Please help me with some tips to delve into the SELF-HELP niche.

11 replies
Hello Everybody,

I was just doing some niche-research today, and happened to be intrigued by Self-Help or Personality-Development and related niches. I haven't been able to uncover much yet though. In fact, I think I'm just getting started... I'll post whatever I can learn about the niche here, in a day or so.

However, I thought of looking for help here... have always received great support and ideas from all you Warriors

Let's just say I would be planning to setup a blog. Also, it would be worth noting that I'm in my early twenties, and am by no means, a professional in the said niche.

1. So, if I'm setting up a blog and am targetting success without having the required (or desired) blog-writer profile (for the particular niche), how do I go about building trust with the visitors/readers?

2. What would be the best ways to monetise such a site? AdSense, Amazon, ClickBank, newsletter (solo advertising spots), etc. or something else? CPA offers, maybe?

3. What would be an ideal WordPress theme for such a site? A magazine layout, or a typical blog layout? Or some other kind of layout?

4. Would auto-blogging be a long-term game in this niche or would a mix of auto-blogging and writing work better?

5. What would be the potential of such a site? How much could it stand to make per day, after 2 months of continuous efforts, also assuming that it is a fairly competitive niche and ranking for keywords in this niche would be difficult?

As of now, I'm only able to think of these questions. I'm confident that the views expressed further in this thread will help us learn a lot more and take inspiration for ideas and to eventually take action, and make a good day's living.

Anticipating a lot of views/ideas here...
#delve #niche #selfhelp #tips
  • Profile picture of the author dougp
    Originally Posted by theultimate1 View Post

    Hello Everybody,

    I was just doing some niche-research today, and happened to be intrigued by Self-Help or Personality-Development and related niches. I haven't been able to uncover much yet though. In fact, I think I'm just getting started... I'll post whatever I can learn about the niche here, in a day or so.

    However, I thought of looking for help here... have always received great support and ideas from all you Warriors

    Let's just say I would be planning to setup a blog. Also, it would be worth noting that I'm in my early twenties, and am by no means, a professional in the said niche.

    1. So, if I'm setting up a blog and am targetting success without having the required (or desired) blog-writer profile (for the particular niche), how do I go about building trust with the visitors/readers?

    2. What would be the best ways to monetise such a site? AdSense, Amazon, ClickBank, newsletter (solo advertising spots), etc. or something else? CPA offers, maybe?

    3. What would be an ideal WordPress theme for such a site? A magazine layout, or a typical blog layout? Or some other kind of layout?

    4. Would auto-blogging be a long-term game in this niche or would a mix of auto-blogging and writing work better?

    5. What would be the potential of such a site? How much could it stand to make per day, after 2 months of continuous efforts, also assuming that it is a fairly competitive niche and ranking for keywords in this niche would be difficult?

    As of now, I'm only able to think of these questions. I'm confident that the views expressed further in this thread will help us learn a lot more and take inspiration for ideas and to eventually take action, and make a good day's living.

    Anticipating a lot of views/ideas here...
    Hi, its your business that your trying to building, so you'll have to constantly conduct marketing tests and then make the proper adjustments in your business to produce optimal results. With that being said here are some tops for some of your questions.

    1.If you can build unique quality content, then this is a great way to build credibility and trust in your market. Just look at all of the top content sites out there, all of them have quality content.

    2.I don't know, conduct marketing tests.

    3.Same as two.

    4.If you want to build long term success you think an autoblog would keep people interested in your content? What would prevent other marketers in your niche from setting up an autoblog? There is very little diversity in the content when these mechanisms are implemented. Its better to invest in your content so that you can consistently produce something that your readers will come back for.

    5.Conduct market research. Use keyword analysis and try and come up with as accurate of assumption as you can.

    I would recommend writing out a detailed marketing plan before you start to give yourself a nice outline to follow. Best of luck.

