To keep things simple, this guide does not focus on SEO or keyword research which are whole skills in themselves. For beginners, I do not believe it is necessary to do this to start making initial sales and it keeps costs down as you don't need to buy fancy keyword research tools. If you do have experience with keyword research, feel free to apply this here. Most people waste months trying to find a niche - my advice is just to get started. The person who started 6 months ago will always beat the guy who has just found the "perfect" niche.
Here's what to look for in a niche:
- Something evergreen and not seasonal. Not a product that will be going out of fashion any time soon. If you are not sure, use Google Trends - ideally, the niche you choose will have a stable/steadily growing line and consistent all year.
- Products in the $50-1000 range on Amazon. Ideally, your niche will have products at various price levels so you can target various visitor demographics. Don't just choose expensive products and don't just choose cheap products or you will struggle to make the money I discussed at the beginning of this method.
- Don't pick a niche that is categorized as "electronics" on Amazon. Check out this page to ensure the products you choose are not in a fixed fee structure below 8%. The vast majority of products/niches on Amazon will be subject to the "General Products" commission tiers (table 2 on that page) - they are the ones you want.
- Something you are interested in. When starting out, it helps if you are interested in the niche - this will help with content and promoting the site. Don't just pick a niche you know nothing about when you don't have cash for outsourcing.
- Pick a niche that is big enough to have at least 20 products with more than 50 reviews. If in doubt, just find something from the best sellers section: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers/zgbs
- Pick a relevant domain name (do not register it yet). Again, don't spend too long on this. Just pick something that is available, simple and ideally a .com/.org/.net. You can even pick something quite brandable for your niche.
- Pick a reasonably broad category. We are not building a micro-niche site so no need to worry about finding something with zero competition.
Driving Traffic - Forums
In my experience working with people looking to start new sites (whether they are beginners or more experienced) one of the most important aspects is seeing revenue early on.
One of the reasons this method has not been focused on SEO is that it is a long-term strategy that if done properly (not using PBNs etc.) will take 6+ months to start seeing results. Whilst following this method will also help your site attract organic traffic - it is not the main purpose. Organic traffic is a by-product of doing everything else well.
There is no single traffic source that you should use at this stage - it will really depend on your niche and target audience. I've seen some niches that work well with Facebook, others that don't. Some that work well on Twitter, others that don't etc. The key is to test!
What we are going to be focusing on is answering questions that people are asking about our niche. Simple but effective. I always like to start with forums as there are usually so many out there so it doesn't matter if you aren't effective (or even get banned) on some of them.
At this stage, find 10 forums relevant to your niche and register accounts at each. Ideally, you should spend a few minutes on each forum checking if people are asking questions/there are threads about products you have reviewed. Mattress example this could be:
"I am not sleeping well. Any ideas to help??"
"Just moved house. Looking for a new bed and mattress. Suggestions?"
"What is the best memory foam mattress?"
If it looks like there are relevant threads, register an account. Don't spend ages on each at this stage. 5 of your forum accounts should also relate to your blog. Don't use the name of your site as your username, use the name of your "blogger". Maybe add some numbers in there if necessary. Fill out your profile properly on each forum. The other 5 accounts you setup should be completely random usernames so there's no way of people knowing you are related to your blog/site.
Most forums have an introduction forum - so go post over there. DO NOT LINK from your first post (or on your first day) as this is likely to get you banned.
Within your first week of doing this, you should have 10 forum accounts with 3-5 posts on each. You can do more if you like (especially replying to your threads. After your first week of posting you should have made at least 1 sale with Amazon.
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