How to Choose a Topic For Your Revenue Making Website
If you think that the process of choosing a topic is easy, think again! Let me tell you that this is the MOST crucial, difficult and frustrating part of them all.
This is the part where you really have to devote a considerable amount of time thinking, planning and researching.
The danger of this phase of the project lies in the fact that you may not realize the failure of your topic until your project is finished and becomes out in the public, where it will be too late to change your mind and reverse your choice.
In which case you may have to rebuild your project again from scratch, Your frustration might even reach a point where you decide to put the whole project into a stop! Have I scared you enough? Am I discouraging you? Don't be scared or discouraged, I'm just trying to make you aware of this dark side of the issue rather than you get staggered by it at later stages.
Now, here's the bright side, know this; Choosing the topic of your website is the bottle neck, once you pass it the rest of the processes won't be as hard, as they're mostly technical, they'll still require a lot of time and effort though but at least you'll be building your project on a solid foundation and taking steady steps toward success.
Please forgive me as I'm about to keep repeating myself every now and then in this article to stress on how important patience is in this crucial part of the process.
I know that you're probably excited about making money online and you wish you could build your website, publish it and start earning money in the next couple of hours! Well my friend, if you want success let me tell you that it "ain't gonna happen" if you rush into things.
Here are the guidelines of your serious planning when it comes to choosing your topic: Choose a Topic that interests you As explained before, setting up an online money making scheme takes a considerable amount of time and effort to keep your website technically maintained and your revenue making system is up-to-date at all times.
It also requires you to be continuously creative and up for new ideas or changes you may need to apply every now and then to continuously improve the quality of your website and make it stand out which will, in turn, attract a lot of internet visitors.
Therefore, naturally, and in order to maintain that sort of succession you'll need to choose something you have a passion for.
It's logical, isn't it? When you love something you won't mind spending all the time and performing all the required hard work to build, fine tune and maintain it's quality over a long period of time.
Ask yourself this question; can I see myself still writing on this topic for the next 6 months? Do not force yourself to work on a topic that is not of an interest to you and don't have enthusiasm for, otherwise your writings will be dry and passionless and your visitors will instantly sense that and, consequently, turn away from your website.
Choose a Topic that Interests your Potential Internet Visitors In his Masterpiece "How to Make Friends and Influence People", Dale Carnegie talked about the importance of giving people what they like in order to win them and have them in our side when he gave the example of the fisherman who likes strawberry and cream, yet when he fishes he uses worms to attract the fish that like to eat worms not the Strawberry and Cream that he likes.
As much as it is important to choose a topic that interests you, it is also vital to choose a topic that'll be of an interest to your potential internet users as well.
It all comes down to the good old economic supply and demand rules.
In your project it's not enough to love what you're doing to succeed.
This may only make your internet visitors appreciate what they view.
But it doesn't necessarily satisfy their need for the contents of your website.
When choosing your topic always keep in mind that your website visitors are the ones who are going to generate revenue for you, therefore you have to provide them with a topic that they would be wanting to view, willing come back for more and even refer your contents to other people.
Choose a "New" Topic if you Can A common trap most beginners fall into is thinking that success is guaranteed when they tackle a lucrative popular topic.
If you think of it that way you're ignoring the fact that popular topics are already covered by thousands or maybe millions of other websites on the internet.
Think about how your website is going to be ranked in search engines amongst other websites displaying the same topic, that is if search engines decide to list your website in the first place.
Think about how your brand new website is going to stand out against other websites who may have been out there for years with all that experience and exposure.
Unless you have more knowledge and resources other websites don't have and capable of providing something they can't provide, I'd suggest you keep away from this idea.
Once again don't get discouraged, let me you clue in here, There's no such thing called "running out of topics" there are ALWAYS new ideas! Yes, there are millions of websites on the internet talking about millions of topics, but there are also billions of new topics and ideas out there that haven't been explored yet! If ideas are things that can be "ran out of" then the world would have stopped developing thousands of years ago.
Wouldn't you love to thrash out a topic no one else ever approached? Wouldn't it be fantastic if you become the creator of what Internet Marketers call a "Niche" topic? That would be great, wouldn't it? This is a good time to test your brain storming capabilities.
Try to predict the next "Big Thing" that people will be searching the Internet for.
