What is a niche website?

Niche websites are often created by people who are passionate about a certain topic, or hobby - such as fossicking for semi-precious stones.

These websites typically have a limited audience, but can become extremely popular amongst people who share that particular interest.


Commercial niche websites

Another way in which niche websites are used is to  'drill down' to a narrow part of a larger commercial area - such as a site which only carries detailed information about a specific holiday location. Instead of having a large, busy site that has a directory and bookings for a large number of holiday destinations (or holiday destinations within a country or even worldwide) - a niche holiday site might centre solely on one location.

Why would anyone make a site like this?

One compelling reason might be that with so many pages of good, detailed information about this single destination, it stands a good chance of coming up in the results search engine queries.

One thing that can be useful is long tail key phrases in your content.


What are long tail key phrases?

A very popular area of Australia is the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Tambourine Mountain is a beautiful spot in the Gold Coast hinterland.
"tambourine mountain for seniors" is an example of a long tail key phrase.
If you had some pages on tours, facilities, spots of interest and accommodation for seniors - then you would want to use long tail key phrases.


How do I make my niche site popular?

The first thing to do is to build your site up with lots and lots of useful information. This is where it helps to be passionate about your subject, as it will come across in your writing.

Gain links from other relevant websites. Write articles about your subject. Join a forum that is related to your subject, and become a part of the community. Keep building your site, and become known as an expert in your area.

Before you even start - be sure to do your research!
It's not simply a case of whacking together a few pages on a particular subject and having your website instantly become popular.

It requires careful research to see what's already out there, and if the proposed subject of your site is sought after.

Strategies might include: 

Key phrase tracking
using key phrase tracking software to determine search phrases which have a high number of queries, but a low amount of commercial interest.

(This is good if you want to sell items related to the subject of your website.
It's not good though if you plan on putting Google adsense ads on your site - as there will be few if any advertising that matches with your site content.)

Checking the Google search engine

Spend some time searching for sites that have content similar to the site you want to create. How comphrensive is their information? Are there niches that are being missed?

To help you, you can search Google for all websites in their index which carry your key word phrase in their title.

Type into Google:
allinsite: "your keyword phrase"

(Your 'keyword phrase' will be whatever term you wish to search for.)

The lower the number of results it returns, the better.

( You can find the number of results displayed in the bar underneath the Google search box, on the righthand side of your screen.)   

Of course, a low amount of results can mean there is little interest in your subject matter! 



Making money with a niche

The choice is yours! If you have a good number of people visiting your site each day - you could try selling items or services related to your subject - or try your hand at advertising revenue - such as with affiliate programs and Google adsense.