Seasonal "Micro" Niche Profits — $22,616.51 Case Study Revealed

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by rconejr

Oh wow, great post, so glad you shared that. I'm just getting into this stuff. I just need to be able to quit my job and spend more time with my kids. I know this stuff still takes work, but I can work as hard as I can at my current job as a newspaper reporter and I won't make a cent extra I'd rather put that kind of work in for myself.
Thanks for the inspiration.

Hey RConeJr,

Anything is possible online.

I would create a plan of action right now as well as
a goal for yourself.

Before thinking about quitting your job thinking about
how you can earn your first $100 online. Be realistic.

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by DonnaLeona

Hi,

Thanks for a great post! I'll be trying this out soon.

(Is that an apricot poodle in your picture?)

~Donna

Donna,

Yep ... that is indeed an apricot poodle. My buddy
"Otis" he get's me outside once in a while!

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by Steve Steinitz

Hi Brian,

I like your practical approach, and your years of experience shine through. I thought I understood your business model until I read this:



That sounds like you are using subdomains but I'm pretty sure you are not. Can you please clarify?

Thanks for all the helpful information,

Steve

Hey Steve,

You probably get my methodology ....

Bottom line is this, each site is on it's own domains.
Some "sites" only have a homepage right now, regardless
some of these one page sites earned hundreds this
past month.

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by goodmast3r

Brian, am I getting this right? You're spending 2 hours to create and promote a blog. Then it gives you more than $50 a month without anymore effort? You don't do maintenance on your blog? Thanks

Ian

Ian,

That is correct.

Couple of things, I never said "blog".

I really hate that word (blog) because it confuses people.

I use wordpress to launch websites, simple as that.

Sure, Google loves fresh content, they also love all the
stuff I give them like:

• Quality Content
• Unique Content
• Outbound Links (no affiliate links)
• Keyword Domains
• No Sign Of Affiliate Anything (Google does not see my aff links - they are cloaked)

Thus they rank my stuff high, I get traffic and make money.

The key is to be able to walk away and launch more

Best,

[Charles Washington]

With non affiliate outbound links down your sidebar, dont you lose people and cause them to go elsewhere? It seems that this would hurt your conversions.

Also, how does having affiliate links and adsense links work together? What % of people click the adsense ads and what % actually click through to your affiliate links?

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by Charles Montgomery

With non affiliate outbound links down your sidebar, dont you lose people and cause them to go elsewhere? It seems that this would hurt your conversions.

Also, how does having affiliate links and adsense links work together? What % of people click the adsense ads and what % actually click through to your affiliate links?

Charles,

I loose people for sure, however I am in the top
twenty of Google nearly 50% of the time with
minimal effort.

Thus I drive lots ... and lots of Traffic.

And the way I layout my sites most people do not
leave mysite through these types of links.

Let's say I lose 15% of my visitors to these links and
let's also assume I get 1000 visitors daily.

I am still left with 850 FREE visitors ;-)

Most people who do affiliate stuff would kill for my
rankings and traffic.

I have already commented about affiliate / adsense
issues.

Best,

[JasonC.biz]

Brian - thanks for the great post. I've just been getting started doing something very similar. Very little traffic and no sales so far, though mine are geared more the Christmas.

Anyway, a couple of questions if you don't mind.

1) What outbound links do you have in the sidebar, other than AdSense?

2) Do you use pages or posts in WP, and why? Or, do you think it matters?

Thanks,
Jason

[Microbusiness Media]

Hi Brian,

You have give some very valuable information on the power of niche sites vs. Athority sites. Thanks so much for sharing it.

I had a question about hosting. I had always read that you don't want to have domains from the same web hosting account pointing to each other.

How do you overcome this or is this even an issue? Do you actually have all of the sites linked together or just pointing to one site.

Rod

P.S. Are you the same Brian Johnson who wrote Commission Ritual?

[Julie Fletcher]

Hi Brian

What do you use to cloak your affiliate links?

Thanks

Julie

Originally Posted by Brian Johnson

Ian,

That is correct.

