FIND A NICHE

Build a website about something you are interested in. 

Do a quick brainstorming session where you write down the things you are interested in and passionate about.

Go through your list and determine which subject areas you could commit years of your life to.

One mistake many people make is they choose a subject area they aren't really interested in in order to sell expensive items.  The problem is that this generally leads to a poor website in a saturated market with few sales.

Now go through your list and figure out which subject areas would lead to a good and profitable website.  This is primarily done through common sense, determining revenue potential, keyword research, and competitive analysis.

Common sense tells us that another political site on the internet has a low chance of finding success.  A unique angle may allow for some success, but it would be very difficult.  Common sense also tells us that a site about worms or 13th century mythology will not have good prospects for large audiences, advertising revenue or affiliate sales.

The next step is to think about the revenue potential of the subject areas you are interested in.  Advertisers are willing to pay more money to place ads on an investment site compared to a site about music.  Also, think about what type of products or services you could sell.  Affiliate programs allow you to link to companies and get a commission in return for any sales you generate.  Learning how to make money from your website will be covered more in depth later, but it is important to consider the revenue potential of the subject areas you are considering. 

The next step is to do some keyword research related to your list of potential subject areas.  Use a free keyword research tool such as Keyword Discovery to figure out how many people are searching for your subject area each month.  If your subject area is cooking, you will see that about 20,000 people per month search for the word cooking.  You will also see a list of other search phrases that include the word cooking.  Chuckwagon cooking gets about 10,000 searches a month.  This would be a much more targeted website compared to a very general site about cooking.  You can't spend too much time with a tool like this.  It is hard to succeed with a general subject such as cooking, golf or fishing.  It is better to be more focused on a specific niche and target market such as chuckwagon cooking, used golf clubs, or midwestern musky fishing.

Next, go to Google and do a search for those words.  Do you find a bunch of websites related to the subject you are interested in?  Are the websites good?  Does the search lead you to the information or products you would expect to find?  You won't be able to jump to the first page of search results right away, but this type of competitive analysis will give you an idea of what type opf market you are potentially getting involved in.

Don't stress yourself too much about deciding what subject area you will try.   Most people try a subject area and learn many lessons along the way.  Domain names and web hosting are relatively inexpensive so you may end up trying a few of your ideas within the first couple of years.  However, once you figure out how easy it is to buy domain names and create websites, don't start making a lot of websites because you will spread yourself too thin.

Once you have a short list of potential subject ideas, choose one and start looking for a domain name.

If you have any questions, ask them in the forum

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