I spent most of the day last Sunday working on some pretty annoying little jobs and fix-ups that have been long overdue. Although I’ve been motivated lately thanks to a serious kick in the pants, the work was pretty dull and my mind was wandering to more interesting things like the Travel Blog Exchange 2009 that was taking place in Chicago that day. I couldn’t get their live video feed to work so I resorted to following the updates on Twitter where loads of people were keeping everyone informed.
Nomadic Matt spoke as part of a panel of guests and people were Tweeting some of the things he had to say. One of the main things he said that struck a chord with me was the idea of being the expert in your chosen niche – of owning it. Be the best in whatever field you choose and people (including advertisers) will search you out, rather than the other way around. It was a nice reminder because this is a goal I had originally had but have since lost sight of.
My intention several years ago when I started my working holidays website was to position myself as an expert in this area. I wanted my site to be a one-stop location for information on all of the visa possiblities for eligible people from English-speaking countries. I had planned to know the stuff inside out, keep on top of updates and be the go-to place for young people looking to work abroad.
Well plans are a great thing but the hard part is seeing them through. I haven’t updated that site since I created it a few years ago. Working holiday visa rules are changing all the time and keeping on top of things will take a committment from me beyond what I have given so far. I also think that it is difficult to position yourself as an expert with a static site. People want to see a face behind the advice. They want to interact and, while I have helped many people by email, I think posting replies to comments is a much better way to engage people.
I think I have a great opportunity to take a running at really owning this niche. My site is ranked number one across Google from several countries for ‘working holidays’ and on top of tha tI get loads of more specific long-tail searches from people looking for specific country information. I also have a bit of experience in this area having travelled twice on the official working holiday visa to New Zealand and Australia. I have also worked in Scotland, Ireland and England on my British passport. Throw in a bit of experience living in a popular destination for English teachers like Beijing and some time spent WWOOFing and I think I’ve got a pretty well-rounded set of experiences to draw from.
This is a pretty lucrative niche and there are plenty of companies out there trying to help the working traveller get a visa, arrange their first few nights, sell information packs, sell memberships to working holiday job boards and much more. So far I have only tapped into Adsense and that’s just plain crazy. Madness!
Positioning myself as an expert in this niche by adding a blog, keeping the site updated and getting myself out there using social media is something I will be working on once I get back to Canada in a couple of weeks and it will be a major part of my ‘I need to start treating this like a business‘ plan. It will be a huge challenge but I think I am already in a very good position with the site I have and I’m looking forward to seeing where I can go with this.
Do you guys think it’s possible these days to ‘own a niche’ given all of the information out there already? Do you think adding a face to a static website is something that adds value for the everyday reader?
I think you have referenced me in every post since you reviewed my ebook. hehe
If you are already number one in your niche, then a question I’d ask myself is that: why hasn’t it made you rich? (relatively) If advertisers aren’t hunting you down or the site is only bringing in a trickle of money, what is wrong with the site as it is? what is wrong with the keyword? Is it worth spending lots of time on if it’s not a valuable keyword? what kind of advertisers would be interested in the site? what kind of travelers? If you already hit #1 in google then you probably have peaked on your relevant search traffic.
just food for thought.
This is something I have been thinking about too “adding a face to a site”
my goldfish site is an ideal candidate like yours I rank # 1 for the most popular term after goldfish alone, do I add a forum or capitalize on the questions I get asked in some form or another daily? Matt makes a god point though in how much better would it be if i add a face as I’m already # 1?
Matt makes some good points but here’s how I see things…
I think being number one in the SERPs brings in a lot of that faceless traffic who are searching for something and are more likely to click on Google ads to continue their search. I think for this site about 80% of my traffic is through Google and Adsense does pretty well.
But to sell affiliate products or ebooks, I have a hunch that the SERP traffic are less likely to buy, especially if they find my site using a generic search term like ‘working holidays’.
I want to start attracting the other type of user… the people who come to blogs and are actually interested in hearing what the person behind the blog has to say. I want to attract people who interact with me and who will take my opinions on board if they feel like I know what I’m talking about in the area.
I know I would be more likely to buy from a site that is run by a person I feel I have some sort of connection with. I think that if I were to recommend products on this site I would get a few sales here and there because some of you are under the illusion that I know what I am talking about. haha
I don’t know… I am curious to hear people’s thoughts on this… does having a face behind a site make you more inclined to buy?
I think it depends on the product and I would never mix Adsense on an affiliate site. If the product is cheap and there is an easy money back guarantee then I think people will buy on the off chance. Hence the popularity of the $7 ebook sites.
