Step 2

Step Two – 6 Step Niche Sites

 

In my 6 step R.I.C.H.E.R. niche site system, Step 2 is “I” for Invest and Install. Welcome to Step 2 of the 6 Step Niche Site System! In case you’re new here, you might want to start at the beginning to see what we’re up to. We are in the process of learning PotPieGirl’s RICHER 6 Step Niche Site System – and we’re making WordPress niche sites!

Back in Step One of the RICHER 6 Step WordPress Niche Site System, we talked about picking a niche market, the keyword research, and finding monetization ideas. Once all these things are together, the last step of part one was to commit. Now that you are committed to your niche, it’s now time to invest and install.

Many folks get a bit hesitant at this point of creating niche websites. Why? Simply because it is time to break out the credit card and INVEST in their decision. Totally understandable! This is very new territory for many of us, and it is more than ok to feel a bit intimidated by taking your first step into owning virtual real estate. But folks, owning virtual real estate is where the money is!

Time to let go of that fear and take a chance on YOU! There is no better time than RIGHT NOW!

I am a big golfer. I love to hate the game… or maybe I hate to love the game…. haha! Anyway, I play regularly and love to hate every second of it (or I hate to love every second of it?).

Anyway! There is a great golf book that has been out for years. It is called Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect. I am here to tell you that in the ‘perfect’ department, golf and internet marketing have a lot in common! Internet Marketing is not a game of ‘perfect’, either! Don’t wait for everything to be ‘perfect’ before taking the leap…. just jump!

Time To Invest in Your WordPress Niche Sites

At this point in the 6 Step Niche Site System, it is time to invest in a domain name… a ‘home’ for your niche website. You have your list of keywords from Step One – let’s use those to pick a domain name for our niche site.

.com, .net, .org, .info…. Does It Matter?

One thing you may notice thru this 6 Step System is that little Miss PotPieGirl is not a ‘trendy’ online marketer. Yes, I know how to use all the snazzy new sites to my benefit. Yes, I am perfectly aware of all 200 or so factors that Google takes into account when ranking your website. Yes, I know too much! haha! Thing is, if I let all these ‘things’ I know over-load my brain when making a simple WordPress niche site, my head would explode!

Successful niche sites come down to solid, online marketing basics. I am not one to jump on the current bandwagon and make ‘one hit wonder’ niche sites…and I don’t want that for your niche sites, either.

When it comes to domain names, ANY domain name can be successful. I can go buy yada-yada-yada.net and have it become a huge success in the iPod market or car parts market or pet food market. However, I know that unless I am willing to REALLY build the yada-yada-yada brand name (as I had to do with PotPieGirl), that everyday consumers may not trust information from my yada-yada-yada website as much as they might trust, and click thru to, ipodsinformation.com, or carpartstoday.net, or purrfect-pet-food.info. Therefor, I highly recommend that the domain name you purchase has something to do with the keywords you are targeting.

What about the whole .com, .net, .info thing? I’m going to answer that very simply. If you think you might possibly someday MAYBE think about trying to sell that domain name – get a .com. However, if you are not concerned with the after-market of that domain name – then get whatever you want.

If you plan to market that domain name OFF line – get a .com. Consumers associate all websites as .com’s – and getting anything other than a .com will mess things up for your off line marketing.

Yes, in the long run, and without over-complicating things, it is that simple.
Dashes or Underscores In My Domain Name?

Again, I’ll make this simple.

1st choice is neither hyphens nor underscores.

2nd choice is hyphens. Google recognizes hypens (dashes) as a space, however Google indexes underscores.

3rd choice is underscores. Personally, I do not use them under any circumstances, but that is my preference.

Domain Name, Hosting, and WordPress Installation for Niche Sites

For your very first WordPress niche site, you will want to take these steps in this order:

1) Pick a domain name

2) Get your hosting (and get your domain name for free)

3) Install WordPress on your domain

4) Install desired WordPress theme and niche site plug ins.

Now, that is a VERY simplified way of explaining what may feel like a BIG deal the first time you try it. Don’t be afraid or intimidated by what you don’t know. All you need to do is learn it – and you own it. Buying a domain name, adding it to your own hosting account, installing WordPress, and then adding a theme and plugins will end up taking you about 30 minutes TOPS once you know what you’re doing. The first time I did it I was petrified. I just KNEW it would be hard or too ‘techy’ for a total NON-techy person like me.

It is NOT hard, but yes, it sure can appear that way.

If you like doing things the “hard way”…

The long steps are:

1) Sign up for hosting at one site

2) Buy your domain at another site and make sure to point your domain name to your hosting account name servers.

3) Go to your hosting account cpanel

4) Add your new domain name in the ‘add on domain’ option

5) Use the cpanel tool to install WordPress

6 ) Go to my domain name, log in to the wp-admin backend and dress it up to finally get ready to work.

However, if you have never done this before, even my simple six steps there look too intimidating. That’s ok – you CAN do this.

Here’s the easiest way to do all those steps above…

Use this hosting company.

You’ll get your domain name for free AND they will instantly install WordPress FOR you.