Couple of things, I never said "blog".

I really hate that word (blog) because it confuses people.

I use wordpress to launch websites, simple as that.

Sure, Google loves fresh content, they also love all the
stuff I give them like:

• Quality Content
• Unique Content
• Outbound Links (no affiliate links)
• Keyword Domains
• No Sign Of Affiliate Anything (Google does not see my aff links - they are cloaked)

Thus they rank my stuff high, I get traffic and make money.

The key is to be able to walk away and launch more

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by JasonC.biz

Brian - thanks for the great post. I've just been getting started doing something very similar. Very little traffic and no sales so far, though mine are geared more the Christmas.

Anyway, a couple of questions if you don't mind.

1) What outbound links do you have in the sidebar, other than AdSense?

2) Do you use pages or posts in WP, and why? Or, do you think it matters?

Thanks,
Jason

Jason,

I link out to stuff that Google ranks high in my niche.
This way, Google stops by ...

See's all my god stuff (the kind of stuff they ask for at
the Googles webmaster guidelines) such as outbound
links, unique content, video and ...

They trust me.

Tada. I get ranked.

Forget pagerank.

Today it is all about "trust rank".

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by JasonC.biz

Brian - thanks for the great post. I've just been getting started doing something very similar. Very little traffic and no sales so far, though mine are geared more the Christmas.

Anyway, a couple of questions if you don't mind.

1) What outbound links do you have in the sidebar, other than AdSense?

2) Do you use pages or posts in WP, and why? Or, do you think it matters?

Thanks,
Jason

Jason,

Pages or Posts.

I like posts because they get feed into the rss feed
automatically, while their are now plenty of plugins
to also add pages into the rss feed I prefer simple.

Oh ....

One more issue.

The homepage - make it a static page so you can
control the content and make more sales.

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by Microbusiness Media

Hi Brian,

You have give some very valuable information on the power of niche sites vs. Athority sites. Thanks so much for sharing it.

I had a question about hosting. I had always read that you don't want to have domains from the same web hosting account pointing to each other.

How do you overcome this or is this even an issue? Do you actually have all of the sites linked together or just pointing to one site.

Rod

P.S. Are you the same Brian Johnson who wrote Commission Ritual?

Rod ...

I had always read that you don't want to have domains from the same web hosting account pointing to each other.

Who said I am linking my sites together.

I am not.

No need.

They rank out of the gate so linking together would be
something I would not risk.

Plus, again they are ranking!

People link sites together to push rankings.

I already got them!

Commission Ritual.

Yes.

One hell of a course and many of my students cashed
in as well this Halloween. Neat feeling to do what you love
and help people out.

FYI: I am hosting a free webinar this Friday as a
result of the positive feedback this post has received, look
for the webinar details soon.

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by aztecdataservices

Hi Brian

What do you use to cloak your affiliate links?

Thanks

Julie

Shadow WP Cloaked

ø Link Cloaking Plugin for WordPress | W-Shadow.com ø

Used to be free, I still use the free version.

However, does not really matter "what" you
use. Just as long as the links are cloaked your golden.

Best,

[dmarze]

Hi Brian,

This is absolutely fantastic method. I will try it sometimes next week.

Thank you for sharing this powerful system.

D.Marze

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by dmarze

Hi Brian,

This is absolutely fantastic method. I will try it sometimes next week.

Thank you for sharing this powerful system.

D.Marze

Hey D. Marze,

Cool, let me know how it goes

Best,

[Cosmo Demopoulos]

Just threw up my first season Xmas site - low comp, around 6000 competing sites, a MicroNicheFinder SOC of 6, and OK traffic with a mega spike this and next month.
Two backlinks.

As of this morning, it's ranking at #2 in Google. Exactkeyword.org

No aff links added yet, just two pages plus privacy policy, contact us, etc.

Will probably cloak but not sure if it's necessary. A similar niche site is doing OK with non-cloaked Amazon links, but better safe than sorry.

Launched two more, but not ranked yet.

Thanks Brian - this will be interesting! I'm be adding a couple of twists to your outline to if it adds anything.

