First up, I’d like to say ‘thank you’ for all the well wishes I received from everyone last week, via Twitter, email and Facebook, as I lay in bed battling what turned out to be the worst flu of my entire life. I literally didn’t leave my bedroom for three full days. It was intense. Also – thanks for the patience for this latest Niche Site Project report, too!
As you’ll see this month’s report comes to you in all the glory of beautiful video.
The content of the video will either make total and utter sense to you, or perhaps, disappoint you. Either way, it is what it is. Simply watch the video, and get updated.
Items mentioned in this video:
- Official ‘Niche Site Project‘ website.
- The ‘Disable RSS‘ wordpress plugin.
- Monthly Report #4 here on the blog.
- The Adsense alternative, Media.net I’m now using.
So, there you have it. Now – if you’d still like to update the community on your numbers and how you’ve been going with your own niche sites, that would be great – I’ve enjoyed reading them, trust me. And if you feel that you’d still like to do it going forward, regardless of my intentions (again – watch the video!), let me know, and I’ll see what I can do to try and work something out on that side of things for everyone.
What struggles have you had in your niche site adventures? Also – what triumphs? Tell us all about it below.
Related Posts:
Most Popular Posts
- The VBL Community ‘Niche Site Project’… PLUS – Unveiling My Own Niche Site!
- How Much Do You Pay a Home-Based Virtual Assistant from the Philippines?
- Passive Income Streams – 6 Ideas for Online Money-Making Success!
- 6 Reasons Why People Will Unsubscribe from Your Blog, and How to Stop Them!
- Tim Ferriss – Still a Lifestyle Designer, or Just the “4-Hour” Guru?
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Completely respect your decision and the reasoning behind it, and sorry to hear that your candor and transparency were abused by bad actors in the community. Having said that, your candor and transparency were so valuable for your honest audience — and represented such good faith and burnished your brand — I hope you will find ways in the future to approach similar projects with some protections so you can be just as honest and transparent while still protecting your intellectual property. The internet is clogged with money-making schemes (and schemers) who obfuscate and deceive. You have stood out as an example of someone who doesn’t do that, and I have admired you and your site for it.
Very best for a happy — and healthy! — holiday season.
Hi Christopher
I really appreciate your comments here, bud. Thank you. Very much.
I have lots of similar things planned for next year and will be doing my best to try and help as many people get going in their virtual entrepreneurial journeys.
Again, thanks for the kind words.
C
Hey Chris, big fan. Would you mind posting a transcript with videos like this for those of us who can’t have the volume up for whatever reason.
Hi Matt
Thanks for the comment.
Actually, I have already decided to go full video as of next year, and will be providing transcripts with pretty much all of the videos I post. I’m ahead of the game!
Thanks again for dropping by.
C
Hey Chris
Sounds like you have had a really disappointing experience – these trolls should …. well I am sure you share my sentiments.
Have a great Christmas and New Year – hope you haven’t been caught too badly by the tropical storms
best regards
John
Hi John
Thanks mate. Was a disappointment, yes. However, I’m continuing and hopefully now that I won’t be talking publicly about it, it can really start thriving!
Have a great silly season.
C
Hey Chris,
Totally makes sense and business should come first. Why people would waste time on activites that don’t make them money amuses me, but whatever. I look forward to your continued success.
Sam
Hi Sam
Well, here’s the thing – it was / is making me money. However, the BS associated with going ‘public’ with it all just aint worth the headache. So, quiet I go and onwards and upwards for the site and other projects, too.
Stay tuned, my man.
C
Hi Chris
Yep, sadly you’re doing the right things. But for the wrong reasons.
I’m 100% behind the move but feel it’s a shame to let the bastards win. After all they wanted you to give up.
HOWEVER you right this is business and therefore you gut is the best guide. Good on you for sticking with it. It done you proud so far
To add to the conspiracy theory, why is it that the site I put in to the project is the worst performer by 1000% of all the sites I’ve built in the last 5 months? It’s not technical I can tell you that much. But the clicks that have been retracted probably mean the same as your site.
The other thing that’s a shame is it would have been neat for us to have got to the 6 month point and seen how many were left probably only 4-5 that have keep going.
For me this was the biggest part of the “project”, I still believe it should have been a challenge with a prize (I vote Ben as the winner, for sheer volume of articles alone, of the project by the way
sorry Robc et al)
What it shows is it’s easy to talk but harder to keep going at niche sites unless you got gold dust on your fingertips it takes a lot of commitment.