For example, tire manufacturers came out with a new invention, a tire that doesn't need to be filled with air! That would be a good niche topic for websites specialized in automotive topics.
Can't find a niche topic? How about a "Sub-Niche" Topic? In plain language, a Sub-Niche topic simply means a niche topic within a popular topic.
Does that make sense? Here's an example: Let's say you're having thoughts about "Wine" as the topic of your choice.
Just for fun, go and key in the word "wine" in Google Search Engine and press Search.
How many pages are displayed? I'll tell you.
96 pages, each page contains 8 websites.
8 x 96 = 768 Websites, all talking about Wine.
Accordingly, and from an exclusivity perspective, wine won't seem to be a good idea.
But you like wine! And you know that millions of other people around the globe also like wine, and your heart is set on wine to be your topic.
If that's the case, then try and find your sub-niche within the wine topic.
Try unusual or unknown wines that no body have ever heard of before, something like "Fava Bean Wine" for instance! Everybody know the good old grape wine but how many people have ever heard of fava bean wine? Find out for yourself, go to Google again and this time type "fava bean wine" in the search field and hit search.
How many websites listed in the results page talking about fava bean wine? Exactly, none! This is what's called a sub-niche topic within a popular topic A question might rise in your head here: Will I be restricted to only talk about the sub-niche topic and avoid the main Topic? Certainly not, there is no reason why you should restrict yourself in that way, you can talk about the main topic as much as you like, given that you're providing good and appealing contents.
Your sub-niche in this situation merely acts as a title for your website for the purpose of attracting internet visitors.
Make a List of Potential Topics If you find an idea that meets all the previous requirements don't jump off your chair shouting "I found it...
I found it" and remember our golden rule; "Take your Time".
If you find an idea then that's perfect, but keep in mind that it's "An" idea not necessarily "The" idea.
Grab a pen and paper (Or open up an excel spreadsheet or a word Document) and write it down.
Then think of another idea.
Think of a few of them, and each time you come across an idea list it down in your piece of paper, spreadsheet or word document.
As much as it's important not to rush into choosing the very first idea you find, it is also important not to go to the other extreme and list too many ideas, otherwise you'll be confused out of your brains.
A list of 3, 4 or 5 ideas at the most is more than enough before you put your pen down and move to the next process which is; Research, Research & Research Now that you have a list of potential topics, you'll need to thoroughly study and do your research on each and every topic separately.
Research is an essential and most valuable tool for the success of your website.
It's the process of gathering information on your potential topics and of other Websites that are talking about similar topics.
Research helps you make informed decisions about how you are going to display your website.
Your research data help you in two ways: - Understand your potential internet visitors and their needs.
- What your competitors (other websites) are doing and how are they behaving.
Once again grab a pen and paper and dump down your gathered information as you go.
Designate one page for each of your potential topics and write down the following questions and make sure to leave enough space after each question to fill it out with your research answers: -How many websites out there talking about the same topic? -How is the topic displayed and how are the contents illustrated? -What categories of internet users are they targeting? -Are these websites user friendly and enabling internet users to browse contents easily within the website? -Are there any feedback from visitors about the contents of these websites? -Do I have enough knowledge about the topic? -Do I have access to various resources about the topic? Feel free to add any questions you think could be useful to your research.
It is important not to get bored doing this, you'll find out yourself how important it is as you go along with the process.
By the time you finish your research you will have a wealth of information on the market and what it is providing.
Narrow Down your Choices and Select your Topic Now it's the time to make a cup of coffee, tea or a glass of something, relax, and start reading through your results for the purpose of narrowing down your list to the winner topic!I'd suggest narrowing down your choices not by choosing the most suitable topics, but rather by ruling out the less suitable ones (process of elimination), but it's up to you how you want to flush out the winner topic, provided that your judgment is based on a thorough study of your research results, and your selected topic will be: -The one that you like the most -The one that would be most appealing to internet users -The one that has less competitors -The one that you have enough knowledge and resources about Based on the information gathered from the other Websites you'll be able to decide on: -How you are going to display the contents of your topic, the terminology you're going to use to make your website different and more unique than the other websites -What categories of internet users you are going to target.
