Choosing a Niche to Make Money Online

by Jeff 6/20/2008 9:15:00 AM

This post goes out to all the newbies out there who are thinking about starting a blog to make money. For some reason, the first idea that always seems to pop a into fledgling Internet Marketer's brain is "I can make money by starting a blog about making money". How do I know this? Easy - I had that same idea too! When I started this blog, I promised that I would share everything I learned along the way. So today I want to take a second to explain why the Make Money Online niche is one of the hardest niches to make money in, and how you can find some easier places to make money.

What the Make Money Online Niche Has Become

The Make Money Online niche is a tough one to make money in because it is extremely over crowded. I blame blogs like JohnChow.com for this. People see his blog with a tag line that says "I make money by telling people how much money I make online". They see from his income report that he racks up $30,000 a month from his blog and immediately think they can do it too. They run out and start a blog, sign up for some of the services John "recommends", and begin pushing the same online "products". Little do they realize that the only thing they succeeded in doing is making John Chow richer.

Could you do the same thing? Sure, if you are a super talented and charismatic writer, you might be able to attract the attention of 25,000 readers and push whatever products you want. I am NOT saying that John Chow is a talented and charismatic writer. I respect him, but believe he was simply in the right place at the right time. When he started, there was virtually no competition. So it was very easy for him to build up such a large following. Once you have a following that big, a monkey can make money online. The hard part is getting a following that big. And in a crowded niche like Make Money Online, it is even harder.

It is possible to make money in the MMO niche, but to do so you will basically have to stoop to the level of a used car salesman. Bloggernoob explained this perfectly in a post he wrote yesterday. His blog is the perfect example of what I am talking about. Nine out of ten posts on his blog are nothing put paid-for junk. He will be the first one to admit that his blog is not meant to be enjoyed. It exists for one reason, to make him money. I admire him for being candid and open about this. It is probably what is helping him do well.

Making money this way certainly is a valid option. If this is the path you want to go down, just head over to PayPerPost and get started. I wish you the best of luck, but you really don't need it. Making money this way really isn't that hard.

But you can do a lot better. By picking the right niche, you have the potential to become another John Chow or Darren Rowse of Problogger. They are successful because they are the authority in their niche. They became an authority by building up a huge following when there was little competition, and THEN they started making a lot of money. The Make Money Online niche is now so crowded that it will be hard to compete. But there are TONS of other possibilities out there! Pick the right niche, earn regular readers, become the authority, and then you will make money without even trying.

How To Choose A Niche

It should not be very difficult for you to choose the right niche. What do you enjoy? What are you good at? Millions and millions of people use the internet everyday. If you write about something that you are passionate about, I guarantee that other people who are passionate about the same thing will find your blog. Write good content and give people information that they find useful, informative, and entertaining and you will be on your way to becoming the authority in your niche.

Once you start to build a good following it will be so much easier to make money online. First of all, you will enjoy what you are doing so it won't seem like a chore to write content. Think about it - would you rather write about your favorite hobby or about referring people to the latest text link ad service? Sounds like a no brainer to me! With better content and regular readers you are then free to promote products you actually believe in. Since you are passionate about what you writing, your readers will trust your recommendations and you will also see a higher conversion rate.

I strongly believe that you will have a much better chance making money if you write about something you are good at and know a lot about. You will not make more money writing about "Making Money Online" just because it is about making money online. There are thousands of other categories that pay referral commissions too. Just head on over to ShareASale or your favorite Affiliate Marketing network and see for yourself. I guarantee you will find something to sell that appeals to you. And because it appeals to you, it will appeal to your readers too.

When deciding to start a new blog, keep these final thoughts in mind. You don't choose a niche...you have a niche.

Good luck,

Jeff

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Tags: make money online, niche, internet marketing, john chow

Monetizing

A Step By Step Guide To Monetizing Your BlogThe first post in a series that outlines my blogs monetization plan.How Long It Will Take To Make Money OnlineI ask a number of A-List bloggers how long it took to first make money and how they did it.What Do You Expect From Your Blog?This post takes a look at the different types of blogs and what you can expect from them.

Comments

6/21/2008 2:56:36 PM

What do you think is the best way to monetize an existing blog, within an already small niche?

Grizzly Adam

6/21/2008 3:47:32 PM

what's up Jeff, interesting post of yours today. I'm really fed up of with all the make money blogs lately, they don't contribute to anything but clutter.. kiddies giving advices on how to build successful blogs when they don't even have the necessary experience to understand even the word success. I used to read blogs like johnchow.com when I first starting blogging ( I never read shoemaker though, I kind of hated that guy from the start) but after a few months I realized how stupid I was by wasting my time reading their crap, so I unsubscribe to all of them. to be honest the only make money blog I read is problogger.net even though I feel like Darren talks about the same shit all the time, but he is good at what he does and somehow I feel he is honest.