Also you decision highlight one of my business choices for 2012. I had planned to do a follow along project over 750 days 26/11/11 to 11/12/2014 (my 55th birthday
) but what’s the point when all the loooser want to do is copy and cripple. Such as shame. 
Those who follow other blogs will have noticed many people stopping letting us know their business is performing. I suspect for similar reasons.
That’s a great shame there is huge value in seeing the income that is created by a strategy such as Spencers at nichepursuits verse say Trents at onlineincomelabe against say Pat’s ssmartpassiveincome all different models with very different outputs. Also Joseph/Justin at adsenseflippers, proof that Flippa works
Ive enjoyed the process and see other people doing well and growing their sites. Congrats.
Best of luck to one and all. Happy Christmas. And sure Chris be cool to see what you doing in Jan.
Steve
Hi Steve
I believe that it is absolutely no coincidence that the site you’ve had featured here as part of the Niche Site Project has had issues… It’s the nature of the beast it would seem.
Lots planned for 2012, mate – thanks for the fantastic support you’ve shown the project and the VBL Tribe. I hope it continues into next year, for sure.
Stay tuned!
C
Sorry things went south and I’ll miss the updates. I totally understand. Good Luck!
Don’t worry, Frank – there will be plenty of other stuff coming up in 2012.
Including regular updates… More info coming soon.
C
Hi Chris;
I understand your decision, but to be honest I’m still surprised. I have really hoped I found a virtual mentor who was putting together an example of what can be done.
Too many leaders say they are making X amount of money and are not willing to show what they are doing, unless you purchase thier products or what they are recommending. After purchasing, you learn the program is missing a piece and for the low price of “X” you can have the missing piece.
Again I understand the reasoning, but perhaps a recommendation could be made to bridge the gap between “business” and “teaching”, Would you consider making a niche site that would continue teaching? but does not directly impact your financial bottom line? Like a throw-a-way site? Perhaps with a small budget per month investment?
Just a thought, it would really help us little guys figure things out.
Lisa
Hi Lisa
I hear ya.
I do plan on doing other stuff next year to continue to help people on growing their online businesses and taking their current brick ‘n mortar businesses and turning them into slightly more virtual entities. There will be more on that in January.
Working on another site is not really an option for me, as I can easily make more money doing other things for myself – but, I hear what you are saying, and I really want to put together some solid tutorial videos for niche site building in the early part of the year, as I feel it is a great way to make money online. The videos will be free, don’t worry!
Stay tuned.
C
Hi Chris – iv been through the same thing and koodos to your move. Just wanted to say that your book shelf looks the same as mine, right down to the dollar bill – by the way does that happen to be a 1957 silver certificate? By the looks of the books on your shelf I figured it would be
If not, it looks like some books are missing in your shelf and I would really enjoy sharing them with you, especially if you already understand whats on the horizon.
Hi Victor
Thanks for the kind words, bud.
You lost me a little on the 1957 silver certificate – care to elaborate?!
I love to get book recco’s from subscribers and other entrepreneurs – please feel free to comment away, right here – with some good titles for us to all check out!
Thanks for the cool comment.
C
I may have been wrong about the dollar bill and some of the titles on your shelf, none the less here are some books I think you will love or hate, depending on what sort of a businessman you are.
-Guide To Investing In Gold And Silver
-Conspiracy Of the Rich: * new rules of money
These should lead to many other books and people.
Times are changing, and I think it is important that those that have had success online (the new rich) need to step up in order to survive these changes. The step up is from rich to becoming wealthy. Rich come and go, but the wealthy will always be. Hopefully you take a peek at these, everyone’s assets are at risk without this info.
Thanks for the recco’s, Victor. I appreciate the time you took to reply to my comment with these potential reads.
Cheers,
C
Sorry that this project had to come to this. I sincerely appreciate how generous you’ve been with all your niche info to this point and try to buy through your affiliate links whenever I get a chance. Thanks again and continued good luck!
Hi Peter
Like I said in another comment, I do intend to do a few free videos highlighting some of the stuff I did and the results behind them. They will pop up in Q1 no doubt. They’ll be easily digested and free, of course.
Thanks for the kind comment and for spending time with us!
Stay tuned.
