Finding Your Niche
It can be a really difficult thing when you first start out to actually find your niche
The best way is to actually avoid starting off your research from the "adsense" mania. The most important thing is to make sure your site is profitable, and the best way to ensure that happens is to have your own product. If you sell your own product from your own site, then you are on to a winner
Hobbies and interests are the best place to start, but remember that most niches are already crowded. But this is not true for everything
Having you own product that you can sell to people is a real must
Yes you can get lots of backend sales from affiliate programs of one kind or another, but you will find affiliate sales will be much less than selling your own product that you have a passion about
Let me just give you my experience
I have a hobby of horse racing. I love the sport and always have
My particular hobby was to calculate a matematical rating for each horse in a race. I never had any idea I would turn it into a business, or that it would actually sell online. But I perfected my ratings formula, and the tips that come from it, and then I started out with just a "free" website. I was amazed that people started paying me. So I bought a domain name and added my paypal links, and bingo I had the start of a real great business with a recurring payment for my services
The point I want to make is this - YES I get clicks from Google and affiliate programs of various kinds, but this is as nothing compared to the ongoing sales, of my products month by month. In addition, because it is a hobby, I have the passion to keep developing the site, and adding new content all the time etc. This is very important. My site has also been listed quite highly on the search engines, so that I get traffic every day without actually doing anything to promote the site
So my advice is dont start by trying to find the most profitable keywords and then building a site round them. Most people have already been there before you, and where there is a profitable keyword, you can bet your bottom dollar there will be thousands of sites. Certainly check how many sites come up when you type in your keywords and keyword phrases, but the internet is a funny old thing. Sometimes you find something where there are not so many sites, but then when you build you own site you cant a ranking for love or money - even though for more competitive niches you get a bigger listing!
Im afraid its a little bit of trial and error
It only costs you $8 for a domain, so it doesnt really matter that much if you have to scrap what you've got and start again
Keep trying eventually you will find something that is profitable and meets your interests at the same time. However you will always do alot better if you also have a product of your own that you can sell as well
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