Niche Marketing: Newbie Asks “Is ‘Dogs’ A Good Niche?”
Choosing a Marketing Niche Without Keyword Research is a Huge Mistake
Here’s a situation that is all too common with newcomers to the internet marketing world. But in the following instance, the question was being asked of me by an individual that claims to have a web development business! I don’t know about you, but if I had hired this company to help develop my website’s online presence, and I became aware that the owner was asking a question like this one, well … his company wouldn’t be involved with my website anymore!
I digress, so back to the subject at hand. Here is a very common situation that arises AFTER a new internet marketer jumps on the band wagon. Let me share the gist of what this individual was asking me:
Hi: I am new to the affiliate marketing business. I presently own and operate a small web development company. We recently developed a website targeted to people who are interested in and/or related to all areas relating to dogs. They could be dog owners, breeders, groomers, trainers, etc.
Here is my question: Is “dogs” a good niche?
Is “Dogs” a Good Niche?
Sigh … OK, so this individual has already purchased a domain name; has started to build out a site around the HUGE category of dogs; has probably taken time to write content; taken time to place the content and other information onto this new site … but he’s asking NOW “is ‘dogs’ a good niche”??
Did he put the cart before the horse? Yes, most definitely. My suggestion to him was to STOP what they were doing right now and do some keyword research using a tool like Wordtracker or the Google Keyword Tool.
I told him that the niche pertaining to dogs was huge! (But “dogs” is not what you’d call a niche. Poodles would be a niche, or puppy training would be a niche.) I advised “dogs” was way too broad for them to achieve any online marketing success. That they needed to narrow it down!
I told him I’d make a 200% wager that they hadn’t done any keyword research, based on the question. I told him if they expected to attract targeted traffic, then keyword research was a must.
In addition, I advised that not only would the keyword research help them discover smaller niches within the broad category of dogs, they’d also get a grasp on what people were REALLY typing into the search engines to find out information about dogs.
If you know what people are searching for, then you’ll know what content topics to write about in order to try and grab some of that traffic via your organic search engine rankings!
As an example of what I am talking about, I entered “dogs” into Wordtracker, set it to give me the top 100 results, and here’s an example of those results.
Here’s the top ten (actual term being used with projected 24 hour searches made in the USA):
- 1. dogs 36,052
2. dogsrule.com 7,241
3. who let the dogs out 1,417
4. funny dogs 1,130
5. dogs for sale 1,058
6. hot dogs 831
7. cute dogs 798
8. boxer dogs 753
9. small dogs 693
10. mummy dogs 622
All the way down to:
- 93. herbs for dogs 123
94. teacup dogs 122
95. seizures in dogs 120
96. english bull dogs 120; and lastly …
100. havanese dogs 115
So, the moral of this story is to do your keyword research before you even purchase a domain name! You have to know the niche(s) you will be targeting within the broad category you’ve chosen.
Plus, you must get an idea of what people are searching for! If you build out a website that contains information that only 2 people a day are interested in, it’s going to be terribly difficult to make any money as an online marketer!
Don’t want to do keyword research yourself? No problem.
I provide custom keyword research reports.
I’ll tailor the report to the niche and your internet marketing goals.
How To Choose A Domain Name That Reflects Your Business Theme
Your Domain Name Should Define Your Website’s Identity
Oh boy! It’s time to pick out your new domain name. If you’re one of the lucky internet marketers, your creative name (you know, something to the point and descriptive like “yummybrownies” or “expertpondbuilders”) might be sitting there, available to purchase. But for most of us, the domain name we want has already been taken.
Certain niches are more saturated than others, like those dealing with the area of internet marketing. So, you might encounter obstacles in finding an available domain name that also is one you will feel comfortable with. As example, I had a hard time when I was choosing the domain name for my SEO consulting website. Every name I kept coming up with (meaning I could live with it for the rest of my website’s life) was taken. I spent hours and hours until I finally settled on one.
I feel it’s very important to do keyword research before you jump in and buy a domain name. The process of researching keywords helps you not only understand the search behavior of your target customers, but also really helps you see which keyword phrases are actually being searched for by your prospects. If you are struggling to come up with a domain name, this step should help your creative juices some. You just might uncover some keyword phrases you’d not even considered. And these phrases might get your brain to start thinking of other possible domain names that had never entered your mind.