C
Hi Chris,
Totally understand your reasons and think it’s the right decision. Unfortunately people are lazy and would rather steel than actually do the work,
All the best for 2012,
Dale
Hi Dale
Laziness… Sucks. Copycat stuff… just a plain pain in the butt!
Thanks for the support and see you in the new year, bud.
C
I totally understand your reasons to stop making your niche site public.
Although it is a shame we can’t see the progress, I think you have already made the point. You have shown how anyone can build a niche site and make it profitable in a few months.
Thanks for sharing with us!
Thanks, Carlos.
I really appreciate this comment of yours, sincerely.
Thanks for dropping by.
C
That’s fully understandable what you have done. It’s not a surprise for doing this and as a business decision it makes clear sense of what you have done. Good luck with your niche site and the business.
Hi Justice
Appreciate the kind words and all your support, buddy.
Stay tuned for lots of cool stuff coming up in 2012. I’m announcing a few things in January!
C
I’m very sad today Chris. The reason is because of those fuc…ing losers you’re talking about in your video, who make you to make the decision to stop reporting. I found you though Pat Flynn’s SPI blog and since that time I didn’t miss any of your posts. There are only a few blogger who really can teach us very well (it’s you, Pat, Spencer from Nichepursuits and perhaps few more guys). I will definitely continue reading you, but results reports stimulate me very well. May be you should continue reporting but without mentioning niches, domains, etc.?
Anyway, thank you very much for your work.
Merry Christmas to you Chris!
Hi Michael
Appreciate you popping over from Pat’s space… And for the ongoing support you’ve been showing, obviously.
I am absolutely going to be reporting on a regular basis. It’ll be a slightly different report, but one that I think a lot of people will enjoy – probably a lot more, too.
Stay tuned for more info next month.
C
Dear Chris, I respect your choice. Very understandable.
It is great you are listening to your gut!!!! my project!!!
have a great Xmas and an amazing 2012.
Thanks, Deborah.
Appreciate all your support – and the thumbs up here.
Lets make 2012 the best year yet for us all, huh…?!!
C
Hey Ducker!
Totally respect your decision about this and yes this happens. You will get people copying your content and that’s probably one of the main reasons why a lot of other Internet marketers who have successful niche sites will not reveal them. I’ve learnt a big lesson as well from this, and hence the reason why I haven’t revealed anymore niches to anyone.
Anyway, I’d love to see more monthly reporting about your lifestyle and what you get up to during the months? e.g. like how you went on to become a virtual CEO. That was a great one to follow and something like that would be great to share.
Thanks mate.
Hi Tyrone
There’s gonna be a new report starting out in January – more details to follow.
Thanks for the support this last year.
C
Oh well it was fun while it lasted! I guess we now know why most IMers don’t divulge most of their niche sites.
Totally respect your decision Chris. Sorry to hear you haven’t been well and I hope your adopted country is doing well after the terrible floods you’ve been having.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with in 2012!
Hi Rob
It’s been an extremely tough week for a lot of people here in the Philippines. I dont know anyone personally that was effected by the flooding, etc., from last week – however, I know several that do and the stories have been quite sad, I can tell you. Thanks for the kind wishes.
Lots coming up in 2012, and I’m looking forward to unveiling them in the new year.
Thanks for all the great support you’ve shown for the VBL Tribe this past year – its not gone unnoticed, I can assure you, mate.
Cheers,
C
Too bad for the niche site project.
Too bad for other people because of some bad apples the other good apples are being thrown away.
Anyway, looking forward for the new thing in January.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Chris.
Regards.
Hi Wiguan
Thanks for the comment.
I’m not throwing the site away – merely taking it away from the public eye – I might even decide to report on it, sporadically, again in the future – but, time will tell.
Appreciate the wishes – right backatcha!
C
I totally understand your decisions. Even though you don’t want to talk about your actual niche site, I’m hoping that you continue to teach people what works and what doesn’t work, without having to actually show us the live results on the site. It is sad that it comes to this, but you have my full support.
Happy Holidays!
Hi Richard
The teaching stuff I really enjoy and totally plan on doing all that, trust me. Even taking it up a notch next year, too. More on all that soon, promise!
Thanks for the kind words and support this past year – much appreciated.
C
Oh man.. this sucks. And it’s actually the very same reason why I’ve also decided to not reveal any niche project related details on my blog.
