Do I even have a chance at making money with my niche?

Although I'm an engineer, I love bass fishing. I started two websites in the last three weeks on bass fishing, hoping to make some money working on something I love and have lots of experience with. The most complete one is www.floridabasslakes.com and the second one is floridabassfishing.us. I'm new to SEO/keywords/making money from websites as the only websites I did in the past were for a bassclub and my daughters softball team. I found this forum and it's very informative. I have learned a lot, but still a lot more to learn.

To all the marketing/SEO experts and webmasters out there, do I have a chance at eventually making a living at this niche market? I'm using Google adsense and affiliates. I started with the lake fishing site 1st, but discovered the volume for my keywords was rather low, so I bought another domain for the Floridabassfishing.us which has much better volume (overture and other tools). Even so, the volumes are much lower than many of the things I see discussed here on this website.

So, do I have a chance of making money by providing good content for my niche, or do I need to explore other areas where I have no expertise. Please let me know your what you think and thank you.

 

If you love and enjoy the subject I would say keep working at it. It takes time to build up a website to where it is generating a steady flow of rev

Continue to add content and promote the site and you will probably do very well. How much a webmaster enjoys their niche/subject can have a great deal to do with their success rate.

 

I see that you're in Florida, but I was wondering if you 'broadened' the niche just a little, you might have more success. I live on the coast of Washington State, and we have pretty much unlimited waterways here. Bass are abundant in our lakes and streams. And there are some pretty avid fishermen here. In fact, as I write this, my husband is fishing with his buddies out at 'Lake Aberdeen', the small, fresh water lake that is named for the city I live in.

I know you said you already have floridabassfishing type domains, but maybe your articles and such can broaden out to more states than just Florida.

Just a suggestion.

 

The short answer is yes, you have a chance, but to be honest it's a hard niche simply because of the nature of your audience.

I know because I have a similar problem with one of my sites that caters to camping/hiking/boating/fishing in Pennsylvania. There are millions of people doing these things here, yet generating decent traffic to a site about them is hard I've found for 2 reasons:

1) It is seasonal, which means that for about 1/3 of the year the topics have very limited interest

2) When the topics are in-season, folks are out doing them and not online reading about them

That may sound over-simplified, but I've found with my site that I get a huge traffic spike every year just as winter is turning to spring, and then the bottom falls out again until the next spring. That tells me that people are getting excited enough about going outdoors as winter ends to jump online and do a little research on camping or fishing, but once the weather breaks they actually go outdoors and are lost to me.

Still, that spring spike tends to be lucrative and well worth keeping the site online through the rest of the year, especially through affiliate products so it sounds like you're on the right track, but I wouldn't try to make a primary income from a site like this.

HTH

 

If you're passionate about it and you work hard and learn everything you can learn about seo, then yes you can make money. You could easily make some video tutorials with techniques that would probably do well for you. You can also become an ebay affiliate and make money by connecting your visitors to ebay by showing their fishing supplies (try BANS). You can create a directory of "secret" fishing locations. The possiblilities are endless. You just have to put out unique content to bring in the visitors. And since you like to fish, think about what you would like to see from a fishing website and create it!

Chris

 

Yes, your niche is still plenty broad enough. If you love it, keep writing about it and working on it, things will work out.

 

Its loads easier if you have websites that you have a real interest in.

Keep writing content and building links and the revenue will arrive, it takes a while though so work on becoming an authority in your niche.

 

nice site, good look, and with lots of content, it will happen

 

Kentucky- Thanks for the incentive to continue!

Scott- Thanks for your honesty! Florida bass fishing isn't as seasonal, warm all year round. Again, I appreciate your thoughts.

Angela- Great idea to broaden my scope! I kept it in Florida since that's where my experience is. I will definitely look to broaden in the future.

Funky- Great inspirational message! I heard of BANS, I'll check them out. Thanks!

Politician- I hope my niche will work out. I'll see what else I can do to get the bass fishermen to want to visit my site. Thanks for your comments.

Alistair- Thanks for your comments. I hope I can be the expert in fishing south and central Florida bass lakes. I guess time will tell.

Icnaxx- I hope so! Thanks

 

i liked your theme. it's very nice. i have one suggest for you .move your adsense to under header

 

Being an avid bass and sunfish fisherman myself, I love the concept of the site, and in fact I often go to fishing sites around the web to check out people catches and research new spots to go to (not in Florida mind you....). I also look for forums to get advice as well on out of the way spots, reservoirs and ponds that have public access. That said, I have never personally found reason to click on an advertisement, or buy anything as a result of my site visits (maybe because I have a Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops very near ).

On the other hand, something I find lacking is printed maps - particularly to out of the way places showing access roads along with elevation and water depth. That's something I *might* buy from a site if I were planning a vacation to the area.

One other thing you could try is an Ebay store for used gear.

Just some thoughts - best of luck to you!

 

I sent you a PM. Hope it helps!

 

I like your site.. are you making any $ with it?/
Keep up the good work..