Niche Marketing Archives - The At Home Couple

Cashing Out On The Local Search Demand

A little offshoot of our upcoming Passive Income Project – I wanted to give all of our bloggerhood buddies some insight towards a method of making a full time income by capitalizing on local businesses and geo targeted search traffic. This is nothing new, as there are thousands of internet marketers who’ve been stacking loot providing offline businesses with simple SEO and web related services for quite some time.

A little back story before I hook you guys up with one of my favorite methods – In the late summer I did some copy writing for a Toronto-based SEO named Jeff Schnurr, who then commissioned me to do a 5 page WordPress-powered site for a client of his. Months later, I’ve completely absorbed his insane knowledge of local search, link building and niche keyword research – and Veronica and I have partnered with his company to take over the Canadian local search market.

This among everything else we’re trying to do!

While there are plenty of tried and tested methods to making money with local search and offline businesses, I’ll take a minute and list one of my personal favorites that I am currently trying out:

METHOD – Local Retail Domain Flipping

Research keywords that are location specific and relative to a retail market or profession. For example, my latest experiment is with the keyword Downtown Toronto Florists – you’re starting to catch on now, right? You find keywords/domains that are relative to a local market, highly competitive (lots of Adwords on search results) and are specific to some sort of product/industry.

**TIP** This method only works if the “keyworded” domain name is available.

Once identify the market/competition, you throw up a quick wordpress site on the domain, get that site ranked for it’s primary phrase (or multiple phrases of course) and once it’s in that top listing, you contact every competitor which shows up in the search results (Adwords too) and advice them of your domain name, it’s ranking and how they are wasting money paying for traffic when they could have the number one spot. Let them know that you have contacted the other players in that market and are still accepting offers.

Cash in the bank. This method can be twisted so many ways, and the great thing about local markets is that the competition isn’t as heavy as trying to rank for a global search term, and because you have the keyword domain, ranking for your term shouldn’t be too hard at all – most of the time it can be accomplished in a couple of weeks.

A little hint… use Google and Yahoo’s local business listings, create an address close to the center of your city and submit your “business” profile to their directory. And you’ll end up like my current site – Click to see.

Pro’s to this method:

The only cost is a domain name
If you take advantage of holidays in certain markets, you could get some super high offers
Because the business owner you’re contacting knows you’ve also been in touch with their competitors, this is going to make them want the domain even more – you can expect to get anywhere from $200 – $500 on average for a good local domain because this is chump change for offline businesses.
A little bit of bookmarking, a couple article submissions and your business listing is sometimes all you need to take the number one spot.

Con’s to this method:

Might be challenging for someone who’s never taken the “number 1” search spot before, on purpose.
This method only works well with the top 1-3 search positions, though you could get luckily with lower rank.

Anyways, I’ll keep you guys posted on how I do with my Downtown Toronto Florists local domain flip (I also bought the .ca) and would love to hear your feedback, as well as any way you can think of twisting this – email us if you have any questions!

Cheers,

Elijah

NicheOnDemand 2.0 – Back From The Dead And Ready For Business!

After a grueling month of in-depth analysis, development and restructuring NicheOnDemand.com is finally re-opened for business! I can’t even begin to describe how exited I am.

Not only did I focus on increasing the already awesome quality of our niche website packages, but I also brought on some experts during the process to assist in the development of kick-ass services to help you succeed online.

Better Niche Website Packages

Taking almost a year of feedback and suggestions from our sales on Sitepoint.com, we managed to beef up our Niche Website Packages by adding previously known add-ons as standard features. For example, our Niche Domination package priced at $327 USD now includes the PLR Ebook, Amazon Store and Video Gallery addons.

WordPress Services

For those of you who are familiar with WordPress you’re probably thinking, “why would I pay someone to install WordPress for me when I can do it myself?” My answer is simple – you’d be surprised to know that a great majority of people online, with or without websites, have no idea how to fully optimize WordPress to ensure maximum performance. We now have a WordPress Services page, with 3 affordable WordPress installation/optimization packages to choose from, giving you a solid foundation for your niche website or business.

Consultation Services

I’ve been providing consultation on keyword research and WordPress for quite some time now, just previously it was by referral only. After seeking the advice of my own mentors and support system, I’ve decided to open up my Online Consultation Services to the public. Using some great technologies you can now speak with me one on one and watch my computer screen to see exactly what it is that I’m showing you and how I do it step by step.

Tutorials Section

I’ve always tried to provide great tutorials to my paying clients, combining video, audio and documentation. After some consideration, I decided it would only be appropriate to increase the value of my services by providing my clients – past, present and future – with an in depth archive of web tutorials covering all things WordPress, marketing and design.

