In the summer of 2010, I joined Pat Flynn and Tyrone Shum in a public Niche Site Duel — a challenge to build profitable niche websites in full view of our audiences so readers could see different approaches to the same goal. This is the story of how I chose my niche and got started.
My Approach: Outsource Everything
Pat Flynn documented every detail of his process with his trademark thoroughness. I did not have that kind of time, so I took a different approach: I would outsource every possible element of the project and dictate progress updates for transcription rather than writing polished blog posts. The point was to see what a busy part-time entrepreneur could accomplish by leveraging virtual assistants and available resources.
Three Criteria for Niche Selection
When selecting a niche, I focused on three things. First, it needed to look profitable — real products and affiliate offers that people were already buying. Second, I wanted to be genuinely interested in the topic, because I knew from experience that I was more likely to follow through on projects I cared about. Third, it needed to have widely available materials — themes, PLR content, affiliate programs — that would make outsourcing practical.
I chose the learn-to-play-guitar niche. There were established affiliate programs, plenty of content resources, and it was a topic I personally found interesting as a guitar player.
Quick and Dirty Keyword Research
I used Micro Niche Finder to do fast keyword research, looking for terms with decent search volume, manageable competition, and available exact-match domains. The tool identified “learn guitar basics” as a solid keyword with learnguitarbasics.net available as a domain. I grabbed it immediately.
I also identified related keywords including “guitar tricks review” and “guitar tricks coupon” — terms that people searching for the Guitar Tricks affiliate product would use. These terms did not appear in keyword tools based on AdWords data, but they showed up in Google's autocomplete suggestions, which told me real people were searching for them.
Getting the Site Up Fast
I found a complete guitar website theme bundled with PLR content for twenty-seven dollars and had my virtual assistants set it up. I then outsourced six tasks: breaking PLR into an autoresponder email sequence, customizing the website theme, integrating Guitar Tricks affiliate creatives, adding an email opt-in form, rewriting PLR article titles and content for uniqueness, and commissioning ten original articles around target keywords.
Lessons That Endure
The specific tools and tactics from 2010 are mostly obsolete. Exact-match domains no longer carry the SEO weight they once did. PLR content will not rank in modern search results. Article marketing directories have lost their effectiveness. But the strategic thinking remains valuable: choose niches with clear buyer intent, identify the keywords your prospects actually use, build an email list from day one, and match visitors with relevant offers. Those fundamentals have not changed in sixteen years, and they are unlikely to change in the next sixteen.
Glad to see you joined in Tyrone and Pats challenge, I’ve been following them both and learning so much it’s unbelievable, being new to internet business I’ve got a lot to learn. Are Public Label Rights used very much in affiliate marketing?
Mark
Very detailed, good post. I am getting started with a new niche site also. I am using golf since I am interested in that. Hope you don’t mind if I take some of your advice. Does micro niche finder give you more keyword options around the term you are looking for? Why do you think it is so much better when doing those wide area searches? Good luck!
Thanks — congrats on the new site. Both tools use the adwords database for KW research, so the data is similar. I should do a comparison.
Boy Mark
That was a lot of info to swallow all at once, but I’m happy you taken on the challenge of beating two of the best marketers online.
I think your game plan is excellent, and I wish you the best..I will be watching… I should have joined this dual but I have too much going on at this present time.
“TrafficColeman “Signing Off”
Great info Mark. One question…what is PLR?
Yikes — sorry about that. Private Label Rights content. It refers to content that is created by someone else that you (and others buy). With PLR, many people may end up with the same content, so you should “adapt it” to your voice and your needs, making it unique.
So you dont really use the PLR content as is… You make it unique. On a percentage bases how much do you think you change ?
Do you also use PLR content for things like article marketing ?
Right — I’d say about 20% unique (but this is hard to measure exactly).
I believe the most important thing is to change the title tag (make sure you do not use the same title as the PLR article was given when created). Google puts a lot of weight on the title tag.
After that, I just make sure the content helps my reader and try to “touch” most of the sentences in some way — adding some here and there as well.
Mark
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Makes sense now. How do you find PLR sites to buy? Sounds like a great option. Then just tweak and split up the content. And your guitar site looks great!
And your site is already on page 4 of google for learn guitar basics. Awesome!
Mark,
Great update on the niche duel! It’s a great concept, and there’s a lot to learn. Most IMers are very hesitant to share KW research and URLs (myself included), so hats off to you for being so transparent.
I just found your blog last week through Pat Flynn, and I look forward to following you, Tyrone, and Pat along the journey.
I may have missed this somewhere in the ‘duel rules,’ but how is the winner determined?
Thanks! Only rule is no paid traffic and no artificial backlinks from the blogs that are reporting the progress. The duel is between T and P….I am just along for the ride. I think they will compare based on who makes the most money. I will personally be reporting all of my expenses and earnings (and I am sure pat will too).
Hey mark,
Nice to see your progress in this challenge. Thanks for the detailed write-up. I’m participating as well but only from the sidelines. I’m taking Corbett Barr’s (freepursuits.com) course and applying what I’ve learned. You’ve outlined some great ideas that I plan on implementing, such as use of PLR and some of your upcoming To-dos. Looking forward to more updates.
Thanks! Next update coming shortly.
Hello Mark,
Quick question for you…How to you target your specific keyword? For instance, you chose keyword Lean Guitar Basics and are trying to get your page ranked high for that keyword. But how do you know that you are not optimizing for Keyword Learn Guitar Now instead or How to Play Guitar?
Great question. To target a keyword, you need to think about “on page SEO” and “off page SEO”. SEO is geek for Search Engine Optimization.
Here is the “simple” version:
http://www.masonworld.com/seo/simple-seo-how-to/
Hope that helps.
Mark