Write About What You Enjoy, But Enjoy Narrowly and Intelligently, With a Purpose

This is going to be a long one, so gird thyself.

I’ve already touched on writing about what you know and enjoy for your first site, and indeed, I think that’s some of the best advice out there. But that’s a pretty broad, amorphous thing to advise, so let’s dig down into some practical examples and ways to profitably steer your enthusiasm.

Let’s say we were drinking a beer and the topic of affiliate marketing came up, and you said you wanted to start a site but didn’t know what to write about.

“What are you interested in?” I’d ask.

“Well, you know. Stuff.” you’d say. “I don’t know. Computers?”

“You have to narrow it down more than that,” I’d tell you. “What do you like about computers?  Building them from scratch? Repairing them? Tricking them out with crazy mods?”

 

“No,” you’d say, “I’m more into networking stuff these days, like running structured wiring throughout my house. Plus I just got my CCNA certification for that promotion at work I’ve been angling for.” 

Bingo. And I’d go on to tell you that you were sitting on potential gold, and that either topic (or both) would make great affiliate sites.

 

And why would I say that? And why would they make great affiliate sites? Because I’d reverse the roles and pretend to be both a surfer looking for answers as well as an advertiser or merchant. I’d look at both sides, as far as whether the topic would be the subject of lots of focused, well-defined searches, as well as whether there was the opportunity to cash in on the other side, with merchants and advertisers lining up to get a piece of the surfers on your site.

A site devoted to structured wiring would explain exactly what that is, how you do, what equipment and supplies you need, etc. Without doing any research, I’d bet you a box of doughnuts that there are online merchants dedicated to exactly that stuff, selling CAT5e, control boxes, etc. Odds are that some of them have affiliate programs that would pay you for links to products, but even if they don’t you could monetize that site easily by running Google Adsense ads, since surfers that are interested in structured wiring and land on your site are highly motivated to buy the products they need online, since they aren’t always available at the local Home Depot. That means they’re pre-motivated to click on offers in the Google ads, which makes you money each and every time.

The CCNA certification site could detail your experience taking the classes, touch on material that was covered, offer tips, etc. At first glance it seems to hold less promise, as there aren’t any tangible goods that are sold (like with the structured wiring idea) that surfers can click through to and buy. (Although you could also potentially make money by offering links to somewhat related technical programs at online colleges/universities, which pay a decent amount per each surfer that fills out a survey and contact data for further information.) But it’s got something else going for it, which is the fact that many people offering boot camps and certification classes charge a lot for them and are likely willing to spend a lot per click at Google Adwords, which means that your Google Adsense ads could be more profitable per click than would be the case for most topics and products.

Think about that last sentence for a bit. All Adsense ads that are clicked are not created equal. Remember, those ads exist because someone (a merchant, advertiser, or other affiliate) has signed up at Adwords and agreed to pay a certain amount, per click, for specific search terms. The amount they pay directly determines what you get, as the affiliate, for each click of an Adsense ad on your site. If they pay more per click, you get more; if they pay less, you get less.

That means that not all subjects are created equal, if you’re going to run Adsense ads. If it’s an industry that typically makes a lot of money per customer or transaction, it stands to reason that a merchant will pay more per click. They can afford to, as each qualified lead is worth more to them. So industries like credit card providers, pornmongers, mortgage lenders, and lawyers tend to pay a lot per click, since they make beaucoup bucks per customer, which means that you’ll make more running Adsense ads for them.

That said, affiliates know this too, so the competition for clicks in those industries is much higher. You potentially make more per click but have a harder time getting the pages of your site ranked at the top of search engine results, as more affiliates are targeting the same search terms.

Which is a huge detour from where we were, talking about the pros of launching a CCNA certification site. But an important detour, as you always need to consider how potentially lucrative Adsense clicks might be for any given area that you might enter with a new site.

So the structured wiring and CCNA certification sites both look like great ideas. Let’s look at a not-so-great-idea.

Let’s pretend that you’re really into fruit bats. You love bats and know everything in the world there is to know about fruit bats. Since it’s what you know and love, you decide to launch an affiliate site for fruit bats.

Well, okay. If it was a labor of love, I’d say knock yourself out, but an affiliate site is designed to make you money. And it’s pretty impossible to find a way to make money on a site about fruit bats.

If bats were common pets, then it’d be viable. You’d create much content about bats, attract surfers interested in bats (likely many who own a pet bat), and then wrap that content around either affiliate product ads for things like bat cages, bat toys, etc., or around Adsense ads. But bats aren’t common pets. And there’s not even a slant equivalent, as bats aren’t a close equivalent to birds. If it was a site on squirrels, you might be able to push people towards a somewhat similar animal like a ferret or rat (which you could monetize), but bats are pretty unique.

You could run Adsense ads but again, what sort of ad would appeal to someone searching for information on fruit bats? What are they looking for, that’s a marketable product or service, that might catch their eye if they see an offer in the Adsense ads? Nothing, really. Run “fruit bats” through Google and look on the right. There’s just one Adsense ad there, a totally generic one for Ask.com, which means that there’s no demand for search traffic on “fruit bats”.

Remember, you make money with Adsense only when a surfer clicks on an ad. Surfers only do that when the ad is appealing, which usually only happens when your site contains content that is similarly appealing to them. Visitors on a fruit bat site aren’t looking for quotes on a new car. Visitors on a car quote site aren’t looking for information on fruit bats. Traffic is useless to you unless it’s focused and pre-motivated and there’s an existing market for their clicks.

So the fruit bat site is pretty much a no-go, from an affiliate perspective. You could build it and get some traffic here and there but there’s little you can do with that traffic.

Write About What You Enjoy, But Enjoy Narrowly and Intelligently, With a Purpose and related information can be found in Getting Started