Burt's Challenge Entry: Niche-Templates.com
Intro
Let me start by saying that although I have a lot of experience online, I am very new to the AIS concept. Since I found Burt's Blog a couple months ago I've spent some time and created a couple NPB and RSSGM sites to get my feet wet. I've had mixed success with these types of sites so far (although I can see the potential), so the challenge seemed like the perfect way to progress.
What to do
After taking into consideration the terms of the challenge, and the knowledge and advice gleaned from Burt's and others' blogs over the past couple months, it seemed the most successful AIS sites were the product based ones. As the challenge was to earn the most in a set amount of time, I decided this was the route to go.
I've always wanted to do a template store (but never found the time) so I started to think of what type of template I wanted to make and hopefully sell. I have a lot of web design experience as well as development experience with several open source scripts so there were a couple avenues I could take. In the end I decided to create templates for RSSGM as it is relatively easy to make them and the market for the product is small but growing. Plus if I end up not selling any at least I can use them on my own sites :).
Making the site
First thing on my list was to research download scripts that integrate with PayPal. After searching Hot Scripts I settled on dotWidget for PayPal as it seemed like it offered the best features for the price, plus it has Burt's seal of approval so that helped in the decision.
For the domain I wanted something that would be somewhat relevant but I wanted to keep RSSGM out of the name in case I want to provide other types of templates in the future. Since the word "niche" is used quite a bit in the AIS world I thought that might be a good one to go with. Combine that with "templates" and I got niche-templates.com.
Next I created 5 templates to be sold on the site. I made 3 versions of the first one and 2 versions of the second by varying the colours and graphics used. As I was going on vacation for Christmas this was all I could manage to get done for a Dec. 15th launch. After getting back in the new year I found I had made some sales which motivated me to create another template for the site which I did a couple days later.
Promoting it
I created a couple backlinks from some of my established sites to get Google to come by. This seemed to work as I got indexed very quickly. I also wanted to get the word out about my site to the community that would most benefit from it so I decided to create and release a template to the project under the GPL, as from past experience this seemed like the best way to get visitors to your site (I only did this about 2 weeks ago so I'm not entirely sure what results it's given me).
Results
My total income from the site during the challenge period was $147.30 USD gross (there was $8.91 in PayPal fees) by selling 14 templates.
There were also some startup costs associated with the project. The domain name was $8 USD and the dotWidget script was $29 USD, totaling $37. Hosting costs weren't a factor as I used my pre-existing reseller account. My time spent on the project was about 20 hours (give or take a few).
Positive notes
Overall it was a good experience. There are probably some things I'd do differently if I were to do it again. In any case I should be able to bring the knowledge I've gained to my next AIS.Also I'd like to put out a big Thanks! to Burt for sponsoring the challenge.
Let me start by saying that although I have a lot of experience online, I am very new to the AIS concept. Since I found Burt's Blog a couple months ago I've spent some time and created a couple NPB and RSSGM sites to get my feet wet. I've had mixed success with these types of sites so far (although I can see the potential), so the challenge seemed like the perfect way to progress.
What to do
After taking into consideration the terms of the challenge, and the knowledge and advice gleaned from Burt's and others' blogs over the past couple months, it seemed the most successful AIS sites were the product based ones. As the challenge was to earn the most in a set amount of time, I decided this was the route to go.
I've always wanted to do a template store (but never found the time) so I started to think of what type of template I wanted to make and hopefully sell. I have a lot of web design experience as well as development experience with several open source scripts so there were a couple avenues I could take. In the end I decided to create templates for RSSGM as it is relatively easy to make them and the market for the product is small but growing. Plus if I end up not selling any at least I can use them on my own sites :).
Making the site
First thing on my list was to research download scripts that integrate with PayPal. After searching Hot Scripts I settled on dotWidget for PayPal as it seemed like it offered the best features for the price, plus it has Burt's seal of approval so that helped in the decision.
For the domain I wanted something that would be somewhat relevant but I wanted to keep RSSGM out of the name in case I want to provide other types of templates in the future. Since the word "niche" is used quite a bit in the AIS world I thought that might be a good one to go with. Combine that with "templates" and I got niche-templates.com.
Next I created 5 templates to be sold on the site. I made 3 versions of the first one and 2 versions of the second by varying the colours and graphics used. As I was going on vacation for Christmas this was all I could manage to get done for a Dec. 15th launch. After getting back in the new year I found I had made some sales which motivated me to create another template for the site which I did a couple days later.
Promoting it
I created a couple backlinks from some of my established sites to get Google to come by. This seemed to work as I got indexed very quickly. I also wanted to get the word out about my site to the community that would most benefit from it so I decided to create and release a template to the project under the GPL, as from past experience this seemed like the best way to get visitors to your site (I only did this about 2 weeks ago so I'm not entirely sure what results it's given me).
Results
My total income from the site during the challenge period was $147.30 USD gross (there was $8.91 in PayPal fees) by selling 14 templates.
There were also some startup costs associated with the project. The domain name was $8 USD and the dotWidget script was $29 USD, totaling $37. Hosting costs weren't a factor as I used my pre-existing reseller account. My time spent on the project was about 20 hours (give or take a few).
Positive notes
- I had only expected to get my $37 back at the start of the challenge so I am quite pleased with the final result.
- I have had to answer zero support requests which hopefully means the product is working properly.
- Gained more knowledge about AIS in general.
- I had fun doing it.
- Took quite a bit more time to do than if I had created a generic keyword portal site with adsense and affiliate links.
- Some of my customers purchased more than 1 template. I might create some bundles to see if that helps with more sales.
- Making some theme-based templates seems like a good idea (holidays, seasons, events, popular niches).
- Running promotions/specials near the end of the month seemed to drive sales, although it could have been a coincedence in timing.
Overall it was a good experience. There are probably some things I'd do differently if I were to do it again. In any case I should be able to bring the knowledge I've gained to my next AIS.Also I'd like to put out a big Thanks! to Burt for sponsoring the challenge.
posted by geebandit at
10:24 a.m.
1 Comments:
http://www.portaltemplates.info - if you are looking for RSSGM templates :)
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Anonymous, at Sat May 05, 12:39:00 a.m. EDT
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