I don't like these MFA sites, they look terrible.
Didn't you think about finding new niches, since it seems you have all sites in one niche?
For me it's kind of scary to have all egg in one basket.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by Kris79

I always been for Quality over quantity. I don't like these MFA sites, they look terrible.
Didn't you think about finding new niches, since it seems you have all sites in one niche?
For me it's kind of scary to have all egg in one basket.

I actually find it the opposite.

What's scary is when folks target a bunch of unrelated niches at the same time.

I can easily recycle traffic in the same niche & pass that traffic back & forth between multiple sites in the same niche.

Example, If site-A is about gardening tips, site-B is selling gardening tools/books. I don't do anything like review sites, I hate fake sites like those.

Still, If you had site-A with a tutorial how to grow greenhouse plants in the winter, you could easily promote site-B Banner Ads that is selling DIY greenhouse kits (just an example).

IMO, it's just easier to target a large audience in the same niche, from multiple angles.

[sinaloa]

Hey Yukon,

I really appreciate your out of the box thinking!

Question

Over the last several years I've taken a run at Adsense in a couple of different niches. What I found was in technology niches I could generate a lot of traffic but Adsense CTR sucked. It seems tech minded folks tend to consume info and NOT click on ads. However, in health niches where people were searching for health solutions, CTR was higher.

Do your Adsense sites focus on hobbies, tech or health?

Thanks in advance!!!

[yukon]

Originally Posted by sinaloa

Hey Yukon,

I really appreciate your out of the box thinking!

Question

Over the last several years I've taken a run at Adsense in a couple of different niches. What I found was in technology niches I could generate a lot of traffic but Adsense CTR sucked. It seems tech minded folks tend to consume info and NOT click on ads. However, in health niches where people were searching for health solutions, CTR was higher.

Do your Adsense sites focus on hobbies, tech or health?

Thanks in advance!!!

I've pretty much stuck with the hobby niche only because I have an interest in the hobby that I monetize with my sites.

I've had sites in other niches in the past but always went back to what has worked well for me on the hobby sites.

People spend a lot of money on hobbies, even when the economy isn't doing so well.

I also find it easier to understand what exactly my traffic wants, when I'm a customer in the same hobby. When I learn something new in my hobby niche, I instantly share it with my traffic, at the same time I look for a way to monetize the new info. I'm sharing.

[sinaloa]

Kind of what I thought.

Makes TOTAL sense!

[Nickels]

I love this thread! It has helped me alot. I appreciate all the info you have shared and the time you have put in to answering the questions regarding the maps and stuff.... Thanks Yukon.

[ryuchi]

Agree with you, I am sick of all those adsense hate threads I always see in the forums. Add to that is the "not accepted in adsense" threads too.

I am one of the people who still believes in adsense and I am glad that there are still people who are like me

Ryuchi

[DonMaster]

yukon
Thanks for nice post.
The post is pretty interesting hanks for the information for me.

[potski]

Very informative thread. Thank you!

[RimaNaj2011]

I agree that an authority site model like that works very well. It's better if it's something that you're passionate about, but for me, that's either IM-related stuff or personal finance...which happen to be 2 crazy saturated markets.

[jetlady]

Originally Posted by yukon

Sure, but knowing how to spot a sub-niche that has a few common problems that can be monetized would benefit you more. Notice I said sub-niche, because you don't have to know everything in the world for a complete niche.

For example, say I was into cycling (I've used that before in other threads, I'll do it again ).

My hobby is cycling but what I'm really interested in is off-road mountain bikes, thousands of people are involved in this niche, but let's dig deeper than that, dominate & possibly create our own niche.

I live in the United States, my hobby is off-road mountain bikes. The US has 50 states with national & state public cycling trails.

Problem:
I have a mountain bike & I'm trying to find places to ride that are fun & legal, no trespassing. I really need something with GPS points.

Solution:
Create a new site for mountain bike trails. Each of the 50 States has it's own page on the site. Each page includes every single possible public trail per individual state.


Free Giveaway:
Each individual trail has it's own Free downloadable pdf inside a zipped folder.

The zipped folder is very important, because that is future repeat traffic (internet shortcut back to your sites money page).

It's far easier to get repeat traffic than to bring in 100% new traffic.


Funnel traffic:
In this example, the free content would be a pdf file, which is a good thing since you can self promote with hyperlinks inside the pdf.

Income:
If you get clever about your free product (pdf maps) you will purposely not include GPS coordinates.

The same map with GPS coordinates would be the premium product.



Think about it. The traffic has a very detailed map for free for some cool off road trails that they won't be trespassing on.

But wait!

Ahh... that clever late night infomercial one liner.

What would make this off road map way better is some GPS coordinates. It just so happens we have that for sale!