But if its more expensive then you need to build trust – that’s particularly important in the MMO niche because of the load of crap that’s in the market – theres a lot dodgy immigration companies too so I think having name/face may be of value there to, if you can find a suitable affiliate.
Alternatively if you can pass people on to a site they DO trust like Amazon on eBay then you as the affiliate are irrelevant to the consumer.
Seems like a lot to tackle along with your Africa site. But I won’t criticize you because I’m always working on multiple sites at once.
I think having a face on the site can raise it’s profile. You can also parlay your online face/reputation into other related projects to give them a jump-start. However, you can also do really well without being a face online at all. I have.
I think you could add a blog to working holidays site, but I wouldn’t rip down what you have and start over. If it were me, I would try to preserve as much of what you have with current URL structure while adding the blog, even if the blog becomes the front page.
As far as traffic and affiliate sales go, my experience with every niche I’ve been in is that the overwhelming majority of your affiliate sales will come from the SERPs. Search traffic from people who are not regular readers of your site will be where the money comes from in my experience. I think your readership and regulars are what validate you in the eyes of casual buyers who just go through you on the way to making a purchase they feel better about.
To answer the question. Yes it’s possible to own a niche or rather dominate a niche. Even f you dominate, their will always be smaller players trying to up their game.
You working on an Africa travel site? Sounds interesting… I personally come from Namibia so I might be able to hook you up with a few contacts still back home if you are interested.
Adding a face to your website, IMO, is building upon the brand, and your face branding….and some people have been able to pull it off really well, when i say Kevin Rose – you know the site that i am referring to : digg
If you are going to dedicate time and resources on all your sites, if you brand your face, as an expert, it should trickle over across all of your websites
I’m not saying it is going to be easy though
Our approach to adding face to drafternoon is by offering alternative content in the forum of video in weekly episodes of a show
I think it is possible to own your niche or corner your market. A problem though with working holidays is that people only take them once or twice in their lifetime.
If you haven’t done so already, I would create some kind of info product. Maybe there are some “gap year” type affiliate programs which you could run on the site.
I would be happy to do something on Japan if you want.
Yes I think a face does add credibility to an authority website, many big players like about.com do that. And its universal for newspapers and magazines to post a faces with the writings of their column writers, in many cases experts or authorities of some sort.
A good (outstanding?) example of a blog dominating a niche would be Lou Dawson’s wildsnow.com. It is a blog on all things related to backcountry skiing (with somewhat a regional focus on the U.S., Colorado I think). As far as I know (I am following his blog only since a couple of months) Lou draws upon experience built over many years (starting with old-fashioned static websites).
Today he has all kind of (local) media attention and seems to have tons of industry contacts. His products reviews are really ahead of the crowd and he is very trusted since he seems to be strictly neutral (though he gets a lot of ads from the industry). [I, too, trusted his information and bought a specific product after his review and product-related tips].
Full disclaimer: I am in no way associated with his blog, nor do I receicve any benefits from citing this blog.
However the bottom line may be that it depends on the type of the niche.
Cheers.
P.S.: I like your blog (discovered it a few weeks ago) and wish you the best with your new projects.
owning a niche is good, as is really connecting with your audience. interacting with them, and listening, is critical to building a successful site. but you know that. hope to see you next year!
I know you are very dedicate against their work and you can do it again. Because success is not a destination success is a journey. so don’t stop.
The face is just one part of the equation. To me it’s about building a community. I have a lot of interaction with readers who email me from my site or reply to my newsletter. It IS time-consuming – but to me it’s an integral part of my work. I’m active on Twitter as well and though I can’t say I’m number 1 in my niche (women’s solo travel) I’m not that far off.
I agree that advertisers will seek you out – that’s been my experience. The potential for monetization is huge but again, it takes some work to implement (especially when you have 300 or so pages, as I do). I have a mixture of affiliates and AdSense on my site and don’t do badly from either (although I could do a lot better if I spent more time monetizing and less time interacting and building content
it’s a bit of a Catch 22). Advertisements will be the next phase.
I absolutely agree that trust and credibility are key ingredients of monetization and have noticed how bloggers and site owners with strong name/face recognition draw people to them. I think you’re definitely on the right track and love your working holidays plan – it’s that ‘personal touch’ that sets you apart from the bigger more commercial sites with a number of writers on staff, all of whom sound identical.
Congrats Kirsty on the number position on Google, when I did a search there was some 80million results so you should be proud of that achievement!
I know I would be more likely to buy from a site that is run by a person I feel I have some sort of connection with. I think that if I were to recommend products on this site I would get a few sales here and there because some of you are under the illusion that I know what I am talking about. haha