Do micro niche websites still work?

29 replies
  • SEO
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I've been thinking about starting out doing micro niche sites to get my feet wet to get some experience working with websites, but do micro niche sites still work well?

If you work with micro niche websites, do you rely on the long tail keywords more to get search engine results or do you have a plan to high search engine rankings?
#micro #niche #websites #work
  • Profile picture of the author hustlinsmoke
    I would say micro niche works alot better than a broad niche, can you make money sure you can. I would not just use long tail keywords though, it is a micro niche so short tail will work also. To give you an example I run a campaign of "how to get your ex back"
    which I would consider a sub niche of relationships.

    Now I run other micro niches under that. How to get your ex lover back. How to get your gay lover back, how to get your lesbian lover back. I use the long tail keyword but I also use, words like relationship advice, gay lover, dating advice ect.
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    • Profile picture of the author Julius Minor
      Yes they do.. I have multiple niche sites that are doing well (without SEO) regardless of what Google comes up with..
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Stevens
    What do you mean by micro niche? 5+ pages? based on a single keyword?
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  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    I do things in reverse but with a single site I make up to $1,000 a day here's how I do it.

    I setup a lead capture page and send all of my traffic to that.

    Then I do a daily blog post and send that out to everyone on the list. At the end of each post I make a call to action. I still take the time to optimize most posts for SEO so I do get a lot of free traffic from seo, amazingly enough I don't do any backlinking.

    If you start out with SEO as a strategy you'll likely get burnout before you see any real results.
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    • Profile picture of the author 11811
      Originally Posted by nicholasb View Post

      If you start out with SEO as a strategy you'll likely get burnout before you see any real results.
      thumbs up for that great advice!
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      • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
        Originally Posted by 11811 View Post

        thumbs up for that great advice!
        I disagree with that advice. I admire his success, but different strokes for different folks. Setting up a SEO campaign against impossible competition, sure, that's going to be a pain in the ass. But if you learn how to analyze the competition it's not too tough to rank successfully.

        I can usually roll out a site and expect it to bring in around $100+ by the end of the first moth and continue beyond that. This is using Amazon as an example. Once you've gotten the hang of things you can move into CPA offers, etc.

        If you're looking for a quicker payout you can even flip it after awhile. I prefer to ride out the sites though. Some will die. Some will take off and really do well.
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  • Profile picture of the author magicmarcus
    yes but the key is to focus on words that are non competitive and look at the actual competition not the "inflated" competition.

    use trigger words to find niches, provide content exactly about what they want and lead them to what pays you :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Anne0521
    What do you mean micro niches,..a blog network that points to your main site? Like Linkwheel?
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    • Profile picture of the author hustlinsmoke
      Some have different definitions of micro niches.
      Here is how I perceive it.

      A niche is a broad area a sub niche is part of the niche but specialized with a little less searches. A micro niche is a small part of the sub niche with less searches.
      Now its hard for me to explain things but to say it another way, I look for micor niches in the range of 200 to 3000 per keyword or keyword phrase.

      I have had alot of criticism for taking it all the way down to 200 but when I see that I make no money from it then I will stop using the 200 searches keywords.

      I don't make near the money on those but the money is easier for me to make. Soon that will be gone too, the Internet changes everyday with the more and more people coming into it.
      Originally Posted by Anne0521 View Post

      What do you mean micro niches,..a blog network that points to your main site? Like Linkwheel?
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  • Profile picture of the author conanedo
    sure.. get micro niche keyword and choose the buyer keyword sometime if you choose long tail keyword it's easy to get page one google
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  • Profile picture of the author crescendo
    yes they work.But if you niche is popular and your blog has much traffic then making money will be easier.
    A “micro” niche site is typically a site that is only 1 to 10 pages that targets only 1 primary keyword. Because it only has a few pages of content, its called “micro”. Because it only targets one specific topic or keyword, its a “niche” site.
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  • Profile picture of the author georgescifo
    I have been using micro niche sites for some time and has really been working well for me, especially when it comes to ranking for potential long tail keywords that converts better.
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  • Profile picture of the author GerardCoyne
    Yes, they do work! Long tail keywords will work but do concentrate on single keywords too - depending on the niche they could also rank highly. It all depends on the competitiveness of the niches you choose.
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    • Profile picture of the author brians34
      Thanks all. I'm ready to get started on several micro niches and wanted to get some input whether it would be worth trying.

