Next step after finding niche?

[oregongal]

HI,

I've been reading the posts here and have gleaned a lot of information. If I have a niche and want to make a mini -site, what's the best way to go about it? I would like to test the waters with it. Linda mentioned having an optimized landing page. I assume that would include a review of the product to work as a pre-sell? Anything else? And how would I optimize it? Would it be a bad idea if I had just the landing page and then the affiliate product page?

I also wonder if anyone has heard of the program "Private Label Reviews"? They write product reviews on different niches and if you purchase it you get private label reviews on different niches each month? I'm struggling with writing a review and thought this might help. One other question - about the program "niche on crack"? Anyone heard of that one?

Sorry, I have so many questions. If anyone wants to answer any of them and give me their opinion I'd be grateful.

Thanks,
Diane

[Linda Buquet]

The answer is always "it depends" because there are so many variable depending on YOU!

1st some question related to paragraph 1.

What general type of niche?(don't say exactly - just broad category like health, retail product, pets)

How do you plan to market? SEO, PPC other?

Do you have any site building skills? Do you have a domain & hosting?
Or do you want to try a free site 1st to test the waters?

The 2 products I've heard of but don't know enough about to comment except to be careful and if you buy re-write everything so it's not duplicate content.

[oregongal]

Thanks for your quick reply. I have started a blog on blogger. It's about natural treatments and tips. It's pretty new and that's the only type of website I've made. I do have a Squidoo page also. I am planning on continuing adding and refining my blog as I do enjoy it - haven't made anything on it yet, though.

I am intrigued about doing some mini niche sites also. Thinking about tips on parenting newborns. I do have nine children by the way! I've never done PPC and am not sure I'm ready to jump in those waters just yet! There is quite a bit to learn about SEO, but I thought this might be a good testing ground. Looking for advice there too.

I am still wondering how to best optimize the landing page - do you have any tips or maybe an example? Also, if you have more than one mini website what are the separate costs for each. Like, do you pay more than one hosting fee?

I have been very cautious about spending money since I don't have a lot available right now. I have learned about keyword research and hopefully can get started with that.

Thanks again,
Diane

[Linda Buquet]

Sounds like are building slowly and carefully and making some good moves.

Some hosts allow unlimited domains on the same server. But shop carefully some hosts are not very good. I recently shopped and these guys have lots of happy customers. HostNine

You can get the 6.95 a month plan and host unlimited domains - but realize that's not true - based on the space in the plan there will only be room for so many sites. BUT if they are all small mini sites you should be able to put a few on that plan.

Read my post here about how to check out hosts before you decided who to go with.

http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5s...html#post19358

[Linda Buquet]

At the minute only had time to find these landing pages.
Get Landing Pages - We Make Landing Pages Easy.
It's a company that designs them.
Those are highly graphical.

You can also do it with a banner on top. A sizzle paragraph with benefits
and/or reviews. Then a call to action and a link. The main thing I read about landing pages is not to have nav links or any other links except the ones for that particular offer, so you won't lose people that click off somewhere else on your site and never click through.

Unless you are doing a PPC only landing page I think it makes sense to build some content and spider food into the page so you can hopefully get some natural search traffic.

[assaf]

Originally Posted by oregongal

Thinking about tips on parenting newborns. I do have nine children by the way!

Diane

If you manage to deal with nine children then niche websites are peanuts for you

I have mini websites but not as reviews websites but as theme focused info. The monetization is from adsense and affiliate links while my focus is for the adsense.

Regarding costs, as Linda mentioned there are some respectable plans for hosting unlimited domains starting from $5.95/month. You can learn more about things to consider before choosing hosting provider.

Assaf

[Linda Buquet]

Here are some good landing page tips.

Seal the Deal: 10 Tips for Writing the Ultimate Landing Page

"But what I quickly discovered was this – there wasn’t a series of landing pages. There wasn’t even one landing page! All of the clicks, all of their costly PPC traffic was being directed to the homepage.

Literally, their best prospects were being dumped off at the front door with little direction or guidance as to how to proceed.

So let’s look at 10 key steps to writing and designing a landing page that will help get you the results you’re looking for:"

[oregongal]

Hey, thanks for the advice! I haven't really considered Adsense because I've never made anything with it. I'm looking at a website that I'd like to promote as an affiliate. If I have a landing page that is intriguing, then the hope is that people will click through to the website from a link on that page. Does this make sense? I have never had to buy a domain name or pay for hosting. I just have a free blog on blogger. So, I will have to work through the mechanics of setting that up. Thanks again for the advice.

Diane

[Linda Buquet]

You can make your landing page on a free blogger account too.
You just don't have as much design control and I'm not sure if you
can make a stand alone page that does'nt have a bunch of navigation links to archives and everything.

Think of a landing page sort of like a magazine ad. You can't put a ton of info in there, you can't explain and sell a bunch of different stuff.

One clear offer, compelling benefits, nice graphic and a strong call to action.

Here is another really good article.
Be sure to scroll down to SEE before and after examples.
Digital Web Magazine - 11 Ways to Improve Landing Pages

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here's another article with some good examples of ringtone affiliate landing pages. Ringtones are a little different because you give them a choice of which carrier that have but the one goal is still clear - click here for ringtones.

What Landing Pages Should Look Like Part 1

"There’s so many variables and you have to be a little creative artistically and marketing wise, so it’s more of a learned trait from experience in the affiliate industry.

Instead what I’ll do is point out some landing pages for the more popular offers in a series of posts, and share what they’re doing well and my tips for improvement."

[oregongal]

Now that's some really concrete advice. Great article! And I hadn't really thought about using blogger, but I might consider it. I would like to design the page so I'll have to see if that would work out.
I've changed my niche idea a bit. I got it from your list of 50 affiliate programs. I'm waiting to get an approval from the merchant on my affiliate app. I really do appreciate all your help and you run a GREAT forum here.
Thanks,
Diane