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by Ted Demopoulos

Just threw up my first season Xmas site - low comp, around 6000 competing sites, a MicroNicheFinder SOC of 6, and OK traffic with a mega spike this and next month.
Two backlinks.

As of this morning, it's ranking at #2 in Google. Exactkeyword.org

No aff links added yet, just two pages plus privacy policy, contact us, etc.

Will probably cloak but not sure if it's necessary. A similar niche site is doing OK with non-cloaked Amazon links, but better safe than sorry.

Launched two more, but not ranked yet.

Thanks Brian - this will be interesting! I'm be adding a couple of twists to your outline to if it adds anything.

Ding ... Ding ... Ding ...

We have a winner!

Great results and I am glad to here it.

Ted,

I launched my first set of about 20 sites about a week
ago, about 75% are in the top twenty of Google.

Fun hu ;-)

Glad you liked the outline.

Best,

[Cosmo Demopoulos]

The second site (not yet indexed) is much more competitive and I decided to give a .biz a try. Then another .org

Then I've got the same keyword .net and .org which i might place on different IPs and try a couple of different things.

Having fun, and hopefully be making money from this too Brian
No assistant, not enough time, and lots of little sick kids at home try to help me today!

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by Ted Demopoulos

The second site (not yet indexed) is much more competitive and I decided to give a .biz a try. Then another .org

Then I've got the same keyword .net and .org which i might place on different IPs and try a couple of different things.

Having fun, and hopefully be making money from this too Brian
No assistant, not enough time, and lots of little sick kids at home try to help me today!

Hey Ted,

Having an assistant allows me to continue to test
and keep current, were launching an unbelievable amount
of sites right now.

That being said, do it yourself for now.

Work your butt off ... launch as many as possible.

Then hire an assistant

Best,

[HarryS]

Originally Posted by Brian Johnson

My One Page "Micro Site" Thinking

Launch 50 sites each with 1 - 3 pages of content.

This "micro" network of sites would benefit from
having 50 pages of content on the domain root.

The power of a domain name is HUGE when it
comes to ranking online and my network of
sites maximizes and leverages this fact.

Launching a bunch of sites all at once was not
so hard as we were not trying to launch huge
massive "authority" sites but simple little one
page sites which focus on just a few search
phrases based on my golden rule.

One of the benefits of being so busy publishing
content is that most of the sites never really
got slapped by Google and none of them got
into trouble.

Awesome post Brian. I do have a question about the micro network of sites. Right now I am pretty much doing the same thing. Are you interlinking the sites together? So site A is linking to the other 49 sites, site B linking to the other 49 sites, etc?

[JasonC.biz]

@ SteelyDan - He just said in post 63 above that he is not linking sites together.

Jason

[Charann Miller]

Thanks for the great post Brian.

You've got so many different profit centers, you can continue to keep making money with these sites on autopilot, flip the domain names or flip each site for a nice chunk of change and you've still got plenty more to fall back onto, win-win-win I say.

Nice work.

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by SteelyDan

Awesome post Brian. I do have a question about the micro network of sites. Right now I am pretty much doing the same thing. Are you interlinking the sites together? So site A is linking to the other 49 sites, site B linking to the other 49 sites, etc?

Steely Dan,

No interlinking of sites ...

To much more, takes time away from publishing
and it is risky.

Why risk when I am already ranking so well?

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by Charann Miller

Thanks for the great post Brian.

You've got so many different profit centers, you can continue to keep making money with these sites on autopilot, flip the domain names or flip each site for a nice chunk of change and you've still got plenty more to fall back onto, win-win-win I say.

Nice work.

Charann,

Yep ... That is all part of the master plan ;-)

Food for thought, when most affiliate's / marketers / web geeks
launch sites they get all attached to them. They try to improve
on the rankings by building links.

By just walking away and letting them age the rankings
come on their own. Then after several months you can
start some very slow link promotion to boost rankings.

Then you can either keep the sites for the revenue
stream (this is usually what I do) flip them or grow
them out ...

