[Kael41]

I own many mini-sites I started small, and move upwards when i started to achieve financial success. It's hard to give you an approximate earning per site because that's dependent on a TON of variables. For instance: I have one site that makes a KILLING around Halloween. It involves something that people put on, might be considered "Sexy", and is functional for either scaring other people (unlikely) or turning them on if worn by the right person (very likely). That site has maybe 8 pages and is targeted for a certain keyword term. That keyword term IS my domain name. It doesn't make jack squat throughout the year, but will cover my mortgage and car payment for 3 months.

I would make small goals for yourself at first. Ie- achieve $1/day with 4 sites. You're giving yourself a chance 4 times over to score on a domain niche that might make you a lot more than $1/day. Now you're focused on getting at least .25/day from each of your sites.

Once you've accomplished that, you've learned several valuable lessons. You've learned what you're ctr is. You've learned what adsense placement on your site works, and what doesn't. You need to tweak, and sit back and see what works and doesn't. Once you've narrowed down what works, move on to the next one.

I'll give you an example site of mine which "works" for ctr. Xmas Recipes! Christmas Recipes is a site i made for xmas-recipes. Don't focus on the autoblogging or anything else but the design layout. I use this template on a bunch of sites in different colors formats (less sidebar boxes, more sidebar boxes, etc). But what I want you to see is how i draw attention to the adsense block in the upper right. Visitors ASSUME it's part of my navigation, but what i'm doing is integrating the design of the site and getting into the psyche of the visitor.

This is just one theme template that i've had designed especially for my adsense efforts. I've got a lot more, but what i wanted to show you is HOW the design of your site plays into the success of your earnings as well.

Oh, and did you notice the domain name?

Originally Posted by bay37

If you don't mind me asking -

How many "mini sites" do you own and how much does a site like this (5-10 pages, keyword in domain, low competition) earn from Adsense per month (on average)?

Just looking to somewhat "guesstimate" my earnings once I get ~50 websites online, so I can set myself a goal.

[tehoward]

I'm new to this. I wanted to know, what is the Micro Niche Finder? Is that something you have to pay for and where? Also, is there a free way to find a list of micro niches?

[worlok]

aren't you guys afraid that every Tom Dick and Harry is going to copy this now? Also, some guy is going to take this and make a WSO out of it, then a Clickbank product, then hundreds or thousands of people will crash the party and ruin the niche. No?

But let me say that it is very kind of you guys and I learned a bunch from reading this thread. I'm "just sayin'".

[Kael41]

Na, 99% of the people don't act on free information anyways. I may do a WSO in the future, but that's not my main goal for information sharing. And the site is listed was already listed in a WSO of mine previously. Plus, i've got the attitude that we're all in this together and we can all benefit from each other in ways that might seem unknown to us today.

I've been around IM and Webmaster forums for years. You pick up things here and there and realize that not enough people like John post up information like he does for adsense. He's laid out more info in this thread to make several ebooks

David

[Bounderby]

I've taken action and am thrilled to be ranked 9th in Google for the keyword/domain name in just a couple of days.
However, as I have followed examples given here and set up a product site, the 1-8 results above me are all big name review sites. Is this a problem that can be overcome or should I settle for first page and move on to the next site? Do others have this problem?

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by Finandom

Hi John,

I have a financial blog which I talk about everything about money.

I found that the money market is quite crowded and hard to get the ranking for some hot keywords. As least I don't think I can rank easily like what you are sharing here.

I thought I want to give up this blog but I can't do it as it just like a baby for me. I have been blogging for 4 years now. So can you give some advices for me so that I can implement your adsense strategy on my blog?

Thank you for your time!

Yes the financial niches are quite, quite competitive.

However...

I believe that if you truly have a passion for creating a HUGE
site on a subject that moves you, that drives you...

Then you are very likely to succeed with a lot of traffic

(In due time, that is).

Your approach by using 1 blog, and going for a subject that is
general (instead of dominating 1 micro-niche at a time), is
quite opposite of my approach that I have come to trust.

This approach will not bring fast money, or quick rankings.

But it CAN make you a lot of money in time so long as you
stick with it.

Your best bet is to go the SILO route and start finding long-tail
keywords for your categories, and start getting your blog out
there.

