How to start up your own website and make money online (newbs) (pics+vids) (ceo10k)

[rblgenius]

WARNING: THIS IS LONG. BUT IT MIGHT CHANGE YOUR LIFE. 95% OF YOU WON'T READ THE REST OF THIS AND THAT'S OK. THE DESIRE TO AT LEAST WANT TO SUCCEED IS NECESSARY TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE. BUT YOU MUST HAVE THE DESIRE! CEO10k/DAY DOESN'T HAPPEN TO YOU. YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN.

I'm glad to see you made your way into this thread. Like many on the misc, I'm tired of reading the endless FA/no-fap/rateme threads and people dreaming about CEO-ing 10k a day but never even thinking of taking a step in that direction. The internet is literally an endless fountain of possible riches to be gained. Even with every single miscer actively doing the methods I will employ in this thread, the internet is capable of sustaining all of our riches. Why? Because the world has an endless need for entertainment and original content. If you have a passion, you can monetize it.

Many of you will continue to surf the web for the next three to four hours before you wake, go to work/school, destroy the weights, take your proteinz, and then repeat. The work, lift, misc, sleep, repeat process becomes your cycle of living.

The secret to being successful is not a secret. Rather it is so obvious that many ignore its very nature. Every successful individual TRIED. Every successful individual FAILED. Every successful individual TRIED AGAIN. And AGAIN. And AGAIN. Because even the most adept failure eventually enjoys the riches of success through persistence. How? Because even if I try to FAIL every time I do something, eventually I will make a mistake and actually succeed. So it's not the intelligence or social status or wealth of an individual that determines his lot in life, it's the fortitude and strength to continue to TRY and FAIL because they know what you call "FAILURE" is simply a stepping stone to SUCCESS. You just have the wrong perspective.

So today I'm preparing to embark on my journey to literally "ceoing 10k/day". No it will not happen overnight. Not it will not be easy. But it is possible. Challenging, but possible. I invite you join along with me on this journey as I take you step by step on perhaps the easiest way to start making money online quickly: making your own niche site.

This thread will be a continuous journey. This means that the OP will not contain all the information you need to get started right away. To check up on the latest content, I will have a running cliffs on each page of the thread. Here is a general outline of posts that will come in this thread.

Starting Your Own Niche Site
1. Discovering the Niche and Keyword that fits your Passion
2. Setting up your First Site with Wordpress
3. Having your site show up on google, yahoo, and bing
4. Creating Original Content and Formulating a Market Strategy
5. Utilizing the Full Power of Social Marketing
6. Basic Traffic Generation
7. Building Back-links that Matter
8. Social Bookmarking and It's Importance
9. Why 95% of you will fail and how to be a part of the 5%
10. Advanced Topics: Video Marketing, Social Sharing, Duplication

Without further ado, let's get started with perhaps the most important step in our journey: the first step.

Side note: I am by no means an expert in niche site generation, but merely synthesizing the information for easy perusal. I will be embarking on this journey side by side with you and will grow, struggle, and become successful with you. Occasionally, I will be posting links that contain affiliate tags inside of them. I will also post the non-affiliate link. If you feel the information provided has inspired you and driven you to action, please click on the affiliate link as it costs you nothing (sometimes will include a discount attached to link) and is a way of giving me a "real life rep".

[rblgenius]

Step 1: Discovering the Niche and Keyword that fits your Passion

Before I begin on my method to discovering a niche and keyword with the most monetary potential, I would just like to add a few words on niche selection. Many niche site instructors (marketers?) suggest mindless searching in Google Keyword Tools and other tool search software (that usually they are an affiliate of) to find the keyword that has the greatest CPC (cost per click) and SEOT (Search Engine Optimized Traffic).

While those characteristics are important in a successful niche site, they should not be the foundation from which you select your niche.

