How To Build a Niche Website that Makes Money in 2024
In this guide, you are going to learn
How to choose a niche
How to create a WordPress site from scratch
Strategies to monetize and promote your content
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Section 6
Section 7
Section 8
How to build a niche website from scratch
In this section, you will learn step by step all you need to do from creating a niche website to monetize it.
-
What is a niche website?
A niche website is an online resource that focuses on a particular topic, interest, or theme that is common to a narrow group of people in a larger market.
A successful niche site offers its visitors helpful and quality content that aims to answer a question or to solve a problem specific for a segment.
Steps for how to create a niche website:
In order to create a niche website, you need:
- Find a niche
- Pick your domain and hosting
- Install WordPress
- Install a theme
- Make your logo
- Prepare your content strategy
- Create good content
- Choose a monetization strategy
- Promote your content
- Grow your subscriber’s list
Let’s study each of them in detail.
Section 1
Find a niche
The first step on how to create a niche website is to find a niche.
When looking for a niche, you should try to find something you are passionate about.
Like any business, you will need to invest a lot of time and some money. So it is key for you to cover something you are interested in.
It doesn’t mean you need to master the topic. It could also be something interesting to you which you know about, but you want to keep learning as you develop your plan.
It is important to understand that this will be your business, so you need to treat it as such.
Try not to be influenced by the articles you read about “how I made \$3,000 my first month in the health niche”. This might be true, but I can guarantee you it is not a common thing.
It normally takes some time until things work out. And ultimately, it will depend on your strategy.
Checklist to find out a profitable niche.
- Are you willing to spend hours researching this niche and maintain it for years?
- Are people spending money already in this niche?
- Can I cover this niche in depth? This means covering every angle of this niche, writing thorough and extensive articles.
- Can I outrank the competition in this niche? Your niche might be profitable, but it will be hard for you to succeed if there is a lot of competition already.
- Can I find enough competitive keywords? One of the main issues these days is the amount of information out there. Finding keywords with low competition can be tough. But with a good keyword research service, which you will need, and focusing on new trends and products, you can find your way.
If your answer was yes to every question, then you are already one step closer.
What you need to do:
- Start by reading this step-by-step guide to niche research.
Section 2
Pick your domain and hosting
Once you have decided on your niche, you need a domain and hosting.
This is where your website would be hosted to make it accessible worldwide.
The most important when it comes to choosing a domain is:
- Try to include your main keyword in the domain name
- Make it short and memorable.
- Go always for the .com
- Avoid hyphens
- Use broad terms so you can scale your business. i.e. if you call it bluelaces.com and want to sell red laces in the future, it wouldn’t look good.
As per the hosting, my preferred budget option is Bluehost. It is one of the most affordable hosting out there and offers a 24h chat service to help you with any issues. Moreover, they provide a one-click WordPress installation.
Next, I am going to guide you step by step on how to set up Bluehost.
Step #1. Go to Bluehost.com
Step#2. Click on the “get started” button.
Step #3. Select a plan. I’d recommend the basic plan to start. You can always change that later.
Step #4. Next, you will need to set up your domain. This will give you two options: “create a new domain” or “use a domain you own.”
If you don’t have one, simply type the domain you’d like under “create a new domain,” and it will tell you if the domain is available or not.
Step #5. When the domain is available, you’ll get another page with the account information, package information, and payment information. You just need to fill in the information and click submit.
Ta-da! You now have your domain and hosting ready to go.
What you need to do:
- Choose a domain and a hosting plan using Bluehost.
- If you have the budget, I suggest you consider Kinsta Hosting. It is the most powerful hosting as of today, but it comes at a price.
Section 3
Install Wordpress
The process of how to create a niche website gets easy with Bluehost.
This is how to install WordPress:
Step #1. Log in to your new Bluehost account (or any other hosting).
Step #2. Click on the My Sites tab from the side navigation bar to the left, and then click “add site” on the right.