You've done a lot of work so far my friend and as I said before this process is the bottle neck of your project, and if you followed the previous steps carefully and came up with your niche or sub-niche topic then a big congratulations should in place for you.
This is the part where you really have to devote a considerable amount of time thinking, planning and researching.
The danger of this phase of the project lies in the fact that you may not realize the failure of your topic until your project is finished and becomes out in the public, where it will be too late to change your mind and reverse your choice.
In which case you may have to rebuild your project again from scratch, Your frustration might even reach a point where you decide to put the whole project into a stop! Have I scared you enough? Am I discouraging you? Don't be scared or discouraged, I'm just trying to make you aware of this dark side of the issue rather than you get staggered by it at later stages.
Now, here's the bright side, know this; Choosing the topic of your website is the bottle neck, once you pass it the rest of the processes won't be as hard, as they're mostly technical, they'll still require a lot of time and effort though but at least you'll be building your project on a solid foundation and taking steady steps toward success.
Please forgive me as I'm about to keep repeating myself every now and then in this article to stress on how important patience is in this crucial part of the process.
I know that you're probably excited about making money online and you wish you could build your website, publish it and start earning money in the next couple of hours! Well my friend, if you want success let me tell you that it "ain't gonna happen" if you rush into things.
Here are the guidelines of your serious planning when it comes to choosing your topic: Choose a Topic that interests you As explained before, setting up an online money making scheme takes a considerable amount of time and effort to keep your website technically maintained and your revenue making system is up-to-date at all times.
It also requires you to be continuously creative and up for new ideas or changes you may need to apply every now and then to continuously improve the quality of your website and make it stand out which will, in turn, attract a lot of internet visitors.
Therefore, naturally, and in order to maintain that sort of succession you'll need to choose something you have a passion for.
It's logical, isn't it? When you love something you won't mind spending all the time and performing all the required hard work to build, fine tune and maintain it's quality over a long period of time.
Ask yourself this question; can I see myself still writing on this topic for the next 6 months? Do not force yourself to work on a topic that is not of an interest to you and don't have enthusiasm for, otherwise your writings will be dry and passionless and your visitors will instantly sense that and, consequently, turn away from your website.
Choose a Topic that Interests your Potential Internet Visitors In his Masterpiece "How to Make Friends and Influence People", Dale Carnegie talked about the importance of giving people what they like in order to win them and have them in our side when he gave the example of the fisherman who likes strawberry and cream, yet when he fishes he uses worms to attract the fish that like to eat worms not the Strawberry and Cream that he likes.
As much as it is important to choose a topic that interests you, it is also vital to choose a topic that'll be of an interest to your potential internet users as well.
It all comes down to the good old economic supply and demand rules.
In your project it's not enough to love what you're doing to succeed.
This may only make your internet visitors appreciate what they view.
But it doesn't necessarily satisfy their need for the contents of your website.
When choosing your topic always keep in mind that your website visitors are the ones who are going to generate revenue for you, therefore you have to provide them with a topic that they would be wanting to view, willing come back for more and even refer your contents to other people.
Choose a "New" Topic if you Can A common trap most beginners fall into is thinking that success is guaranteed when they tackle a lucrative popular topic.
If you think of it that way you're ignoring the fact that popular topics are already covered by thousands or maybe millions of other websites on the internet.
Think about how your website is going to be ranked in search engines amongst other websites displaying the same topic, that is if search engines decide to list your website in the first place.
Think about how your brand new website is going to stand out against other websites who may have been out there for years with all that experience and exposure.
Unless you have more knowledge and resources other websites don't have and capable of providing something they can't provide, I'd suggest you keep away from this idea.
Once again don't get discouraged, let me you clue in here, There's no such thing called "running out of topics" there are ALWAYS new ideas! Yes, there are millions of websites on the internet talking about millions of topics, but there are also billions of new topics and ideas out there that haven't been explored yet! If ideas are things that can be "ran out of" then the world would have stopped developing thousands of years ago.
Wouldn't you love to thrash out a topic no one else ever approached? Wouldn't it be fantastic if you become the creator of what Internet Marketers call a "Niche" topic? That would be great, wouldn't it? This is a good time to test your brain storming capabilities.
Try to predict the next "Big Thing" that people will be searching the Internet for.
For example, tire manufacturers came out with a new invention, a tire that doesn't need to be filled with air! That would be a good niche topic for websites specialized in automotive topics.
