Niche Controversy? and SEO vs. Squeeze Mastery!

by Bing8
12 replies
  • SEO
  • |
What's up guys, total noob here. I'm looking to create my first site and I could use the advice of some IM wizards on these subjects (which I've spent hours researching but need some clarity):


1. NICHE CONTROVERSY

Jay of the Screw95 course suggests choosing uncompetitive, untapped niches, using SEO domination to drive traffic on autopilot.

On the flip side, Anik Singal of Inbox Blueprint advises entering into already-tapped niches where there is plenty of successful competition (proving the niche is profitable), driving traffic using active, non-SEO methods.

These are two totally different approaches to the all-important niche-selection, and any thoughts and/or suggestions are welcome!



2. SEO VS. SQUEEZE OPTIMIZATION

I read a lot on here about squeeze pages vs. SEO-ranking content sites, and it seems that doing both (for the same site) may be ideal (esp. for someone with little resources/no experience). Do you agree, and if so, what is the ideal way to structure one's site?

Does having the squeeze page as the homepage (www.domain.com) take away from SEO on the rest of the site?

Does having most of your backlinks direct to the squeeze page (regardless of its location on the site), rather than content-rich pages, hurt the site's overall SEO?

Would you, and HOW would you, suggest using these two (content site & squeeze page) in tandem?
#controversy #mastery #niche #seo #squeeze
  • Profile picture of the author ghost209
    Ugh. I wouldn't touch a micro-niche with a 10 foot pole.. I know alot of people preach this, but it's BAD advice.

    In a small untapped niche you have No idea what works. You have nothing to model. You're flying blind. You have no idea if the market is even willing to spend money on what you got.. And since it's small, you can't scale. So once you start making $15/day (or whatever the celing is) you have to start a brand new site and spread yourself out even further.

    No thanks.

    I'd recommend not caring at all about competition and just following the money.
    What's hot? What's selling? What has a desperate market? Go after that!

    If you're just looking to make $5/day.. sure, go for a micro niche.
    But if you're serious about this business and want to make massive income..


    Then jump into the deep end and never look back.


    And as far as SEO vs Squeeze page..

    To be honest, I wouldn't even recommend SEO. it's way too finnicky. Google changes their algorithm way too much and it's just unpredictable.

    If I had to start all over again, I'd focus on PAID traffic ( facebook ads, Google ads, bing, etc)

    I'd pick one of those.. Go all in, and NEVER touch SEO.. ever.

    Paid traffic is scalable. Dependable. and you can get INSTANT results.. so that way you can figure out what's working and what's not - quickly.


    But that's just me.. I realize that it's not for everyone.. some people are huge fans of SEO.. and to each their own I guess.

    With that being said.. if you still want to do SEO even after I strongly recommend against it..

    I would tell you that if you're going to go the SEO route and want to send traffic to your squeeze page.. Then do a squeeze page that has content on it. So that way it's a WIN-WIN.

    LeadPages and Clickfunnels both have some great templates that you can use, that are adwords friendly and SEO approved. They are great squeeze pages and have lots of great content at the bottom so spiders will show them love.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bing8
    I appreciate your thoughts. I believe the passivity of SEO is very attractive for a lot of people.

    As a beginner with no experience and little resources, I'm a little gun-shy about jumping straight into buying traffic.

    Are there any resources you suggest checking out for the methods you mentioned (facebook/bing/google ads)?
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  • Profile picture of the author Bing8
    Would love to hear some other thoughts on these subjects.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    I disagree with ghost's assessment of SEO, but I do agree with his points about micro niches. It is one reason I believe many marketers fail. It is a bad strategy.

    I would rather work to capture a little bit of a large broad amount of traffic in a market while having room to grow than capturing a big percentage of a little bit of traffic with no room to grow.

    As for the SEO versus non-SEO methods for building traffic, why does it have to be one or the other? Why not do both/
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  • Profile picture of the author Bing8
    Does having the squeeze page as the homepage (www.domain.com) take away from SEO on the rest of the site?

    Does having most of your backlinks direct to the squeeze page (regardless of its location on the site), rather than content-rich pages, hurt the site's overall SEO?
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  • Profile picture of the author zdebx
    Forget about SEO. If you are going to build your business hoping that SEO will help you, then you are wasting your time.

    Build a content site - yes.
    Want to build a list? Yes, why not? You don't have to create a separate squeeze page for that. Simply design a small box and include it somewhere visible on your website/blog. Then offer a free report/ebook in exchange for your visitors emails.

    With regards to choosing a niche, definitely go somewhere where there's money to be made. The thing is, you don't want to go too broad with your selection, but at the same time you don't want to be in a tiny micro-niche where there's nothing to be made.

    So best thing to do, is to look up some of your main keywords and look at the volume of them. If the main keywords get a few thousand searches a month, then you're good to go.
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  • Profile picture of the author Janice Sperry
    You can have a main home page domain.com AND a separate squeeze page domain.com/squeeze-page

    I am not a fan of the micro niche sites. It is better to think long term and build an authority site. With an authority site you can almost think of each page/post as a micro niche site. You do the same work to get traffic but to just ONE website instead of a hundred different websites.