Don’t Go and Buy Up a Domain Name Blindly … Mull it Over for Awhile
Think about this. You are going to be basing everything around this new identity you are creating, that being your new website. You might wish to use your product’s brand name, or you might pick a domain name that is indicative of what the website is about. I’ve done that with most of my websites. The domain names I chose gives a potential visitor a very good idea of the theme (or niche) of each site.
If you already have an established brick and mortar company, and a website is going to be your newest marketing arm, don’t necessarily assume your company name is the best choice for your website. It may be, and then again, depending upon the product … it might be better to not use your company name. I’ll get into that in a minute.
As I’ve already said, it is best to do keyword research first. In my case, for all the websites I own, I have used Wordtracker and the Google Keyword Tool to sift through all the keyword phrases and give my brain food for thought.
I always start with this first step. The keyword results I uncover give me a really good idea of what my potential visitors, in the niche that I’m targeting, are searching for. Then, I keep that in mind while I begin thinking up domain names I’d like to have. I refer to a dictionary and thesaurus, too. These help me find words that I may not have thought of. My sheets of paper with all possible names, and many derivatives of those names, begin to fill up.
I will then usually type in my most favorite domain names into a search engine to see: (a) if it’s already in use; and (b) what that website looks like. I suggest you do this, too. Reason being … if you end up being dead set on a domain name you feel you “just gotta have”, but that name is already in use, you might find you can purchase the hyphenated version of it. Example: “yummybrownies.com” versus “yummy-brownies.com”
To make checking lots of domain names and their availability easier, you can go to most any domain registrar website (I use GoDaddy) and type in the name choices you’re researching. You’ll find out if the name is available to purchase, or if it is already taken.
There are many domain name sellers out there. Double check on the pricing before you pay. I’ve seen .com domains for $24.95 a year down to $9.95, or cheaper if a sale is being offered. I have been quite happy using both GoDaddy and Namecheap when I want to purchase a domain name. They are one of the biggest domain name sellers so are able to offer great pricing.
Like I said, in most cases you’ll probably spend a good deal of time researching available domain names, unless you luck out and the one you want is sitting there ripe for the picking.
Here are Some Important Points to Keep in Mind While You’re Deciding What Your New Domain Name Will Be
- Keep it short and sweet whenever possible. Simple phrases work great. Think about how really long domain names can so easily get misspelled if someone is trying to manually type it in. Not everyone may have your site bookmarked!
- Don’t assume your unique product’s brand name is the best choice. It might be better to incorporate a keyword or two along with the brand name.
- Targeted keywords in a domain name are useful in making it clear what the site is about. Again this is where your keyword research pays off.
- I do not advise you try to cash in on trade-name or trade-name typos. Domain “squatting” on high profile corporate names can lead to costly legal battles.
- If possible, also buy the .net, .info, maybe the .mobi (or other variations) of your domain name. If nothing else, you are keeping them away from a competitor. And you never know when you’ll have a need to use the variation for a different branch of marketing or service for the main domain. If you don’t use them, you can always redirect them to your main .com domain, as example.
- Many people also purchase other spelling variations of their domain name. You can redirect them to the main domain as mentioned above. This is done mainly to get traffic that might have not otherwise reached you.
- Stick with a .com domain whenever possible. However, if you are a non-profit, then go for a .org. These are preferable over .net, .biz, .info, etc. But it you have to use one of these to get the domain name you are just dying to have, then OK.
- If the domain name you want is already in use, adding hyphens between the words is an option – unless that variation is already taken. There are pros and cons to doing this. However, with two of my domains (SEO-Innovation.com being one of them), I purchased the hyphenated versions as I wanted those names. I visited the sites of the non-hyphenated versions, and thought long and hard about the implications of the two of us having very similar names. You do take a slight risk in having a domain name that is identical to someone else’s site, save for the hyphens in the name.
What to Do if the Domain Name You Absolutely Positively Cannot Live Without is Already Taken
There are options you can take to try and buy a domain name from the existing owner. Since I use GoDaddy, if you check on a name and it’s already taken, there are links asking you if you want to try and buy it, and how to go about it. Most other companies offer the same service.
Who Owns Your Domain Name??
Registrant Holds Client’s Domain Name Hostage!
Oh boy, issues like the one I’m going to write about today really make me angry. 
I dislike it intensely when honest, trusting people get completely taken advantage of by unethical people!