Other Stuff

Aside from the new and improved services, you can expect a killer freebies section jam-packed with reports, ebooks, courses, videos and software that will help you and your niche business conquer the search rankings. As well, we are currently in the works of develping our own built-in marketplace in which we will be selling our infamous niche website packages. No more success fees and third party crap – you’ll now be able to buy our pre-made unique packages directly from us and completely cut out the middle man.

To the future and beyond!

Cheers and Beers,

Elijah

Niche Keyword Research Tutorial

As promised, I spent a few hours today putting together a jam-packed tutorial which takes you step by step through the process of conducting effective keyword research. The purpose of this tutorial is to help you uncover profitable niche markets which surround any given keyword or phrase – and it’s really not as hard as you think!

Click Here To Watch The Tutorial

The tutorial itself is around 30 minutes long – so be sure to turn the tv off and duct tape the kids to the toilet seat. Grab a pen and paper and really let the info sink in.

I cover two of the more popular keyword research tools available online: Wordtracker and Google’s Keyword Tool. Wordtracker as most of you know is a paid keyword service, which is around $300 for the year (less than $30 a month, and worth every penny!) and Google’s Keyword Tool is free (not as detailed results).

I hope this helps those of you who are still unsure about the process of researching keywords for your niche sites and affiliate campaigns, as well as uncover some neat facts for the few of you who might be more experienced.

Oh yeah, Wordtracker has a free 14 day trial so feel free to sign up and follow along!

Let me know if you guys have any questions!

Cheers,

Elijah

Hearts, Farts and Shopping Carts

Yes yes.. another month gone, another Paypal balance transferred. I hope everything has been productive for you guys and gals in 2009 – I’ve been doing my best to keep busy and remain afloat in this massive Internet ocean. As you’ve been noticing I’m starting to get back in the groove with regards to posting and keeping fresh content for the search engines – and in actuality, I post because I like to hear from you guys (as you’ve probably noticed I don’t do tutorial type posts anymore).

I think the biggest obstacle was figuring out how I can shift my objectives while still expressing myself in a fashionable manner. Making money online is no longer a mystery to me, but rather a daily task which I absolutely love doing.

Hearts…

So Valentines day is approaching, and if you haven’t already, it’s time to get some of that seasonal affiliate money, right? I dunno.. I find I’m more motivated if I treat everyday like it’s a special occasion to make money online. Sure, people’s online shopping frequency may increase over Valentine’s day – but it’s one day, one month and one shot.

I’m definitely considering running a few ads that will funnel traffic to some CPA offers like Nintendo Wii, iPhone and other popular gifts desired by the women we love. Let’s face it guys, we do most of the shopping on Valentines day – so if you are thinking of running a few campaigns or promoting a particular product, be sure you’re targeting the male audience. If you’re great a targeting niche markets, then I would say fuck the male market and really snipe the female shoppers, because most big time players are probably targeting the male audience – which means there’s less competition towards the female purchasing traffic.

Here’s an idea: Create a little one page website with a poll that collects information regarding “what do you want for Valentines day?” and advertise the page via your facebook, twitter, etc.. You could pretty much gather results and have your campaigns pointed out to you. Hmmm.. That really wouldn’t take much to put together. Good job Elijah – Thanks Elijah, you’re so smart – Aww, thanks man. I really appreciate it.

What do you guys have planned for the Valentines day traffic?

Farts…

Veronica and I have severely shifted our diet to consist of 99% organic goods – and it feels amazing! Physically, I noticed a decrease in the “bloated” look of my face/gut within the first week. It’s now been 2 months, and I wake up feeling energized almost every morning – and that is something that I never felt before.

Along side eating all organic, we’ve stopped purchasing meat and dairy products, but we’re not necessarily vegan – let me explain: I could never go straight vegan or vegetarian because I love meat. Steak, chicken wings, steak, um.. steak… I could never give up the pleasure I get from the combination of a bbq, a steak and a cold beer. What we’ve done though is stopped purchasing meat and dairy products, so it will never be found in our own fridge. If I’m over at a friends, or we’re out at my favorite steakhouse, then you better believe I’m treating myself – but that is the keyword. It’s a treat, not a daily consumption.

We decided this based on many obvious factors such as the chemical preservatives, steroids, and other variables that are in the meats served to the general public, as well as the sheer brutality of how the animals are kept and killed in the processing plants.. it’s like something out of a horror movie – and we just couldn’t bare with the thought of purchasing and eating something that was gutted alive while hanging upside down by it’s ankles on a zip line.

