“Business has only two functions – marketing and innovation.”
– Milan Kundera
For the past few days I have thought that 30 Days To X was getting a lot of traffic to its Amazon links. All month I’ve been making a small but continuous profit off Amazon Affiliates. Checking my referral links today I discovered that no one has bought anything off this site all month.* All my revenue has been coming from a tiny affiliate venture that I launched in December. I actually only worked on the project for a couple weeks. Now it’s generating money.
What I did
Inadvertently I made a niche website. Without spoiling what I did, I created something small that would only appeal to a certain audience. For the sake of the post I’ll say that I sold Spongebob key chains. I put all the content up over the course of a few weeks and then left everything alone. Because my field is so small there isn’t much competition. It’s like being an ice cream salesman in the Sahara Desert, I don’t get a lot of traffic but everyone who visits is sure to buy from me.
How to make a micro niche site
Before you do anything else, conduct some research and find a niche market that isn’t completely exploited yet. I’ll even throw out an idea right here. Create a site called “Amazon Under A Dollar.” You’ll make a killing. During the month of January I made some money off a little free website where I sold credit card sized survival tools. They are available on Amazon for a dollar.
If you noticed the math between my “items shipped” and “advertising fees” doesn’t add up. That’s because I earned a commission on everything that was purchased after people clicked my link. Most people never bought the survival cards, but they did purchase Kindles, PlayStations, extension cords, and a bunch of other stuff that I got paid for. A low cost item doesn’t need to sell, it just needs to draw customers through the link.
After you find a niche you can actually make an entire site in no time at all. At the moment Viva la Manosphere! is running a special offer where anyone who purchases web hosting through them will get free blog setup, a discount on their hosting costs, and free blogging reports. Buying through their link will literally give you everything you need without any extra costs.
Once you have your site set up you’ll want to post some content. Writing your own material isn’t hard, but it can take time. Also, not everyone is good at conveying their thoughts through the written word. An easy way to get decent material is through Fiverr. For twenty bucks you can buy enough articles for your site to be “complete.”
Lastly, you’ll want people to visit your site. Getting traffic is actually the most difficult aspect of the whole process. What I’ve found to work best is the use of social media and venues like Reddit. There’s a whole section of Reddit called Shameless plug where you can post any site link that you want. If it’s mildly interesting you’ll start getting traffic.
Conclusion
In addition to affiliate marketing, mirco niches are a great place to launch little eBooks and products. I have a small site about Xylitol that I’ve just written a short Kindle book for. Since the site already gets traffic I think the book will do alright. Also, if you’re interested in learning more about micro niches be sure to check out Bold & Determined’s latest podcast. It provides a lot of in-depth coverage on the subject.
* Shame on you.