"What's the purpose?"
That's a question I struggle with on a daily basis. From what I hear others say, I have a feeling I'm not alone on this one. Although niche marketing is one of those businesses you can start with next to no capital, most people invest a significant amount of time before they recognize any financial reward from their efforts. And thanks to the problem of getting the search engines to take notice, many of those efforts may seem very futile.
I have been online for almost four years now. I have learned during those four years that you can quickly become overwhelmed with the amount of work required to run a website. For you parents out there, it's similar to bringing that firstborn son or daughter home from the hospital. You realize that being a parent will be hard work, but it's impossible to comprehend just how much work - and how much blood, sweat and tears - will go into raising that little bundle of joy, until it actually happens.
This Is Not A Get Rich Quick Business
I hate to say it, but it's pretty much the same story with niche marketing. This is not a "get rich quick" business. There's a fair amount of blood, sweat and tears that you will need to put into nurturing your business, if you hope to recognize any level of success. Not only that, but the work you are doing now may not pay off for several months, possibly even years.
Of course, it helps if you know your purpose, if you have a specific goal in mind. Perhaps your goal is to make money. If it is, there's a problem. If it takes a while for the money to start rolling in on a consistent basis (which it probably will, especially if you're targeting free, organic traffic), you will get frustrated.
I speak from experience. I have walked away from sites for a month or two, frustrated with the fact that I seemed to work constantly, but had little to show for my efforts.
However, I do not like to give up, and eventually I always found my way back. Over time, I have discovered that its much more effective to break down my goals into smaller, manageable steps, so that I feel like I actually accomplished something, instead of just spinning my wheels.
Personally, I do this by writing down a list of weekly goals for my sites. Because I also work a full-time day job (like many of you), and I have the added responsibility of caring for my two boys (three, if you count my husband), I have to be realistic about what I can actually achieve.
My Weekly List
At the beginning of each week, I sit down for half an hour and decide what I want to accomplish for the week:
- Articles/Blog Posts - I will brainstorm what topics I want to write about, and will determine how many articles or blog posts I want to add to each site. At a minimum, my goal is to create one to two unique article or blog post per site per week.
- Backlinks - Without a doubt, this is my least favorite part of niche marketing, but it is one of those things that must be done. At a minimum, five backlinks per site per week.
- Other - Usually site maintenance. Upgrades, backups, domain renewals - that sort of thing.
As you can see, my list is not that complicated, or even time-consuming, but it helps keep me on track. Consistency, perseverance, and patience - those are key ingredients needed to succeed in niche marketing.
So far, this seems to be working. The income I generate from my sites is equivalent to the weekly paycheck I bring home every week from my day job. I actually enjoy my regular job, so I have been reluctant to break the ties there, but it's definitely an option on the table now.
Maybe making a weekly list will not help you. However, it is important to find what will keep you motivated, in order to prevent the burnout and frustration that inevitably follow when you find yourself asking, "What's the purpose?". If you have a method of staying on track, I would love to hear it - all you have to do is leave a quick comment...
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