• Choosing A Marketing Niche Without Keyword Research Is A Huge Mistake •
• You’ve Got To Understand Traffic Volumes and Actual Search Terms Being Used •

Here’s a situation that is all too common with newcomers to the internet marketing world. But in this instance, the question is being asked by an individual that claims to have a web development business. I don’t know about you, but if I had hired this company to help develop my website’s online presence, and I became aware that the owner was asking a question like this one, well his company wouldn’t be involved with my website anymore!

I am digressing here … back to the subject at hand. Here is an all-too-common situation that arises AFTER a new internet marketer jumps on the band wagon. Let me share the gist of what this individual was asking about: 

Hi: I am new to the affiliate marketing business. I presently own and operate a small web development company. We recently developed a website targeted to people who are interested in and/or related to all areas relating to dogs. They could be dog owners, breeders, groomers, trainers, etc.  

Here is my question: Is ‘dogs’ a good niche?

 

Is ‘Dogs’ A Good Niche?

Sigh … OK, so this individual has already purchased a domain name; has started to build out a site around the HUGE category of dogs; has probably taken time to write content; taken time to place the content and other information onto this new site … but he’s asking NOW “is ‘dogs’ a good niche”??

Did he put the cart before the horse? Yes, most definitely. My suggestion to him was to STOP what they were doing right now and do some keyword research using a tool like Wordtracker.

I told him that the niche of dogs was huge! (‘Dogs’ is not what you’d call a niche. Poodles would be a niche, or puppy training would be a niche.) I advised ‘dogs’ was way too broad for them to achieve any online marketing success. That they needed to narrow it down!

I told him I’d make a 200% wager that they hadn’t done any keyword research, based on the question. I told him if they expected to attract targeted traffic, then keyword research was a must.

In addition, I advised that not only would the keyword research help them discover smaller niches within the broad category of dogs, they’d also get a grasp on what people were REALLY typing into the search engines to find out information about dogs.

If you know what people are searching for, then you’ll know what content topics to write about in order to try and grab some of that traffic via your organic search engine rankings!

As an example of what I am talking about, I entered ‘dogs’ into Wordtracker, set it to give me the top 100 results, and here’s an example of those results for today.

Here’s the top ten (actual term being used with projected 24 hour searches made in the USA):

1.  dogs    36,052
2.  dogsrule.com   7,241
3.  who let the dogs out   1,417
4.  funny dogs   1,130
5.  dogs for sale   1,058
6.  hot dogs   831
7.  cute dogs   798
8.  boxer dogs   753
9.  small dogs   693
10.  mummy dogs   622

All the way down to:

93.   herbs for dogs   123
94.   teacup dogs    122
95.   seizures in dogs   120
96.   english bull dogs   120; and lastly …
100.  havanese dogs   115

So, the moral of this story is to do your keyword research before you even purchase a domain name! You have to know the niche(s) you will be targeting within the broad category you’ve chosen.

Plus, you must get an idea of what people are searching for!  If you build out a website that contains information that only 2 people a day are interested in, it’s going to be terribly difficult to make any money as an online marketer! 

• Who Do You Turn To For Answers? •
• What Resources Do You Use To Help Further Your Online Success? •

I’m posting today in response to a private email I received from a newbie (my favorite kind of internet marketer!) the other day, asking me how I have “gotten as far as I have” with my online business, and how they might be able to speed up their learning curve.

Let me state right here before I write another word, I am nowhere near the top of my game. But I am getting closer every day Yes, I sure do have many learning curves ahead of me, such as:

• I don’t know everything there is to know about the MOST effective ways of online promotion for the particular niches that I market to, but I am testing the waters and like everyone else, I keep an eye on the pros and cons of my efforts and tweak things.
• I don’t yet know how to build a membership site, but I will one day as that is something I hope to get into place for my online SEO business.
• I am still honing my skills on how to write the most compelling sales copy.
• I am still learning how to make more money via AdSense.
• I often stumble through learning yet another behind-the-scenes technical coding issue that is necessary to improve one of my sites.
• And the list goes on and on (whether I like it or not! lol)

However, I am at a point where I can offer a whole lot of no-nonsense practical, sound advice to new online marketers. I always tell folks, “Why sit there, trying to figure out something, or go ahead and blindly implement something to your new site, only to find out it was a huge waste of time … when all you had to do was ASK FOR HELP or ADVICE first!!”

Do You Seek Out Help And Guidance?

I ask this because you really ought to find someone or somewhere you can go to, to receive help and guidance through the full-of-hype maze called internet marketing!

Have you found a forum (or two or three) that is full of helpful people who generously answer your questions without trying to jam a product down your throat? Yes? Great! Not yet? Well, keep nosing around the ‘net. You will be able to tell very quickly how sincere and helpful the other participants are just by reading a few threads.

Search Hint: to zero in on a specific forum theme, type into your favorite search engine: type-of-forum + forum *** Example: seo + forum

You know, I certainly continue to visit and participate in a small handful of forums that I know I can gather sound advice and help from. Sure it took me a little time to find them, but not too long. And I do try to offer help and answers when it is appropriate for me to do so, too.

