We all know that your best shot at making money online is to appeal to a specific group of people – a niche market interested in a specific topic. If you try to appeal to everyone then very few people will actually buy what you’re selling.
That’s why topical content sites are a great way of making money. You simply pick your topic, build a site around it and wait for the money to start coming in. So long as you focus on a profitable topic you’re home free…
Topical content will always be of interest to the people that topic is aimed at. Your first step towards building a topical content site is to pick a topic which is always going to be popular. Do some research online, check various keyword topics to see how many searches each one received in the last month and pick a topic you like the look of.
You can easily choose a good domain name by paying attention to those keywords, and once you have your name and hosting sorted out you can start to build your website. Information is what people will want, so make sure you can source some relevant articles from article directories as well as writing some of your own to cover all aspects of the topic you have chosen.
Free articles will certainly help to build your site quickly, but there is nothing better than unique content which is why it will pay you to research the subject and include content of your own.
You will also want to monetize the site in order to make money from it, and there are several ways you can do this. Firstly you should join the Google Adsense program so you can have carefully targeted ads on each page. Once that is done, join one of the big affiliate websites such as ClickBank or Commission Junction and find some products or downloads that you can promote which would appeal to your audience.
You should also think about creating a regular newsletter to email to everyone who signs up to receive it. Place a box on the top half of your home page inviting people to sign up and offer a free report to entice them to do just that. Once you have a regular audience you can also promote some of your affiliate and commission based products in the newsletter, as well as offering more useful articles and information.
You should make sure your site has several pages – at least half a dozen – before you launch it, to make it worthwhile visiting. Once it is up and running you can work on developing it and adding more sections as appropriate. Many people find that once they have built one topical content site they get the urge to build more, and it can certainly be a profitable way to spend your time, provided you pick niches and topics that are going to attract visitors and customers.
Fancy having a go yourself? Why not start the research once you have left us a comment below? Good luck!