Niche Blog Update For Newbies & Over 50's
What it really takes to set up a niche site
I recently wrote an honest review of setting up a Niche blog as a complete newbie with no tech skills. You can read it below.
It was a steep learning curve, and it was not as simple, or as cheap, or as easy as people make out. It’s important to understand there are a lot of people out there who need you to believe that it is super easy, so you purchase their over-hyped products which you will never use and will only waste your money.
I haven’t created any SEO or website products and have no hidden agenda and you don’t have to sign up to an email list. My only objective is to share a real journey and to inspire anyone who needs a little courage to go and try something new and not be afraid of failing. Especially if you’re over 50 and worried about tech and all things new.
So what has happened since I published the post?
There are 3 main areas that I have found challenging, all of which I will write about in separate posts, otherwise it gets too confusing. They are:
- The Adsense Journey.
I had hoped to be approved by google so I could run adverts on my site and get paid. Alas, this has not been a smooth journey. The road to google is full of potholes!
2. Getting Traffic
Help! I’ve built a site, but how do I get anyone to look at it? How do you get traffic?
3. The Not So Smooth Affiliate Journey.
Don’t be fooled by the claims that anyone can sign up as an affiliate. If you want to sign up for some of the tech products that are always promoted, it’s not a big deal, but get products that match your niche is a whole other ball game.
The Surprising News
When you are building your niche website, you have an option to add a plugin called Google site kit.
This lets Google measure and track your site’s performance. It tells you some really cool stuff like what are the most popular pages and how many people are searching for your site.
It was recommended by Google when I was trying to add Adsense so I added it.
According to Chris Cantel, who’s an expert on SEO, Google metrics are more like a vanity tool and only really of use to serious SEO experts, so I hadn’t bothered checking anything because my site is new. I just didn’t think anyone would have found my site, let alone viewed it. But I was wrong.
When I checked my stats, I was super shocked.
I was so happy because this tells me I am doing something right!
Impressions are the number of times my site has been served up in the searches for people to view.
This tells me that Google knows what my site is about and that it has relevant content. This is great feedback for me because it’s a good sign I’m on the right path. I may not have visitors but at least Google is going to give me the chance to get visitors, and that’s good news.
I also have another website that I can compare it to.
I have an English coaching website. It was stored on a cheap joint hosting platform. I got hacked and as a result I had to redo my site. I also moved it to private, more secure hosting, not shared hosting. I installed Google site kit analytics, and this is the result of the last 28 days.
As you can see, it’s a big fat ZERO
Easy Traffic
There’s no such thing as easy traffic if you are starting from scratch and are a complete newbie to niche sites like me.
People who write on Medium about niche sites and how successful they are often create sites where they are selling services like writing and blogging. They often have large followings on Medium so they can direct their followers over to the site. This gives them a great advantage because they can utilise their followers and turn them into a traffic source. This makes their stats look good and adds to the illusion that niche sites are super easy.
Quick Recap On What I’ve Done So Far
- I’ve done keyword research to identify a niche.
- Checked the competition to make sure I wasn’t competing against the giants in the industry like Amazon.
- Checked that the keywords can be monetised.
- Written targeted articles.
- Created a simple site
- Applied for affiliate programmes
- Applied for Adsense
So as you can see, my little niche site with targeted keywords and targeted articles is working. It’s a small win. To me, this is proof of concept and it’s given me the desire to move forward. But now comes the hard part. It’s the part where I have to grow a little bit more.
I have to focus on 3 things:
- Getting more traffic.
- Writing better articles.
- Getting people to buy affiliate products.
Impossible? Well, they thought going to the moon was impossible and now look, they’re going to Mars. So the only thing I can do is put my Elon Musk Cap on and give it a go!
Live Strong, Love & Get A Side Hustle
Please give this a clap. You can give up to 50 claps. It feeds the algorithm and tells it that this content is ok. Thank you for your support and help.
Please leave comments. If you have a journey to share or you are wondering if you should do it, leave a reply. Don’t forget to clap, so I know you are interested to know more.
If you’re interested in making extra money or personal growth you may find some of my other articles point you in the right direction or save you from pain. Here’s a taster.
Would You Like To Enjoy More Articles?
Get unlimited articles on all topics to help you build a better life. Grow your mind & body and stay informed. You can sign up here to become a Medium member for just $5. If you sign up using my link, I get a small commission that I can add to my millionaire growth fund (at no extra cost to you). Cool deal right?