You Could Find Great Help Via Someone’s Blog Posts, As Another Example

With the boom of blogging nowadays, there are some highly informative ones out there. (Mine being one of them, I hope!) With the personal spin a blog encourages us to put into our posts, I have found that there are a few I like to regularly check in on because I always pick up a valuable morsel of information.

Plus, I just like the way the authors express themselves, which in turn helps me think about how I express myself on my blog. Another win-win situation … I read their blog and maybe leave a comment; and I learn new things.

Along The Way You Just Might Actually Find A True Mentor You Can Learn From One-On-One

This happened to me. I am blessed, I really am. Through the situation of finding a quality forum that addressed the needs I had in a particular area of my marketing, and because I posted questions in order to receive the help I needed, I ultimately struck up a relationship with someone who happened to be extremely helpful, patient and just all around nice.

One thing led to another, and now this individual is truly my mentor. He is light-years ahead of me with internet marketing knowledge. I honestly soak up everything he freely offers to me. He has taken me under his wing and is slowly guiding me in building my online business (affiliate and otherwise).

I have no qualms in telling you all this, nor did I hesitate in stating this to the individual who wrote that email to me, asking about how they might possibly be able to shorten their learning curve.

Before I stop here, I’ll share this thought with you. Maybe it seems too elementary … maybe some of you are reading this and thinking “DUH! That’s just plain common sense, Claudia”.  But then again, maybe many of you really don’t realize this fact (which I do find to be true), and that is:

I’ve seen this mentioned time and again when I read about the top internet marketers and how they got to where they are today:

They all state that they received help, direction, mentoring, and resources from people that were already successful. They all say they had their own mentors in some way, shape, or form that helped guide them to success.

If I can help you, please do not hesitate to leave a comment, or send me an email. It is my pleasure to try and give back what has been, and continues to be so generously given to me … expert, no-hype, internet marketing knowledge.

• What Will It Take For You To Succeed On The Web?  •
• Almost Every Client I’ve Worked With Had The Wrong Expectations •

Today I want to write about the “best of intentions” when it comes to having a website to promote your services or products. By this I mean do you have high hopes that once you have a well-designed, pleasing to the eye website, and you’ve placed some decent content on it, that you can sort of kick back and wait for visitors to start flocking to your website’s door?

Probably so. From my professional perspective and experience, I have found this mindset to be more the norm, than the exception.

I hate to say it, but the “build a website and they will come” attitude is quite prevalent. As a matter of fact I have to keep reminding myself that very intelligent business men and women, who can do a great job out in the real world selling their services and products, usually haven’t a clue as to what makes a money making website tick!

I guess I still kind of take it for granted that since there is so much information on the internet nowadays about how to have a “successful website” … well I figure people just Google and educate themselves on what they need to do to make their websites WORK for them.

This assumption is wrong! And I am not putting down my clients in regard to this matter. After all, I haven’t a clue about what it takes to be a successful realtor; or how to be a successful producer of a holistic healing exposition. So why would most people who have a website really know what it will take to make it a lean, mean marketing machine?

And quite honestly, my client’s “best of intentions” attitude really works in my favor. It means that they need my website optimization firm’s help even more than for SEO attention. They need our marketing success strategies, too

For a full listing of all the professional services my partner and I offer, please visit SEO-Innovation.com

What Does It Take to Have A Successful Website?

In my professional capacity, I really and truly try to arm every client with the core internet marketing knowledge they need along with solid basic SEO knowledge. Each client will have a slightly different blend of tactics and techniques that will get them to their end result. But for each website owner that end result is the same … the need to attract targeted visitors to their site, and to make sales of one sort of another.

To this end, these are the basic concepts I discuss with them:

1. That building a website is only one small aspect of a successful web presence.
2. That to be successful, they need a website marketing plan.
3. That they must be prepared to invest time and/or money in SEO implementation and techniques.
4. That the more actively involved they are in the website marketing process, the greater the results they will achieve.
5. That they must keep their site up-to-date (i.e. content is added on a regular basis; links are up-to-date, etc.).
6. They ought to think about starting a blog (only if they can handle the demands of adding lots of quality content in addition to their website).
7. They should participate in forums that are relevant to their niche.
8. They need to seek links from suppliers, and other related sites to their niche that will bring value of one sort or another to their visitors.
9. They need to always keep an eye on the competition.
10. They’ve got to remain flexible and keep adjusting to trends in their industry.
11. They should keep an eye open for new marketing angles.
12. And the list goes on …

Patience Is A Virtue

As my dear Grandma Sadie used to say “Patience is a virtue”. A successful website normally takes a bit of time to evolve! A swarm of visitor traffic isn’t going to come running through the gates the moment the site is launched. However hard work and persistence combined with ethical and expert SEO advice and marketing assistance will usually pay off.

The bottom line is this … if you see yourself as a web owner with the “best of intentions” but with a site that is underperforming, the reason is normally laying right under your nose. Lack of search engine optimization, usually combined with one or more technical issues adversely affecting your site are working together to put the kibosh on high rankings and of course, more visitors and more sales.

In addition, are you putting into practice any or all of the above to-dos I’ve mentioned?