    Doug
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    • Profile picture of the author SP11
      How About joining or looking at some forums on self help and see what people are after and the kind of things they are looking for? What questions do they ask? What problems do they want solving? How have some got through these problems? What kinds of threads are popular?

      Also you could look at amazon maybe in the self help books section and read reviews on the products to see what the people who buy self help products like and dislike and what they buy?

      It seems to me quite a difficult task to start in a niche that you know very little about but maybe you know more than your post gave the impression of?

      Hopefully trying some of this research will help you find some areas to aim your content at so that you know there's a market for those particular areas before wasting time writing content which may not be in demand?

      I am no expert by any means at internet marketing but hope these ideas can help you get started! Good Luck!

      Sandra x
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  • Profile picture of the author Venturetothetop
    Originally Posted by theultimate1 View Post


    1. So, if I'm setting up a blog and am targetting success without having the required (or desired) blog-writer profile (for the particular niche), how do I go about building trust with the visitors/readers?
    ...

    What ever happened to making money from what you are good at?

    Do you have any idea how competitive the 'self help' niche is and how unethical it is to build trust with readers when you have 'no desire' to learn about the subject. This niche deals with people's emotions and you have no right there if you are not even remotely interested.

    $10 says you never succeed with this as you have just clearly shown you have no interest in it besides the 'potential' for income.
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    • Profile picture of the author theultimate1
      Originally Posted by Venturetothetop View Post

      What ever happened to making money from what you are good at?

      Do you have any idea how competitive the 'self help' niche is and how unethical it is to build trust with readers when you have 'no desire' to learn about the subject. This niche deals with people's emotions and you have no right there if you are not even remotely interested.

      $10 says you never succeed with this as you have just clearly shown you have no interest in it besides the 'potential' for income.
      Thanks for adding a 'different' perspective.

      However, I beg to differ... I never mentioned that I'm looking at just ripping people off of their emotions. I would be interested to learn more about things in this niche.

      The only thing I wanted to convey (and I apologise for having missed it out in my first post) is that I'm presently 24 years old. Even if I had to be a Personality Development Counsellor (or such), this age wouldn't have brought me the right experience to become a 'GURU' in this industry. So, I was looking for ways to find out if I can become any good at all, and then help people with whatever it is I know. I don't see how that is unethical in the capitalist world.

      I don't intend to sell my own products though; and if I can learn a few things and share them via a blog (which has always been the most basic purpose of a blog), how am I cheating anybody - advertisers or the buyers/visitors?

      I hope that explains my intentions, which are not so evil, after all.

      Come to think of it, Frank Kern makes over a 100K per month in the dog training niche. Do you think he's an expert in the field? I doubt that. But, we do respect him as a marketer. That's because he has a good reputation of providing good info. to people who actually want it - Let's just say he's bridging the gap between the information resources and the buyers... Something I might be interested in doing.

      However, your point that this industry involves people's emotions, is entirely valid, and I request you to kindly let me know if I'm still being unethical about the whole thing, because cheating people off of their emotions is the last thing I'd want to do. Thanks.

      Peace
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      • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
        The best way to build an audience rapidly, build trust in yourself, and to build a list......

        Interview the Self Help Experts!! Then sell their materials as an affiliate. Comment on their works.

        Do a BlogTalk broadcast, do an IMLive, do a podcast.

        This is just off the top of my head, but if that was a niche I wanted bad enough, I'd start trying to contact self help guru's and asking to interview them. Send them the list of questions you'd like to ask, especially do this for ones where you have read their materials, and know a little about them. Watch for the ones who are coming out with a new book, new DVD's, etc.

        Hopefully that gets your mind thinking in a new direction..

        You can also do interviews via email, and create PDF files, blog posts, etc.