It's a tough battle, but if this is your chosen niche, then go for it.

- John

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by box-to-box

is a tiny niche grills? whereas a larger niche would be home appliances?

Home appliances is not a niche. It's a general subject. A tiny niche
would be:

brown outdoor grill

or,

gas grills for summer

or,

best inside grill

etc.

-John

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by bay37

I don't think he meant "grills" as in competing for "buy grills" or "barbecue grill"... Take any niche and you'll find at least 5-10 long tail keywords with very good search numbers and very little to no competition.

Look around your flat or house... There are niche ideas everywhere. Every single item in your room is worth checking for keywords to target.

I started a couple days ago and so far have launched 6 websites (my target is 2 sites/day). My plan is to keep building websites until I have around 40 to 60 of them and then take a break, go through every website checking the rankings and doing any SEO work needed to grab positions 1-3 in Google.

Also, for keywords that rank well and bring in a good amount of $, I'm going to make a second website (almost identical), so I can grab 2 spots on page one... Using a different name to register domains, hosting and using a separate Adsense account (business partners).

When buying .com's I also register identical .net's and .org's to make it harder for others to compete with me.

I'm hoping to see some results really soon.

Good plan, my only advice is to get each site ranked as soon as possible,
instead of waiting.

I would rather spend more time getting backlinks for each site than
just build, build, build.

Both approaches are fine, just thought I'd share my only suggested
change of plan.

- John

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by bay37

If you don't mind me asking -

How many "mini sites" do you own and how much does a site like this (5-10 pages, keyword in domain, low competition) earn from Adsense per month (on average)?

Just looking to somewhat "guesstimate" my earnings once I get ~50 websites online, so I can set myself a goal.

Don't guess, just start with 1 site at a time.

And do not make money goals, make goals like:

1) My first goal is to get my 1st site built and ranking in the top 3
positions of Google.

2) My second goal is to get 5 websites built and ranking in the top
3 positions.

- John

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by tehoward

I'm new to this. I wanted to know, what is the Micro Niche Finder? Is that something you have to pay for and where? Also, is there a free way to find a list of micro niches?

It is a keyword tool that saves hundreds of man hours in research.

- John

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by worlok

aren't you guys afraid that every Tom Dick and Harry is going to copy this now? Also, some guy is going to take this and make a WSO out of it, then a Clickbank product, then hundreds or thousands of people will crash the party and ruin the niche. No?

But let me say that it is very kind of you guys and I learned a bunch from reading this thread. I'm "just sayin'".

Copy what?

The basics? Keyword research? Content Advice?

All of this stuff is so basic, and everyone should know about the "small
niche approach".

Nothing has changed over the last 6 years with this approach, and
nothing will change for it over the next 20.

And about competition, there are several millions of these niche
keywords.

I'm not kidding.

- John

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by Bounderby

I've taken action and am thrilled to be ranked 9th in Google for the keyword/domain name in just a couple of days.
However, as I have followed examples given here and set up a product site, the 1-8 results above me are all big name review sites. Is this a problem that can be overcome or should I settle for first page and move on to the next site? Do others have this problem?

Yes this may be a problem, and you should have checked out if the
top listed sites for your keyword were high traffic, high PR sites,
before starting your niche.

You always have to make this last stop in your research before diving
into a niche.

The search numbers may be great, the competition numbers low, but
if the leading sites for your keywords are sites that would be more of
a fight than they are worth to beat, then...

I would have moved on.

- John

[Wide Eyed Concepts]

Originally Posted by worlok

aren't you guys afraid that every Tom Dick and Harry is going to copy this now? Also, some guy is going to take this and make a WSO out of it, then a Clickbank product, then hundreds or thousands of people will crash the party and ruin the niche. No?

But let me say that it is very kind of you guys and I learned a bunch from reading this thread. I'm "just sayin'".

Don't worry, this method actually takes work and dedication to succeed. It's by no means easy as you have alot of writing to do and must have alot of patience and willpower to keep going through the beginning stages when it's not working.

I've tasted some of the Adsense success so it makes it much easier for me personally to keep going....but the sad truth is that alot of people are simply too lazy or un-motivated to make something like this work.