Step #3. Enter Admin Information and click Next.
- Site Name: This will be the name displayed on your site. This is not the URL but simply the name used on your site.
- Admin Email Address: This will be where your login information will be sent.
- Admin Username: The desired login name for your application
- Admin Password: The desired password for this application
Now, you can access your site from the left menu. Click My Sites, find the domain installed, and click login to WordPress.
What you need to do:
- Install WordPress platform as the base to create your website.
Section 4
Install a theme
A theme is a collection of templates and stylesheets used to define a WordPress-powered website’s appearance and display.
They can be changed, managed, and added from the WordPress admin area under Appearance » Themes.
There are several free and paid WordPress themes available. So which one should you choose?
If you are testing and don’t want to invest a lot of time or money in this project, I’d suggest you go for a free Theme.
However, if this will be your business, you should treat it a such and go for a premium theme. You don’t need to waste a lot of time like I did to understand that a free theme will hardly have the features a premium theme has.
As a rule of thumb, you can expect a higher level of quality throughout from premium themes when compared with their free counterparts.
They normally are feature-rich, responsive, and well supported by the vendor’s support staff.
Having said so, the decision is ultimately your choice. I am going to provide you with my personal recommendations for free and premium themes.
- Recommend Free WordPress Themes: Themeisle
- Recommended Paid WordPress Themes: Elegant Themes.
Once you have decided on a theme, you’ll need to download it first and install it.
All the themes come with an easy installation guide, but in any case, this is how you can install any theme in WordPress:
Step #1. Login to your WordPress
Step #2. On the main screen, you’ll see a panel on the left-hand side. Navigate to Apperance>Themes
Step #3. Click on “add new.”
Step #4. Click on “upload theme.”
Step #5. Now, all you need to do is to click on “choose file” first, select the theme you have previously downloaded, and secondly, click on “Install Now.”
And that’s it. Now, you have your theme installed on your WordPress account.
What you need to do:
- Pick a free theme or paid theme and install it.
Section 5
Make your logo
Your logo is going to be your business identity. So you should put some weight on it.
You should make a logo aligned with the vision and voice of your website.
When someone lands on your website, the logo is one of the first things they will notice. And first impressions do count online.
Remember, this project is going to be your business. So a bit of dedication and investment is a must.
If you are good with design, you can try to make it yourself for free using Canva. However, if you want a professional touch and get something special for your website, you should try Fiverr.
Fiverr is a platform where you can hire a freelancer to do pretty much any online job. And what is great about this platform is that you can find a professional to make you a logo for 20 bucks or less in one day.
The important thing is to make sure your logo represents your website.
Once you have your shiny logo, head to your website, and try it.
You can upload a logo in your WordPress dashboard by clicking on Appearance>Customize.
What you need to do:
- Create a logo yourself using Canva, a logo maker, or hire a professional on Fiverr for a professional touch while on budget.
Section 6
Prepare your content strategy
How do I prepare my content strategy? You might ask.
Doing topic research with a keyword research tool.
The ultimate objective is to make money with your website and to do that. You need to drive traffic to your site.
But there is a strategy you need to follow. You should not write just for the sake of it.
You need to brainstorm topics your audience would be interested in. These topics need to solve an issue for this audience. But also, you need to make sure there is not fierce competition around it.
Otherwise, it would be of no use having an amazing article of 5000 words when no one will find it, which will translate in no traffic and ultimately in no money.
The best way (and more reliable) to get traffic is through SEO (search engine optimization). SEO is an acquisition channel that will grow passively. As long as you are ranking well for the keywords you’re targeting, you will get passive traffic.
So you should focus on creating content for topics with search traffic potential.
Keyword research.
There are many places where you can start looking for topics that might interest your audience.
Some of the best places where to find valuable information are:
- Facebook groups. Look for specific groups about your niche and find out what people are talking about. Not only can you find great topics this way, but you can come later to the same group and post your article to start driving traffic to your site.