Rather, I'm in the school of thought of selecting your niche from YOUR PASSIONS. Why? Because you will find out later on (in Step 4. Creating Unique Content), that if you are not passionate about the niche you are writing about, creating content becomes very difficult. And many of you will quit at that step. Creating a site is easy. Creating unique content to drive traffic -- not so much.

Let us begin!

Step 1.a: Write down your passions

Take out a sheet of paper or open up a Google doc. Write down the seven things that motivate, inspire, and entertain you. What are the things that make you wake up early in the morning to do? What are the things you do on the weekends with your buddies? What are the various forms of entertainment you partake in?

Here was my list of seven things:

1. Medicine (medical school, etc)
2. Bodybuilding and nutrition
3. Mathematics
4. Physics
5. Computers and technology
6. Traveling
7. Football

This should be a soul searching exercise. Really dig in deep and truly think about what inspires you. Most people this will be easy. Other people, you might have to think for 30-40 minutes.

Another method I've done for finding niches (especially if you aren't a well rounded individual) is doing a "NICHE DAY". Carry around a sheet of paper and pen with you ALL DAY. Everything you see/hear/experience that is a niche -- WRITE IT DOWN.

Saw a pregnant girl buying strollers? "Pregnancy and strollers". Saw an ice cream truck selling ice cream in the neighborhood? "Ice cream truck". You will amass a list so large that you can pick and choose what topics interest you.

Step 1.b: Taking Your Passions and Flushing them for Ideas

For a reference on how to choose a good niche, below our few topics which usually have high CPC associated with them. If you have bit of interest in these topics then that's a plus!

1. Legal
2. Finance
3. Web Hosting
4. Medical
5. Travel
6. Career Training
7. Health
8. Home Care
9. Security
10. Online Degrees

Ok. Now you have a potential niche list. We need to narrow down these niches as "Bodybuilding and Nutrition" is WAY TOO BROAD. Just look at the SEOC (Search Engine Optimized Competition) below:



Once you found your niche, let's start parsing it. Go to http://www.ubersuggest.org/ and do a number of searches starting with your niche. This step will give me lots of related keywords to my main topic. Then save all the keywords list in notepad to use it later.

PRO TIP: Click "get all" in the lower right hand side of site and then CNTL-A to select the whole list, the CNTRL-C to copy whole list, then CNTRL-V it into your notepad.

After that step, you should have quite a few keywords related to your niche. If you need more, here's a good outline of steps I found that helps increase your niche variability and keyword hunt:
1. Go to dmoz.org
2. Enter your market term in the search box. e.g. "travel"
3. Click on a category. e.g. "Specialty Travel"
4. Here you will see a whole list of potential travel niches.. e.g. "backpacking", "camping", "cruises", "boat charters" "caving" "snow biking" "surfing" " monutain biking"
5. List down all the niches that you are interested in.
6. Repeat with the directory at http://dir.yahoo.com

If you still need more niche ideas:
1. Go to Google and search for your market keyword and append it with the word "forum". e.g. "travel + forum".
2. Look for any forums in the results and click on them.
3. Skim through the forums looking for more niche ideas.

Step 1.c: Finding the Best Keyword for Our Niche

There are several ways to approach this step. You can either manually search through Google's Keyword Tool or use a paid software to assist you in the work. I will show you both the free, manual way to search keywords and how to find a keyword using the software "Long Tail Pro". It has a 10 day free trial (no CC needed).

Long Tail Pro Method:



Manual, Free Method

Ok. It's time to use Google Keyword tool.



Make sure that my "match type" is set to "exact". This will tell you how many people search the "EXACT KEYWORD" a month and not "EXACT KEYWORD" + some random word or phrase. Broad and phrase are nice to have high but doesn't give much information in regards to the EXACT SEARCH VOLUME of the keyword. We will talk more about utilizing broad and phrase keywords in the content step.



Below are the things we are looking for:
1. High CPC
2. High Searches per month
3. Consistent searches through the year make sure its not a seasonal keyword.