For this post, I am specifically referring to business people who hire someone to give them an online presence – which usually means they hire someone to design a website and “put it on the internet” (upload to the server). More often than not, the business person has NO CLUE about what it takes to get a business website up and running, nor how to “get” (purchase) a business domain name, etc. So of course the business owner must hire someone to do these things for them.
Often, this means the person they hire will also handle the actual registration of the domain name; possibly provide the hosting service; and most probably will provide webmaster services.
A Real Life Story …
I was recently contacted by someone who is interested in my SEO services. I will refer to this person as “Dr. B. B. Fred”. During the course of our conversation, I was told that Dr. Fred has had a website for quite a number of years, but was thinking about changing the domain name.
I asked if he wanted a domain name change in order to be more targeted or specific in some sort of way as compared to the domain name he was currently using. He said he wanted to change it slightly, feeling the “new” domain name would be better sounding and easier for his patients to remember than the existing domain name. I could partially see his point and we briefly discussed that issue.
So I asked him “Do you or your webmaster understand what will be entailed in moving all the existing web pages onto the new domain, and how to implement redirects?” His answer really surprised me – not about redirects and what is entailed in changing domain names – but about his webmaster.
Get this! He told me (I’m keeping it brief here) that he found out that the individual who had originally registered the domain name, whom he was not using for webmaster services any longer, was holding the domain name hostage and would not relinquish the domain name unless Dr. Fred paid a tidy sum of $4000.00!! Let me mention here that the “hostage” domain name just happened to be his name “drbbfred.com”. Yes indeed!
Who Owns a Domain Name?
REGISTRANT = Official owner of the domain name
So, Dr. Fred was obviously angry! He couldn’t believe this person whom he had trusted (and paid) to register his domain name and provide him a website could be doing this to him. And let’s say that Dr. Fred wasn’t willing to fork over $4000.00 to this jerk. Dr. Fred said “It’s MY name that I used to brand my website. I’ve been paying for it year after year – five years in fact! It’s MINE, not his!”
Not to mention who else would want it?? Come on … bbfred.com? Why is this domain name worth $4000.00?? It’s not like Dr. Fred is making millions of dollars (through his website) because he is a celebrity doctor, nor is the domain name such a hot commodity that it would be worth stealing away from him!!
As a matter of fact, his website was so terribly lacking in basic search engine optimization, that it is 99% invisible to the search engines and out-ranked by similar themed websites. Thusly, the traffic to the website is nothing to jump up and down for joy about. (Don’t have a site like Dr. Fred’s – get my free SEO tips on how to tweak your website for higher rankings.)
So, there must be some deeper reason the registrant isn’t willing to give him his domain name. Anyway … yes, I guess unscrupulous people are all over the place, aren’t they?
Now, I have no idea why the individual feels the need to not politely sign the “change of registrant” form which would allow the domain name to now be registered in the good doctor’s name, but the person won’t. I asked him, but he was a bit evasive with his answer. So I figured something else was going on, and it wasn’t my business. After all … Dr. Fred wasn’t a client, he was a prospective client.
He thought he would just take all the existing content and copy it over to his new domain name and then he’d not have to worry about “bbfred.com” being held hostage. And that he’d then have a leg up over the unethical webmaster. “Oh no”, I told him. I discussed that he couldn’t start up a new site which contained all the “old” content from the first site. There’d be a mess in more than one way AND major duplicate content problems in the search engines.
But back to the point of this post today. Bottom line … that person owns Dr. Fred’s domain name. Period. That is how the law sees it. (At least for now.) That is how it is registered.
What to Do if You’ve Trusted Someone Else to Handle the Purchase, Registration and Yearly Renewal Fees for Your Domain Name
I highly suggest you make sure that your name (or someone’s you trust implicitly) is listed as the “registrant”. Even if the yearly domain registration fee is handled by your webmaster as example, I still advise you make sure YOUR NAME is listed as the one who really OWNS the domain name.
Not sure how your domain name is registered? Here’s one easy way to check. Go to: www.betterwhois.com/. Type in your domain name; click the “Search” button; you’ll be taken to the page of information about the domain; and then scroll about half-way down that page. You’ll see “Registrant” with the person’s name, address, phone number and such listed right there.