Can't find a niche topic? How about a "Sub-Niche" Topic? In plain language, a Sub-Niche topic simply means a niche topic within a popular topic.
Does that make sense? Here's an example: Let's say you're having thoughts about "Wine" as the topic of your choice.
Just for fun, go and key in the word "wine" in Google Search Engine and press Search.
How many pages are displayed? I'll tell you.
96 pages, each page contains 8 websites.
8 x 96 = 768 Websites, all talking about Wine.
Accordingly, and from an exclusivity perspective, wine won't seem to be a good idea.
But you like wine! And you know that millions of other people around the globe also like wine, and your heart is set on wine to be your topic.
If that's the case, then try and find your sub-niche within the wine topic.
Try unusual or unknown wines that no body have ever heard of before, something like "Fava Bean Wine" for instance! Everybody know the good old grape wine but how many people have ever heard of fava bean wine? Find out for yourself, go to Google again and this time type "fava bean wine" in the search field and hit search.
How many websites listed in the results page talking about fava bean wine? Exactly, none! This is what's called a sub-niche topic within a popular topic A question might rise in your head here: Will I be restricted to only talk about the sub-niche topic and avoid the main Topic? Certainly not, there is no reason why you should restrict yourself in that way, you can talk about the main topic as much as you like, given that you're providing good and appealing contents.
Your sub-niche in this situation merely acts as a title for your website for the purpose of attracting internet visitors.
Make a List of Potential Topics If you find an idea that meets all the previous requirements don't jump off your chair shouting "I found it...
I found it" and remember our golden rule; "Take your Time".
If you find an idea then that's perfect, but keep in mind that it's "An" idea not necessarily "The" idea.
Grab a pen and paper (Or open up an excel spreadsheet or a word Document) and write it down.
Then think of another idea.
Think of a few of them, and each time you come across an idea list it down in your piece of paper, spreadsheet or word document.
As much as it's important not to rush into choosing the very first idea you find, it is also important not to go to the other extreme and list too many ideas, otherwise you'll be confused out of your brains.
A list of 3, 4 or 5 ideas at the most is more than enough before you put your pen down and move to the next process which is; Research, Research & Research Now that you have a list of potential topics, you'll need to thoroughly study and do your research on each and every topic separately.
Research is an essential and most valuable tool for the success of your website.
It's the process of gathering information on your potential topics and of other Websites that are talking about similar topics.
Research helps you make informed decisions about how you are going to display your website.
Your research data help you in two ways: - Understand your potential internet visitors and their needs.
- What your competitors (other websites) are doing and how are they behaving.
Once again grab a pen and paper and dump down your gathered information as you go.
Designate one page for each of your potential topics and write down the following questions and make sure to leave enough space after each question to fill it out with your research answers: -How many websites out there talking about the same topic? -How is the topic displayed and how are the contents illustrated? -What categories of internet users are they targeting? -Are these websites user friendly and enabling internet users to browse contents easily within the website? -Are there any feedback from visitors about the contents of these websites? -Do I have enough knowledge about the topic? -Do I have access to various resources about the topic? Feel free to add any questions you think could be useful to your research.
It is important not to get bored doing this, you'll find out yourself how important it is as you go along with the process.
By the time you finish your research you will have a wealth of information on the market and what it is providing.
Narrow Down your Choices and Select your Topic Now it's the time to make a cup of coffee, tea or a glass of something, relax, and start reading through your results for the purpose of narrowing down your list to the winner topic!I'd suggest narrowing down your choices not by choosing the most suitable topics, but rather by ruling out the less suitable ones (process of elimination), but it's up to you how you want to flush out the winner topic, provided that your judgment is based on a thorough study of your research results, and your selected topic will be: -The one that you like the most -The one that would be most appealing to internet users -The one that has less competitors -The one that you have enough knowledge and resources about Based on the information gathered from the other Websites you'll be able to decide on: -How you are going to display the contents of your topic, the terminology you're going to use to make your website different and more unique than the other websites -What categories of internet users you are going to target.
You've done a lot of work so far my friend and as I said before this process is the bottle neck of your project, and if you followed the previous steps carefully and came up with your niche or sub-niche topic then a big congratulations should in place for you.