I was spending time today researching how to niche this blog down, how to niche down content marketing and my current business, and how to niche down my business idea (which is best called a niche site, I think. I also think that it would a very terrific niche site.). I don't think I was getting very far, reading these articles only to have to think about what I'm about and what my passions are and the 882 things that I love and know about and ought to be shared with the world. I was also weighed down by the work that I have to do; how I need to write this for this client, and write that for that client, and do my house chores. I wasn't sure how I was going to get anywhere and to get anything done.
The Tipping Point
After all this, I finally came across an article that actually offered the value that I was looking for really showed how to find a niche and to turn that niche into something lucrative. Entitled, "How to Build a Niche Site that Brings in $500/Month", I knew from the title alone that this was something that I wanted read and that this article will actually provide the value that I'm needing.
Content Marketing/Business Blogging Tip: This article was actually at the bottom of the first page (ranked 10th) for my search term. Proof that you don't need to rank first for your keyword, and that a specific headline makes a huge difference.
It's not a quick read. I'm willing to bet that it's over 2000 words, which makes me still wonder why so many business blogs want 300-500 word posts. You can't get anything done in 300 words. Imagine if this niche-building-site post was only 300 words! It couldn't possibly provide any value! But, I was hooked.
This is the explanation for what I've been wanting to do to build a business and to generate income. I've always thought that niche sites were websites with crappy content created solely to rank for search engines. They don't really care about serving an audience or a customer. They just want to have an exact match domain (or several) and make money from the advertising revenue. It was all about getting traffic and not about having anything once all that traffic got to that site. I didn't realize that you could have a niche site that was also a legitimate business, one that was a trustable brand that had the best interests of its audience in mind. I didn't think that niche sites were a great way to build a business or earn a lot of money because it was all about affiliate marketing, advertising, and reviewing products all the time.
The Uncertainty Moment
Long story short: that post made sense. Other posts made sense. This guy, and what he was all about, made sense. So, I watched this guy's TED talk from last year on the future of the American dream. I found it so impressive that I almost cried, and there weren't any sob stories in it! It just seemed that this 15-minute speech was what I needed to hear at this point in time. I've also found that this speech had a lot of tweetables, some of which include:
- There are only seven days in a week, and 'someday' is not one of them.
- Uncertainty is the world's only fear.
- Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty. - Tim Ferriss (This is the only tweetable that the guy didn't actually say, but attributed to someone else).
- Make a conscious decision about what's going to make you happy.
- The future of the American dream lies at the crossroads of fearing uncertainty, and embracing it.
I feel like I've been living in a whole lot of uncertainty for the past few weeks. I feel like I've just realized that, so now I can face it and do something about it. I can trust in the fact that what I want to do and that what will make me happy will be enough.
What Will I Do Now?
I'm going to incorporate and to implement the things he suggested, such as creating a bucket list (I did this when I was like 14, but I couldn't possibly find the list now. I don't think it would be true reflection of what I want to do now) and write out a list of every product, hobby, or interest I have that I might be able to build a site around. Once I do those two things, then I think I really have the start of something good.