Building a Niche Store and setting my goals.

I told you I was going to need to write out some goals to get this niche store / niche blog going. Here is a quick list of my goals and steps to take to get the site up and running. I’m not going to break them down or explain them much - but here they are.

1. Figure out what software options are available and decide which to use

   - WordPress? - BANS? - StoreStacker? - phpBay?

2. Start writing articles, or posts, to have content ready to publish.

   - have 10 posts ready to go by launch

3. Work on quick theme for the site

   - I want it to be unique but I don’t plan on spending too much time on it

   - I have experience in web design and creating WordPress themes so I can do this myself

4. Setup affiliate network accounts

   - I have an eBay affiliate account

   - Might just start with ebay don’t want to create too much competition on the site by using multiple affiliate programs

5. Setup niche store software

   - Whether its BANS, StoreStacker, or phpBay there will be some intial setup involved

6. Publish site

   - Might do this earlier with a few articles posted to get it indexed in the search engines quicker

7. Advertise the site - gotta have traffic

   - I don’t plan on spending too much money starting out.

   - Post in forums (free)

   - Post comments (free)

   - Directory submissions (free/cost)

   I could do it myself or pay someone to submit the site

   - Submitting articles to article sites (maybe - that’s more writing) (free)

   - CPC (cost per click) campaign - adwords, msn adcenter, yahoo ad network (cost)

   I have some free adwords and msn adcenter coupons

8. Hopefully repeat with another domain and niche site / niche store

Just a quick look into what I have in mind for the setup of my niche site or store - I keep going back and forth with that. I’m sure other things will creep up that I’ve forgotten. If anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment.

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I am completely new to affiliate marketing - in that I have never done more than put an affiliates banner on a site. I’ve done a descent amount of reading on affiliate marketing and I have been researching the creation of niche stores.

Getting Motivated
So, I am finally getting motivated. It might be a little late to get in on the initial holiday shopping season, but after the new year people will be looking to buy again. Whether it be to help them with their new years resolution or to purchase a game or two to play on the new video game console they got for christmas. It’s time to stop reading and start doing.

Follow Along
I plan on documenting my process here at hargism.com - whether it is a success or a huge failure. Like I said, I’m new to the whole building a niche store thing. I’ll be doing some research and weighing my options on what software to use and how to gain traffic. There are a plentiful amount of resources out there that should be able to help me with my niche site.

Initial Planning
My idea is to take at least one domain I have that is just sitting there doing nothing and turn it into, not just a niche store, but more a niche site with the store built in. I’ll be going with more of a blogging setup for the site with integrated niche store elements like the eBay - seems to be the most popular option. I think setting it up like a blog will really help with the natural (free) search engine traffic, and will be more Google friendly (hopefully). This will allow me to create unique keyword friendly content to not only help drive traffic but also to hopefully provide the readers with something [of value] worth visiting the site for - and hopefully get them to come back another time.

I know the creation of content will be the hardest part for me. I can be a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to writting. But I am going to try my best to stay motivated. I know I’m going to have to create a list of daily goals in order to keep on task. It would be great to have a little be of extra income coming in each day/month.

Stay tuned for future post and feel free to give me any advice you have as I journey through building a niche blog store thing…

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