Buy a single GPS map for $1.97, a full state map package for $9.97, or the complete 50 state set for only $19.97.

That's a business waiting to happen!


It doesn't stop with the maps!

We brought traffic in the front door via any & all mountain bike forums by dominating a single sub-niche.

If you learn anything from this, learn this one thing (seriously)!

Start your forum thread on the free forum & give the maps away for free (not the premium product) directly on the niche forum, your goal is to build an authority thread & this is very easy, hear me out.

When you first start you have no website (trust me on this), your goal is building trust & being very helpful for free.

Start with a single US state (your state), & post those free maps on the forum thread stick with a single state for right now. Out of state mountain bikers are watching the thread, they want a map for their own state, they'll start requesting maps from you.

Once the request start rolling in start building the site & first create pages for the existing maps that are hosted on the forum, once the site is brought up to date with existing maps, go back to the forum take a few more request with links pointing at the new map page on your site & repeat...

Remember this is not a scheme, this is building trust, this is building repeat traffic. That guy that has an Illinois map is heading to northern Michigan on his camping vacation next summer (awesome state trail system btw), he will need another map, rinse repeat...

I could go on all day with this mountain bike example, like Amazon, they sell low end mountain bikes ($300), might return a nice affliate check along with your own product.

If your running Adsense, guess what, the pages are 100% optimized per state travel, which equals vacation Ads on Adsense. I'm sure Adsense vacation Ads have a nice CPC.

Want to keep upselling?

Remember the vacation guy, there are millions of others just like him, they need someplace to sleep when they go on their vacation with their bikes, that's a new premium ebook to sell, campgrounds & hotel list packaged with GPS bike maps.

Guess what, 1 year later you have 1+ million zip files & pdfs on desktop PCs all over the USA that all point back to a single sales page (your sales page).

Repeat traffic ROCKS, & it all started with a simple solution to a real problem.

Wow.

Regardless of the negative comments here, I still think you are one of the "good" guys, and a brilliant one at that. Thanks for your generosity.

[Mattv]

Hello Yukon, I'm pretty new to the I.M game. I was wondering if you thought 15 pages of original content(700 words ea minimum) with a nonspammy looking theme would work out to begin with? Right now I have one keyword that I'm targeting that gets 1600 searches, but I plan to branch out to keywords with 500+ searches a month.


Thanks

[yukon]

Originally Posted by Mattv

Hello Yukon, I'm pretty new to the I.M game. I was wondering if you thought 15 pages of original content(700 words ea minimum) with a nonspammy looking theme would work out to begin with? Right now I have one keyword that I'm targeting that gets 1600 searches, but I plan to branch out to keywords with 500+ searches a month.


Thanks

Yes, 15 pages is enough especially If they are all targeting a single keyword.

Make sure to keep each page unique, also the page titles need to be unique, otherwise you'll have pages fall into the supplemental SERPs, which won't help.

[outwest]

Great advice as usual

[Laubster]

Hi Yukon. So glad to hear about someone who has had long-term success building authority sites, versus get rich quick MFAs. I too am taking that approach, and was wondering if you could depart some knowledge on AdSense Ad placements. Where are you having success in terms of placing ads? Above and below content? Within the content? Text versus banners? Both? I am using Clickbump C5 and have already made some money within 12 hours of submitting my sitemaps, but I'm in this for the long haul and would truly appreciate some input here. Keep up the good work!

[yukon]

Originally Posted by Laubster

Where are you having success in terms of placing ads? Above and below content? Within the content? Text versus banners? Both?

For me the best location for an Ad is top/center, that location has done well on all my sites.

[bitriot]

Hey Yukon - great thread! I have 2 questions:

1. you wrote this: "The zipped folder is very important, because that is future repeat traffic (internet shortcut back to your sites money page)." - can you elaborate on this? I don't understand what zipping up the file has to do with repeat traffic. Or if a zipped folder is something different, what is it?

2. For this example, how would *you* go about getting mountain bike maps and gps coordinates?

[yukon]

Originally Posted by bitriot

Hey Yukon - great thread! I have 2 questions:

1. you wrote this: "The zipped folder is very important, because that is future repeat traffic (internet shortcut back to your sites money page)." - can you elaborate on this? I don't understand what zipping up the file has to do with repeat traffic. Or if a zipped folder is something different, what is it?

1) The files I create for my own sites are not .pdf, they are a format only used in my niche, it's a niche standard file extension. I can't host my file extension on a web server without breaking the file, that's the reason for the zip file. The folder in the zip file also contains my own TOS, plus the internet shortcut that points directly to my site.

Since I don't use a pdf file I needed a way to get traffic back to my site, that's the whole point of having the internet shortcut link in the zip folder. If I was running a pdf file extension, I would defiantly use hyperlinks inside the pdf & also inside the folder that is zipped.