      I'm going to get started on these and see how it goes.
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  • Profile picture of the author plrmasterr
    it's working really well to me. You just try with the local exact searches which are having more than 1000 searches and also go with $1+ CPC it works really well.
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    • Profile picture of the author Murphysmurfy
      Originally Posted by plrmasterr View Post

      it's working really well to me. You just try with the local exact searches which are having more than 1000 searches and also go with $1+ CPC it works really well.

      Why would you ever want to build a website around that type of keyword?

      It's truly not worth it unless the main keyword has at least 4,000 local searches a month, and that is bare minimum.

      The 1$ CPC is alright, but you should really make sure that the niche keyword you will be working on has some commercial value.

      Overall, "MICRO" niche websites are dead. Don't let anyone tell you that they are alive, for they are completely dead.

      Micro niche websites were defined as:
      --Generally EMDs, no branding
      --5 or so posts on the subject
      --Filled with affiliate links and ads

      Google hates these types of websites, and to be completely honest, they made very little money.

      Build websites with a passion, don't take the easy way out.

      Some people love EMDs, but I hate them. They are not bad in an SEO perspective, but they are horrible in branding.

      You want to create the center website for a specific niche, filling customers with the plethora of great knowledge that they want.

      Niche websites are far from dead, but they days of pumping out 10 micro niche sites are.

      So, don't take the easy way out, make websites with a passion and the passion will flow into the writing.
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      • Profile picture of the author hustlinsmoke
        Why, I have several micro niche sites that I make money on, they have less than 1000 searches, I may not make as much as my 8,000 search terms but I bet I spend less time on them to get them the organic traffic they need.

        The only thing I'm concerned with is what websites I'm competing with. If that looks good its a go. I spend an hour putting it up is all, then I give it to my seo guy to do what he does for 25 bucks and sit back and watch, if it does really well I expand if not I collect what I collect while making more.

        You need a variety of sites to make you money, If I stick all my eggs in one basket and google gets a hair up there tush I lose all and have to start over, this way I still have my other sites and other avenues of making money.

        I have 200 search keyword(s) to 10,000 keyword(s) sites.
        Originally Posted by Murphysmurfy View Post

        Why would you ever want to build a website around that type of keyword?

        It's truly not worth it unless the main keyword has at least 4,000 local searches a month, and that is bare minimum.

        The 1$ CPC is alright, but you should really make sure that the niche keyword you will be working on has some commercial value.

        Overall, "MICRO" niche websites are dead. Don't let anyone tell you that they are alive, for they are completely dead.

        Micro niche websites were defined as:
        --Generally EMDs, no branding
        --5 or so posts on the subject
        --Filled with affiliate links and ads

        Google hates these types of websites, and to be completely honest, they made very little money.

        Build websites with a passion, don't take the easy way out.

        Some people love EMDs, but I hate them. They are not bad in an SEO perspective, but they are horrible in branding.

        You want to create the center website for a specific niche, filling customers with the plethora of great knowledge that they want.

        Niche websites are far from dead, but they days of pumping out 10 micro niche sites are.

        So, don't take the easy way out, make websites with a passion and the passion will flow into the writing.
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    Yes. You need a strong domain though and you have to focus on a subniche that has a lot of advertisers.
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  • Profile picture of the author nik0
    Banned
    The typical micro niche EMD site that most people on his forum chased were:

    3-4 page sites of crappy 400-500 word articles stuffed with 3 large Adsense blocks, not to mention kw stuffing and what not, to in the end made $5/month per site. The true gambler set up like 500 of such sites and made a modal income from it, however totally not interesting as even with crappy content it still costs about $50/site to produce so that's a $25,000 investment to make $2500,-/month.

    There used to be a time that such strategy worked and that you could live passive from the money that it brought in, but that's almost 1.5 year ago, nowadays such sites would mostly tank (get penalized) within a month or two max.

    Typical keywords used were:

    - brand + product type
    - color + product type (eg: blue running shoes)

    And more of that crap.

    Nowadays, let's name it mini-niche sites are also kind of doomed to fail, those sites often focus on keywords like: best hair dryers or something in combination with reviews, often a larger amount of pages but whether you build a crappy site with 5 pages or 25 pages it doesn't seem to differ much in terms of penalties.