There are people that want the easy way out, and unfortunately they won't find it here!

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by YoYoPro

Don't worry, this method actually takes work and dedication to succeed. It's by no means easy as you have alot of writing to do and must have alot of patience and willpower to keep going through the beginning stages when it's not working.

I've tasted some of the Adsense success so it makes it much easier for me personally to keep going....but the sad truth is that alot of people are simply too lazy or un-motivated to make something like this work.

There are people that want the easy way out, and unfortunately they won't find it here!

Good point and so, so true.

Yes it is easy, but "easy" to me means working your ass off day
after day.

Perhaps it's a mental thing.

- John

[JasonC.biz]

True. This thread isn't really about some groundbreaking new method. These basic concepts can be found elsewhere, even down to some of the details.

What this thread does for me though, is confirm that this does work and gives me a slight spin on something I'm already doing.

As for every Tom, Dick and Harry taking off with this; well, there are thousands upon thousands of possible niches out there. So, there's lots of room. Second, as mentioned earlier, this will take WORK. Hours and hours of work. Plus, it does take a little bit of market smarts.

A great deal of people who try this will likely put up a few sites, and maybe start earning $.50 a day and realize they've got a hard row to hoe. At that, they'll pop over to those juicy $25+ affiliate commissions on Clickbank.

Jason

[Bounderby]

I have discovered that my niche has a very high search volume for a 'misspelt' word. There is a product called 'oneword' which is highly searched for as 'one word' with a minor variant in the characters.
Is it recommended to deliberately re-work my posts to reflect the incorrect product name to achieve high rankings for this term, at the sacrifice of rankings for the more competitive correct product name?
I am reluctant to change everything with such a new site which is still finding its feet in the rankings anyway.

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by Bounderby

I have discovered that my niche has a very high search volume for a 'misspelt' word. There is a product called 'oneword' which is highly searched for as 'one word' with a minor variant in the characters.
Is it recommended to deliberately re-work my posts to reflect the incorrect product name to achieve high rankings for this term, at the sacrifice of rankings for the more competitive correct product name?
I am reluctant to change everything with such a new site which is still finding its feet in the rankings anyway.

There are just too many unknown variables to really help you on
this one.

- John

[Bounderby]

Originally Posted by XFactor

There are just too many unknown variables to really help you on
this one.

- John

I think two separate sites is the answer if I really wanted to pursue it, each using the different spelling. A bit later down the road perhaps!

[Finandom]

Originally Posted by XFactor

Yes the financial niches are quite, quite competitive.

However...

I believe that if you truly have a passion for creating a HUGE
site on a subject that moves you, that drives you...

Then you are very likely to succeed with a lot of traffic

(In due time, that is).

Your approach by using 1 blog, and going for a subject that is
general (instead of dominating 1 micro-niche at a time), is
quite opposite of my approach that I have come to trust.

This approach will not bring fast money, or quick rankings.

But it CAN make you a lot of money in time so long as you
stick with it.

Your best bet is to go the SILO route and start finding long-tail
keywords for your categories, and start getting your blog out
there.

It's a tough battle, but if this is your chosen niche, then go for it.

- John

John, Thanks for your encouragements. Your advice really clear up my mind and focus on what I want to do. Anyway, I will keep this blog and do what you suggested and at the same time I will build more mini sites. Just like what you are teaching over here.

Once again, thanks for your time. I know you are busy but you still help people here. I really appreciate your know how and kindness.

[OPLeads]

I think the best lesson here is that people should lay out a path and stick to it. Too many people are always searching for the best new thing that in the end they don't do anything. You have found a way back to your passion. Congrats to you ...

[tjk1058]

Originally Posted by Bounderby

I have discovered that my niche has a very high search volume for a 'misspelt' word. There is a product called 'oneword' which is highly searched for as 'one word' with a minor variant in the characters.
Is it recommended to deliberately re-work my posts to reflect the incorrect product name to achieve high rankings for this term, at the sacrifice of rankings for the more competitive correct product name?
I am reluctant to change everything with such a new site which is still finding its feet in the rankings anyway.

There was a WSO on just this subject about targeting misspells and making a lot of money off them. But you have to be careful as it could raise some red flags Google if you do it to blatantly.

