Why Going After a Money Niche isn't the Best Advice for a Newbie

A person new to internet marketing asked the ageless question of which niche they should target for their first website. I replied that they should start with something they know about or are passionate about.



Soon after someone wrote how my reply was a newbie mistake reply because there wouldn't be any money in the niche most likely, and that you should only go after money niches.


Well, I am no newbie, and the reason I gave my answer was from personal experience. So I want to explain, at least in the way I see it, why telling someone new to internet marketing to go for a high money niche is a bad idea.


I got into internet marketing because I actually owned an ESL cram school in a country where I didn't speak the language. I was often hiring teachers and I realized that the person who owned the site I was using was making a killing doing it. But the site was absolutely horrible! So I thought, heck, I can do much better than that.


This was about 4 years ago. So I proceeded to hire a programmer and create an entirely new hand coded job board from scratch. It was a horrible experience, but I finally got the final product. So I threw it up on a domain and waited for the traffic to come pouring in. Which of course, it didn't.


I was getting really frustrated and this brought me to the whole concept of SEO, list building and on and on. My first real introduction to IM.


I was fascinated. And started trying a bunch of stuff to start getting rankings. But I was still doing terribly. But along the way I read similar things to "go for the money niches" and started to try to make other websites myself and earn money from AdSense.


It took a while to learn how to use WordPress correctly, and actually I started out using Drupal sites. I was soooo happy when I discovered WP.


So I was going after things like weight loss and other highly competitive niches as a total newbie because they were suggested to me just like I see here. Not smart at all in my opinion. I didn't really understand SEO, I only thought I did. I didn't understand a lot. And I again had terrible results. So I quit. I was so frustrated with everything, that I just packed it in for a few months.


It wasn't until I needed to use the job site again that I got angry enough at myself to try to get that site to rank again. It was something I really knew about and could really see the potential in. In addition, as I learned more about what it took to really succeed with a site, I realized actually being in the industry allowed me to create really useful and unique content others couldn't duplicate unless they copied mine or were also in the industry. Plus it was easier to reach out to others for links, ideas or ask them to use my site for free.


So the more I learned about how to get my site ranked and making money, the more I learned about other marketing opportunities. And that is how I got to where I am today.


The reason I am telling you this is because, if I had just listened to everyone and tried with the "money making" niches as a complete newbie, I would have given up long ago probably never to return. It was only because I had already built a site I was passionate about that I stayed in the game. If I didn't have that job site, I wouldn't be writing this right now.


When you are a complete newbie there is so much to learn. It really is a lot. And whether you want it to or not, it's going to take years to learn everything for most people. Long frustrating years. And worse, most of what you need to know is only really going to be learned after you start actually doing something.


So if you are new and start trying to make cash with a site on a topic you have absolutely no understanding of, no passion for or no clue of who your competitors are, what makes a great site, conversions, etc...honestly, what do you think your success rate will be?


On the other hand, and this is where I think the "myth" of going after money niches comes from, if you create a site and pour your heart into it and it makes you no money whatsoever, what good does that do? You just wasted 6 months of your life, right?


Well, no! Unless that is the way you look at it. The way I look at it is, I just enjoyed creating something that is helpful and informative to others. Not only did I enjoy the process, but now I know how to build a site, rank a site, help tweak my bounce rate and get readers involved. I know a bit about SEO, list building, affiliate sales and networks, and on and on.


And you've just learned, not read somewhere or heard from so and so, you know what it is really going to take to succeed. And you have a foundation to build upon. But most of all, you know in your heart you have the stamina to keep moving forward. You know you can stick with it and not give up because the site failed to earn what you thought it would.


I guarantee most marketer have built sites, products, whatever and have failed or their stuff didn't come close to their expectations as far as cash made. Is that a failure?


Again, depends on how you look at it. If while trying to get the site to generate some revenue you stumbled on to list building techniques and learned how to effectively build a list, that skill can be adopted to anything you do online. Or maybe along the way, out of necessity, you learned what a Facebook fan page was and figured out cool ways to use it to drive traffic or sales. Or maybe you posted you question on a forum and just found a new friend.


Everyone will have failures. It is part of success. But you need to go the distance to have the success. And from what I see, most new marketers quit due to frustration. And they are frustrated because they are trying something totally new to them in a niche they know nothing about against people far better suited to the niche than them.


You don't ask a kid to get his MBA in the 2nd grade. You give him tasks you know they can learn. Build their confidence. Let them graduate to harder and more complex things as their skill set becomes stronger. Why wouldn't you do the same for a new marketer? Give them a taste and the experience of an accomplishment before sending out to the war zone against the big guns.


So my advice to those just starting out is, start off small with something you know well or are passionate about. Build a small site. Post every day, or every few days. See what it takes to be persistent. Then learn what needs to be done to get to the next level and then the next. Make it a journey of learning and awe and you will be so much further up the food chain than most other marketers.


And just a quick disclaimer, yes...I am making some generalizations here and yes, this is my own personal experience, but I think these are the best kind. And I wish more of them were being posted here.