Time for another installment in my recent series of tutorials aimed at new webmasters. As always, you can read this and the rest of my new webmaster tutorials and promotion tips can be found on my Adult Webmastering 101 blog which is available in the resources section of the
Max Cash affiliate area.
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As an account representative, I have a lot of communication with new webmasters. If I made a list of the most common topics of conversation between myself and the new webmasters that contacts me then the question of which niche they should promote would be be near the top.
Most often, when I ask a new webmaster what niche they are promoting the answer is something along the line of 'I am promoting every niche'. While of course, it is understandable to want to want to hit as many front as possible, it can be more a case of spreading yourself too thin when you are first getting started. So, the conversation then moves on to how many niches they should target at first and how they should pick the niches.
The first thing I would say is that there isn't one hard and fast rule that is going to fit every new webmaster. So, always take advice on such matters with a broad scope to pick ans choose what will work for your personal situation.
That said, here are few things the are often useful to for a new webmaster to consider when picking their first niche:
Do What You Know:
It is a common adage but that doesn't make it any less true. You may have heard that a particular niche does 'really well' but if you don't know much about it or aren't interested in it yourself then it is going to be a more difficult road to travel with your first niche. For example, granny sites can sell really well for some affiliates but if there mere thought of looking at a 60+ year old woman naked and/or engaged in hardcore activity makes you feel sick then it probably isn't the right choice for you. Now, on the other hand, if you are attracted to older women than it may well be the perfect niche for your work because you will find it easier to 'speak the language' of the niche.
Don't Just Follow The Crowd:
It may well be true that niches such as teens and Asian are amongst the most popular niches for webmasters to promote but that doesn't mean they are always the right choice. I talk to a lot of new webmasters that think they only way that can see success is to target a really popular niche. Instead, they may be better off starting out with a (for lack of a better term) second-level niche. This way they can still work with a fairly popular niche but learn the ins and outs of getting traffic (and therefore sales) in a niche without jumping straight in to the deepest water.
Look Before You Jump:
All too often, I speak to new webmasters who have put up a page with links to sites in a particular niche but haven't done any research into the niche prior to putting the sites up. To me, that is the wrong way around. I can understand the sense of urgency a new webmaster can feel when they are preparing their first pages. However, it really does pay to take a little time to look into a few niches and see what the potential competition are doing. If doing this sort of light research means that you spot a hole in the marketing of a particular niche than you will know what direction you should be moving in and that will put you far ahead of those that just went with a niche without any research.
Also, when researching a niche prior to promotion, spend some time educating yourself on the terminology of the niche if it isn't one which you are personally experienced. Your surfers will be able to tell if you are flubbing your way through something but if you just take an afternoon or so and familiarize yourself with the the language used within the niche you will be on your way to greater success within the niche.
Aim Carefully, Don't Just Scattergun:
As, I mentioned at the beginning of this tutorial, I am often being told by new affiliates that the are going after 'all niches'. I strongly suggest that it is better for a new webmaster to focus more intensely on one or two niches (and after all, a niche can have many different aspects) than to just randomly shoot for success in 'every' niche. Focusing on one or two niche offers the opportunity to become an expert at producing results in those niches rather than risking being a 'jack of all trades but master of none'. Once you feel you know everything there is to know about those niches by all means expand. You will be able to use a lot of the skills you developed from your initial niches to bring success in other niches as you grow as a webmaster.