NetBusinessBlogWork from Home and Run an Online Business / Over 400+ Articles

Ok, another update in the quest to build a Niche Forum that will eventually make money.

Submit2Please seem to have finally got started and it looks good as they are slowly adding OapInsure to directories (500 of them in total). I get the confirmation emails sent to me, so I can see what directories the site is going in which is great.

SubmitEdge have also completed my 500 word Article and are about to start adding that Article to 100 Article Directories. I am fairly happy with the quality of the Article and the density of the keywords used within it. It’s not 100% (because I’m quite fussy) but it is enough to bring traffic in the long run I feel. This is something I will pay for Monthly as It’s well worth the money I spent.

I’m pleased, as its all positive marketing that I could not have done without outsourcing these jobs as I am too busy running my web development company (and updating this blog) to even think about doing these important tasks.

Everything I have covered over the last updates I am getting done which is great for moral and a step closer to achieving what I set out to acheive. In the last update I mentioned contacting a design/coder to help design a new look Forum although I do like Phorum I wanted a unique look and the Phorum software was not suitable for me. So…I set out what I needed at WebMaster-Talk I was eventually contacted by a few people. I have selected one person to come on board and help me set-up the new forum software, which is going to be PunBB along with a custom design (skin).

We are in discussion now - I am looking to offer a percentage of the turnover for the first year and have him work with me to support the forum also.

One outsource job I have not paid for yet is the ForumPosting - I mentioned these guys WiredFlame - I am still weighing up options via forums although I would prefer to use people who have being offering this service for a while and will research thouroughly and give me quality posts which is imperertive.

I think I will make my mind up for sure once the new design is done. The next update will hopefully hopefully have the content to talk about and the new design. Then I can discuss more options for Marketing and getting even more traffic. I’m sure one service I will use will be ReviewMe as I will select a blog that matches the niche.

Final update for sometime as I want to summarise what has happened since I started this case study and what will be planned for the future.

My Budget for this project is - $500

Total amount I have spent so far - $142.83

I have purchased services from the following websites:

Submit2Please - Submission in 500 Directories $99.95
SubmitEdge - 100 Article Submission Service with free Unique 500 word Unique Article $30
NameCheap - SSL Certifcate $12.88

Remember, I’m getting my foundations set out correctly for this little business. One thing I was having problems with was finding a good service that would start some posts for me. It seems after much difficulty I have found a seemingly decent looking service that does actually have staff and answers emails! ForumShock who I mentioned in a previous update is not running so do not try and contact that website.

The next thing to do is pay for the most important service:

WiredFlame

Priced at $237.50

If you’re looking for more, search through these Forum Posting Services and be wary (send them an email first before payment)

Today I am going to Webmaster-Talk forum to start a competition to get a designer to do a unique design for me that will improve conversions and at the same time build more of a brand recognition into the business model. To get this done for free I will offer the designer and possibly a coder a Review here for them or a percentage of my business. Not sure yet, but I will work something out that will hopefully be lucrative for them.

This does work as I have seen it done before on other forums I visit.

I’m going to possibly change the forum software I use if I cannot get a web designer to skin my Phorum software. I’m still happy with my progress as a lot of it is learning new skills as you go along which I enjoy. One of my main strengths is organisation and I enjoy bringing the right people together to help me make this little online business a success.

If you haven’t read my Case Study from the beginning:

Mini (Niche) Affiliate Site using a Forum - Part 1
Mini (Niche) Affiliate Site using a Forum - Part 2
Mini (Niche) Affiliate Site using a Forum - Part 3
Mini (Niche) Affiliate Site using a Forum - Part 4
Mini (Niche) Affiliate Site using a Forum - Part 5
Mini (Niche) Affiliate Site using a Forum - Part 6
Mini (Niche) Affiliate Site using a Forum - Part 7

That’s it for now. The major thing now is my re-design and getting the service mentioned above to complete my content then I can really get stuck into Marketing the forum.

The latest update on the quest to build a Successful Niche Forum.

I’ve had nothing back from ForumShock or HackerSafe so I will need to chase them up…thanks to Andrew Mason who told me to try Submit2Please I think will try them and a service provided by a DigitalPoint user.

