[RB3]

Hello,

I am a newbie with some questions. I have been a website designer for 5 years and have successfully gotten several of my client’s website into the top 10 ranking at Google. Now I’d like to use this experience to get a high ranking for my own website and start selling on it.

1 – I’ve read here that it’s important to have a niche. Shouldn’t I find out first if there are affiliates out there that sell items in my niche? Let’s say I want to have a website about chess and sell chess boards, magazines, & books. What if there are no affiliates out there that sell these items? I should find another niche, right?

2 – If I’m using lots of merchants on my site, how does they user deal with buying several items. If a user wants to buy 4 items, it seems cumbersome to purchase the items at 4 different websites. How do you not lose the customer once he leaves your site?

3 – I buy items from the web every few weeks – books, magazines, shoes, baby supplies – and I’ve always bought from a sales only site. I know what I want and I’m not looking for a whole story. Am I unusual? Without starting a sales vs. content debate, do users really want sites with content? Also, from a web design and SEO perspective, how do sales only sites get high rankings without the content? PPC ads?

4 – From reading hundreds of posts here, it seems that people spend a tremendous amount of time developing their sites to generate income. How much time does it take to make $1,000 a month? (I guess this is a rhetorical question – although I’m still curious). Although it’s a nice amount of money – you can’t count on it as a sole source of income. Is the money proportionate to the work? Is most of a newbie’s time spent figuring out how it all works, getting good products and merchants, then once you make your first sale, you’ve got an idea of the formula to take and run with? I’m just concerned that I might not have the time. I’m a work at home mom doing my web design business, raising 3 boys under 6, and I’m already up til midnight and later most nights. Although I’m psyched and ready to stay up later to pursue something I think has a chance.

5 – A lot of people here have several websites going at the same time. These can’t all be niches, can they? I can brainstorm and come up with lots of things that interest me – tennis, arts & crafts, gardening, music – are these all things I should pursue? I think my problem is waiting for the perfect idea to hit me, meanwhile I’m acting on nothing.

6 – Are there advantages of affiliate marketing vs. drop shipping?

Thanks for your time.

Risa

[rod_freelanceworkexchange]

# 1. Finding content for your niche ain't really that hard--especially if it's not really a hard to find stuff.

If ever you have already chosen the niche that you want, tell us right away, maybe we can help you...

Just make sure that the niche that you chose captures your deepest interest and with enough knowledge about it...

[RB3]

Hi,

OK - I like arts & crafts. I like painting, pottery, and everything handmade. The problem that I see with this is that people who like handmade things are very "touchy feely" types and it might not be as easy a sell as, let's say, wine. Also, I've looked through affiliates sites, and there aren't that many handmade things available.

Also, although I'm a good writer, I don't really like to write. Where do people get content from who don't/can't write?

Thanks for you time.

Risa

[RB3]

Oh - and one more thing - why should a niche be a deep interest? When I read here about people with dozens of different sites, or dozens of pharmacy sites, I wonder - how can one person have the content for so many sites?

Risa

[Mike O]

You asked if you'd found a niche and no other affiliates are selling items in that niche should you look for another niche?

NO! You've found a *good* thing, as long as there are vendors available that you can put up sales links for. "No competition" is a goood thing!

-- Mike

[RB3]

Mike,

I meant to say "merchant." What if there are no merchants that sell the items that I'd like to sell in my niche?

Risa

[DesignerWiz]

Hello Risa, welcome to the ABW forum board!

I might have missed some very important elements in my response, but I am on cup 1 of my coffee .. so forgive any oversights.

Here's my quickie responses to your questions:

1.) No, not at all. You may have found a possible great niche zone as long as you can get a product line for this area. It is also possible to start selling as a merchant / drop shipper. You can create your own niche zone with some fore thought.

Rule of thumb: Don't worry about what other affiliates do & don't sell. What works for them, may not work for you ... and vice versa.

2.) This is a problem for many affiliates. The visitor may very well be interested in multiple merchant products ... but the checkout process can be cumbersome when the purchaser must go through multiple payment carts to process individual product orders.

The loss of the customer is part of the business if your accepting the merchants general terms. Some merchants will stamp "new customers" as yours and provide a commission for any further sales made from the "new customer" for a period of time. Otherwise, you need to bring special value to your site that will inspire the customer to come back to your site and make other purchases. However, some merchants won't allow a "former purchaser" to incite further commissions for a designated period of time, while others will allow it.

3.) My experience in trial & error testings have always lead me back to adding "content" oriented material to enhance the product information. You could make a cut & dry "sale site - look & feel" ... but I would add an "information" type of link that will give those that want more details the information they need or want.

As far as SEO. If your links are all pointing outbound to various merchant sites and you have no real content, don't expect any good keyword density weight frequency rating to give the search engine bots the food they need to index you.

4.) This question is a loaded question. There are so many variable factors that must be weighed into the equation to provide an answer that could even be remotely close to the answer you seek. The product(s) need & demand can play an instrumental part in this equation. The site layout and the "call to action" format can also play an instrumental role.

The time needed to test various methods can be very time consuming. However, the rewards can be very fruitful if you find the perfect meld.

5.) Many webmasters make niche websites for the purpose of targeting products without clouding the visitor with a "this & that" site, in addition to being able to get "keyword density weight frequency".

6.) Drop Shipping generally provides a much higher profit return. The visitors are usually YOUR customers who come back to YOUR site for support & further sales. This greatly covers the issues you asked about in question #2 and creates name brand awareness for your service. You are also able to create your own affiliate program with a drop shipping site structure.

[RB3]

Ray,

Thanks for your time writing that long response.

Risa

[BurgerBoy]

Originally Posted by RB3

Oh - and one more thing - why should a niche be a deep interest? When I read here about people with dozens of different sites, or dozens of pharmacy sites, I wonder - how can one person have the content for so many sites?

Risa

Well - the idea is that if your site is a site of products that you yourself have a deep interest in you will be more positive about your site and will work harder with it because it is something that you are interested in.

As far as many sites with 1000s of products - they use data feeds to build their sites and the content and descriptions are usually already contained in the data feed.