Before we jump into the good stuff, we need to handle the housekeeping. Let’s go over exactly what a niche site is.
A niche site is a website that focuses on a particular topic or theme. For example, a niche site could be about cooking with only organic ingredients, or it could be about yoga for beginners.
A niche site and a blog are kind of interchangeable. They’re very similar, save for a few minor differences.
The distinct differences between a blog and a niche site:
- Focus: A niche site is typically focused on a specific topic or niche, whereas a blog may cover a wide range of topics.
- Monetization: Niche sites are often created with the intention of generating income through advertising, affiliate marketing, or other means, whereas a blog may not necessarily be created with the intention of generating income.
- Structure: Niche sites are typically structured in a way that makes it easy for visitors to find the information they are looking for, whereas blogs may have a more fluid structure with posts organized by date or category.
- Content: Niche sites typically focus on evergreen content that remains relevant over time, whereas blogs may have a mix of evergreen and time-sensitive content.
- Traffic: Niche sites are often optimized for search engine traffic and may receive a higher percentage of traffic from search engines, whereas blogs may rely more on social media and other channels for traffic.
A blog often focuses on the individual behind the blog, who, if successful, will become a brand unto themselves. A niche site focuses exclusively on the audience.
The niche site, like in this case study, isn’t about Mike. It’s focused only on one thing; people with bad credit who want to repair their credit. They don’t care about Mike or his story or his personal life or even his accomplishments. They only care about one thing – repairing their credit. So that’s the only focus on this niche site.
So, the content of a niche site should cover every topic around your niche and answer every question possible that your highly-targeted audience may have.
In terms of traffic, the big differentiator with niche sites is that the most of our traffic is going to come from search engine traffic.
This is how SEO and niche sites come together.
Because it’s a niche site, preferably a highly focused and targeted niche site (too general a niche, and you can’t win so don’t choose Crafting) you can also get traffic from Pinterest, but niche sites specifically are really driven by an SEO strategy to get traffic.
Mike’s Niche Site Success
This case study is from Mike at StupidSimpleSEO.com. Mike is a SEO expert, but don’t let that discourage you. While Mike has the skills to rank content quickly, anyone can create, rank, and grow a niche site to success.
Mike took his one-year-old niche site from 0 to $5,000 per month in just 13 months.
The niche site in question is CreditTakeoff.co. The site provides information about credit repair services and related content.
People who have bad credit or low credit scores are looking to improve that score, and so this site and blog acts as a resource for those many people looking for some direction, help, and solutions.
Now, Mike started the site in 2019 with a brand-new domain registration. It was started as a side project as Mike continued to work a full-time job. The site’s initial traffic was very low, with only around 50 to 100 visitors per month.
Mike began focusing on creating high-quality content and promoting it through various channels.
He used search engine optimization (SEO) techniques and outreach to build backlinks, and began using social media and email marketing to promote the site.
Within a few months, the site’s traffic began to increase significantly.
Mike’s content strategy for Credittakeoff.com was his focus on producing in-depth, high-quality content that delved deep into the subject matter. He found that by creating content that went above and beyond what was available on other credit and personal finance sites, he was able to improve his Google search rankings and attract more traffic to his site.
Mike spent a lot of time researching his topics and making sure that his articles were comprehensive and accurate. He looked for gaps in the existing content on other sites, and then filled those gaps with his own detailed, well-researched articles. Essentially, he improved on his competitors’ content offerings considerably.
For 2019, Mike published 67 articles, which was around 126,000 words of content. And it was all very, of course, niched down to be hyper specific.
Credit Takeoff Content Strategy
You know what’s the main keyword?
What’s the volume around that keyword?
How difficult is that keyword?
When was the post published and how many words was this piece of content?
So, first, Mike did some serious keyword research using Google and Ahrefs. He discovered that advertisers were paying upwards of $20 per click for the credit repair niche. Needless to say, Mike wanted a piece of that pie!
Those keywords became the first keywords he targeted to build out content for the new site.
The content strategy was simple; a volume of content. You can’t have a successful blog or a successful niche site with only 10 posts per year.
That does not mean that you need 1,000 posts per year, but you do need enough to build momentum. Mike started with 67 articles that were all super focused on the niche, which helps his site build relevance and authority in Google.
Mike isn’t writing about everything within the personal finance niche like 401K’s, retirement, health insurance. Instead, he’s hyper focused on the credit repair sub-niche. This focus and dedication to the niche helps establish the site’s relevance to Google.
Now, traffic is all about SEO and SEO is all about good niche content and good links. That’s because link-building is the other half of the SEO equation.
Thanks to his well-written and very in depth content, Mike’s been able to get some very impressive backlinks off some high-authority and popular sites. For example, the website Investopedia, which is a huge personal finance site, gave Credit Takoff a link and a mention meaning they’re referring to the niche site as a credit expert along with a link back to my site.
