Picking a niche for SEO (8)
Hey stms,
I've been thinking on starting a blog (long term project), and before I jump in with the right domain and stuff, I would love some feedback.
Basically, I've noticed that a lot of Latin Americans in the U.S. are hard workers, but they're doing mostly blue collar jobs. So, the blog would be about helping that community get better careers (solution to a problem).
I personally like the education/self-improvement niche, and it's something I see myself doing for the long run.
What are your thoughts?
For instance,
Is the target niche big enough and/or lucrative?
Domain name: brand name or specific answer to a need?
I'm still doing market research, but I would love to get your wise feedback.
Thanks for your time!
J,
Phew, big topic.
Have you done your keyword research and checked the volume there? Is there a lot of competition? How would you be monetising this?
It sounds initially promising, but there are so many variables.
What have you done so far for market research? I'd def recommend using Google Keyword planner and coming back with the volume.
For your domain name, there's two ways to go. Generally, you pick either a keyword that you want to rank for, like get-better-career.com, or you choose a brand.
I personally think that brand names are less spammy, but take more effort to rank for the keywords you want. Keyword in the domain name is generally a small ranking factor, so that's something to keep in mind.
I personally think this niche might be too small.
What percentage of blue collar workers use the internet?
How many of them read self-improvement articles online?
Do they care about the service I provide?
How much money do they have to pay for the information I'm giving them? (If they're blue collar workers… how much disposable income do you think they have to buy whatever you're going to pitch them?)
I feel like you'd be trying to manufacture your own industry and getting Latin American people to feel like they want this before you can sell it to them, which sounds a lot harder than having something that people already want, and then selling that to them.
keyword research is huge. There is no point getting in a niche where you are going to be sitting on page 3 of the serps.
like gosu said, get on google keyword tool (I will always call it that out of spite for the kw planner... pfft). and start looking at volume for keywords applicable to your niche. you can make money in any niche, but if the volume sucks, the money will suck too.
longtail pro is a great tool for kw research, and it has a platinum version that shows you kw competition to see how "easy" it would likely be to rank... its not perfect, but if you are new to competition analysis it is very helpful, and pretty accurate (at least as a starting point). you will still need to do some analysis of the front page serps to know for sure if you can rank.
spencer at http://www.nichepursuits.com/ , who makes long tail pro, has a bunch of posts on kw research that you might find helpful.
if there is enough volume with the longtail keywords about your niche, and if you see potential to rank... and you have a plan for monetization, then start writing 
as far as domain goes, there is very little benefit, if any, to an exact match domain. back in the day you could rank an EMD with no backlinks and a couple 500 word articles... not anymore. go with a brandable domain. google doesnt give 2 shits if your domain exactly matches the keywords you are trying to rank for.
I have had good luck with siloing alex becker style, so you migh want to check out his blog before you start so you have a basic framework of how your site should be setup.
also, dont piss away too much time researching and over-thinking it. once you have a basic idea of what you want to do, just start building. the worst case scenario is you will spend $10 on a domain, $5 on hosting for a month, and you will learn a shit ton in the process.
The first niche site I built was something like 'SherpaPetTote.com'... it never made a dime, but I learned more building it than I ever could have just reading blogs.
Good Luck!
I get the feeling that you look at it from the wrong direction.
In my opinion unless you are experienced in building blogs (with people who write for you), your chosen topic should always be a passion project.
If you do it for the money blogging is not the way to go. Because you could earn more money faster elsewhere. As you are here in this forum I suspect you want to make money, so I advise against it. If you find out that there is a possible market (after KW research), create a Product and sell it.
Also if you still want to start a blog. Write 10-20 articles before you spend money on domains/hosting/products. If you can't write them in at least a month. Don't even start.
Hope you will crush it.
I agree. Maintaining a blog takes a lot of effort and it's not going to work unless it's something you're really interested in.
As a blog niche, I think it's a great idea. It's a little too general but I can see the potential in it. If you're passionate about education, I can imagine you could write a lot of topics around that. In terms of making money from your niche, I imagine you could make money promoting local school or self development courses.
First of all, if this is a cause that you really care about, you should do it.
I fully agree that many of these families lack access to good information, and you are definitely right that they are hard working, decent people who are looking for a better future for their children. One of my good friends was one of 4 children born to a Mexican cleaning lady. His father passed away when he was still young and his mother worked 3 jobs in order to support him and his siblings. They all ended up graduating from either MIT or Harvard, and he went on to work at McKinsey and later IBM. There is human potential everywhere, and it is a real shame that so much of this never gets a chance to develop.
So, if this is something you truly care about, do it.
However, if you are doing this solely to make money, then don't.
Not only will it be hard work for you, but also, in order to make money, you will be strongly tempted to flog products and services that really do not help improve these people's lives.
Let's be honest, almost all "biz-ops" offers are scams that take advantage of vulnerable people http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/10/29...online-monster and most "online degrees" are pretty much worthless and saddle students with enormous debt. There is a reason why these offers have high payouts to you. Someone is paying for it.
The fact is, when it comes to money, people can rationalise anything. And at the end of the day, everyone makes compromises.
However, I personally draw the line when it comes to taking advantage of vulnerable people.
So, ask yourself why you want to do this.
And make sure you are doing it for the right reasons.
Thanks everyone!
@cmdeal, giving value to others is something I truly care about, and this blog would be a long term project for sure. Therefore, I would like this blog to reflect who I am (passions, hobbies, goals..), and to be profitable in some way.
@bjmaks, I will definitely check out those links, and do some keyword research.
I will keep this blog idea in the back of my head. Besides careers, I’m also passionate about other areas such as, lifestyle, growing a business, entrepreneurial, inspiring others...So, if I have to deviate from careers, I would.
My main priority for now is of course become a professional CPA marketer 
. However, since I was a complete noob when I joined this forum, it's taking me a bit to learn the ropes on how to setup a campaign, but I know I'll crack it soon. Thanks Zeno, Caurmen, Mr. Green, and stackers for that. Here is the thread if you wanna shed some light.
http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...n-mobile/page3
Thanks again,
Jaime
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