Giving Up On a Niche
The reasons are numerous.
- There's way more competition in this market than I initially expected. WAY. MORE.
- Search engine rankings got as high as the second page...with my main keyword under quotes. Without quotes the page was/is nonexistent. This still baffles me and I've yet to receive a straight answer from WA as to why this happens. An educated guess would say that keywords ultimately don't matter to SEO -- but if so, what does?
- There's nothing to sell. A few books on Amazon...not much else.
- I still don't think I'm an authority on how to write stories.
- I still don't see myself becoming one.
- I still don't want to.
- What I really want to do is build a business, not a website. There's a huge difference there.
This one has a clear profit model in place, the only trick will be getting it traffic. With all the skills I've gathered here, I'm hoping that won't be too much of a problem. The niche SEEMS like it SHOULD be competitive, but I've done some extensive searching and I honestly have yet to find another site like it. There's one main competitor who dominates the rankings under the main keyword for the site, but one perusal of the site told me it will be easy to outperform them in a number of areas, which should translate to outranking them, search engine Gods be willing.
This site requires a significant more amount of work because it is a service I'll be offering, not bits of advice. I may have to hire folks to help out down the line if I start getting traffic and clients, which is a whole nother ball game that both excites and terrifies me. In any case, I'm going to take it slow and try not to overwhelm myself. Bit by bit, just crank out new content.
Wish me luck.
Update on StumbleUpon:
Rather than talk about what incredible results I've had with StumbleUpon over the past three days, I'll show you:
So yeah, StumbleUpon is heavy. Some of that last day's traffic is from Reddit, I think. Sadly Reddit's submission process is something of a pain in the what.
I'm now starting to look at Digg and Mixx. They seem a bit on the elitist side of things, but we'll see.
Recent Comments
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It is what it is, and if you are not interested in it you are being honest. Like Steve said, a learning experience.
"6. I still don't want to."
Game over. No need to pursue a topic that does not interest you. Chalk it up as a learning experience and take what you've learned and apply it somewhere new.
A little side note about SU/Reddit traffic: it is fleeting. Big time. You'll get huge spikes n traffic, but they don't buy, they don't click on ads, and they move on within seconds. Yes, the spikes are nice, but once your site drops from the sites, your traffic will return to normal. It's okay to use those sites for backlinking, but I really wouldn't waste my time pursuing that kind of traffic.
Also, Digg doesn't allow user submissions anymore and Mixx is no longer a thing.
I agree that is exactly how we should look at the sites that don't work. I've had to do that with sites as well.
maybe you could flip the first niche site? That way you can earn a few bucks from the sale of it and not just let it go away. Just an idea...
Hello,
How long have you been working on your first site? If you want to build a business you have to be in it for the long run and stick with it. If you decission is to move on to another project that is fine, take what you have learned and apply it to the next one. My point is if you are going to have a successful biz/website it might take months to get it working and get it profitable.
With that said for your second project a service site wich means your own product is a big project to take on. Not saying you shouldn`t do it but do the research lay out a plan and stick with it, not 1 month or 2 months for the long term...
If you want to bounce some ideas just PM me.
Veronica
Flash, you remind me of a lot of myself. ;) I'm interested in coaching you 1 on 1 if you're up for it. Just private message me and give me the details on how your sites are going. Gl. ~ Seth
It is a difficult decision to make... but the reasons you cite, are justifications for your decision. In my opinion, if something is not producing the results you need, best to move on. Do not beat yourself up as you have learned a lot. Do something you have knowledge about, that you believe in and that generates a revenue stream. It sounds like you have researched your new niche. I would not invest the cost of using adsense until you begin to get traction and traffic with your site. I have heard very positive things about stumble upon results from several users. When used correctly, youtube is free ad can produce great results. Good luck.
It must of been hard for you to make that decision. I would of suggested Adsense but if you feel more passionate about the service you will be providing. Then you are definitely making the right move. God willing you will be successful.
I've heard of adsense, but never tried it before. I'm going to use this abandoned site as something of an experiment ground to test things like that.
And yeah, it was (or should I say is?) a very difficult decision, but I feel like the odds have stacked in favor of starting fresh. Thanks for the support, good luck to you as well.
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Brave decision! Don't dwell on it too much. We all have a "bright idea" and the discover that it may not be as workable as we thought. Best course of action? Try again in another area. Good luck!