How important is passion?

[alpacabob]

I'm just starting up my affiliate business (signed onto networks, got my EIN, started planning some sites, etc.) I have a couple of ideas, but a conflict. I'd love to build a website dedicated to bicycles, bike repair, etc. But to do a half-decent job, I'd be looking at a HUGE project with a lot of visuals- and the crux of this process for me is going to be the web design and the fact that my eight year old stepson is a better artist than me.

On the other hand, I worked in public health for a long time with a rather indigent population. As a result, I know way more than any human should about health insurance. I also know tons about what herbal remedies people use. Both of these could be lucrative markets- and could be more verbally than visually driven (and I'm a fairly good writer).

So what do you guys advise on the conundrum? My thought is to start with something that will make money and I can experiment with and then move on to building the bike website. It may never make money, honestly, but I'd like to do it and do it well anyway- but I don't feel that I have the skillset to do so right now.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[Linda Buquet]

Hi alpacabob,

Here are some random thoughts.

You don't have to be an artist to build a site at all. You can get a nice template that works for the site then most of what you want to add is text. You'll get banners from merchants and product pictures of bikes and parts. You could make money from a site like that and I don't think it would be as competitive as the other two.

Both insurance and herbal remedies are pretty competitive. Plus insurance can be really boring to try to write about after awhile. If you picked a niche within the herbal niche just one segment so start with it maybe would not be as competitive.

Pick some potential root keywords like "bicycle repair" or "natural pain relief" or whatever and work through the examples on this page. How to do Niche Keyword Research

Hope this helps a little in getting you started in the right direction.

[Niche]

My random thoughts

Start a website on each of the three i.e one on bicycles, another on herbal remedies and yet another website on health insurance. or you could opt for blogs

They don't have to be perfect just get the right domain names for each of these

Put up a few pages for each and upload them.

Then decide on one to focus on and develop to whatever level you want.
While you are building the first site up, the other sites are accruing website and domain name age. Very useful for ranking later

Majority of us are in several different niches with many sites

I tend to decide at the beginning of the year what projects I want to develop and then do the above i.e get the domain name and put uo some pages. I may not get back to any one site for 6 to 8 months but by them I already am ahead in the game

Good luck

[Linda Buquet]

Well there are opposing views on that one.

I feel strongly that a brand new newbie needs to pick the ONE they think has the best shot and focus on getting one up and making money.

MAYBE down the road you can try one of the others too.

James Martell one of the gurus of the industry agrees. He used to teach his students to get a bunch of niche sites up but now says... if he could start over, what he'd do differently is focus all his energy on one site - JUST ONE.

[Jiyoui]

I'll be kind of side stepping the subject a little big and will just discuss the idea of "passion".

Having passion in something that you do, I think, is absolutely crucial in this industry.

The passion you have within a niche, will motivate you through the tough times. It will keep you going even if you're reading some 30 page article, because you like it. You love it. You find it infinitely interesting that it doesn't seem like work to you any more. Once you have gained that knowledge, you are then able to monetize it. That, I think, is the secret and the most wonder aspect of this industry.

Taking something that you love, and monetizing it.

Just typing this is sending shivers down my spine.

Now for me, my passion doesn't actually lie in any specific niche, contrary to what is generally recommended. My passion lies in affiliate marketing. The whole idea of affiliate marketing motivates me and, and a result, it motivates me to be passionate about any niche I read about or consider doing. This is not saying that every niche I come across, I just into, no, no at all.

I still pick one that I think is best, and pour my energy into it. Be it: research, late nights reading article, goggling a billion keyword, just reading, finding, digging for every bit of information I can find on it. But in the end, most importantly, I love every moment of it.

This, I guess, is better defined as overall drive.

But once again, I love it all.

[alpacabob]

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I've decided that given limited time (I also work full time), I'm going to focus on a bicycle website for now. The motivation is there and in two days, I've found myself halfway through my second book on good website design so that I can make something useful for people. I also figure that then I have the skills to take bits of knowledge and monetize it quickly after I've built a complicated website.

That actually leads me to another question. I read all about how to find artwork, clip art, etc., but what I want to do requires VERY specific images. It would be best if they were drawn for simplicity's sake (it's easy to get lost when you look at a bicycle and a drawing can point you to just the part that matters). I've certainly found some useful images, but I have yet to find anything such as "step-by-step hub overhaul drawings." So I think I need to hire somebody- I can't draw to save my life. Any thoughts on where to find an artist who will be decent, but not terribly expensive? Is elance a good enough option?

[Jiyoui]

Money hungry college art students

[alpacabob]

Originally Posted by Jiyoui

Money hungry college art students

So how do you find them?

[Jiyoui]

Originally Posted by alpacabob

So how do you find them?

Do you live near any colleges? Community colleges?
Most universities have some sort of job program set up for their students for when they graduate. If you can get in contact with the career center of the university, I'm pretty sure they can help you find some starving art/graphic design student.

[alpacabob]

That's a really good call. I do live near several universities/community colleges- I just wasn't sure how to access art students. I guess my career center never did me much good given that I didn't even think of that.

Thanks!