Here are 7 Ways to Absolutely DOMINATE Your Niche and Blow the Doors Off Your Current Income and Traffic Levels: ------------------------------------------------------ 1. Building an Opt-In list. You're insane if you don't do this. Not only does it give you the ability to synchronize sales lanuches, recommend affiliate programs and so on - is allows you to build and leverage a relationship with literally thousands of people, for practically ZERO cost. I've dominated niches using an opt-in list alone - especially with an autoresponder. Remember that informative and/or "spicy" mailings will cause a wave of "talk" throughout your niche, resulting in tons of blog entries, forum posts and possibly even permanent articles. Additionally, use a list to hand out free viral reports, site-tools (with backlinks) and so on. You're insane if you don't build a list... 2. MySpace.com. Some of the niches that I reach are in the "boardsports" category, which is a perfect fit for many of the 80 million users on MySpace.com Ethically build up a "friends base" and use the bulletins and comments features (as well as starting your own relevent group) to tell people about events and so on. The purpose of MySpace.com (for me) hasn't so much been to "hard sell" as it has to generate buzz about something FAST. If you've got a "funny" video or viral report or whatever and you want to blast it out fast - then MySpace is the place to do it, because it keeps on spreading around... And then from there, use that traffic to build a LIST (see above). Done right, it's targeted, FREE and best of all, continual. 3. Joint Ventures. I once dominated a niche in under 3 months by simply building a directory and trading ads with every niche-specific site I could find in exchange for a permanent, one-way link. They got free advertising. I got literally hundreds of relevant one-way links (which is WAY better than just writing/submitting articles). Within 3 months the search engines were sending me about 500 uniques a day, and the other residual traffic sources matched that, so it was at about 1000 uniques a day in total. Of course with this I built a list, built rapport, started up a forum, and it's only been increasingly growing in revenue AND traffic ever since. It's even easier to use JV's to dominate your niche if you're selling a high-ticket product, or if you're using a 2-tier set up and you work with someone who reaches webmasters and marketers directly. 4. Craigslist. Do this ethically, but using ads on craigslist can be a HUGELY successful way to test a product, a salesletter or whatever. Craigslist, much like a busy forum in your niche, can be used as a litmus test to see which headlines, ad copy and offers are going to sell - and make you money as a result. 5. They Can Do it For YOU. Forums, social-networking scripts, review scripts and so on are the easiest way to generate UNIQUE CONTENT to feed the search engines in increase your traffic. Additionally, done right, you can use a forum/social network as a marketing medium and experience a far more effective response rate than you would from an email newsletter (ie. "mass-PM", etc.) "MySpace" scripts are particularly powerful because once the network is in the 1000's, people will actually begin to promote the content they provide. Which turns your site into a self-perpetual, ever-increasing search engine magnet AND viral marketing MACHINE. Understanding this principle of leverage - especially in relation to your users providing both your content AND your traffic - is the KEY to real online success. 6. Controversy. So you REALLY want traffic - and fast? Be controversial. Give people in your niche something to TALK about... Why is the "Da Vinci code" so successful? Because it's controversial. "Jesus Christ had a wife, and he's not God." That goes against EVERY traditional notion in a very large portion of the world, and it opened up such a huge can of worms that a lot of people bought in so that they simply wouldn't feel left out of conversations with their friends, family, colleagues, etc. YOU CAN DO THE SAME THING! I did this once, and it worked incredibly well. However, if I were to use it again, I would use a PEN NAME (Which isn't illegal, by the way). 7. A Cause. Perhaps even more effective than controversy is a cause. I once wrote an "inspirational article" that was tied to a small niche. I wrote it years ago, but I STILL get emails about it almost every week. That one article (which is like 3 paragraphs long) literally created a following of loyal customers, fans and industry partners out of thin air. Hint: Use a "pen-name" if you're going to use controversy. DON'T use a "pen-name" if you're going to "use" a cause... ----------------------------------------------------------- Now go and dominate YOUR niches. Be creative. Be ruthless. And most of all, be relentless. Sincerely, Chris Rempel P.S. When I say "ruthless", I mean don't be afraid of approaching people. I do NOT mean "be a jerk". Jerks always lose one way or another. Build a business of integrity - but fight the good fight!
Awesome post, Chris. If anybody needs cheap OUTSOURCED labor for traffic generation/content management/content creation for a SUSTAINABLE traffic pool, hit me up.
The "Myspace" recommendation is simply brilliant and something I am rather ashamed of for not even thinking about! The "social networking" scheme works for musical artists and teenage punks, why should it not for niche sites as well? Very good post.
Another forum with heavy traffic is here: http://www.ablake.net/forum/ This is another way to get the word out about yourself.
Only in the "internet marketing" niche, though. Use the strategies I just shared broadly, and apply them to any niche. Besides, in my experience it is FAR easier to sell things to consumers than it is to sell to other marketers. Sincerely, Chris Rempel
Great post. Myspace is definitely one of the hottest markets out there for IMers to go after. The groups & friend lists are free targetted marketing for the right niches.
Thanks for the tip. I just tried that. I wonder how strict are they following their no ads policy.. :/
I don't quite get the concept of "joint ventures". Is that as simple as setting up new web directory? If so, how does that generate one-way link?
A "joint venture" (aka. "JV") means working with another business for a mutual benefit. They got a temporary ad on my site, and I got a permanent link from theirs. There are thousands of different types of JV's. A good introductory article is located at http://www.jv-web.com/joint_venture_business.html Sincerely, -Chris Rempel
What I mentioned is about as much as anyone will be able to tell you, save for a few details you could figure out on your own in a few hours. Start an account, have your page convert its visitors into either subscribers or website visitors, and then go from there. Build up traffic to your profile by requesting that people that have the same interests as you become your friend, by posting in the groups and forums, and so on. This can be outsourced, and there are some software solutions, but MAKE SURE you're within the MySpace TOS. -Chris
Great post and an interesting video. Do you have any tips on how to get your visitors to actually subscribe and use the site? Thanks
Generating involvement can be a little tough at first. I have one social network that's a little older, and we have contests like "who can make the funniest profile", etc. and things of that nature. Also, if you can get well-known people in your niche (ie. "the popular crowd") to sign up, then others who follow them will follow their lead. There's a number of ways to do it, but the more users you have, the easier, faster and more interactive everything gets. Persist, and it will pay off for you - BIG TIME. -Chris