Helping Newbies.
My Reply to Dave (Bux),
What Dave said in his post does work, and works well. There is any number of people, experts in their trade passing on tips in their blog posts, on social media etc; who command a good following and make money.
The question though is: Do you really have to be an expert in a certain niche to have a successful blog site?
I say not necessarily. One of my favourite stories is of a woman who (probably) didn't know the difference between a Chicken and a Pidgeon, but has a site earning 6 figures talking about chickens.
The first one was given to her, and last I heard she now has 3 feathery pets.
So where did the money come from? Amazon, she reviewed chicken products, plus some from AdSense.
I am a builder by trade but have no interest in writing about it, or setting up a U-Tube channel and debating whether or not you should be using 2/10mm or 2/12mm galvanised cup head bolts when connecting a beam to your100mm sq. patio posts. (tip: use 12mm), and I removed any reference to my trade and qualifications on LinkedIn.
From my response to Dave I had a PM from a new member, and it was a classic example of where you can turn too if you are not an expert on a particular subject.
He spoke about what his father did and what his grandfather did. I would be going through the old photos.
I have one blog about adult education. I have very limited teaching experience. I have trained some apprentices, but that was on site, not in the tech college, and during the past couple years I have done some part time teaching of English to Colombians and Venezuelans.
In a way you could say I am writing about life skills, and as a niche it is probably not that removed from what I have done and what I am doing.
But it is a broad niche, and it can be a case of where do you start and where do you finish. Really there is no finish as you will never run out of topics.
The downside is not all parts of it will make money.
Making your trade your niche short circuits the process and you know straight off the bat what you are going to be talking about, then combined with some SEO, you should get your profile in front of peoples eyes reasonably quickly.
Not being sure about what niche to dive into takes a bit longer, The trick is to not dive into it, but spend the time researching it, before committing to it.
So, like the lady with the chooks, you can do this.
Michael.
Recent Comments
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The tools that WA provides really helps out as well. We just need to know how to apply them!
Great post Michael!
Cheers,
Maria 🌹
Yes, a lot of work has gone into updating WA recently Maria.
Thank you, and hope your keeping well.
Michael.
Excellent post, Michael. You are right that you can write from experience or from imagination. That is the creative process. You are also right that not everything we choose to write can make money. Reviews are a long hanging fruit because there is a product people are already wanting to buy, you are just helping them decide. So, for any niche, one should also research what is the affiliate product they intend to monetize .
Exactly Stan.
Using your imagination when selecting a niche can work well too.
It is a big world out there, and the choices are enormous.
Planning a strategy helps.
Michael.
Well done, Michael! Write what you wish to write about, and let everything self sort itself out!
Jeff
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I have a friend who is an expert on Facebook, with several posts going viral (1m+ reach). She was challenged by someone to do this from scratch on a topic she knew nothing about. The result was a FB group focusing on cats. She knew absolutely nothing about cats, but she knew about marketing. So now, 1M+ followers later, she sold it for a boatload of money!. But here's another key to what makes this woman so special - she refused to sell the page to someone who wasn't a cat lover, because she valued her members and didn't want to just abandon them to an owner who didn't care. Yup, Rachel Miller of Moolah Marketing is amazing!
Thanks for putting that inspiring story here Jeannine,
I never knew you could sell a Facebook group! I had no idea.
Michael.
And she sold it for a significant amount too!