If YOUR name isn’t listed, then right under the Registrant information, make note of the “Registrar Name”. A registrar is a company that has legal rights to register domain names with the proper agencies. An example of a registrar is GoDaddy or Yahoo!.
Also, the registrar is who you pay each year to keep your domain name actively listed. (There are intermediary agents referred to as resellers, who are also authorized to sell domain names. You might have purchased a domain name through a reseller, thusly you’d pay them your annual fee.)
What Steps to Take to Become the New Registrant
If your name isn’t listed, I encourage you to pick up the phone and ask the other person if they would be so kind as to sign the domain over to you. If they say “Sure, no problem!” … great! All you need to do is contact the company listed as the registrar and find out what you need to do to make the name switch. (Many companies have an online form that can be filled out with the information for the changes, and that’s it. Your name is then officially listed as the new registrant.)
If the person who holds your domain name isn’t willing to remove their name as the registrant … well good luck! Depending upon how much that domain name means to you, and/or many other factors, you may want to resort to legal means to try and get it back. But that is a whole other subject that I may address at another time!
Disclaimer: “Dr. B. B. Fred” and “drbbfred.com” have been fabricated for this post. “drbbfred.com” has been used for explanation purposes only, and to my knowledge is not legally registered to anyone at the time of this posting.
Keyword Phrases – Maintaining Long Term Ranking Positions
In a previous post over one year ago about how I maintain top ranking positions for keywords on my own websites, I talked about a keyword phrase I’d targeted – “Google search cheats” – and its SERP ranking. That post was back in May 2008.
The ranking was doing well at that time – #4 out of 389,000 result pages.
Well today out of curiosity, I checked the ranking position. And I found it has inched down a bit to #6, but now it is commanding the position out of 10,500,000 SERPs. Ummm … OK, perhaps Google’s results are a bit wild today as compared to the more realistic results back in May ’08, but nevertheless, I really don’t care how many oodles of results there are in the grand total – I just care where I stand in the midst of true competition.
Here’s a screenshot taken yesterday (November 2, 2009):
I’m not all shook up about moving two slots down for a keyword phrase that really isn’t one of major concern traffic-wise. After all, competition for that targeted term has changed a bit over time, as evidently there are other sites using it in an article, too. These sites are possibly older than mine, and/or have way more posts with quality content compared to the number of posts my blog currently has, and/or have more links, and/or carry more “authority” than mine, etc. Issues such as these do affect final ranking “scores” when computed by Google.
But the point is … that post of mine is STILL in the top ten! Not bad. And certainly no complaints on my part.
What’s the moral of this post? Rankings go up, and rankings go down in the world of search engines. But I will bet you that if I wrote another post or two on the same subject, I just might inch back up. But with all the other pressing projects that are currently on my plate to tackle, those posts will have to be put aside for another day.
Options, Not Obligations: Adjusting Your Mindset To Become A “Family First Entrepreneur”
I enjoy finding business books which cut out idealistic pie-in-the-sky promises like “you can easily make millions of dollars on the internet” babble. “ONO, Options Not Obligations”
This business book spends as much time talking about family life as it does about making money, and supports the concept of “the family comes first”. ONO talks about work ethic, trust, listening, building relationships and “wants vs. needs” and these are things I can easily relate to. ONO is an easy read and qualifies as a practical “makes sense” book.
Warnke writes that Wal-Mart and Sam’s Warehouse Club Founder Sam Walton’s last words were, “I blew it.” Wow! How could one of the richest people in the world think this? Evidently ol’ Sam wasn’t referring to his massive wealth and business successes, but rather he was lamenting on how he missed so much time with his family. How many of us might be on this same path?
“ONO, Options Not Obligations” explores changing your mindset to live with an options-oriented outlook rather than just an overwhelming obligation to become a rich entrepreneur and provider. Living as a “family first entrepreneur” requires a commitment to overarching change while working past the fear of not having enough money to live the kind of life you want. Warnke, a recovering alcoholic who has dyslexia, shares everything about himself to show how it’s possible to live an ONO life.
This book isn’t just for married couples and/or people with children. Anyone, single, married, young or mature will benefit from reading ONO. If you have dreams of traveling, working fewer hours, or perhaps just having more time to spend on a hobby, you can apply what you’ll glean from reading ONO. Mr. Warnke inspires, enlightens, and certainly reminds us that it is possible to go out and make money without losing ourselves in the process.
