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What About Writing for Specific Crowds?

by Long Beach Nathan
4 replies
I had some questions about writing content for whatever niche you're targeting. This has been a huge roadblock for me since there's only a few subjects I know about extensively.

I was just reading Travis Sago's method about evaluating niche profitability and it reminded me again that there seem to be a lot of marketers out there that have no problem picking some obscure group of people and then marketing to them. But how in the world could you pick some niche you have no interest in and know nothing about, like say, people who own yachts, and write all about it, (granted you found products that would interest these people and you could compete using good keywords)?

I know some people just hire article writing out but for me it's too big of a leap to justify doing that until I've at least made a little progress first. I mean, I don't know how people claim to be able to just find these groups of people to market to, and then they set up a site featuring all kinds of content when they had to either do a ton of research themselves, or else hire someone else (the article writer) to do it for them. In any case, this would seem to be very time consuming. Not to mention the fact that if the research was done on the internet, you'd be just basically rewriting other info you found, and not really adding anything useful.

Also, I'm thinking about the time frame it would take to go from finding a group of people, to matching a product to them, to finding out if you could compete on a keyword basis, to doing the research, setting up the site, writing and everything. You could easily get to the end of that process maybe a couple months later only to find that there's no way to make money with that interest group, and then you'd just have to rinse and repeat.

So is there something I might be missing about this process? I've set up some sites in the past, but that was before I came across this method. I understand this stuff in theory, I'm just trying to find out if it would even be practical for me to attempt. Also, I know there's no easy way. I've been at IM off and on for 5 years now.
#crowds #specific #writing
  • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
    Originally Posted by Long Beach Nathan View Post

    I had some questions about writing content for whatever niche you're targeting. This has been a huge roadblock for me since there's only a few subjects I know about extensively.

    I was just reading Travis Sago's method about evaluating niche profitability and it reminded me again that there seem to be a lot of marketers out there that have no problem picking some obscure group of people and then marketing to them. But how in the world could you pick some niche you have no interest in and know nothing about, like say, people who own yachts, and write all about it, (granted you found products that would interest these people and you could compete using good keywords)?

    I know some people just hire article writing out but for me it's too big of a leap to justify doing that until I've at least made a little progress first. I mean, I don't know how people claim to be able to just find these groups of people to market to, and then they set up a site featuring all kinds of content when they had to either do a ton of research themselves, or else hire someone else (the article writer) to do it for them. In any case, this would seem to be very time consuming. Not to mention the fact that if the research was done on the internet, you'd be just basically rewriting other info you found, and not really adding anything useful.

    Also, I'm thinking about the time frame it would take to go from finding a group of people, to matching a product to them, to finding out if you could compete on a keyword basis, to doing the research, setting up the site, writing and everything. You could easily get to the end of that process maybe a couple months later only to find that there's no way to make money with that interest group, and then you'd just have to rinse and repeat.

    So is there something I might be missing about this process? I've set up some sites in the past, but that was before I came across this method. I understand this stuff in theory, I'm just trying to find out if it would even be practical for me to attempt. Also, I know there's no easy way. I've been at IM off and on for 5 years now.
    I think you are simply making it more difficult than it really has to be. I think you have this idea that you have to find an obscure group of people that nobody else is marketing to or is so highly targeted that they will all convert into sales. This is just not true. You are simply looking for a sub niche.

    Example:

    You want to get into the Weight Loss niche, but you know it is too broad and very competitive. So, instead, you target a group of people that is looking to lose a specific type of weight, like "man boobs", "belly fat", etc. This is what you do to find your smaller group.

    As for the research and writing this is why internet marketing, when done properly is not a get rich quick scheme. You have to put in work to get to where you want to go. This is a business not a hobby and if you treat it like a business you will see results.

    Benjamin Ehinger
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    • Profile picture of the author magman01
      Can't short-circuit the process. You say there are few things you are passionate about. Therein lies the issue. Either resign yourself to involvement with a subject that bores you but is profitable, or take to time to discover your passions and be led from there.
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    I think you might be looking at research in the wrong way.

    You should never be "rewriting what you read".

    Instead, you should read a subject for comprehension of the material, before you sit down to write. If you do that, you will be able to write with your own voice and power.

    Once you understand how to get the most of your research in a limited amount of time, you will be able to write competently and quickly, even if you are brand new to the subject.
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    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author RemingtonSteele
    Originally Posted by Long Beach Nathan View Post

    But how in the world could you pick some niche you have no interest in and know nothing about, like say, people who own yachts, and write all about it, (granted you found products that would interest these people and you could compete using good keywords)?
    Some people are able to do this, and some aren't. There are tons of niches that I stay away from, not because they aren't profitable, but because I don't want to get involved with them for philosophical or moral reasons. In other words, it would pain me to write about certain niches. However, some people don't care about the topic, as long as it makes them money.

    In cases where I know little or nothing about a topic that I want to build a site around, I take the time to research the niche to the point where I can write competently about it. I might spend a few solid days reading blogs and forums in that niche so that I get a good feel for what the people are like, what's important to them, etc. Then I outline the topics for the content, and I start writing. It takes another few days to write 4-6 articles that are worth reading. The people who claim to be able to write 4-6 articles per day are NOT writing good stuff -- I can almost guarantee it.

    Originally Posted by Long Beach Nathan View Post

    I mean, I don't know how people claim to be able to just find these groups of people to market to, and then they set up a site featuring all kinds of content when they had to either do a ton of research themselves, or else hire someone else (the article writer) to do it for them. In any case, this would seem to be very time consuming. Not to mention the fact that if the research was done on the internet, you'd be just basically rewriting other info you found, and not really adding anything useful.
    Heck yeah, it's time consuming.

    I disagree with you about content that adds nothing useful just because the Internet was the only source of information. Skillful writers are able to take a collection of articles on a topic and come up with unique expressions of the same ideas revealed in those articles, and by the time they're done, you wouldn't be able to identify which "original" sources were used. The concept is similar to what tpw said: "Instead, you should read a subject for comprehension of the material, before you sit down to write. If you do that, you will be able to write with your own voice and power."

    Originally Posted by Long Beach Nathan View Post

    Also, I'm thinking about the time frame it would take to go from finding a group of people, to matching a product to them, to finding out if you could compete on a keyword basis, to doing the research, setting up the site, writing and everything. You could easily get to the end of that process maybe a couple months later only to find that there's no way to make money with that interest group, and then you'd just have to rinse and repeat.
    This "crash and burn" process or spinning one's wheels, so to speak, comes from not knowing how to evaluate the profitability of a niche prior to investing all of that time creating content. If you decide that you want to focus on SEO for traffic (you'd really be limiting yourself in terms of market reach, but I digress), then it would be a good idea to test various keywords with PPC to get a more accurate picture of 1) how much traffic you can expect from each keyword (by looking at the number of impressions that your ads get); and 2) whether or not those keywords convert. THEN you can go crazy with the content publishing. But so many people do this bass ackwards because they're afraid to spend any money on PPC, yet they'll go on an exact-match-domain spending spree, set up a bunch of sites, and then wonder why nothing is converting.
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