Including the internet shortcut inside the zipped folder I'm very sure you'll get repeat traffic simply from the person that downloaded the file being curious where the link goes. If they trust you enough to download a file, they will trust you enough to click the internet shortcut in the zipped folder.

I respect my traffic very much & never give them a reason to not trust my files, everything I do is clean & white-hat. Just saying it's pointless to jeopardize repeat traffic in any way, it will only hurt the webmaster.

Another important reason I include the internet shortcut inside the zipped folder is, my traffic sometimes tends to share my files with people that have never been to my site (niche forums, etc...). This way If your file is shared outside of your own website, you'll still get new traffic without even trying (seriously), I get a lot of direct traffic to my sites.

Yet another very important reason I include that internet shortcut in the zipped file is, a few months after I started posting free files on my own sites I had some yahoo start hotlinking all my files (I fixed him real quick). At first it really pissed me off that I wasn't getting the traffic or credit that I deserved (I didn't have that internet shortcut inside the first few zip files), after all I created all of these files, he was getting free content at my expense.

I needed a way to get the traffic he was getting & show them this guy was stealing my files, that's when I went through all my self hosted files & updated them with my internet shortcut pointing at my site. I made sure all the old download links were exactly the same, so I was getting every single bit of his traffic.

That joker still sends me free traffic because he has links to my files all over his site. Hows that for free traffic, ha, ha.

My point here is, it's important to brand everything you do, on your site & inside your download files. If you get the branding wrong (internet shortcut included), it will cost you a lot of free traffic for years & years...

Originally Posted by bitriot

2. For this example, how would *you* go about getting mountain bike maps and gps coordinates?

2) As far as maps & data that's all part of the research you'll have to do If your interested in this niche.

The mountain bike example can easily be replaced with any other niche. You need to ask yourself what are you interested in?

This isn't a quick MFA type site, this is something that has to provide value to your traffic, no option on that or you'll be wasting time.

Do this.

Forget the internet for a while (seriously), write down on a piece of paper what you like to do, make a short list & don't take a lot of time thinking, just write down what you like best, the first things that pop into your head (I sound like DR. Phil ). When the list is done, get online & start researching niche forums for whatever you wrote down on the paper.

Once you find a high traffic niche forum for something your interested in, & start looking for problems that other forum members are having. Trust me, every single forum on the net is full of people that have a problem with something & could use help. Their looking for a solution to their problem. Create the solution.

The trick, If you want to call it that is, you need to be able to spot threads that have high view counts & very few answers. High view counts show an interest in the subject, few answers to the problem in the thread show demand for a solution. Create the solution.

Once you find the niche problem, start asking questions related to the problem, I guarantee If you did the research I talked about above (high view count forum threads/few answers), you'll get a lot of interest from the other forum members. Start doing research & create the solution.

Keep in mind this is a case of more is better, quality is also important, but the more downloads you have the more new traffic + the more repeat traffic you'll get.

This is another reason why I said in an earlier post in this thread, do not start a new website until you have 100% solved the niche problem. Create an authority thread & get the ball rolling, a large amount of interest from other forum members will tell you when it's time to start building the new niche website.

I'm serious about this part (create the authority forum thread, that is your testing grounds), If you do this part backwards it can cost you a lot of wasted time, If your solution to the problem doesn't have enough interest/traffic.

Get it right inside the niche forum first, show them what you have to offer. If the first idea flops, so what it didn't cost you a penny. Repeat the steps again on a new niche problem. Chances are If you research those two things above (high view count forum threads/few answers), you'll get it right on the first try.

This niche solution works & is how I started two of my largest sites. I kinda stumbled onto this by accident about 5 years ago. Back then I didn't even know what IM was, I just learned everything on my own doing research, I tested all the time & still do today. If the test works good, change things, If the test has crappy results go back to what worked for me before the test.

I belong to one authority niche forum (the largest in my niche) that sends me between 1,500-3,000 traffic per day, I visit that forum about once a week now & hardly ever update my old authority niche sites. When I say authority site, I'm really the only site that provides these types of files for free. I do sell some files, but the majority of the files are free, that's what brings in the free traffic. I make most (not all) of my money on these larger sites with Adsense. Two other competition sell 100% of their files.

I also get decent traffic from the SERPs. The thing is, I have never depended on the SERPs for all my traffic. The SERPs are extra traffic (which I'm more than happy to have). Just saying traffic diversification is how you build long term sites that need little maintenance in the future.

This post is getting long, lol...

[Chambers]

I love Micro Niche Sites. Mine all start out small and have to perform, when they do I treat them like a plant.