I think the best way to start a blog is to write about what you like and forget about the rest, not even worry about fancy themes like wordpress, a blogger blog could do it.I guess you never will become authoritative in something that you are not a master of, so you should write on something you have a good understanding of.. I write about computer tips because computer is my profession and I'm kind of good at it in real life. imagine if i wrote about computers without having the experience or knowledge, of course I could do it by writing a bunch of shit bla bla about how using certain free tools, but to what that will contribute? when the developer has a better how-to in his site? shit shit.

do I want to make money online? of course I want to make money online, heck I could afford to take my wife and kid to dine out every weekend,but like everything else i do, I want to feel like I'm worthy of being paid of what I write, somehow i like to feel I'm contributing something useful to people's life. heck, if I wanted make money online the easy way, I would just create a 100 bloggers blog with adsense every where and a few good articles, and then build as much links to them as possible, that's all you need, money will flow. but what then? you will feel like a whore, with the sack of money on the shoulders, but worthless.

anyways, have a good weekend Jeff. I better go, I'm still at work.

Nelson

6/21/2008 3:50:00 PM

jajajaja. I said Shoemaker. instead of shoemoney. I bet he will contribute to something better by bing a shoemaker though.

Nelson

6/21/2008 6:58:02 PM

Grizzly - What is your niche? If its something extremely unique, you might have to get creative. Like asking store proprietors to take a chance and advertise online. But I would be surprised if you couldn't find some kind of affiliate program for whatever you niche is about. Try doing a Google search for "<my niche> affiliate program" and see what pops up. You might find a product you actually like. Something you won't mind writing about and can get paid by referring users for.

Jeff

6/21/2008 7:06:29 PM

Nelson - Dude...can I tell you how many times I revised this post to make sure I sounded positive. The truth is I feel the same way as you. I would rather forgo the easy money and build a reputable blog then sell out for a few bucks. There are few bloggers left who feel the same way. Darren gets repetitive but is still respectable in my book.

Oh...and I am a software developer myself. So I know what you mean about writing about something you're good at. I don't write about developing software because I do it all day long. Lucky for me, I like to write too. I'm glad you liked the post. Thanks for the comment!

Jeff

6/22/2008 6:38:10 AM

Great post Jeff. Finding your niche enough in life so of course it is not any easier as a blogger.

This will sound very lame and basic but just write about what you know and love to write about. A following will happen if keep up with it and then the money comes.

Trust me I know from experience. I still don't even think I have a niche altough I am trying to stick to being a sports blogger.

But as those who read my blog know, I kind of jump all over the place.

Hell it seems to work for me because I write and do what I enjoy doing and posting about.

Is it a blueprint for success? Maybe not. It could all go belly up tomorrow but I am enjoying the ride and when you focus on what you like, you are more likely to stick to it and do it everyday.

If you want to go into the money making online niche, put a new spin on it and include other topics. A wider range of topics may not be the best to a "niche" but you bring in different kinds of readers who very well may stick with you because you are not spewing the same stuff as all the others.

Invent a new niche! now that is the way to go.

cuzzy

6/22/2008 2:23:15 PM

Great advice Cuzzy.

I have said it a number of times, but probably not is so few words. Its this simple...TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL BLOG, WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT.

Period.

Jeff

6/24/2008 4:23:50 PM

excellent post. U bring up the responsibilities that bloggers should have. In a way, we are publishers. We should write with dignity and respect. But, we are also hucksters. We would lie and cheat to make that extra penny. Everyone, i mean everyone in my niche are scammers. Including me. Do i deserve more respect because i admit it? Nope! I started my blog with high hopes. I wanted to really teach other noobies, while i made money online. But after a couple of months. I learned that you have to push borderline scams if you want to make the big bucks. I didn't want to join the circle jerk. I was offered to join the digg, and stumble groups. I was offered to partake in buying and selling each other's ads. But i declined. That was a mistake on my end. I should have kissed ass and sold out. I would be making at least double what i make now with bloggernoob.

But, i have hope. I'm really glad i started bloggernoob. Not because bloggernoob will make me rich. but because of bloggernoob, my eyes have been opened to the possibilities of the internet. I am now making investments in other types of online businesses. I mentioned this on my blog. I've talked about how make money blogs are worthless. If you think about it. It's a waste of time.