    Practice good SEO habits but don't count on it to bring traffic right away. Paid traffic will get you rolling and some time in the future the organic traffic may start kicking in also.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bing8
      Originally Posted by Janice Sperry View Post

      You can have a main home page domain.com AND a separate squeeze page domain.com/squeeze-page

      I am not a fan of the micro niche sites. It is better to think long term and build an authority site. With an authority site you can almost think of each page/post as a micro niche site. You do the same work to get traffic but to just ONE website instead of a hundred different websites.

      Practice good SEO habits but don't count on it to bring traffic right away. Paid traffic will get you rolling and some time in the future the organic traffic may start kicking in also.
      thank you. im seeing a lot of advice like this.

      in terms of seo, does having a squeeze or a splash page as the home page (mydomain.com) and then installing the (wordpress) site proper at mydomain.com/home, like this site for example - bensettle.com - affect seo ranking? upsides/downsides to doing it this way?
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      • Profile picture of the author onSubie
        Originally Posted by Bing8 View Post

        thank you. im seeing a lot of advice like this.

        in terms of seo, does having a squeeze or a splash page as the home page (mydomain.com) and then installing the (wordpress) site proper at mydomain.com/home, like this site for example - bensettle.com - affect seo ranking? upsides/downsides to doing it this way?
        You started this thread a year ago and you have still not decided what to do?

        Whether a squeeze page or a blog or SEO or Paid Traffic the one that works is the one you start taking action on.

        SEO takes a long time to be effective and the traffic is often untargeted. It can take a long time to get enough traffic to figure out your conversions.

        On the other hand, Paid Traffic is instant. If you have a site or squeeze page you can send $100 in traffic to it and see right away if it is converting and what the behaviour of your visitors is.

        Don't come back in another year and say "Still looking for advice". Take some action and see what works for you in your niche.

        In this past year you could have spent $10 on a domain about $100 in hosting and had a year experience in driving traffic to your site. Add $200 for paid traffic and your total investment is still less than $1 per day.

        If you came back having done that then your questions would be a lot more targeted and a lot more specific about what you are trying to do. Not what other people have said works.
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        • Profile picture of the author Bing8
          Originally Posted by onSubie View Post

          You started this thread a year ago and you have still not decided what to do?

          Whether a squeeze page or a blog or SEO or Paid Traffic the one that works is the one you start taking action on.

          SEO takes a long time to be effective and the traffic is often untargeted. It can take a long time to get enough traffic to figure out your conversions.

          On the other hand, Paid Traffic is instant. If you have a site or squeeze page you can send $100 in traffic to it and see right away if it is converting and what the behaviour of your visitors is.

          Don't come back in another year and say "Still looking for advice". Take some action and see what works for you in your niche.

          In this past year you could have spent $10 on a domain about $100 in hosting and had a year experience in driving traffic to your site. Add $200 for paid traffic and your total investment is still less than $1 per day.

          If you came back having done that then your questions would be a lot more targeted and a lot more specific about what you are trying to do. Not what other people have said works.
          Have not been working on this much in the past year, just getting back into it now, and just bought the domain, weeeeee!

          The reason I'm trying to sort out the structure of the site now is:

          In the case that I would put a squeeze/splash page for the homepage (like on this site: bensettle.com), I understand it's best to not use a "backend" (meaning no wordpress) for that page, just a light optin page.

          And then install WP at mydomain.com/blog.

          Even if I install WP on the index at mydomain.com but still make the homepage a squeeze/splash, with the idea of putting the blog/site proper at mydomain.com/blog, that messes up all the navigation for the site, no? (all clicks on "Home" or site logo would navigate to the splash index page)

          In both cases, once that structure is setup, there's no going back as far as I can see, hence the need to sort it out now.

          Is this making sense (or am I such a noob that I'm not seeing all this correctly)?
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          • Profile picture of the author PhenixMB
            Originally Posted by zdebx View Post

            Build a content site - yes.
            Want to build a list? Yes, why not? You don't have to create a separate squeeze page for that. Simply design a small box and include it somewhere visible on your website/blog. Then offer a free report/ebook in exchange for your visitors emails.
            Originally Posted by Bing8 View Post

            Have not been working on this much in the past year, just getting back into it now, and just bought the domain, weeeeee!

            The reason I'm trying to sort out the structure of the site now is:

            In the case that I would put a squeeze/splash page for the homepage (like on this site: bensettle.com), I understand it's best to not use a "backend" (meaning no wordpress) for that page, just a light optin page.

            And then install WP at mydomain.com/blog.

            Even if I install WP on the index at mydomain.com but still make the homepage a squeeze/splash, with the idea of putting the blog/site proper at mydomain.com/blog, that messes up all the navigation for the site, no? (all clicks on "Home" or site logo would navigate to the splash index page)
            Is this making sense (or am I such a noob that I'm not seeing all this correctly)?
            You think too much, you cant know how will it work for you until you try it !

            zdebx told you, if you want to build list you dont have to create a separate squeeze page, just put some small box where you give them freebie in exchange for email ! This method work for me pretty good!

            Marko
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  • Profile picture of the author MatthewNeer
    Bottom line.

    If you can't buy an ad and turn a profit. You don't have a business.

    Cheers.
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