Oh, a few clicks for a few bucks...good little MFA site you get a little water (backlinks)...a few more bucks you get a little sunshine (more content).

You get the idea. Sure big sites work well, but they all start somewhere.

[Laubster]

Originally Posted by yukon

For me the best location for an Ad is top/center, that location has done well on all my sites.

Thanks, that's where I've been putting them, so fingers crossed!

[misel]

Hi Yukon

Great that you share your knowledge and experiences. I can only agree with you in every aspect. You have a fan here! ;-)

One question: Do you think downloadable videos would work with your "method"?

[bizcheers]

i read your words for several days which is very super nice. I guess the "Free Giveaway:" you talk about is a little charged software uploading free trail version to big software downloading websites. That way will generate huge traffic since it is hot no matter it does high competition, you still get free traffic on that.

Am I right? I did a little bit before, that is "flash game box" the traffic is good, still running nowadays.

thanks Yukon.

Joe

[yukon]

Originally Posted by misel

Hi Yukon

Great that you share your knowledge and experiences. I can only agree with you in every aspect. You have a fan here! ;-)

One question: Do you think downloadable videos would work with your "method"?

Yes, downloadable videos will work, actually anything that a large amount of traffic would like to have, will work.

I do strongly advise that you own 100% of any video/audio/content that you share as a download for your traffic. Just saying, keep it all white hat & give your traffic only legal content.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by bizcheers

i read your words for several days which is very super nice. I guess the "Free Giveaway:" you talk about is a little charged software uploading free trail version to big software downloading websites. That way will generate huge traffic since it is hot no matter it does high competition, you still get free traffic on that.

Am I right? I did a little bit before, that is "flash game box" the traffic is good, still running nowadays.

thanks Yukon.

Joe

No, I only use content that I personally create. I also never send my traffic to another site to download anything.

If you send traffic to another site for some other free trial, you'll be lucky If they ever visit your site twice.

You defiantly want to:

• Create your own content inside the download file
• Host your own files on your site (only)
• Brand everything you do (everything)

[horst]

wow im blowin away by this information. thank you yukon.

do you really think in every forum are big problems, that are waiting to be solved? for example i like to travel. people usually just post their experiences and not very much their problems.

[bfas]

Originally Posted by horst

wow im blowin away by this information. thank you yukon.

do you really think in every forum are big problems, that are waiting to be solved? for example i like to travel. people usually just post their experiences and not very much their problems.

Then ask yourself the question: what would YOU like to see when you visit travel sites? If you can provide that, you're probably in a position to take advantage of that market.

Have you traveled enough to offer advice, things you wished you knew or were aware of? Travel tips, an experienced travelers perspective, places you've been or things you've done that you think others might enjoy hearing about?

Any area that you have experience in can be leveraged well, with a quality site.

Michael

[yukon]

Originally Posted by horst

wow im blowin away by this information. thank you yukon.

do you really think in every forum are big problems, that are waiting to be solved? for example i like to travel. people usually just post their experiences and not very much their problems.

Your welcome,

I think every forum is full of people that need problems solved.

I would imagine travel has a lot of problems.

• Best family friendly vacation locations
• How to travel with pets on airlines
• Best pet friendly hotels
• Vacation spots for adults only
• etc...

Look at this sub-forum, & all the how-to SEO questions, the questions never stop because the flow of people new to SEO will never stop.

Even If people on a forum don't mention a problem, there are always better solutions to whatever the subject of the forum is.

I built my first site about 6 years ago on a sub-niche that the forum members didn't even know they wanted, that established site still gets 1-3k traffic per day (auto-pilot).

I basically own that sub-niche today, not because I got the jump on competition, my claim to fame in that sub-niche was consistency & a useful product (legal downloads).

For almost a solid year I was pumping out legal quality downloads, I posted about two new pages per day, the forum traffic couldn't get enough. I literally dominated that entire sub-niche by brand recognition. A single large forum spread the word for me on multiple same niche forums, blogs, etc...

The rough outline of that first site is in post #50 on the first page of this forum thread.

Bottom line is, If you have anything (quality content) another person values, you have leverage. The flow is simple: quality product/content > traffic > money

[alphadude]

Some people are just not interested in creating authority sites, they just want to create small sites to a quick profit. A lot people would frown upon it but does not mean it can't and won't work. Just a case of being at the right place at the right time, and knowing when to move on.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by alphadude

Some people are just not interested in creating authority sites, they just want to create small sites to a quick profit. A lot people would frown upon it but does not mean it can't and won't work. Just a case of being at the right place at the right time, and knowing when to move on.

The smaller the site, the more external SEO you'll have to do.

Nobody will take a 2 page MFA site seriously, even non IM people will be thinking "Where's the rest of the site?".