Powerful stuff indeed.

Best,

[DonnaLeona]

Originally Posted by Brian Johnson

Donna,

Yep ... that is indeed an apricot poodle. My buddy
"Otis" he get's me outside once in a while!

Best,

Well then I know you're a good man! I have an apricot poodle named Oliver. Poodles are misunderstood by many. The truth is they are nearly human.

Life is good: Developing websites for a living and a good dog to love.

~Donna

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by DonnaLeona

Well then I know you're a good man! I have an apricot poodle named Oliver. Poodles are misunderstood by many. The truth is they are nearly human.

Life is good: Developing websites for a living and a good dog to love.

~Donna

Donna,

Otis is my true buddy, I love to get out and take
him for walks, it's good for both of us.

Oliver ;-) I bet our dogs would have all kinds of
fun!

Best,

[mylindaelliott]

Hmmm. I will have to rethink some of this.

[Jonet Bradley]

Whoa, what an inspiring post--Thanks so much for sharing what's working for you, gives newbies like me the extra kick in the pants to really start making moves. I wish you continued success & I can't wait to get on the webinar!

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by Jonet Bradley

Whoa, what an inspiring post--Thanks so much for sharing what's working for you, gives newbies like me the extra kick in the pants to really start making moves. I wish you continued success & I can't wait to get on the webinar!

Hey Jonet,

Just remember ....

We all start from the very same place.

Make a plan.
Take action.
Stay focused.

Best,

[Elmer Hurlstone]

Just a quick, formal, THANK YOU to Brian!

Based on the response to this thread alone and the number of PM's it has probably generated (I'm responsible for two or three) I'm amazed he has the time to spend answering, in detail, the questions posed in the thread.

Plus the PM's.

Makes me wonder how he's getting any other work done...

Elmer

[Mark-Dickenson]

Thanks for the great post Brian.

Just to let everyone know, Brian has posted some great info without even mentioning his product Commission Ritual in his sig, which Rocks!!

I just purchased it last week and learned a quite a few things that will make Google trust/like my site more...and the keyword research vids are money

I wish he didn't include the MH Ritual...that was my secret for a quite a while

Anyhow, the types of sites he is recommending you make in this thread absolutely work. This is exactly how I make my money

I just got done making some videos for my customers showing these principals in conjunction with the Amazon Holiday Toy List that just arrived in my inbox yesterday

If you do this combined with the suggestions that Brian makes in this thread, you will make money.

Using that list, I found 5 keywords with at least 8k(one had 27k) searches in quotes with 50k or less competition...in about 20 minutes

Thanks again Brian

Gotta run...I have some sites to make

-Mark

[Marhelper]

I know this is geared toward seasonal selling but I would like to use it for year round purposes ... thoughts?

[David Mcalorum]

Jeeeeeeze man, that's some great market research going on there. That's the kinda thing that makes millionaires, bud.

[AM Faisal]

its a winner

[maggie2]

Originally Posted by Brian Johnson

Kx,

Depends on far too many factors.

Average cost per click estimates (adwords tool).
If I can get a keyword driven domain.
Affiliate programs....

I will mention that I have targeted ebay and have
done quite well with that program as you can target
so many "true" niche keyword phrases.

Best,

Hey Brian,

What an awesome post! There's a heck of a lot here to digest.

You said in the post quoted above that you targeted ebay and that you can target so many "true" niche keyword phrases.

Could you explain what you mean by that, please? I am looking at ebay as a possible means of generating traffic and so any information would be helpful.

Thank you so much for this post. It has tons of great info.

[kx]

Hi Brian,

Had a few more questions in mind:

- Those 1-page websites that you have, how long are they on that 1 page? I'm assuming it's an article around your target keyword between 500 and 1,000 words?

- Do you use any copy-writing techniques in order to "persuade" people? or do you just have a goal to quickly send people from your site to merchant's site?

- What do you use for tracking visitors (if anything)?

Thanks in advance,
kx

[goodmast3r]

Brian one more question, do you use branding in your domain name? Like windowsvistasoftware.com?