Jeff, keep up the good work!

bloggernoob

6/24/2008 10:37:15 PM

Thanks for the comment Noob! I am glad you understood the point I was making and didn't take offense.

You have done an excellent job building a REAL make money blog - a blog that actually makes money. My blog has become less of a make money blog and more of a resource for blogging. Because I don't partake in the scams and ass kissing, I don't make as much money as I could. I am ok with that because that is the choice I make. This blog might make money eventually, but I would rather build the legitimacy of it. I have other blogs and online ventures for just making money.

I think it comes down to a choice for the publisher - do you want to make quick money with all the MMO trickery? Or do you want to build a long term legitimate blog with reputable content and (maybe) make money down the road.

You are right that a Make Money blog is a waste of time. Its really good for nothing more than keeping up with the potential opportunities that should probably be applied elsewhere.

Keep up the good work yourself!

Jeff

6/26/2008 9:38:03 AM

Well written post Jeff, very controversial.

My comment is aimed more towards the responses of this post, as opposed to the post itself.

This all holds a lot of truth behind it. But...Let's be clear that like everything else in life, there are always exceptions. Yes, the "make money online" niche is extremely over saturated, and the majority are saying the same thing in different words.

But in all honesty if it wasn't for this incredibly over saturated niche, I probably would have never stumbled upon this world. Ever.

I am not just saying this because I have a MMO blog, because it isn't my main source of income. In fact my blog is simply me testing my SEO skills to get on page one for the MMO term,(and several other terms) being it's one of the most competitive niches.

I am saying this because there are the authority sites like Problogger that paved the way and were the pioneers of such blogs, that we should pay our respects to because chances are most of us learned more than a thing or two about making money online from these sites, if not all.

There was an excellent post written by Kevin Muldoon from BloggingTips on the subject, you can find it here

www.bloggingtips.com/.../

My goal is not to offend anyone. But I actually feel blogs like "bloggernoob" are why the niche is so over saturated, and given a bad name. There are countless numbers of blogs just like "bloggernoob".

The fact that the author of the site is open about how he's a "scammer" makes me wonder why people would read it, and one should speak for themselves. Not to mention, the majority of posts don't break 300 words from what I've seen on the site.

I respect anyone who is passionate about what they do and how they earn a living, but if your down right calling yourself a "scammer", and looking down at the very thing you do, I cannot see myself following such a person.

Again Jeff, very well written and controversial post. It was a definitely a good read.

Luis Gross

6/26/2008 2:47:05 PM

Once again, thank you for the great comment Luis!

Jeff

6/26/2008 6:52:29 PM

Hey Luis, I think the make money online niche is saturated not because of blogs like bloggernoob, in fact there are just a few blogs like these out of there? how could they contribute to the clutter? I think the niche is saturated by people like you, and thousands of others that preach how to make money online, but keep repeating the same thing, or under a sheep skin try to bend the truth or direct their readers to do certain things just for their own benefits. take John Chow for example, I know for you he might be an aspirer but for me he is just s scamner.

I'm not talking about blogs like problogger or copyblogger here, those blogs are indeed valuable, and is probably where most of make money online scammers get their ideas from.

Believe me I feel more comfortable reading blogs like bloggernoob or http://makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com/ than yours. why, because these guys are honest, they really let people know their sole purpose,if people still follow them is up to them, ya know. but if someone tries to disguise their purpose preaching what everyone else is saying is a kind of insult to my intelligence.

Nelson

6/26/2008 11:15:29 PM

Nelson, I can understand your frustration...

Maybe you need to re-read the comment I posted. I don't believe you understood the point I was trying to get across.

I am not trying to preach anything except what I know and what experience has taught me. In my comment I was simply getting to the point of not turning our backs on what got us here in the first place i.e. Problogger, DailyBlogTips, etc.

When I began to make my point I clearly stated "like everything else in life there are exceptions". By that I was referring to the blogs above.

In other words Nelson, I was agreeing with you, only I was reminding you not to bite the hand that feeds you.

Moving along, I never stated anything about John Chow - For the record. And in all honesty I cannot see how you believe he (John Chow) is a "scammer" and not the guy behind "bloggernoob" (which you seem to be defending)who clearly states that he IS a "scammer" in the comments above.

To add to it, "John Chow" is John Chow's real name, who also provides you with a picture which gives him credibility, like every other credible site online.

Not some guy hiding behind a domain and a Lego's video in their "about" page.

Neither was I trying to single "bloggernoob" out, if he in fact weren't calling himself a "scammer" I would have not stated my opinion.

I hope you can understand my views.