Even now, when I haven’t actually revealed anything specific, I’ve found that few sites are copy-pasting content from few of my sites – which is totally unacceptable and sucks..but like you said – it is what it is. We just have to deal with it.
Looking forward to your January project though! I’m sure it’s going to be great stuff – as always.
Happy holidays bud!
Hi Juha
Been a while since you commented here, bud – I hope you’ve been well.
It’s a very competitive, highly incestuous market, niche site marketing – but, can also be highly profitable, too – hence me giving it a shot. I will continue to build out the site – but, just behind closed doors from now on, thats all.
Thanks for dropping by, bud.
C
Hi Chris
I’m sorry to hear this didn’t work out for you which was perhaps inevitable with all the publicity, but also to say thanks from those of us who have been motivated and inspired by your reports. As a result I made a purchase from yourwebpa.com,
Hi Garry
And thank you for doing so, my friend. We appreciate your confidence in the YourWebPA.com service, trust me.
I hope that you’re online movements don’t take a knock because of what happened to my niche site. The bottom line is that even I am not stopping what I’ve been doing – it works. I’m simply going to be doing it under the public radar, thats all.
Thanks again for the support, and keep up the great work!
C
Hi everybody
Well probably like you i feel a bit deflated bythe end of th eproject. ANd christmas is nearly here (not that i take much notice work to be done) I thought I’d share some data
So brand new domain and URL back end of June to end of novemner 5 month. Whilst alex has dropped from 450,000 back to 1 million not that i ever believed the 500,000 was valid its the ranking i was aiming for all along.
I;d hoped to get to top 5 for my target keywords by this point but fell a bit shy. so here the numbers
Serp Google.com Keyword Exact Local Monthly Searches Estimated Avg. CPC $
11 pedometer 40500 $1.53
9 omron pedometer 6600 $1.72
11 sportline pedometer 1900 $1.24
7 omron hj-112 1000 $0.71
so not to shabby. another month and top 5 should be doable. thats where the traffic and money are.
So what did i learn. Well not a lot really but confirmation of something. 40,500 exact match serahces is not to scary given your prepare to grow the site and do some good seo/backlink building.
Dont bother with low quality links its a waste of money. Less better quality and more diverse links will rank you better but much more importantly you’ll be more stable. I built over 1200 links with senukex in 3 months. 150 remain. sure I used it agressively and it jumped me up the ranks Alexa loved it, but then we fell back.
Where to next… For me 2012 and 2013 are going to be about creating 2 large (1000′s of pages) Authority sites in a 2 niches. small niches sites as well but the focus would be large sites.
an article a day keeps the Panda away
Have fun
Not too shabby indeed, Steve.
I look forward to hearing of your exploits going into next year and beyond. Always fun to ‘hang out’ with you.
C
Hey Chris – fantastic video!
Just thought I’d let you know also that I talked about you on my latest podcast, The Outsource Factor Podcast. It’s episode #3. I’m actually editing it right now (will post tonight or tomorrow). The whole episode is about hiring a VA in the Philippines, and I really enjoyed the content you’ve posted and I fully believe it makes sense to spend some cash to get someone (like you) to help find the right VA.
Not sure what part of the Phils you live in … but I hope everyone in your family is safe and healthy after the storm. I have a VA in Iligan City and I was worried sick about him until I finally heard from him last night. He’s OK. But man, what a disaster it’s been over there.
Sincerely,
Chris
Thanks, Chris.
Appreciate the mention in advance – very nice of you!
We are all good here, thanks – was further south from us. But, man – it’s been brutal for others. My prayers are with them all. Glad your VA turned out to be okay.
Thanks again for the support, and the comment.
C
Hey Chris,
I have to say I’m not surprised to see you or anyone else make the decision to limit what you are sharing especially where the edge is so small. Good for you for having the guts to say enough is enough. In my past career trading equities, sharing your edge virtually guaranteed it’s demise. Even without the hard numbers, I think you still have lots to offer.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Hi Daryn
Thanks for the comment and kind words.
Appreciate the feedback – you’re right, however… sometimes giving away those little ‘secrets’ comes back to bite you in the you-know-what!!!
Again, thanks for the support.
C
Chris sorry to hear you are going dark on revealing your niche, but I get it. We had several sites copied word for word and had to reduce the footprint of all our sites. With AdSense niche sites, this is really the best policy.