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by Mark-Dickenson

I wish he didn't include the MH Ritual...that was my secret for a quite a while

If you do this combined with the suggestions that Brian makes in this thread, you will make money.

-Mark

Hey Mark ...

MH Ritual?

Since I coined the IM Term Ritual, I am wondering what
your referring too?

Glad you making money Mark and I am glad you like
Commission Ritual.

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by Elmer Hurlstone

Just a quick, formal, THANK YOU to Brian!

Based on the response to this thread alone and the number of PM's it has probably generated (I'm responsible for two or three) I'm amazed he has the time to spend answering, in detail, the questions posed in the thread.

Plus the PM's.

Makes me wonder how he's getting any other work done...

Elmer

Elmer,

I am not going to complain about the response I
have received with this thread. Anytime anyone
posts a thread such as this the hope is to spark
a fire ...

That being said yesterday was crazy and I did not
finish up on what I had planned.

That is ok however, I am self employed and have no
boss to answer to

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by Marhelper

I know this is geared toward seasonal selling but I would like to use it for year round purposes ... thoughts?

Marhelper,

The methods work for any term online ...

Search for "internet marketing course" and you find
my 15 month old site ranking #2 on Google.

Search for "domain parking" you find my site beating
Google, and millions of other domain parking companies ;-)
(I think right now I am ranked number 3 on Google).

If you need money or rankings now then you target
keywords that other do not target, they can be seasonal, or
not.

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by MJGrae

Jeeeeeeze man, that's some great market research going on there. That's the kinda thing that makes millionaires, bud.

Yep ...

And I am going to get my share ...

Right now while I can, In the last two months I have
registered about 300 domains and have launched about 200
sites.

This week my assistant will be started with batch number
two of Holiday sites, dog sites, hair sites, catalog stuff.

I hope others jump in (their is plenty of opportunity for everyone).

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by Bruce_Richards

its a winner

Hey Bruce,

Thanks! I know I feel like a winner after such an
amazing Halloween!

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by maggie2

Hey Brian,

What an awesome post! There's a heck of a lot here to digest.

You said in the post quoted above that you targeted ebay and that you can target so many "true" niche keyword phrases.

Could you explain what you mean by that, please? I am looking at ebay as a possible means of generating traffic and so any information would be helpful.

Thank you so much for this post. It has tons of great info.

Maggie,

True niche keywords:

Keywords with search volume, based on commercial products
or services that people buy often online with little competition.

Once in a while people email me and say they can not find
these types of keywords, the truth is their are so ... many.

Give me 90 minutes of research and I will have found
between 25 and 75 keywords to target ;-)

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by kx

Hi Brian,

Had a few more questions in mind:

- Those 1-page websites that you have, how long are they on that 1 page? I'm assuming it's an article around your target keyword between 500 and 1,000 words?

- Do you use any copy-writing techniques in order to "persuade" people? or do you just have a goal to quickly send people from your site to merchant's site?

- What do you use for tracking visitors (if anything)?

Thanks in advance,
kx

Content of about 400 words to 1000.

We start out with about 400 to 500 words, if we have
time and If we see the site is on page two of Google we
then add more content to the homepage with additional
outbound links.

This often results in a boost in the rankings ;-)

Sales copy - no.

No need, these are people who have already been sold.

Someone searches for:

kids cowboy costume

They land on your page with "kid cowboy costumes" ...
Those type of visitors sell themselves.

Awstats for tracking.

Again, keep it simple. And too be honest I really did not watch
the stats.

Rember: My job is to publish.

Not to over analyze.

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by chukwuma

The road to making money. Thanks for this post.
How do you manage to promote the 120 sites?

Hey Buddy,

Read the post again ...
I did not have to promote.

I only posted one or two links to new sites.
That is all it took, that is the power of the method.

Again, read the post again. I think you missed some important
parts.

Best,

[Brian Johnson]

Originally Posted by goodmast3r

Brian one more question, do you use branding in your domain name? Like windowsvistasoftware.com?

No - generic terms.

Best,