- AnswerThePublic. This is a great site to find questions people ask about a topic. You need to type your keywords, and it will populate a bunch of useful questions you can use.
- Udemy. This is one of the most used platforms for online teaching. So here you can find a great variety of topics people are very interested in.
- Communities like Quora, Reddit, and forums. People use to gather in these places, and they can be a mine of gold. Browse through popular topics, and you might find something interesting.
Even though those are handy resources for topic research, you will still need to know the search volume and how difficult it is to rank for the keywords you find.
So, you are going to need a keyword research service.
If you are on a budget, Keysearch is a keyword tool that will help you find competitive terms so you can improve your rankings.
This is an example of how it would look like when you search for a keyword.
You can read a detailed guide to using Keyseach here.
However, if you have a bigger budget, I suggest you check these AI SEO tools which will make it easier even if you don’t have any experience.
What you need to do:
- First, understand how niche keyword research works to plan your strategy.
- Create your content strategy. I suggest you start with these content writing tips and tools for beginners.
- Alternatively, check these AI SEO tools, which can be very helpful for beginners.
Section 7
Create good content
Your content is going to be the backbone of your website.
This is the reason why people will come back to your site and not to others.
That is why, if you want to make it to search engine results ranking on Google and outrank your competition, your content has to be epic.
In order to do that, every article you write needs to be thorough and well-written. There was a time when the number of posts you wrote per month was significant, but not anymore.
Because of the current competition online, quality primes over quantity. And the benefits of blogging for business are many.
You don’t need to post every couple of days. Instead, stick to a schedule you can manage and produce only high-quality content.
Creating content guidelines.
- Write thoroughly and well-written articles. Try to cover the topic in-depth and try to write at the very least 600 words. You can use Grammarly for your spelling.
- Keyword-focused articles. Use your keyword along with the article at least 4 or 5 times. Include it in the headers (H2), URL, title, and meta description to improve your chances to rank.
- Pay attention to the design. Use Paragraphs, bullet points, numbers, and pictures, and use a clean structure. Readability is not only important for SEO but also to keep your readers.
- Add value to the reader. Your article should solve a problem and should cover it from all angles.
- Link internally and externally. Your link-building strategy is key for SEO. Link your related content internally. Also, include external links to authority sites as references. This will help your SEO game.
- Give something different. If you write the same and in the same way other people do, you will hardly get noticed. So you should try a different design and use your own voice when writing about any topic.
- Spy your competitors. The best way to know how good needs to be your article is by checking on Google your niche competitors. Type the keywords you are targeting in Google and check the top 3 results. It would help if you aimed to write something better than those articles.
What you need to do:
- Check 10+ Content Writing Tips For Beginners To Skyrocket Your Reads to create unique and amazing content.
- Also, you need to avoid these amateur blogging mistakes.
Section 8
Choose a monetization strategy
The ultimate objective of your website is to make money.
There are different ways on how you can make money with your website.
Here I am going to tell you some of the best methods you can use.
How to monetize a niche website.
#1. Sell Your Own Products/ Services
Of all the ways you can make money, selling your own products or services can be the most profitable. By doing it, all the profit will be just for yourself.
Creating a product or service will take you some time, though. You need to do some research, and it will take you time to have the final product. But you need to do this once. Then, you just need to create a selling funnel, and profits will come.
Some ideas are:
- Create an App for phones
- Create physical products that solve a problem in your niche.
- You can also solve an issue with a software tool.
- Provide some kind of services
#2. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. Pretty much, you find a product you like, promote it on your site, and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make. It is a great way to monetize your site in the short term.
Some of the best ways you can convert readers to customers are:
- Choose affiliate products to promote. There are many affiliate networks out there, but here are a few of the most popular:
- Create Content That Generates Affiliate Revenue. The best way to do it is by helping users discover the right product for their needs with top-quality content. You can help them make a purchasing decision with an informative post about a product or reviews about products or services.