Now let's find out the competition for the keywords. You can find out the competition by putting your exact keyword in quotes -- like this: "keyword" -- into Google and then recording the number of websites. This will tell you the Search Engine Optimized Competition (SEOC). I usually go with keywords which has results under 800k (the smaller this number is, the better).

Now it is time to see what are the top 10 sites in Google are like.
• How many sites in top 10 have your exact match keyword in title?
• What is the domain age of these sites?
• What is their page rank (PR)?
• How many back-links do these sites contain?

OK I usually go for keywords where:
1. At least 2 sites in top 10 does not have my exact match keyword in the title.
2. At least 2 domains are under 2 year old.
3. At least 3 sites with PR (page rank) under 4. (To check these criteria you can use a free firefox plugin "seoquake")
4. Check back-links using www.ahrefs.com or by using "MagesticSEO" plugin. These numbers should be below 500 for many. (ignore wiki and yahoo answers)



Here is what my keyword ended up having (I will not release keyword yet. I don't want undue competition! But I will be releasing it around step 5 or 6 so you can see what I've done.):

SEOC: 941,000
CPC:$3.13
Exact Searches Monthly: 2900 according to Google and 1950 according to www.spyfu.com
Seasonal Keyword?: is NOT seasonal keyword
Top 10 criteria met?: YES! It is a very easy top 10. I've never seen a top 10 with no PR above 2, a few young domains, and almost no back links for any of the sites. It's an untapped niche so I'm willing to ignore the SEOC criteria I set.

Step 1.d: Select your keyword and choose an appropriate domain

Congratulations! The hard part is now over. You have made the most important decision of the whole niche site process. You have chosen your niche and the keyword you wish to optimize and now it's time to start creating content!

Before we can even move on to Step 2: Setting up your First Site with Wordpress , we need a domain to describe your website. The domain is YOUR VIRTUAL ADDRESS. It's where people will remember to go for content related to your niche. It needs to be memorable (i.e. bodybuilding.com, but good luck finding one word domains!) but at the same time capitalizing on your keyword.

There are two theories in choosing an effective domain name: 1. choosing a domain name that is as close as possible to your keyword or 2. choosing a domain name that is easy, memorable, and related to your topic.

Let's talk about each one and which one I picked and why.

1. Choosing a domain name that is as close as possible to your keyword.
Before Google updated it's algorithm for ranking web pages (pre-peinguin), websites that had what were called "EMD"-- or exact match domains -- were prioritized over other relevant websites. EMD's involve taking the keyword you are trying to rank for and having that exact keyword as your domain with a .com suffixing it. For example, if your keyword is "OP is a *******", you would want your domain to be www.opisa*******.com.

Nowadays, just having an EMD and rudimentary content and marketing strategies won't get you to the #1 search in google. However, having a keyword in your domain name is STILL relevant and plays a factor in the Google ranking process. www.bodybuilding.com is a perfect example of a EMD. It optimizes its domain to the keyword it wishes to attract.

2. Choosing a domain name that is catchy, memorable, and/or relevant.
A perfect example of this would be simplyshredded.com. The keyword wasn't searched in google prior to the site's creation. However, through name branding and marketing, people KNOW simplyshredded.com and its easy to remember. Don't you want to be simply shredded?


Which one should I choose?
I personally went with the first possibility because as a niche site generally you're going to be focusing in a particular topic and not branding a whole new business/site. Unless your niche involves the creation of a NEW niche and the keywords aren't researched much or at all, I would go along with the first option. If you have the passion and desire to start up your unique brand, more kudos to you but you're going to have to do a lot more work when it comes to keyword optimization.

Most of you won't be able to find the EMD for the keyword of your choice because most EMD's have been bought out. Other TLD (Top Level Domains) are ok -- such as .org and .net. However, usually they are bought out too. For a good keyword with competition, search volume, and CPC, you might have to go the route of PMD (Partial Match Domain). This is the route I ended up taking. My keyword has "hq" appended to the end of it.

