My First Niche Site: Update #9 – A Fresh Approach

This is Part #8 of a series. A list of all the other updates can be found at the bottom of this post.

I always like to read previous updates in my niche site series when I write these posts, to see what my plans were, and how they developed. Fortunately, my previous plans for the new child modeling site were not nearly as ridiculous as those for my authority site.

But in light of what I have discovered from the Deal With Anxiety debacle (as I have decided to call it), circumstances do call for a fresh approach.

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In my last update, I stated that I would be targeting 5 keywords. I have now reanalyzed those keywords and determined that 3 of them are not worth chasing (at least for the time being).

So I am left with two keywords, which offer a combined 12,500 exact match local visit searches per month. As I did with my authority site on Wednesday, I have calculated the potential return:

As you can see, the two keywords offer some reasonable potential. That potential however is matched by some relatively strong competition:

Domain ages are hefty, but the PR is manageable. Referring domains and backlinks to the root domains are all very high – I can’t compete with that. However, I can compete with some of the sites in terms of referring domains and backlinks to the ranked pages. Fifth spot looks especially vulnerable.

If I were starting a new niche site I wouldn’t touch this keyword with a barge pole. But I already have the site and content in place, so why not? The onsite optimization in the top ten is awful, so I am proceeding on the assumption that I can get ranked with a lesser backlink portfolio, but greater onsite optimization.

This set of results is longer because it contains listings for images. As with the first keyword, the onsite optimization is terrible, and there are a serious lack of referring backlinks pointing to most of the ranked pages. Furthermore, I actually ranked on the first page for this keyword with my original niche site. I know I can hit this page.

Most of the income is coming from the first keyword, which is actually my secondary one in terms of prioritization (as my site is not as well optimized for it). It will be interesting to see if I can establish a foothold on the first page for the first keyword.

Backlinking

My backlinking will follow that of the loose strategy I outlined in Wednesday’s post. There are 5 steps:

1. Build a few Web 2.0 Properties
2. Build a few private blog network posts
3. Drip-feed links from mass article directories to each of the above pages (10 in total)
4. Use Linklicious to ping each and every article produced from step 3, to maximize the number of indexed links
5. Publish 50 private blog network posts over the next 4 weeks or so, targeting the two main keywords as well as a few more “generic” keywords (such as “click here” and “check this out”)

Steps 1 and 2 have already been completed. I have ordered the mass article directory submissions from Ian Maranon – I have used his services before and was pleased with the results. If you use his services, please let him know that I sent you.

Step 3 should be complete by the middle of next week. Step 4 will follow when I receive the article link lists from Ian. Finally, I am currently awaiting an email back from Build My Rank Posts, who seem to offer a very good deal of $1 per post.

As you can see, I am outsourcing the vast majority of my work. My time is too precious to be doing time-consuming work that can be done for very reasonable prices. If I value my time at say $50 per hour and it takes me an hour to manually spin an article and submit it via Unique Article Wizard, why wouldn’t I pay $5 for someone to do it for me instead?

The Waiting Game

Once all that is done, it is just a case of waiting to see how the rankings develop. I will not take any further action until the last private blog network post has been published (in probably 4-5 weeks time). Once I get to that stage, I will evaluate my progress and decide what to do next.

Edit: it seems rather silly that I didn’t include the most important piece of information in this article – my rankings! I am currently ranking 17th for my primary keyword, and 33rd for my secondary keyword.

Read The Whole Series

• Update #1 – One Month In
• Update #2 – Metrics And Keyword Analysis
• Update #3 – Failure! Failure?
• Update #4 – The Power Of The Long Tail
• Update #5 – The Power Of Targeted Traffic
• Update #6 – We’re Number One!
• Update #7 – Disaster Strikes
• Update #8 – Phoenix From The Flames
• Update #9 – Fresh Approach

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