#3. Pay Per Click Advertising with Google AdSense
PPC is an online advertising model where website owners can gain passive income each time a reader clicks on an advertisement banner.
The most popular service to monetize with ads is Google AdSense. Although it might sound great, you need a considerable amount of traffic to make money this way.
#4. Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is a collaboration between you as a publisher and the brands that you’re partnering with. In this case, a brand pays you to create content for them and publish it on your site.
It can be from a product or service review, an informational article, an announcement, etc. This will happen when brands are interested in your audience and if you have considerable traffic. Most of the time, brands will find you. But you can also pitch brands and offer yourself to write sponsored content for them.
Just remember you need to offer them something in exchange for this to work.
#5. Membership website
This would be to charge your readers to access specific content. For example, you could offer free articles to drive traffic and engage people and paid articles with much more details and info.
You can also charge monthly to your subscribers in exchange for accessing your content with some benefits.
You should check Member Mouse. A tool that makes creating membership sites easy and profitable.
#6. Set Up Online Courses/Coaching
If you have valuable knowledge to share, you can monetize your website by providing online training. It could be from simple PDF downloads to podcasts or videos.
I suggest you check these 2 resources:
- How To Sell Online Courses From Your Own Website. This will help you if you want to create your online course from your own website.
- How To Create An Online Course And Sell It: The Definitive Guide. This is a complete guide covering all about creating and selling online courses.
What you need to do:
- Choose how you want to monetize your website and implement these niche marketing strategies.
Section 9
Promote your content
If you have made it this far and don’t promote your content, all the work would be useless.
There are millions of blog posts published each day. This means your chances of being found with no promotion are very limited. And you have not worked that much for anything.
So I am going to tell you 4 methods to promote your content so people can find you.
Method #1. Email your subscribers.
Emailing your list of subscribers is one of the best ways to start driving traffic to your latest blog post.
It would help if you tried to engage your audience and ask them to comment, like, or share to reach even more people.
Since your emails will target people who opt to subscribe to your blog, they will be more likely to engage with your content.
I have tried many email marketing tools, but the one I am using now is Converkit.
Converkit is easy to manage, the features included are awesome, and you can create a free account.
Alternatively, you can check the cheapest email services.
Method#2: Use social media.
Social media is still a potent tool to promote your site and drive traffic.
This will work better if you have previously spent some time cultivating your social media presence and engaging with your audience.
All you need to do is to share your articles on social media.
The best way to do it is to create a social media strategy. Then, it would help if you published the same article on your different networks (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) with different angles over a month.
For instance, let’s say your article is about “vegan recipes.” Within that article, you have a section with “vegan sandwiches” and “vegan desserts.” Then, you could use 3 different titles to promote the same article in your networks differently. By sharing the same article with different titles, your chances of getting to different people will increase.
In any case, sharing an article on your social media just once is not enough. Remember the amount of work you have spent working on it. So you want to put it in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
These three articles can help you further find the right niche for each social media platform:
- The 10 Best TikTok Niches To Grow Faster (And Make Money.)
- 10 Best Youtube Niches With Low Competition To Grow Faster.
- 10+ Best Instagram Niches to Make Money.
- The Best and Worst Social Media Platforms for each Niche
Method #3: Answer questions in Forums (Quora, Reddit).
Forums can be a great way to promote your articles.
Many people go to forums each day, trying to find a solution to their problems.
All you need to do is find where people in your niche gather and answer their questions with your article. But don’t simply copy and paste your blog URL into each answer. It can be considered spam and might get you blocked.
Instead, try to genuinely help people with useful answers and add the URL at the end of your answer.
You can find forums easily by typing in Google “[Your keyword]” + forums. The best forums you can use for this purpose are:
- Quora
- Facebook groups
Method #4: Reach out to influencers.
Reaching out to influencers in your niche is one of the best opportunities to promote your blog.
Although it requires hard work and plenty of rejections, it can be a powerful link-building strategy.