Hi Joe
I’ve learned that the hard way – obviously.
But, the funny thing is that I knew it was, anyway – however, I still decided to go forward, thinking that it wouldn’t hurt. I was wrong.
But, as I said in my clip on this post – life goes on. I trust my gut, always, above and beyond everything else – and so, followed it…
Thanks for dropping by, bud.
C
Hey Chris,
Really sorry to hear about all the hassle you’ve had with the niche site. It is a major reason most of us don’t easily reveal the niches we’re currently working on. It’s funny…the niche sites we create are LOW earners and yet we still find people regularly looking to copy our content, our niches, etc.
I’d always wondered how Pat was able to get away with being so open about the particular niche/authority project he’d worked on. If I remember right he did have a few problems, but not at the level you’ve seen. Something you didn’t mention in the video but that DEFINITELY could be a problem is the “well-wishers”…those that cruised over to your site and thought they’d click a few ads to “help you out”. We’re working on a side-project right now where I really did want to be able to reveal the niche we were going to work on, but it lends itself too well to those “well-wishers” that can cause problems. You’d be amazed at how some people don’t think things like that through and think clicking your ads would be helping you out…ugh…
While we were in Bali we had a good discussion with Dan and Ian about revealing some of the niches they work on to specifically show people how to get into the product sales side of IM. In weighing the benefits and the direction they’d like to take their business it made sense to reveal a few of their niches to help get their point across and to go into more detail about how exactly to get a product site off the ground. I think their higher barrier to entry would avoid the “lazy” copycats that quickly jump on AdSense sites, but they’re putting themselves at risk as well.
Thanks, Justin.
I hear ya loud and clear on the well-wishers (love you all, by the way!). I always noticed a spike in not just traffic (obviously!), but also in earning whenever I would post an update… People were obviously popping over to my niche site, following my updates to ‘lend a hand’, so to speak.
Dan has some great niches, I’ve been introduced to a couple and I was amazed at one of them, and the money involved in it!
Lazy people NEVER get anywhere in life. Lets continue the hustle, thats what I say!!!
Cheers,
C
Sorry to hear about all the trouble, Chris.
Chris Guthrie published a blog post just a while ago about how someone can dig out things about your website if you share info about it (and also how to protect against that).
http://www.makemoneyontheinternet.com/how-i-found-every-website-you-own/
I know you already have taken the protective measures, but sharing some more can’t hurt, I guess.
Hi Miikka
I remember reading that post from Chris, he brought up some great points and ‘showed the way’ in an easy to follow format there. Amazing, isn’t it. He is very good at covering his bases, too – you have to admire that!
Thanks for the comment.
C
PS. Be sure to check out my interview with Chris for the VBL Podcast.
Thanks for the update Chris.Was jst doing a quick check in to see what is going on…
Sorry to hear about the trouble you have had with people stealing your ideas and content. It seems just a couple bad apples, always seem to spoil it for everyone.
Wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas too!
Mr X.
Hi there, Mr.X
Bad apples are what they are – not much me, you or anyone else could do about it, obviously. But, you’re right, they have basically spoiled it. Shame, but life goes on…
C
Hi Chris !
Too bad for the reports…
I couldn’t imagine that some people could be such pain in the *bip*.
I was currently thinking about giving niche sites a try, I’ll have to keep my niches and my websites for me from what I can see.
Keep up the good work !
Hi Harold
Thanks for the on-going support, bud.
They are a great money maker – just be sure to keep them a little quieter than I did. We are in recovery mode right now, but doing well.
Appreciate you dropping by and commenting.
C
Hey Chris,
I want to say I was quite inspired by your niche site because I really thought when you started it out it will have a hard time reaching the first page for the primary keyword — well, it did — but the long tail traffic more than made up for it.
I understand your decision, and i think it’s the right one.
Good luck and happy new year!
Hi Chris
We’ll get there, I am sure of it. I just wont be telling the world about it anymore, thats all…!
Appreciate your support, bud.
C
Hey Chris,
I just mentioned on my latest article, want to see if you’re ok with it!
Thanks in advance!!
Sergio
PS. I would have asked BEFORE publishing but I had a technical glitch with the post scheduling and well, it’s a long story.
Absolutely, man! No problems…
Thanks for the mention.
C
It’s too bad that we can’t be transparent about the sites we build. Thanks for trying to be transparent in the beginning.
I completely understand your decision.