I’m getting some ground work done but the most important issue is Members, this is where I need ForumShock or another to at least help get some content in there or this project will fail if I have traffic and no users. This is the most fundamental part of a forum building process.

I have just purchased Submit2Please 500 directories for $99 which will take them approximately 18 days. I like the fact the tell you the time scales as this is important and will save me chasing them up on this service (Jon Warass take note). Lets see what happens, I’m impressed at the site and testimonials so lets wait and see…

After not hearing from HackerSafe I have decided to add a Single Root SSL to show my concern for safety, something I cannot emphasize enough with this type of Market and consumer. Safety online is their No#1 main concern. Just adding a Secure SEAL will set me apart from most other forums in this niche possibly even regular Insurance Forums.

SSL Certificate NameCheap:

* Single Root Certificate - Easy to Install
* The Lowest Cost Single Root Certificate
* 24/7/365 SSL Issuance
* Online Validation - No Paperwork
* 99% Browser Recognition
* Free “Secured by RapidSSL” Site Seal

Really worth it for $12.88 Per Year!

Purchasing that now, lets see how easy it is to install, hopefully will be simple and won’t cause issues with Phorum the software I use for the forum.

One thing I have slacked off is promoting the forum in other similar targeted forums. I have tried in the few I could find (it was harder than I thought) I will settle for the long term organic root for finding the forum. Everything else will happen naturally I would presume. Love that word “Presume” to presume is such an ignorant thing to do…

NetBusinessBlog seems to be ranking well for the term (second page) Oap Insure something I don’t need! Lets hope to get those results with the forum in the next few months.

Remember my Competition Starts tomorrow so if you want to Enter you need to get in and email subscribe now.

I’m waiting for SubmitEdge to finish and I am already a bit worried when I saw some of their english grammer mistakes (not just typos) in the set-up section when you sign up to their service. Lets hope the end product is good. I will let you all know if it was worth the money.

To recap, SubmitEdge are going to write a Press Release (500 word) Article and submit it to 100 Article sites which I hope will funnel much needed traffic. The Article will be focusing on roughly 7-10 keywords:

“travel insurance”
“health insurance”
“auto insurance”
“car insurance”
“life insurance”
“life insurance for over 50s”
“over 50s life insurance”

CommunityStarters never got back to me? - what are these guys doing. It annoy’s me to see ignorant website owners missing out on revenue. My main achiles heel is with forum posters, I seem to be struggling to find not just one individual but anyone to post in my new forum. It’s ok though as I think I have left the best till last as I think I have a good feeling I will find someone through Sitepoint.

I asked for help at WebMaster-Talk and contacted CommunityStarters with no luck.

I am now waiting for Sitepoint to accept an eCheque from PayPal. This was my fault as I clicked the wrong button and paid the $15 via eCheque form so I have to wait for that to clear (January 7th) then I can list on SitePoint.

One crazy thing is my traffic that I purchased from VisitorHost (I know its fake) I did it for Google really. Just look at these laughable false numbers.

I like it that most Search Engine bots are coming in already as to me that’s a good sign.

Right now I’m looking for a replacment for DIRSP.com (directory submission) which has ceased trading? - If anyone knows of a good directory submission service please leave the URL in the comments area.

Business.com $199 - Yahoo.com $299. These directories do work to give you priority in the SERPS (for your keywords) due to fact you will gain some weight and trust being listed in these highly distinguished websites. This will push me over budget, so I will think about paying for these later on once I re-evaluate my visitor level.

Also I haven’t heard from HackerSafe? - I will persue that tomorrow and keep you updated. I feel I do need some sort of safety protection seal for this type of market.

As I was writing this update, I have found ForumShock which I think I will test to get some activity going. I’m going to purchase the $140.00 for 14+ New Member - 670+ Total Posts.

I wanted to quickly mention a service I tried out for this blog roughly three months ago ( I should have known better) owned by some kid named John Warass - absolute waste of time, money, effort. I tried to escalate a PayPal claim which has so far come to nothing. I recommend you do not use this guy or his so called services. I never received the service I paid for.

The site was BuyBlogComments

I have so far fixed my issue with the SEO (url_rewrite) so now that is done I can start getting some posting done in the forum, I think I might need to start doing this myself. One thing I’m working on today is getting a reliable quality service to help me research my market and place excellent information (posts) in the forum for the members.