To get an influencer to help, you need to build a relationship with the influencer before asking for a favor in return.
The best way is to follow the influencer on their social media platform and engage with their work. That can help you be noticed and form a relationship with the influencer.
Once you do that, all you need to do is write a short email with your objective and state what’s in for them. No one works for free…
For example, you can ask to share an article you just posted that might be of interest to their audience, and in return, you add a backlink in that article to some of their work.
I suggest you check my niche influencer guide for more info on this topic.
Method #5: Paid ads.
The methods discussed above are all free options. But if you have a bit of a budget, paying to advertise is a great way to get exposure to a larger audience.
All you need to do is find where your audience hangs out and create an ad on that platform.
Also, it will depend on the kind of post you want to promote and in what niche. For some, the best advert format will be images; for others, text or video.
Some of the best platforms for paid advertisement are:
What you need to do:
- Create the sequence you will use to promote your articles every single time your post one. The combination of the 5 methods above is my recommendation.
- I will also suggest you check these 10+ free traffic sources to get more website visitors.
You might want to check:
Section 10
Grow your subscriber's list
A healthy email list can be the most powerful resource you can ever have.
If you think about it, people in your email list are people interested in your content. They signed up because they like your content. So they can make the perfect customer.
Emailing your readers is the perfect way to build a relationship with them. Plus, you can promote your content and market your products or services.
Growing your email list is a process that takes time. So implementing the right strategy is key.
1. Create an email marketing strategy.
People receive hundreds of emails each day. So it would be best if you got to know your audience to know what to email them, what time to email, what title to use, etc.
In order to create a good email marketing strategy, you need to:
- Define your audience. Understand what your audience wants and tailor your emails to their needs.
- Define your goals. It is important to set goals for your email campaign. This could be the open rate percentage or the number of link clicks. You can always analyze what worked and what did not work for future campaigns.
- Make a schedule you can maintain. Stick to a consistent schedule to build trust.
2. Create a way for people to sign up.
If you want people to subscribe, you need to give them something in return for their email.
When it comes to list building, there are 2 key elements: lead magnets and opt-in forms.
- Lead magnets: Something that attracts readers to your email list, usually in the form of a free offer. It should be valuable to your readers and is given away for free in exchange for an email address.
- Opt-in form: This is how you get a reader’s email to add them to your list. It’s the gate between your future leads and the incredible asset that you created with them in mind.
I use Convert Pro on my website for creating quality opt-in forms and grow my email list.
It is an easy-to-use and powerful plug-in. It includes templates for your opt-in forms, is fast, and analytics will help you find what is working and what is not.
Convert Pro is one of the best tools I have used so far when it comes to converting readers to customers. I can only recommend you try it.
3. Choose an email marketing service.
An email marketing service is a must to make the most of your email marketing efforts.
It will allow you to create, personalize, and optimize marketing emails efficiently. They come with various helpful features to manage and measure your email campaigns, so you can learn what is working and what it is not.
Also, you would be able to create automated email sequences. This will help you contact new subscribers with an email sequence you need to create once.
I suggest you try Converkit, which you can use for free and comes with all the features you need.
Check this Converkit review, and you will quickly see if this is for you or it is not.
In any case, email is going to be one of the most effective ways you will monetize your website.
4. Implement your strategy.
Now you have all set, you need to implement your strategy.
By using an email marketing tool like Converkit, you’ll have access to precious data. Change things that are not working and try to take advantage of things that work.
When done properly, you’ll realize email marketing can be very profitable.
What you need to do:
- Use this email marketing campaign strategy guide to grow your email list and increase your business revenue.
You might want to check:
Now it’s your turn- Are you ready to start building your niche website?
Hopefully, this guide showed you how to create a niche website that makes money.
If you need additional support as you begin your niche site-building journey, you can join my private Facebook group.
Now I’d like to turn it over to you:
Did you find this content useful to build a niche website from scratch?
If you have any question leave a comment below