        If you are doubting you will get some people willing to do interviews, ask yourself this question. Do you they still market their materials? If so, they are interested.
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  • Profile picture of the author Will Edwards
    Originally Posted by theultimate1 View Post

    Hello Everybody,

    I was just doing some niche-research today, and happened to be intrigued by Self-Help or Personality-Development and related niches. I haven't been able to uncover much yet though. In fact, I think I'm just getting started... I'll post whatever I can learn about the niche here, in a day or so.

    However, I thought of looking for help here... have always received great support and ideas from all you Warriors

    Let's just say I would be planning to setup a blog. Also, it would be worth noting that I'm in my early twenties, and am by no means, a professional in the said niche.

    1. So, if I'm setting up a blog and am targetting success without having the required (or desired) blog-writer profile (for the particular niche), how do I go about building trust with the visitors/readers?

    2. What would be the best ways to monetise such a site? AdSense, Amazon, ClickBank, newsletter (solo advertising spots), etc. or something else? CPA offers, maybe?

    3. What would be an ideal WordPress theme for such a site? A magazine layout, or a typical blog layout? Or some other kind of layout?

    4. Would auto-blogging be a long-term game in this niche or would a mix of auto-blogging and writing work better?

    5. What would be the potential of such a site? How much could it stand to make per day, after 2 months of continuous efforts, also assuming that it is a fairly competitive niche and ranking for keywords in this niche would be difficult?

    As of now, I'm only able to think of these questions. I'm confident that the views expressed further in this thread will help us learn a lot more and take inspiration for ideas and to eventually take action, and make a good day's living.

    Anticipating a lot of views/ideas here...
    OK, Ill try ...

    1. Deliver quality - consistently. That way you are unstoppable!

    2. They are all valid options and they all work well. You can use them all in your approach and other options too such as developing your own products.

    3. There is no ideal Wordpress theme, but there may well be an ideal combination of plug-ins.

    4. AutoBlogging is a no-no. So that means No - No and er ... No!

    5. After 6 years of persistent effort, my main site does 5 figures passively.

    Hope that helps you in some way.

    Friend, you can succeed online, but it is not an easy task. Anyone who says different is being ... ahem ... somewhat economical with the truth.

    Steer clear of short-cuts, concentrate on building a business & good luck.

    Will
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  • Profile picture of the author theultimate1
    Wow, that's some amazing set of ideas to get me started. I'm getting to doing the keyword research right away... guess that's a fairly good Step 1. I'd appreciate any further help on this, and some tips on how I should go about it (the process bit).
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan Bainbridge
    Originally Posted by theultimate1 View Post


    1. So, if I'm setting up a blog and am targetting success without having the required (or desired) blog-writer profile (for the particular niche), how do I go about building trust with the visitors/readers?

    2. What would be the best ways to monetise such a site? AdSense, Amazon, ClickBank, newsletter (solo advertising spots), etc. or something else? CPA offers, maybe?

    3. What would be an ideal WordPress theme for such a site? A magazine layout, or a typical blog layout? Or some other kind of layout?

    4. Would auto-blogging be a long-term game in this niche or would a mix of auto-blogging and writing work better?

    5. What would be the potential of such a site? How much could it stand to make per day, after 2 months of continuous efforts, also assuming that it is a fairly competitive niche and ranking for keywords in this niche would be difficult?
    Hi Ultimate, The self help niche is pretty much my only niche, and I have been working in it, writing about it and promoting various products from weight loss to hypnosis, to confidence, and obviously subliminals. In answer to your questions:

    1. In this instance I would set your blog up as a brand, rather than brand it to yourself. This also means that you could detach yourself from it in the future - that people follow the brand rather than you.
    2. I would always recommend promoting affiliate products and keeping Adsense off your pages - in my experience the pennies from adsense are insignificant compared to affiliate product sales - essentially they are a leak which your visitors can escape to rather than clicking on something which will really make you money.
    3. This is personal preference, blogs, magazines, or blog / review site styles can all do well here.
    4. I am not a fan of auto blogging, some will say it works, but I have never been able to pull it off, you will still need to do seo / backlinking for your site in any case..
    5. This depends entirely on YOU - your knowledge and experience, the amount of work you put in etc. I don't think self help is too overly saturated, certainly not as competitive as IM imo, and there are always plenty of terms you can rank for - to start with longer term ones, but as you grow your site, and yes hopefully within 2 months you can get decent rank for decent terms too. I don't think it is especailly hard to rank for self help type keywords generally - obviously it varies tho
    Venturetothetop mentioned the ethics - I think ethics are important as yes, some of the issues in self help obviously cover serious issues which affect people's lives. Perhaps steer away from anything really "deep", and just review different forms of personal development generally - i.e. hypnosis, subliminals, paraliminals, nlp... then move into more specific areas but again nothing to close to the bone - perhaps confidence, self esteem, memory, weight loss - keep away from serious illnesses and disorders basically.

    Related to this I think it is important to have an understanding of the product too - and many vendors will give you review copies, advice and materials. This will not only clear you from an ethical perspective if you have actually used the product, but it will make you more credible - you will be able to write something unique, and share your own thoughts and experiences, and this will help you to stand out and get a following.

    I would recommend taking a simple approach and setting up a blog / site in one area rather than getting carried away and covering everything - this could be one area such as hypnosis / subliminals / eft / tapping, or perhaps one niche such as weight loss, confidence, motivation, memory, money mindset. You said you are intrigued by self help - which areas? Write about something that interests you, that's how I started, I am genuinely interested in many areas of self help - nlp, hypnosis, confidence, business mindset and read a lot for work and pleasure.

    Do some research now - type in "confidence blog" "weight loss blog" "self help blog" or type in some product name reviews "product name review" and see other people who have built sites in these niches - focus on the ones who are primarilly reviewing / writing about products on an affiliate basis rather than people who are just documenting their journey or blogging for personal interest rather than affiliate reasons.

    I hope this helps, and I hope you enjoy the niche!
    Dan
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    • Profile picture of the author ebizman87
      Just becareful in promoting self help product from CB. There's a weird marketer who combined multiple small niches with not much relativity and is selling a Cb product. I had a hard time selling it before finally I changed to different 1.
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  • Profile picture of the author JonathanBoettcher
    Anyone else find the thread title a little ironic?

    But you asked some good questions...
    Originally Posted by theultimate1 View Post


    1. So, if I'm setting up a blog and am targetting success without having the required (or desired) blog-writer profile (for the particular niche), how do I go about building trust with the visitors/readers?

    2. What would be the best ways to monetise such a site? AdSense, Amazon, ClickBank, newsletter (solo advertising spots), etc. or something else? CPA offers, maybe?
    1. If you're not the expert, then try to align yourself with people who are. See if you can find some other blogger who has a following and ask if you can interview them.

    BUILD YOUR LIST. You've got nothing without a list.

    2. Ideally, come out with your own product. Start with affiliate products, to test to see what sells, but I now believe owning your own product is the way to go. And this is likely easier than you think. A recorded interview with an expert is a product, for instance.

    Hope that helps...
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    • Profile picture of the author theultimate1
      Originally Posted by JonathanBoettcher View Post

      Anyone else find the thread title a little ironic?

      But you asked some good questions...


      1. If you're not the expert, then try to align yourself with people who are. See if you can find some other blogger who has a following and ask if you can interview them.

      BUILD YOUR LIST. You've got nothing without a list.

      2. Ideally, come out with your own product. Start with affiliate products, to test to see what sells, but I now believe owning your own product is the way to go. And this is likely easier than you think. A recorded interview with an expert is a product, for instance.

      Hope that helps...
      Hi Jon,

      Thanks for your ideas. A mailing list is one thing at the top, on my list; and I like your sense of humour. After you pointed it out, I had to read it twice to see if it was an ironic title, and sure it was!
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