Just a thought…maybe I should be thinking of starting a Membership site instead?

I have contacted one company so far who charge a basic $35 to submit 100 posts in a forum.

CommunityStarters This is cheap so lets see what the quality is like (probably using overseas non-english workers on it) if so I will not pay for the service. I need the english grammer and subject matter to be of excellent quality (obviously).

I gained valuable information using one forum just asking questions on my market place which lead me too AARP.org a very well organised website covering all manners of subjects aimed ar Seniour Citizens. Once I have enough quality information I will look to advertise with them. They seem to have strict guidelines to adhere too.

In one the forums I have used to ask questions I have now managed to list in their advertising section to gain a little bit more exposure. (might not do well yet seeing as I have an empty forum)

I am going to shell out another $10 on Sitepoint to see if I can hire a team or a person to help get the forum full of questions and answers targeted to my users.

So far my outlay has been $74 if you include the domain name, Sitepoint and SubmitEdge. (if you were to include my time that would be much more) I have decided my budget will be $500 to get the forum fully promoted. I think this is completely realistic with me putting the hours in also.

I have just found out DIRSP.com has closed down (great!) Luckily I just wen’t to pay for the service and they went down?

Going to get some information and resources in the forum next while I wait to see how my other outsource services get on. Next one to pay for is SubmitEdge - I have decided not to use GetMeContent after hearing about their unreliability. I cannot afford to waste time on a service that costs $250 p/m.

To test SUbmitEdge out I have puchased their Article Submission, if this goes well I will use their top service which costs $299 for Links, Articles, Social Bookmarking etc.

100 Article Submission Service with free Unique Article writing - 8 Days

The package is designed to submit your site to 100 high PR article sites.

* Free detailed report

* One free unique 500-word article written for your keywords.

So far so good really, now off to put some resource info in certain sections of the forum.

So far it has all been about promotion but then that is most of what you have to do with any business. The rest is easy, I find. I have now paid for VisitorHost just to get numbers flowing and have also purchased the DIRSP 1000 directories submission for $69.99 for long term link-building benefits. (I do wonder how many directories actually activate your link, but its worth doing even if I got a 10% ratio)

I have come across someone on Sitepoint who is offering their serivce for $99 USD to hand-submit a Press Release to 57+ PR Sites & Networks. This will be invaluable as it will also do wonders for both SEO and link-building.

Outsourcing these tasks allows me to concentrate on getting content in the forum but to be honest I could just outsource everything. So far I have joined four forums within my niche asking for help and advice, I might even find a user who may even help me build my forum or come on board. The possibilities are endless once you start.

I have had lots of replies in the forums to my questions which is good as I can continue (slowly) to build up ideas and relationships.

I have found a suitable replacement for the BBB Reliability Program or near enough as a lot of high end sites are using this stamp of approval and end users will know they’re in safe hands which I want.

HackerSafe will cost me $TBA (still waiting to hear from them…)

According to HackerSafe:

When you display the HACKER SAFE certification mark, you not only increase sales by increasing shopper confidence, you build your brand with the security seal seen on more top sites than any other.

I’m in good company:

* Used by over 80,000 websites
* Seen on over half of the Internet TOP 500 (as reported in Internet Retailer Magazine)
* Proven in over 800 studies to outperform other seals
* Automatic listings in HACKER SAFE Merchant Directory
* Leader in security- chosen by companies such as Yahoo!, HP and Sony

This is even more important with the users I am targeting whom will not be willing to get involved or trust my forum unless you can show them you’re a bonafide business with good intentions. All of which I am.

Next to do is get some forum posts in but I am still having issues with the SEO plugin I mentioned in my last post so once that is fixed I will be getting a team of people to start posting and finding questions to ask and answer. Should be the weekend when all of this is started.

I’m happy so far and am looking forward to seeing users in my forum in the coming weeks.

Yesterday I spent the day scouring around for more services to promote the forum. I ended up paying for this service VisitorHost just as a test to find out what sort of traffic I get, funnily enough I have just noticed a PR3 for oapinsure.com/index.php - Google you little devils!

I joined one forum and posted a question about getting Insurance being over 50+ this may help find websites I need for later promotion and monetization.