That person suggest to do it on a separate new domain instead of adding any pages using the misspell method on an established domain that could get de-indexed.

So it might be worth it on a new domain if their is a lot of searches for that term. I started looking into doing this a while back and found some really juicy misspells form some high paying keywords with decent adsense amounts.

TedK

[John Romaine]

Thank you XFactor!!!!

After reading this post yesterday afternoon, I took action, did some market/keyword research, hired an article writer, registered a domain, built the site and have it all in place - finished!

Now all I have to do is sit back and wait for the thousands of dollars to roll in yes?

Not sure If I can post my URL???

Thanks for sharing your strategy mate - cheers.

John

[m4ster]

XFactor,

Could you tell us which hosting do you use and how much do you pay for it?

[bay37]

Got a quick question...

Have you ever had any complaints or warnings from Google for having so many small, targeted websites all running Adsense? I mean, they don't really add any value to anything. Just wondering.

[jspmedia]

Originally Posted by m4ster

XFactor,

Could you tell us which hosting do you use and how much do you pay for it?

I am using bluehost and hostgator....both are around $7-$10 per month, great stuff...bluehost, you need to pay yearly...hostgator you can pay monthly.

[Chucky]

Originally Posted by XFactor

Lonnie, by your questions it looks like you are sweating the small stuff, worried
too much about tiny details that really can weigh progress down.

- John

Been there, done that, still doing it at times :-)

[writeonbro]

Great ideas John. I'd like to know what criteria you use on the product/keyword selections. Do you target by CPC or search volume.

[msalada]

I have been lurking around this thread for several days and was motivated to take action. I built a site and at the current time it only have one article. I did purchase a brand domain name, though. I saw this morning that the site made .24. The thing I found interesting is the site is not indexed yet. I did submit it to some social bookmarking sites and the Digg submission is #8 on the first page of Google.

My plan is to add 9 more articles. I have the KWs selected. Social bookmark the posts, submit RSS feeds and I have a link building strategy that has worked pretty well in the past. I will be using it to build links to the posts. I hope to be done by the end of the weekend. From there, I will see where it takes me and begin working on the next site.

I would like to thank everyone that has contributed to this thread!

~Marj

[BBenamara]

Hi XFactor, I want first to thank you for your post and wish you more success, I am a total newbie and have just one or 2 questions if you don't minde, I bought xsitepro 2 2 weeks ago and still learning how to build web sites, my question is : Do you use xsite pro templates or you start from scratch? Thank you

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by tjk1058

There was a WSO on just this subject about targeting misspells and making a lot of money off them. But you have to be careful as it could raise some red flags Google if you do it to blatantly.

That person suggest to do it on a separate new domain instead of adding any pages using the misspell method on an established domain that could get de-indexed.

So it might be worth it on a new domain if their is a lot of searches for that term. I started looking into doing this a while back and found some really juicy misspells form some high paying keywords with decent adsense amounts.

TedK

Good advice Ted. I would also create a new site around the individual
misspell, but do not go too far in all of your content by misspelling the
keyword, just enough to get it ranked: title tags, URL, etc.

Also, you may not see all of that traffic because any misspells searched
for on Google, as you know, get that "Did you mean.....?" so you may
see lots of searches but they may click to search for the right spelling
afterwards.

- John

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by m4ster

XFactor,

Could you tell us which hosting do you use and how much do you pay for it?

I have several reseller accounts with HostGator.

- John

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by bay37

Got a quick question...

Have you ever had any complaints or warnings from Google for having so many small, targeted websites all running Adsense? I mean, they don't really add any value to anything. Just wondering.

Value is plenty:

- I am helping people find those online retailers who are desperate
to get their business, so much so that they are paying for every click
they recieve to get new customers.

- I am providing accurate and descriptive product information, specs and
price ranges.

- I provide a bridge between customer and product manufacturer.

And I make lots of money doing it.

- John

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by BBenamara

Hi XFactor, I want first to thank you for your post and wish you more success, I am a total newbie and have just one or 2 questions if you don't minde, I bought xsitepro 2 2 weeks ago and still learning how to build web sites, my question is : Do you use xsite pro templates or you start from scratch? Thank you

Totally from scratch.