For example, if "bodybuilding tips" was your keyword and the EMD TLD's were taken, then you could do bodybuildingtipshq.com. Other options are "my" or "the" prefixing the keyword. You can Google and find generators that create a suffix or prefix to your chosen keyword.

Step 1.e: Buying the Domain

We are almost done with the first step! We just need to go ahead and purchase the domain. My favorite domain seller is GoDaddy as they offer cheap domains and are easy to transfer your domains to your desired web hosting company. Also, GoDaddy has the most potential to find cheap coupons for your domains. Just Google "godaddy coupons" before you checkout.

To purchase from Godaddy, follow these links
GoDaddy.com -- My affiliate link (doesn't cost you extra! just a way of saying thanks)
GoDaddy.com -- Normal link

Then enter your domain your domain. It will tell you if its available. If its not available in .com, check the .org and .net availabilities. If neither of those are available, then you need to reread the section Step 1.d on choosing a PMD.



Few comments on purchasing extras:
You can buy whois guard if you want. It basically keeps the registrar of the domain purchaser private on whois queries (who.is is the site you can look up website owners). That's up to you. Don't buy any of the other crap. It's a waste.

That's it for Step 1! We're all done!

[ISniffBluffs]

Before I read this, how much will the startup cost (the maximum investment with 95% confidence)? I.e. the most I have of my own money invested before the "debt" goes back down?

[rblgenius]

Before I read this, how much will the startup cost (the maximum investment with 95% confidence)? I.e. the most I have of my own money invested before the "debt" goes back down?

Good question. I have invested $7 so far.

Domain cost me $.99 from godaddy on sale. (Domain costs is a once a year fee) Hosting which I will cover in next post costs roughly 4-5 depending on your web host choice. For our purposes, we will be buying the $3.99 plan / month.

So for one year, this should run around $4 x 12 months + domain cost = roughly 50 bucks.

You can expect a return of $0 (you buy hosting + domain and quit) to realistically in the thousands in a year. Some people make a couple thousand a month.

EDIT: I've gotten a few PM's on hosting / prices etc. already.

1. Only buy the domain for an ANNUAL PLAN. They will always give you deals to stay with them. If you lock in for 5 years you have no control over your price.
2. You can buy whois guard if you want. It basically keeps the registrar of the domain purchaser private on whois queries (who.is is the site you can look up website owners). That's up to you.
3. Don't buy the hosting yet, I'll get to it. You never want to buy more than an annual plan in hosting unless you're getting a DEAL!

[dave.mc]

In, always good to read these threads

[jakeeck]

subbed, very interested in this

[Getlean89]

In! For later reading.

[philosobrah]

Once in a while, a thread like this comes around.

Subscribed.

Hopefully all this chit isn't copy pasta

[Miked1978]

in, subbed. studying

[Jeph77]

nice m8

[rblgenius]

Once in a while, a thread like this comes around.

Subscribed.

Hopefully all this chit isn't copy pasta

Longest thread I've written in my life. Seriously been working on it for about 3-4 hours. But since I've been doing this stuff for a while, it comes out like talking.

subbed, very interested in this

in, subbed. studying

nice m8

Welcome! I'm excited to get started too. I just updated the Step 1.c with information on how to use long tail pro. It's a piece of software that helps automate the process and allows you to SPEED UP your keyword search:



Expect an update with Step 2 tomorrow. I'm currently on Step 4/5 myself in the process so I'm trying to catch you guys up as quickly as I can to where I am.

[NHammondDesign]

In. If I can help any way let me know.

Looking forward to seeing your growth!

[ElvisJagger]

in like gin

[aesthetics24]

going to start this today....would be cool to have a list of miscers who are starting up at the same time who help each other out and update with progress ITT, thoughts?

[TarekG]

In, repped & Subbed for later

[rblgenius]

In. If I can help any way let me know.

Looking forward to seeing your growth!

in like gin

In, repped & Subbed for later

going to start this today....would be cool to have a list of miscers who are starting up at the same time who help each other out and update with progress ITT, thoughts?

