Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2003 7:00 pm Post subject: Defining niche / concept / interpreting data (SBI or other)
Hi Everyone,
Just spent a productive hour in the forum, reading all I could find on the above topic and am inspired to ask for help also.
I have several ideas for my web but am getting stuck (day 2) on defining the niche / the angle / the focus / the approach. I'm not sure how much detail to go into right now ... or how much to 'give away' ... this is a public forum after all and I'm not sure how else to get help than provide details, so let me "test the waters" here.
We wrote a series of personal development products and we have lived and work from the Caribbean for the last 8 years. I have plenty of ideas for content, from both angles, but now how to merge the two?
I've spent days reading and researching keywords, read the whole action guide, reread this part about 10 times, changed gears to my USP / features and benefits work on the products themselves to take a break, and I still can't seem to get it together without it seeming like "two sites in one" and the keyword search results on things like "lifestyle" seem to be dismal. And many of the other keywords I chose seem to have plenty of competing webs with that information. Low demand and high supply instead of the other way around... I'm pretty sure I just need a nudge in the right direction.
Of course, keywords like "food" or "caribbean food" or "success" or "health" or "travel" are all so broad as to be virtually unuseable, I need that NICHE.
I have no intention of going head-to-head with the web-marketing pros, as least not YET I think the twist is going to come from content that is related to MY particular lifestyle, or anyone who fancies living in their dream locale, and working for themselves from home, online. And I have loads of ideas for partnerships.
Any help on interpreting the data from the Master Keyword list would be most appreciated as well as any tips or suggestions of where to go from here. How do I generate more and better keywords from this? Or how do I narrow it down? How do I read and interpret the data in the Manager? What IS it about the relationship _between_ the keywords that is more important than the number?
Joined: 01 Aug 2003 Posts: 1126 Location: London, England
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2003 9:51 pm Post subject:
Hi Sandra,
It took me ages to settle on a niche ( and I'm still crossing my fingers in the hope that it's the right one) so I'm no expert, but here goes.
You may be answering your own question, at least in part, when you say it seems like "two sites in one", if this really is the case I would say choose one or the other.
>> Of course, keywords like "food" or "caribbean food" or "success" or "health" or "travel" are all so broad as to be virtually unuseable, I need that NICHE.<<
Sticking with the Caribbean, if Antigua proves too broad, you could always try Antigua-beaches (Now where did that idea come from?) ;0)
>> What IS it about the relationship _between_ the keywords that is more important than the number?<<
I take this to mean that the profitability number is only relevant to your keyword list. Which could mean that if your topic has a low potential, then any particular keyword in that list will not have much potential, but could have a high score in relation to the list.
A sneaky little trick I have learned to do is to place a couple of unrelated keywords in the list that I know have a high search rate. Then I see how the rest of the list performs against those.
Joined: 06 Aug 2003 Posts: 43 Location: Caribbean Rainforest
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2003 11:59 pm Post subject:
Hi Larry, thanks.
Quote:
It took me ages to settle on a niche
OK. I can buy that.
Quote:
You may be answering your own question, at least in part, when you say it seems like "two sites in one", if this really is the case I would say choose one or the other.
Yes, this seems the case, for example, if I put in all the keywords I can think of in the personal development, success, lifetyle, etc categories, I get the highest profitability scores in "Caribbean food" "caribbean travel" "caribbean homes", and "caribbean recipes" -- the last two being the highest profit potential. "self help books" came in the middle of that grouping. And the profitability score comes in from 69 down to 21. Are these "good"? Seems there's lots of room for improvement. Yes?
I can't see promoting the caribbean lifestyle and then successfully getting someone to click on a 'buy my book' -- UNTIL and unless I can come up with the bridge, which is "I got to where I am by studying this stuff and applying it to my life" which is EXACTLY how I ended up living here in de Islands mon.
My "real" business, what I can write and collect content about, and the product I can offer for sale, includes personal develoment products, in ebook form, and from our relatively successful past and reputation as seminar facilitators, however, these score lowly in the list against the other. And I'm not sure I can compete with the bigger webs yet in strictly the personal growth / potential area... it is definitely full of some hefty competition...comments?
>>Sticking with the Caribbean, if Antigua proves too broad, you could always try Antigua-beaches (Now where did that idea come from?) ;0)>>
haha. I'm envious of Ms. Evoy and quite enjoyed her site.
>> What IS it about the relationship _between_ the keywords that is more important than the number?<<
I take this to mean that the profitability number is only relevant to your keyword list. Which could mean that if your topic has a low potential, then any particular keyword in that list will not have much potential, but could have a high score in relation to the list.
Exactly my point... what's "low"? What's "high" in scores? It seems very relative and it's the relativity I'm trying to get my head around.
A sneaky little trick I have learned to do is to place a couple of unrelated keywords in the list that I know have a high search rate. Then I see how the rest of the list performs against those.
Hope I have been at least a little help.
You have, Larry, thanks, I'll try the trick and see if I can start understanding by what happens when I throw in a wrench. I have no doubts about what's possible once I "get it".
Joined: 02 Jul 2003 Posts: 5839 Location: by the beach, Australia
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2003 4:44 am Post subject:
It sounds to me as though you're talking about two sites, although I'm sure you could find a way to logically link them.
Here's a little tip which may help. If you're thinking of optimizing a page for "caribbean travel" type that phrase into Google and see how tough your competition is.
Also, you could ask yourself what useful contacts you have in either of the communities you mention - Caribbean and self-help. If you build a site on either topic, will your friends in that community give your site a flying start?
I'd choose the topic in which you think you can get important, powerful links to your site. _________________ Allan Gardyne
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Last edited by AllanGardyne on Wed Aug 13, 2003 1:21 am; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 06 Aug 2003 Posts: 43 Location: Caribbean Rainforest
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2003 10:08 pm Post subject: appreciate it
Allan,
Thanks for stopping by and providing your take on my dilemma. I'm spending the next several days brainstorming and following the links in the site manager to find some gems.
Like everyone else has said, I think you should split the two ideas. If you're thinking that the caribean one won't make you any money, look at all the people making money from AdSense.. this would be a great AdSense site.
And like you said, you could use these two as VERY powerful sellers for the other. "Click here to see what kind of lifestyle i'm living now by using these products" and "Do you want this kind of lifestyle? See how I did it"
Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2003 3:16 pm Post subject: thanks donnyd
Thanks DonnyD,
For 2 valuable cents. I agree.
I have discovered an interesting angle to pursue that does the trick...researching and brainstorming now.
Your suggestion confirms what I've been thinking about "in the back of my mind", so I see how I'll be busy building another (or 2 or 3) when this one's complete, such as island life / lifestyle.
I've also been working with one of site sell's consultants and certified webmasters - Richard Dowell - yes, it's a plug! - who has been enormously helpful, and is a great coach with far-reaching business, web and internet marketing experience. (Thanks, coach)
For the benefit of other readers on this post, I highly recommend the new services offered at SBI; a variety of consultants and webmasters are available that are completely familiar with SBI, and are in a wide variety of industries. At least a week of my time was saved by using this VERY economical feature. Priceless.
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I think the twist is going to come from content that is related to MY particular lifestyle, or anyone who fancies living in their dream locale, and working for themselves from home, online. And I have loads of ideas for partnerships.
)
I agree.