Choosing my niche

[knights1]

I'm looking at deciding the opic for my 3rd website that I hope to launch befor ethe new year. I'm having trouble deciding between these two options:

1) Topic I enjy a lot, would be easy to write content every day, but there aren't a ton of advertisers for this, the main keywords feature 10-50 advertisers. Also, the PPC is only about 3-10c avg. (estimate)

2) Topic I have not much interest in, barely at all. Writing content would mean doing alot of reasearch before writing articles, but the PPC is 1.00-2.00 (I know)

What would you go with? Also, topic 1 is alot less competitive.

Derek

[iblaine]

If I must chose then I would go after topic 1. Ideally I would go after both. A year is a long time. Surely you can manage your time well enough to target both niche markets.

[Eltiti]

Ronburk: great post!

The only problem I can see with what you describe,is that I would probably spend all my time building these "support systems" --I find programming more interesting than writing... :-)

BTW, I personally go with niches that have *decent* PPC/traffic and that I find *somewhat* interesting --and I outsource the actual writing! ;-)

[photonstudios]

100% Agreed with marinibuster, I research the topic that will make me the most $ per click, yet is not too competitive, then I hire a professional writer to write all the articles I have no interest whatsoever, furthermore I decide weather to create a new domain or buyout and old site which will bring traffic right away. Go with the most profitable topic, the whole idea about "making a web site about a topic that you have interst in" is for people who are just getting into this SEO business, to learn and make some budget so that they can use it later to hire pro's to do all the work for them, that's what I think...

[physics]

Just remember that being a webMASTER is fun, regardless of the topic ;) For me there's an excitement in being the only one who really knows how to put 'it' all together in a final product and keep the site running, programming, etc. The topic is always secondary to that.

[Receptional]

For me, I 100% DISAGREE with Matinibuster. Do what you love, what you enjoy.

Someone will make money out of catalogueing cuddly toy manufacturers. It's not me, but someone will love it and I bet people will read it too. The money in any business comes out of adding value and providing a better "thing" than the next guy. If you like it, others will like it.

I once heard a Swedish Economics professor before the days of the web talk about a niche... a "Foot Fetishist" magazine... EXTREMELY niche market as he described it. Only 3 people in Birmingham... seven in London, 9 in Paris... Add them together around the world and they had a profitable magazine.

Choose your niche and be the best in the world at it. Google wants the best in teh world at the top of the list - not the height of mediocrity. You can't be the best in the world with property without a great plan and substantial resources. You MIGHT get to the top of the G-list, but only by crook, not by hook.

Ron is right. What is in your head affects your productivity. Do something that won't mess with your head.

Dixon.

P.S. if the bids are $2.00 then it's not THAT niche is it?

[sandpetra]

I'm building a site, too, with a comon theme but which will let me push into totally different mini-themes on just about every topic (well that's the plan).

I intend to launch with a 100 pages. Should I wait for Google to index the site before I place adverts on it, and should I stay away from affiliates - ie, just use Google and Overture?

[geckofuel]

"I need to be confident that the writer is giving me guaranteed original content and will not rip off my ideas or talk about my business or ideas with other people or in a public forum."

How does one go about finding such a writer? What is a good measurement for "original content"? Many writers will simply summarize content that is already on the web. Does this count as original? Is the key to find creative writers who can come up with new ideas, or is it fine to find writers who just rewrite and reorganize pre-existing content?

[twist]

I took a (regular) job once that allowed me to work as much overtime as I desired. The pay was also pretty good. The job was terrible. I found myself addicted to the money though. I was working 70+ hours a week doing something I hated. I would snap at my girlfriend and friends. I became a mean bitter person. I hated life but I loved having so much money to spend. After a few years I finally quit, took a job that paid less and offered almost no overtime. I completely changed after starting the new job. I felt so good I started biking to work everyday. I made new friends and got married. Chase money and thats what you'll get. Chase happiness and that is what you'll get. Chasing money != happiness. It's up to you to decide what is more important to you.

[Beagle]

This topic is a puzzlement to me. With an infinite number of possibilities out there, surely there's a topic (or even 100 topics) that could be both enjoyable/interesting and make good money? Why would it have to be either/or? Don't limit yourself; let your imagination loose and see what it comes up with.

(geckofuel - You'd be more likely to get feedback on your specific question in the "Content, Writing and Copyright" forum.)

[mogo]

Regarding what to pay a writer to produce content for your site or sites... I prefer to go with a per-page rate. In my experience, paying writers hourly can be a costly proposition, and it ratchets up with the amount of research necessary to produce a given article.

Long story short, I've ended up paying double what I felt was a "reasonable price" when paying hourly, and I'm no miser. I understand and appreciate thorough research and good writing.

If the per-page rate is reasonable, most writers will agree to it and more often than not their articles will require very little editing.

[lotuslady]

This is a fascinating topic and I have been following it but the big question is: how do you find out what the big click items are? I have been working on sites and wanted to add one that I think might be a good one to attract Adsense clickers. The only way I could figure to find what words in that niche were worth more than others in clicks was to go to adwords and play with keywords there and see what the CPC was for some words in the area. Some were $8.83/click and this ranged down to < .10 cents/click.

[Gomle]

I say: Go for number 2!
There is a limit for HOW easy money can come..
You have to at least do some work for it!? ;)

off course, if you have some kind of idea on how to make money doing absolutely nothing.. and I mean nothing.. please let me know!

[gameon]

My advise is, don't get into any business where you will get bored down the road. In my case, there is a lot more than profits to stay in business for the long haul. If you are just after the money you will miserably fail. Money often comes after your target market realize how good and how committed you are.

[Essex_boy]

Lotuslady: there are sites out there that will sell you alist of keywords and their value. How accurate they are is anyones guess, I think the last time I looked into buy one the cost was sky high.