Anyways.. I wanted to comment as I’m sure a few of you are of the vegetarian/vegan/organic persuasion: eating well makes you fart like a hell storm! Not that Veronica and I ever had problems letting it rip before (quite the opposite) but it seems to be more regular and often now that our diet has shifted – which is awesome because it’s free laughs!

I guess the body needs to detox and rid itself of all the crap built up from the years of digesting chemically processed shit. Also, we found this awesome company located here in Toronto that delivers our organic produce weekly to our door for $35! They’re called FrontDoorOrganics, and they provide organic food delivery – everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to organic shampoo, soap, condiments.. pretty much everything you would need. Sweet!

Shopping Carts…

I’m in the final stages of completing NicheOnDemand.com – which will be serving as my home base for niche website services etc.. Feel free to check it out and give me some feedback! Anyways, I need to implement some sort of shopping cart element into the site, and want something a little more diverse than a Paypal button. I’ve heard of e-junkie and a few others… Do you guys have any suggestions based on your own personal experiences? I need something that gives me the ability to track, provide receipts emails to clients etc.. You know what I’m talking about.

So, what do you guys think based on what it is that I’m doing?

Cheers,

Elijah

Why You Should Start Fondling The Forums

Over the last month I’ve been frequenting a handful of Internet marketing/webmaster forums, not only for the valuable information provided by their members, but also as a means of building authority and gaining a following. I never understood why, but many aspiring marketers overlook the power of having “authority” status on popular, niche related forums. I know people who make a huge portion of their online income selling products and services via Internet marketing forums, like the infamous Warrior Forum.

Each forum is a community, much like a blog, with it’s own lingo, rules and rituals. People post threads and people comment. People agree and disagree. It is not unheard of to see digital debates continue for 60 comments amongst 10-20 people, and guess what? Within these arguments and threads lays the true grit and concern of potential niche information seekers.

Start studying some threads and you’ll see what I mean…

To be perfectly honest, it’s almost ridiculous how receptive these forums can be – essentially you establish yourself as being a contributing member by posting useful comments, you then start posting a few threads which is no different than posting on your blog, and once you have around 100 posts (which includes comments and threads) you start marketing your own info products, services and techniques.

Once you’ve achieved the status of being reliable and providing value within the community, you can pretty much bank on the fact that when you post up a thread with your latest report, service or method that people will eat it up – and I’m not embellishing this one bit. With the forum monkeys following your every move, you can write a report that might take you 5 or 6 hours, post up a thread with some clever sales copy selling it for $7-10 and cash out several hundred dollars in a matter of days. This is not a joke!

So where do I start?

First, you need to get rid of the notion that online forums are intimidating and uninviting – this is the furthest thing from the truth. Yes, if you’re an idiot and post up a thread asking the community to TELL you their profitable niches, you will get your ass fried in a heart beat, and believe me, it will happen so fast and so fierce that you’ll end up in a corner, sucking your thumb in fetal position.

With that being said, here are some tips to help you get started:

Choose your user name wisely – Just like you would with a domain name, you don’t want to have a user name that says “noob” or “masturbation magician” because as time passes and you become more reputable, your name will not change. Choose a name that represents you strength, personality and or brand. You can find me on most forums as TheAtHomeCouple – genius, right?
Complete your forum profile – Most online forums provide a “profile” section where you can put a little blurb about yourself, a picture, choose your avatar, and add your social bookmarking/networking/website links. Do not overlook the power of your forum profile – when you post comments that are useful, leave a controversial comment, or outright assassinate someones credibility like a ninja in the midnight mist, people WILL check your profile to leave you a private message or find out how the heck YOU are.
You must have a signature link – For those of you who are not familiar, and signature link in a forum is no different than a signature link in your personal email. When you leave a comment or post a new thread, there will be a section below the content to provide a url (or several) of your choice. You want to include any links or sites that you are promoting because people will click your sig link, and it is a back link to your site. Tip: If you have recently launched a product, report, or your services within the forum, include a link to that thread within your signature file with a catchy anchor text i.e. Find out how to make $100 a day within 3 weeks! Internal traffic funneling my friends!
Rules and lingo – Interaction is the heart and soul of every successful online forum. When you are new, take the time to read the forum rules and browse the threads for a few days making note of any lingo – because each forum has its own language.
Comments are king – Once you feel comfortable, start to leave useful comments on threads that you enjoyed. Do not be one of those “great thread!” people because I guarantee that you will get lost in the shuffle with zero impact. Speak your mind. If something fucking sucks, believe it or not, you need to leave a comment saying that it fucking sucks, and explain why. Forums are a lot less formal than blogs and discussion groups, so don’t be afraid to say what you feel even it it means putting someone on blast. If you found the thread resourceful, then thank them for taking the time out to share the info with you, let them know what you liked about it, and what your plans are. On the same note, if you found the thread resourceful, but felt that they left out some vital information or steps, don’t hesitate to fill in the blanks for the rest of the readers to benefit from – this is a great way to build your rep as someone who is full of useful info!

