Well, it’s time to announce a new project!
I am calling it the Open Niche Project, because I plan to openly build and promote a niche website (sort of a niche marketing example) right here on MasonWorld.com.
For a several months now, I have been looking for an opportunity to “fully re-engage” at MasonWorld.com. As usual, I am interested in creating something that is really valuable to both me and my readers. To be honest with you, nothing else ever works on the internet (you can quote me).
If the thing being created is not valuable to the creator and the user, it will eventually die. To have a sustainable business, you must create value. It really is that simple.
But I digress…
With that in stuff mind, it occurred to me that I could do something fun with Andrew Hansen’s new Unstoppable Affiliate course. A few weeks ago, I reviewed Unstoppable Affiliate, and told you that I thought it was the best Affiliate Marketing course that I had seen in a long time.
Easy for me to say, right?
My Project Idea — Niche Marketing Example
So, it occurred to me that it would be fun to see if I can do several things at the same time. Basically what people needed (it seemed to me) was a detailed niche marketing example.
- Work on a new affiliate site for about an hour every day for a month or two (or three).
- Log my progress on my Facebook Fan Page every day.
- Blog about creating a new affiliate website from scratch (one blog post per week).
- Mainly follow along through Unstoppable Affiliate and add in other resources as I go.
- Create a free resource that people can use and learn from.
- Answer people’s questions along the way (that is my favorite part).
- Prove that someone with a job can build a business online.
That makes is clear what my readers would get: A great resource (when I am done), a roadmap to follow, and inspiration.
I think a “niche marketing example” is exactly what a lot of new marketers will need to get started. Right now I am thinking about a product site — but that is still open for discussion during the research phase of the project.
But What Is In It For Me?
But what do I get? I said before that there has to be value for the creator.
Well, I like helping people. I know that sounds totally cheesy, but it is true (ask anyone that knows me).
But to be completely honest, that is not the only reason. A project like this will increase reader engagement (if done well). And that will almost certainly result in making this blog more valuable. I’ll probably use some tools to make this project happen, and that will result in affiliate sales. I’ll also probably sell some copies of Unstoppable Affiliate.
The best thing is that I will feel great about those sales because I will be selling stuff that I believe in and people will be buying the stuff based on my example (not my sleazy sales pitch).
Niche Marketing Example Deja Vu All Over Again
It is true that I have sort of done this twice before (more or less). Many years ago, I did a project I called the “Niche Super Site Project”. In that project, I decided to do a site about Elvis. That site gets lots of traffic but does not make a lot of money. This was one of my first projects, and I created it before I knew how to select niches. It turns out that there are just not that many people searching for “Elvis Presley Collectible Neckties” and the like.
Once, I did this in a forum run by Lynn Terry. I never really finished that project. Not sure why.
I also worked on the Niche Site Duel alongside Pat Flynn. There, the goals were different. The chose the “learning guitar niche” which was cool. When that all went down, I was really busy, and I was trying to compete by outsourcing everything, and quite frankly, I lost interest. I never even monetized or promoted the site, I do plan to get back to that site some day.
So, this time I am serious. LOL.
The Open Niche Project Plan
For those of you that are new to affiliate marketing, this is basically what needs to be done.
- Commit to the project and announce (this post)
- Review the niche site duel and unstoppable affiliate materials
- Keyword research and niche selection
- Domain purchase and site building
- Content creation and monetization
- Promotion
- Promotion
- Promotion
Never forget that Internet Marketing is mostly marketing (more on this later). That should become clear to everyone in this open niche marketing example.
So, here we go. Right now I am looking at Thursday as the official update day. So stay tuned.
Regards,
Mark