My Actual post -

Hello all,

Looking for Insurers who deal with clients over 50+ ?

Thank you.

I will need to do this in at least ten forums to start getting answers and then I can start slowly building a following I hope. I have done some little tweaks to the site (a little as promotion is key) I had a good look around the Phorum.org community and ended up using some nice plugins that suit what I needed.

I used one called Banner Management which made it a sinch to add banner, text ads to any pages on the forum. The other was a Style management to change the colours when I want too. SEO wise again I used a plugin (mod_rewrite) this enables Search Friendly URLs I also changed the title and head tags. We all know how important TITLE tags are to search engines and nice looking URLs will help Google Spiders and my users hence why I do this from the start.

Note: I’m having problems with the mod_rewrite at the moment but will get it fixed today.

I have prematurely added a text advert and banner ads to make the forum look at bit more interesting and make it look like forum that has backing. (even if the users are not there yet) you must always remember when building any site to get into the mind of your users. What do they need and what would they look for etc..etc..think like them and you will be on the right track to some success.

I’m Affiliated with ShareaSale but will also use others to get better commissions once I have found the right company that suits my users.

I think I will also join BBB which will further the authenticity of this forum. I like to make my visitors feel they are safe to use the forum and this adds to the ethos and security. A very good way to let you users know you’re dedicated to Safe internet use.

The next service to pay for will be the Directory Submissions which I will sort out tomorrow or later today. I need to join another forum today and start a few posts which will eventually enable my signature to show when I post, this will encourage a visit to mine. This is all slow but very important to building a community like this. Although the building stage is a bit tedious even for me, once you earn your first bit of cash it will all be worth it.

Update: I have just noticed I cannot use the BBB Program because I’m based on the UK -

The company must be based or have a physical presence in the United States or Canada.

I will have to find a suitable replacement service.

Today I’ve been thinking a lot about traffic and the market in general. I am finding it hard to find where they hang out at the moment but, I know SilverSurfers are in abundence online these days.

I think I need to go after the out of reach keywords to at least get some numbers to the forum. Although this sounds back to front, for now I’m not too bothered with targeting Seniors Citizens as I think they will find me.

I know I need content as visitors will click away on an empty forum (not always the case) - I’m going to pay for this to get at least 50 members and questions/answers.

I’m going to get some backlinks built on these keywords -

“travel insurance”
“health insurance”
“auto insurance”
“car insurance”
“life insurance”

Some more easy to reach and targeted keywords:

“life insurance for over 50s”
“over 50s life insurance”

They are broad but not unbeatable on the Big “Google” I have checked my competition using a backlinkchecker- here are my results:

I’m going to use three services to help me while I get on with other promotion and tweaking the forum.

First Service:
Directory Submission not holding out for much but its worth outsourcing this duty.

Second Service:
Content writer on full time to help write Articles, blog about it, etc..etc…

Third Service:
Link Building Campaign to include Press Releases, Article Submission and Social Bookmarking.

I haven’t done any on page SEO based on these keywords but I will do that in the next part. I will now get these services under-way and carry on with monetization ideas and promotion.

I do not like the idea of Minisites because they are only a few pages long, take quite some time to get ranked in Google and they will never ever have any brand recognition because they are a spammy. A Minisite is so called because it is just that (Mini) no following, no brand, no loyalty. I’m going to build a “Mini Affiliate Site” It will still be mini at first but I want to try and build a brand and loyal following all the things MiniSites do not have.

The last time I did this I got lazy, I built it, through it up and left it. I did pay for some crappy traffic service from a well known (spammy forum).

My last one detailed here- Find Keyword Rich Domains Fast then Build a Niche Mini Site

To make some sort of half decent living out of Minisites I feel you will need at least 10 sites. (in my opinion) this idea if you stick at it long enough should bring you a decent living (more than 10 sites would) but also a brand and community (worth more and more rewarding). In actual fact you should end up with a business not a spammy throw away website.

Step One:

Domain name - I’m going to use one I’ve had for quite some time building dust. I have a nice domain OapInsure other search terms searched for in this niche are:

“oap insurance”
“oap holidays”
“oap travel”

Note:

I’m targeting the over 50s whom I have read have problems getting insured so I hope to alliviate their problems by creating a forum for them to help each other and offer them Affiliated deals.