Please, for the love of all things good, don’t brush off niche related forums as being a waste of time, because if you do you will be missing out on an opportunity to set yourself apart, earn reputation and generate some good revenue to add to your business model. Visit Google, and type in your niche/keyword+forum and you will find an endless list of communities for you to join. Start off small, posting 5 comments a day. After a few weeks you will have a solid foundation, and the position to start marketing yourself and your products to the community.

I’m going to be releasing a few secret ninja reports on a few IM forums in the next month or so, and will keep you guys updated on the progress, and the success!

Cheers,

Elijah

Finding A Profitable Niche For Local Success

I spent the last week or so helping two good friends of mine, Mickey and Alistair, move from their recently sold condo to a cozy apartment in the trendy Bloor West area of Toronto – I absolutely hate moving, but that’s another post on a whole other blog! Anyways, Mickey and myself have always shared a passion for computers and technology, and whenever we get together for 37 beers and a bottle of scotch the conversation usually leans towards business ideas and world domination tactics. 3-5 times per year a whole crew of us travel north of the city to a very popular cottage town called Wasaga Beach, where Mickey’s father John lives and plays. This is usually our time to relax, build a fire, eat awesome food and spend some quality time together, as most of us don’t hang out as often as we’d like now that we’re all getting older – and more consumed in our individual careers.

This past summer we stumbled upon the realization that there isn’t a central location on the Internet for our demographic (male/female aged 19-30, future alcoholic millionaires) relating to what’s going on in Wasaga Beach. This discovery lead to the obvious discussion of building a web 2.0 social network style community, that would utilize our individual skills (Mickey is a Computer Programming Ninja, and Alistair is Night Club Manager/Promotion Sniper) and provide the Wasaga Beach party people with a go-to spot for events, contests, and intoxicated gatherings.

A Moment Of Genius…

A huge factor with pulling this off would be the ability to make the concept “sticky” and branded – because with our age group branding is everything. If we can come up with a catchy name, tag line and logo that people will recognize all the way from the strip to the line up in front of the keg, not only will the idea explode but word of mouth will take effect – and that my friends is what viral marketing dreams are made of.

All we have to do is funnel that viral buzz towards a fully interactive, multimedia driven social community where people can upload videos of their friend streaking across a beach volleyball court with a Roman Candle hanging out of his ass, and we’ll be in business! We can combine this with a Profile system, a vibrant choice of locally themed forum threads, photo galleries with tagging capabilities, and an up to date events section providing the inside scoop to everything Wasaga Beach Bums deem important.

We have all winter to get the foundation of the site complete, as well as the necessary traffic generation and link building methods – which is where I come in – and as summer roles around next year we’ll be more than prepared to start spreading the word and claiming our authority within the party scene of Wasaga Beach. Here’s a few ways I think we can create the viral power we need:

Take the entire crew down to the beach at least once every long weekend, all wearing branded t-shirts with the website address and logo on it while being loud and vibrant as usual.
Get branded bottle openers and condoms on a stick to give away while we’re out partying. Making people do ridiculous shit for free stuff and recording it to compile in an online video release at the end of each cottage season.
Host a free karaoke party at the beginning of cottage season – with more filming and condoms.
Every year in August Mickey has a pig roast for his birthday. We can charge people $20 a head for a Keg Party Pig Roast – all you can eat and drink with contests and prizes.
Once established we can cross over into the winter season and host events at the surrounding ski resorts – milking the snowboarding crowd.

I’m sure the wheels are all spinning in your heads right now – how can I find a profitable market locally and use the power of the Internet to support it? Take a look around you. What do people enjoy doing in your town or city? What’s popular based by season, or even year round? How can you position yourself between a trendy tourist spot and it’s visitors to capitalize and provide a resource or service to enhance their experience?

Spend a Sunday walking around your downtown core and keep your eyes open – the opportunities are everywhere! Thinking locally might not be as profitable compared to a global online launch, but on the flip side local niche targeting makes it much easier to establish authority and dust what little competition there might be – especially if you know a thing or two about Internet marketing!

Cheers,

Elijah