- John

[XFactor]

Update On My Template Layout:

After starting this thread, I deleted all of my headers, and every
site's CTR increased.

Ugly sites now, but I'll not be using any more headers. I ran this
test for months and months now, and to see such a drastic increase
in earnings in such a little time of removing headers, I'll be sticking
to this setup.

This is what I mean whenever I say test, test, test & test some more.

Testing never ends.

- John

[Lokki08]

Thank you for sharing that valuable information. I definitely going to apply some of your lessons and test them for myself

[Mongo]

Thanks Xfactor for starting this thread. I keep checking back every couple of days and WOW more ane more good info keeps coming.
Thanks again for all of you posting
Mongo

[Chucky]

Hi John,

First of all congratulations. Second of all thanks for sharing. The more you give, the more you get. Third of all, I would really appreciate if you can answer my questions.

BTW, I've taken so much action since finding this thread this morning (I've bought MNF and found a niche/s with SOC <20). Your advice would be very much appreciated.

Let's say my niche/keywords are

Canon 10 MP digital camera accessories
Nikon 10 MP digital camera accessories
Olympus 10 MP digital camera accessories
Panasonic 10 MP digital camera accessories
10 MP digital camera accessories
10 MP digital camera accessories reviews

Let's assume that all of them have similar search volumes (~500-1000/month), similar commercial intent and similar SOC.

Question 1: Please advice me if option 1 below or option 2 below is what you would pick.

Option 1.
Should I build four different websites on the four domain names
"Canon 10 MP digital camera accessories",
"Nikon 10 MP digital camera accessories",
"Olympus 10 MP digital camera accessories" and
"Panasonic 10 MP digital camera accessories"

(BTW, there are more than four brand names for the actual niche that I'm talking about)

OR

Option 2. Build one domain name for "10 MP digital camera accessories" or "10 MP digital camera accessories reviews" and have the "brand name 10 MP digital camera accessories" as categories/pages?

Question 2. If your answer is option 2, would you pick "10 MP digital camera accessories" or "10 MP digital camera accessories reviews" as the domain name (assuming they're both available). I'm asking this because on my actual product name keywords, there is no "reviews" at the end.

Question 3. Now that you've removed your header graphics, are you still keeping the graphic at the top of the right column/main menu? As I understood, you have something like a sidebar on the right hand side where you have the main navigational menu and you also mentioned that there was some kind of a picture on there.
I get the feeling that you have the picture 'above the fold' and the menu 'below the fold' so that people don't get distracted from your adsense block and instead click on the navigational menu. So is it like, the top half of the right hand side bar is a graphic like 160 X 300 (half the height of a 160X600 adsense block). The the bottom half of the side bar is your menu which also around the same size?
Are my thoughts on that correct?

Thank you very much John and I really really appreciate you sharing this valuable information.
Chucky

[W.P. Allen]

Hey XFactor,

Is it against Adsense TOS to have the ad block below the title and above the content? I've read that you need some sort of separation so that the ads are differentiated .

Google says, “Ads shouldn’t be placed under a title or section heading in a way that implies that the ads are not ads.”

This is against TOS:


Some blogs I've noticed have written "Advertisement" above the ad block to make the distinction.

[Wide Eyed Concepts]

Originally Posted by W.P. Allen

Hey XFactor,

Is it against Adsense TOS to have the ad block below the title and above the content? I've read that you need some sort of separation so that the ads are differentiated .

Google says, “Ads shouldn’t be placed under a title or section heading in a way that implies that the ads are not ads.”

This is against TOS:


Some blogs I've noticed have written "Advertisement" above the ad block to make the distinction.

You can still put the ads under the title if your title doesn't suggest that your ads aren't ads.

Today's Hot Deals suggests that the links below should be clicked on to get good deals, therefore they are encouraging clicks.

If you were reviewing a grill and just put "Weber RoastMaster Grill"...that's not suggesting you click on the ads below...whereas if you put... "Deals on Weber RoastMaster Grills" that would be against the TOS.

I agree it's a fine line and it's purely subjective to the reviewer, so it's definitely a risk you are taking. Much like John and other successful Adsense guys like Tim Gorman will probably tell you, this technique can be used if you are "careful" and don't blatantly promote the ads with your title.