To build my community I’m using this Forum software Phorum makes a nice change to use this instead of PHPBB or Vbulletin (paid option). Open source, very basic with lots of scope for development and they seem to have good Support.

Make sure to have a goal in mind and mine is to build a community as I thought it suited this Niche. When I get into the SERPS (Google, MSN, Yahoo) I can then start to build up the users hoping to reach 500-600 visitors per day before I start to Monetize.

Forums are notorious to get going and like blogs can be a time and energy Zapper until you start to earn. Got the forum software uploaded and database all done, I have added General forum rules and Forum Topics. Now all I need is visitors to fill my Forum and help build content.

Buying and selling domains is a hard market to enter into (because of the lack of great domains) but making money using keyword rich domains for building mini niche sites is a whole lot easier, with the right niche and a decent amount of traffic you can do well.

A tool that helps you find keywords rich domains is going to speed up the process as it allows you to come up with ideas quickly and conveniently. I have just used this tool and this is what I came up with.

This is how quick I can build a mini site and a potentially (maybe) make some money from it (who knows really) It’s just enjoyable doing it!

I’m going to time stamp this (13.40pm) - used the tool mentioned above. I decided on “salmon river rafting” why? because I like the sound of earning upto $7.00 + for a potential Adsense Click (the keyword tool also shows you how much “approx” it could be worth for an Adsense Click).

(13.45pm) - check the Google trend which looks healthy and fairly well searched. Head over to NameCheap and register the domain name. Bit gutted! I have to register the DOT CO DOT UK not a problem for me as I’m in UK but this is not the point, we are not building a brand business here. We are going for the quick and out, get it into Google SERPs fast and make cash. I may do well, I may not…I don’t care ethier way but I would like to make my money back from the domain name cost and time.

I also may really enjoy it and build a better site later on, only if I see great results (in terms of traffic) and long term potential. The main point of this (tutorial/post) is to try and highlight how quick it is to build a mini site and make some money from it. Note: I don’t really like this way of making money online but it’s good to have a go and the real joke is that it takes so little effort! (the marketing will be the hardest part and getting a decent listing in MSN/Yahoo/Google - MSN/Yahoo should be easy (he say’s!).

(13.53pm) - Got the domain now, time to build my site and make it look pretty for my visitors (who love their salmon adventures!) head over to OSWD as I want to create a site fast and not from scratch, (there’s no need). I chose the design Dreamy. Now time for some customisation to fit my niche, head over to SXC for some free stock images, choose a suitable image and then open up Photoshop to adjust the size and anything esle I need too. Now I need content and I’m lazy so I go to EzineArticles to look for decent articles in my niche. With that done, I want some Adsense, this template already has a 468×60 spot so I use this although I know the 300 x 250 is a much better performer in terms of CTR.

(14.08pm) - Time for some very basic SEO (SEO is a simple process really) adjust more of template and possibly add Affiliate links that relate to my niche. I will also look at other ways to make it look more appealing and improve the monetization. Amazon store add-on might be a option and some eBay ads.

(14.19pm) - Ready to start marketing, this is what I will do next - manually submit to Google/MSN/Yahoo or I may buy a text link for the robots to come over and spider me. Get someone on DigitalPoint to do some directory submitting and possibly pay for inclusion into the better one’s like:

Yahoo Directory (http://directory.yahoo.com)
* Open Directory Project (DMOZ) (http://dmoz.org/)
* Joe Ant (http://www.joeant.com/)
* Gimpsy (http://www.gimpsy.com/)
* GoGuides (http://www.goguides.org/)
* SevenSeek (http://www.sevenseek.com/)
* Business.com (http://www.business.com/)
* Skaffe.com (http://www.skaffe.com/)
* Wow Directory (http://www.wowdirectory.com/)
* Microsoft bCentral Directory (http://sbd.bcentral.com/)

Also -
http://www.seocompany.ca/directory/free-web-directories.html

That’s it for now, was that fast enough? here is the not quite finished result - www.SalmonRiverRafting.co.uk - I might have missed some bits out but I will update you on what I am doing with the site perdiocally. Depending how it goes, I may even launch one every week.

Added Note: I didn’t mention hosting but just incase you wanted to know, I have a reseller account with HostGator.