    At least that's when you focus on the typical affiliate type of sites, normal sites with no monetization or something else then everyone is doing might still work.
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    • Profile picture of the author Andrewsfm
      Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

      The typical micro niche EMD site that most people on his forum chased were:

      3-4 page sites of crappy 400-500 word articles stuffed with 3 large Adsense blocks, not to mention kw stuffing and what not, to in the end made $5/month per site. The true gambler set up like 500 of such sites and made a modal income from it, however totally not interesting as even with crappy content it still costs about $50/site to produce so that's a $25,000 investment to make $2500,-/month.

      There used to be a time that such strategy worked and that you could live passive from the money that it brought in, but that's almost 1.5 year ago, nowadays such sites would mostly tank (get penalized) within a month or two max.

      Typical keywords used were:

      - brand + product type
      - color + product type (eg: blue running shoes)

      And more of that crap.

      Nowadays, let's name it mini-niche sites are also kind of doomed to fail, those sites often focus on keywords like: best hair dryers or something in combination with reviews, often a larger amount of pages but whether you build a crappy site with 5 pages or 25 pages it doesn't seem to differ much in terms of penalties.

      At least that's when you focus on the typical affiliate type of sites, normal sites with no monetization or something else then everyone is doing might still work.
      I have 10 EMD mini niche sites making me $1000 per month together all setup 6 months ago,

      My friend owns 100 and earns a lot more,

      I think it depends on what your content and product is to be fair.

      Of course, crappy sites with no work put in will fail.
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  • Profile picture of the author hustlinsmoke
    See that is why I like it here, We all have experience with a little of everything and if I can't money at something, someone else can, just like people don't like what I do and I do not like what they do but you can get a vast array of knowledge here.
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  • Profile picture of the author WebMeUp
    Yes, they may work, and it's important to find the converting keyword patterns (often long-tail keywords) and to come up with the right content strategy. Just create really appealing and focused content and make your site informational in addition to being commercial.
    Besides that, experiment with different monetizing techniques (AdSense, an affiliate programme or Clickbank) and choose the one that will work the best for your very site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Moneymaker2012
    Yes Niche Sites are the best way to earn good money online by targeting a specific reader group.
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  • Hey thank you so much for this information, I'm looking to start developing some mico-niche sites as well and reading this is a good way to get started. I appreciate it!
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    It only takes one site to get used to working with websites.
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  • Profile picture of the author samjaynz
    Yes I think micro niche websites still work, provided you are offering something of value with them and not simply making it obvious that you are peddling products.
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    • Profile picture of the author marco005
      Hi,

      @nicolasb; do you have a website only with one page of content or a website with 3-5 pages on it?

      Or does you have only a squeeze opt in page, with little of content to build up a list?

      Where you get the traffic to build your list so fast that it makes $1000 in month?

      Blog comment traffic?
      PR traffic?
      syndicate traffic?

      Do you do seo backlink building?
      How long it takes you have hit the $100 goal? 3 months? 5 months more...????

      best wishes
      marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author GuerrillaIM
    You're asking this question on a site where several people make a living from selling information on how to make money with micro niche sites. Take what people say here with a pinch of salt.

    I have abandoned my network of niche sites now as the effort and cost of maintaining them and keeping traffic to them is too much.

    A few years ago it was so easy to automate SEO that I could rank a niche site on a competitive keyword in a few days with little effort. Now to get the same effects I have to go through so much extra cost and work that for me it is no longer viable.

    There are probably some tricks here and there that still work but alot of information here is outdated.

    Private blog networks are the only thing that I see still working in some cases but to do that properly you need to invest a lot of money not only on IP's but now also working out ways to have several registrants as is seems google has cottoned on to the fact that large numbers of sites all linking to each other and using whois guard are dodgy.

    Dont get me wrong you can still get lucky and make several mistakes and have it work ok, but i cant put so much effort into something that could stop making money at any point a third party decides to update the way they look at my sites.

    So, in my opinion, yes it can still work, but to do it properly and make a decent profit you will have to invest a fair amount of money and spend a lot of time learning how to do it, and at any moment it could all stop making money.

    My advice is to pick 1 niche. Learn everything you can about it and become the go to guy in all the forums etc... Dominate the niche and get a reputation so even if you never rank on a single keyword you will still get business. But that of course is very hard and requires a lot of effort, so it probably doesnt sound so attractive as paying someone in india to write a few articles and then buy some spam backlinks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kelvin Tech
    What is a micro miche website actually ? a blog ? can anyone post a sample link ?
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