That was my plan aesthetics. It can actually help out in the back-linking step to have more people involved as we can trade backlinks and improve our page ranks + SERP rankings.

In response to all the pms I've been receiving, guys don't look for a keyword with anything higher than 25,000 exact local searches a month. You will have to spend thousands, if not millions, in advertising to even have a chance at ranking those keywords.

The ideal niche site has anywhere between 200-20,000 exact searches a month and has LITTLE to NO competition in the top 10. Re-read the section on how to determine top 10 competition if you're confused on that part. Remember, the goal is to write informative content that people will want to read and then become inspired to buy the item you are selling. If the item sells for $200 then only 200 visitors a month with a 1% return is still 2 purchases a month = $400 a month.

The idea is QUALITY first then QUANTITY.

It took me about 4 hours of searching before I found my keyword. It is very personal to me (involves a medical keyword) and I will be passionate enough to write about it. I was NOT able to get the EMD but I suffixed the "hq" ending to the keyword for a .com domain.

Hope that helps clear things up for people.

[dave.mc]

As I said earlier, great thread. A lot of the tips here can also be implemented into existing offline business adventures as well. For a noob (reading the thread) the OP is giving great advice that you should follow step-by-step but there are also great ideas experienced business owners can cherry pick and use to their advantage.

[Revived]

I want to start this, but I feel like a noob.

[IsmileKing]

In for later

[uJelli]

Meh, this technique of online marketing is pretty saturated right now.

[jtrade]

WTF? $4 a month webhosting for unlimited bandwidth & storage? With good linux, or windows for that matter, servers with 99% uptime, php, mysql or equivalent with multiple database support (at least 5) and a fat pipe? Where do I sign up?

Good luck getting the same domain name for $.99 the 2nd year...

[lol_face3]

in.jpg

[Converge46]

just do what OP does and enter the "how to make money online" niche

[Degaussed]

Thanks for sharing this knowledge. I'll be following and repping.

[epixs]

definitely in for later.

currently in eCommerce

[Overbech]

am misc taking over. do your thang mang

[jtrade]

just do what OP does and enter the "how to make money online" niche

agreed there is no proven way to make $$$ online... however I run my parents website and LOL'd at this!!! Especially the $50 a year for domain name and web hosting part... With enuff traffic and content with the plan i believe he is suggesting u will be ass raped with fee's if u exceed it...

[rblgenius]

Here is a good PM I received from BradyBConner. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing:

Ok. How much does Cost Per Click matter? is $1 too low? what range do you usually look for.

It is important to remember what CPC (cost per click) is referring to. This is the price that ADVERTISERS pay GOOGLE to advertise for a particular keyword. Google then places these ads on all sites that utilize that keyword through their ADSENSE application. The amount you receive per click of an ADSENSE ad on your site is actually a percentage (68% for new advertisers and that is the number I am multiplying with CTR in the equation below) of that CPC value. The amount of traffic you receive is easy to find but not everyone will click on your ad. To find out the CTR (click to return) rate of your particular keyword ad, go to www.spyfu.com and search your keyword. They will give the percentage CTR.

A way to calculate the value of a #1 rank keyword in a particular niche is to do the following calculation:
(# of EXACT LOCAL SEARCHES) x (CPC x .68) x (CTR) = $$$ earned per month for #1 rank

This number is of course an estimation and could be more or less. This is all information you should consider while choosing your keyword.

just do what OP does and enter the "how to make money online" niche

That niche is the king of all niches for online money making -- you are correct. It is lucrative if you can make an eBook and sell it on clickbank or warrior forums to unsuspecting and gullible noobs. As you can see, I'm selling no eBooks here and simply offering my advice. I even state in the OP that I am no smarter than anyone here. I've simply done the research and am synthesizing it for my fellow miscers.

[gMark]

Subbed.

[Hctap]

Interested and IN