A short post for a change. Would a Microbrew(ery) directory (possibly with reviews) be to small a niche? More of a business than pure links directory.
I think it is a great idea, a perfect niche for a directory. Small? lol you might want to search on that and don't be suprise to find out that it might be larger than you think. With a review would even be better. With the new upgrade with phpLD where you can do just that and add a Google maps and other informations. Sure, beer is perfect for a niche directory.
know Microbrew drinkers are increasing all the time and there is hardly a city of any size without one or more microbreweries or bars but 500K google isn't all that large and searches is only a hundred or so. I think Joomla with the SOBI2 component would be a nice fit and easy expandability for forum, blog type reviews and... (really wish Drupal had a directory plugin). I am just unsure if that small a niche would payoff. I already own MicrobrewReviews.com - hand reg a couple weeks ago. Just hand reg'd MicrobreweryIndex.com
Could be an interesting project. Maybe you could tie it to the travel niche somehow where folks could research their next trip and make sure they stop at the local places? I would, however, definitely check on the legality of the reviews and what would happen if you post a negative one. The reviews, depending upon their quality, could cause brewery owners to hesitate in submitting their sites or paying for additional advertising. As for the number of listings, I suspect there would be plenty of sites and businesses to choose from. Perhaps consider too whether or not to include companies that do not have a website (if there are any that fall into that category). Maybe you could treat it like a brewery/restaurant guide and identify which ones have a full restaurant, bar only or brewery only? That would provide more content and avoid the review issues. Even if there are not a tremendous amount of searches each month, done well, you might be able to rule the niche and get a huge percentage of that traffic and traffic from folks looking for things to do in XXX city. Good luck, seems like there are a variety of ways to approach this.
How would you make money on it? There aren't many beer affiliates and it's borderline against TOS for adsense, YPN, and others.
It started in the UK and has spread to America - think: Real Ale. When you go into a pub and they have guest ales they're probably from microbreweries. I think it's a great idea for a niche, good luck with it.
Well, actually there are a ton of them around see this url. http://www.brewpubzone.com/ or google search. http://www.google.com/search?q=Micr...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
im not much of a drinker, didn't realise it was so established. Looks like a good, almost untouched niche then, id get in there while the idea is still with you, sounds like a niche you could rank well for in time.
Thanks, gives me food for thought. The travel idea makes sense. Rather than go on here check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbrewery for Microbrewery info. They are popping up all over the place and even bars (I own MicrobrewBars.com) serving various brands and in my recent surfing have encountered festival sites. There are many breweries without Web sites so it would be more like a business directory. Monetizing is an issue but that is not unusual. If Adsense is a problem I will have to rethink things. Anyhow, thanks to everyone for the input. Am testing an idea using Joomla and the SOBI2 component. ---------- Brew Pub Zone has G ads all over so I am not going to worry
I finally got to it - not quite ready to go as I need a couple articles etc. but... www.microbrewindex.com. Not your average directory software either. Time will tell
I thing that great idea, narrow but promissing market , who do not drink beer in europe, us anyway . good luck with it.
Yous EU guys ain't being ignored. The current content is what I could dig up fairly easy (lots of hours verifying). There are Canada and other categories which are easy to expand when time comes.