[W.P. Allen]

You can still put the ads under the title if your title doesn't suggest that your ads aren't ads.

Today's Hot Deals suggests that the links below should be clicked on to get good deals, therefore they are encouraging clicks.

If you were reviewing a grill and just put "Weber RoastMaster Grill"...that's not suggesting you click on the ads below...whereas if you put... "Deals on Weber RoastMaster Grills" that would be against the TOS.

I agree it's a fine line and it's purely subjective to the reviewer, so it's definitely a risk you are taking. Much like John and other successful Adsense guys like Tim Gorman will probably tell you, this technique can be used if you are "careful" and don't blatantly promote the ads with your titl

So in order to be 100% certain that you're not breaking the TOS should you avoid placing an ad block in this space?

[Wide Eyed Concepts]

Originally Posted by W.P. Allen

So in order to be 100% certain that you're not breaking the TOS should you avoid placing an ad block in this space?

Think I'll have to let John chime in on his opinion on this one.

I personally don't let it deter me as I have been using adsense for 2 years and have never had a site using this method banned or even questioned...matter a fact I have never had an e-mail from the Adsense team regarding anything ever! *Knock on Wood!*

My personal opinion is that if you aren't blatantly trying to draw attention to your ads you should be fine...but you are right, if you want to avoid this potential bannable offense, you shouldn't do it...but there is a million other things that they can ban you for, I wouldn't let this one scare you if you aren't blatant about it.

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by YoYoPro

My personal opinion is that if you aren't blatantly trying to draw attention to your ads you should be fine...but you are right, if you want to avoid this potential bannable offense, you shouldn't do it...but there is a million other things that they can ban you for, I wouldn't let this one scare you if you aren't blatant about it.

YoYoPro said it best, thanks...

[stormer]

[QUOTE]Update On My Template Layout:

After starting this thread, I deleted all of my headers, and every
site's CTR increased.

Ugly sites now, but I'll not be using any more headers. I ran this
test for months and months now, and to see such a drastic increase
in earnings in such a little time of removing headers, I'll be sticking
to this setup.

This is what I mean whenever I say test, test, test & test some more.

Testing never ends.

- John [/QUOTE


Hey John, that's a great twist.
The only thing is that now this whole thread will have to be retitled!

What would you suggest...$500 a day with Adsense?

[nateadelson]

Congratulations XFactor. I would be interested to visit your blogs. Is it possible for you to PM me one of them?

[Jeremy123]

Congrats xfactor,

this exposes the myth that people should only build big authority
sites if they want to last in the search engines.

[Stephen Crooks]

It isn't a myth that people should go for big authority sites, it is just another approach to things that's all. John's system is great and I know it works but it is just 1 system out of a whole big bunch of systems. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that because one system works then everything else must be mythical because it just ain't true..

Originally Posted by Jeremy123

Congrats xfactor,

this exposes the myth that people should only build big authority
sites if they want to last in the search engines.

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by nateadelson

Congratulations XFactor. I would be interested to visit your blogs. Is it possible for you to PM me one of them?

Absolutely not. Sorry, but I protect my Adsense account at all
costs.

Not only is Google a fragile program that can ban you for stupid
reasons, but my sites are extremely important to me and I will
not risk having any of them damaged sharing the URLs.

Also, I do not use blogs.

- John

[XFactor]

Originally Posted by Jeremy123

Congrats xfactor,

this exposes the myth that people should only build big authority
sites if they want to last in the search engines.

I'll never build big authority sites again.

It truly is like owning properties that have more value than just
Adsense.

Just adding the idea of banner sales to each site (which another
warrior discussed earlier), will potentially add another $10,000 to
$15,000 per month to the bottom line.

I'd rather own 100 properties than 1 or 2 big ones.

But, as Steve said, big sites do work and if building big sites rocks
your boat, then rock on!

- John

[RhondaGiarraffa]

Awesome to hear you have found your groove!

Rhonda

[Chucky]

Hey John,

I think you missed my question on page 5. If you can spend a couple of minutes on that I'd very much appreciate and I'm sure that will be valuable to many people visiting your thread.

Thanks!
Chucky