That tells Google to take the site more seriously. Investopedia is a huge authority site on personal finance, and they’re voluntarily or editorially linking out to this niche site and to Google, that carries weight because the search engine sees it as an authority site casting a vote for credittakeoff.co via a link to the site.
That’s how links work and that’s why Mike focused on getting as many as he could from high-authority related sites. At this point, Credit Takeoff has grabbed links from Business Insider and Readers Digest and creditcards.com and the Simple Dollar and many others. Each ones builds the niche site’s authority within its own niche.
And these links have certainly helped traffic and search rankings.
Now in terms of SEO traffic, it starts slow. At the beginning of January in 2019 this site barely had any traffic, but then, slowly but surely, it starts to grow. Just like compound interest!
If you’re doing the right things, your Google traffic should start to grow overtime. And it’s all about content, links, and time. Letting that time pass so Google can start to trust your site.
Overall, Mike’s focus on producing in-depth, high-quality content was a key element of his content strategy for Credittakeoff.co, really paid off. He was able to improve his search rankings, attract more traffic to his site, and establish his site as a trusted resource for credit and personal finance information.
By the end of the first year, the site was generating over $5,000 per month.
In the second year, the site’s traffic continued to grow. By the end of the second year, the site was receiving over 25,000 visitors per month and generating over $10,000 per month in revenue.
Mike continued to focus on creating high-quality content for search traffic and got more aggressive in promoting the site, including:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): He used various SEO techniques to improve the site’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs), including keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building.
- Outreach: Mike directly reached out to other website owners and bloggers in the credit repair industry to build backlinks to their site and to promote their content.
- Social Media: He used social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to promote their site and engage with their audience.
- Email Marketing: Mike built an email list of subscribers and used email marketing to keep their audience informed about new content, promotions, and other updates.
- Guest Posting: He wrote guest posts for other websites and blogs in the credit repair industry to promote their site and to build their authority and credibility in the industry.
With the success, Credit Takeoff began offering additional services, such as credit repair consultations and credit monitoring services, which further increased the site’s revenue.
Today, CreditTakeoff.co is a successful niche site that generates a significant amount of revenue for the author. By following the tips and strategies outlined above and by being consistent with their efforts, the author was able to turn their side project into a profitable business.
Start Your Own Niche Site
So, how do you grow a successful niche site?
Here are some tips from the success of this particular experience:
1. Choose a profitable niche
When choosing a niche for your site, you want to make sure it is profitable.
This means that there is a market for it and that people are willing to spend money on it.
To find a profitable niche, you can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs.
2. Create high-quality content that's in-depth
One of the most important things for a niche site is to have high-quality content.
This means that your articles should be well-researched, informative, and engaging.
You want your readers to come back to your site again and again because they find your content valuable.
3. Promote your site consistently
Once you have high-quality content on your site, you need to promote it.
There are many ways to promote your site, including social media, email marketing, and guest posting. The key is to find the channels that work best for your niche and audience.
Don’t get overwhelmed on this one. Choose one channel to start, and focus on growing your audience and visibility exclusively on that one channel.
4. Build backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites to your site. They are important because they signal to search engines that your site is authoritative and valuable.
To build backlinks, you can reach out to other website owners and ask if they would be willing to link to your site.
Niche Coffee Site Brews Success
Have you ever heard of the coffee niche site, “Roasty Coffee”? It’s a highly targeted niche site focused on information and resources for coffee lovers. It’s another great example of the power of niche sites.
The site was started back in 2015 and has since grown into a thriving online business.
The owner of RoastyCoffee.com used the exact same approach to grow Roasty Coffee as we’re discussing in this article.
They focused on creating high-quality content and promoted the site through various channels, like search engine optimization, outreach, social media, and email marketing.
By the end of the first year, Roasty Coffee was generating around $500 per month in revenue.
That’s not too shabby for a brand-new website!
But the success didn’t stop there. Over the next few years, the site’s revenue grew exponentially, with the site generating over $10,000 per month in revenue by 2020.
Roasty Coffee receives a ton of traffic, with over 100,000 visitors per month! That’s a lot of coffee lovers visiting the site, but then again, it’s a very popular niche driven, in part, by their in-demand Coffee Buying Guides.
The site’s owner was able to monetize the site using affiliate marketing, advertising, and even began selling their own coffee-related products.
People who love coffee, who like to make their own coffee at home, who are interested in coffee recipes, they’re interested in maybe buying a coffee maker off Amazon from their affiliate link.
According to experts, Roasty Coffee is currently generating between $25,000 and $50,000 per month with their niche site.
The success of roastycoffee.com is a great example of the power of niche marketing. By focusing on a specific topic or industry, the owner was able to build a profitable online business.
And if Mike of Credit Takeoff and the owner of Roasty Coffee can do it, why can’t you?
