We worked out a deal with our beekeeping friend and his small farm in Hawaii, put together a simple website, and launched an AdWords campaign to drive some initial traffic.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be detailing the results of this little project. My goal is to present a simple example of taking a good idea and turning into a successful niche marketing reality.

Here are some initial project stats:

Project Inspiration: An idea mentioned over breakfast

Initial Research: Checking search estimates via Google AdWords and WordTracker.

Initial Action Steps: Registering honey related domains via GoDaddy.com – Setting up hosting – Putting together an initial design and coding it in CSS – Integrating “Buy Now” buttons from Google Checkout – Added pMetrics stats tracking – Setting up an AdWords campaign and launching it.

Money Spent: $40+ in domain registrations (2 years each – free privacy for buying 5 or more) – $1.87 initially with AdWords

Approximate Time Spent: 2 hours in brainstorming – 4 hours in design, coding, integration (spread out over several days)

Results: As of May 16, 2007, 2 days after going live, we’ve had 10 clicks through Google AdWords. This is very low considering the number of searches for “honey” per day and has much to be improved on. As time progresses, I’ll be sharing more information on AdWords and setting up a successful advertising campaign.

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The challenge with this project, and one that makes its way into most good niche marketing projects, is that my family and I know and are completely convinced as to the exceptional quality of what we’re offering. The honey is some of the best we’ve ever tasted and we’ve tried lots of different honey. Our challenge, now, is to convey that message to our potential customers. Once they try the honey, we’re convinced that they’ll be happy with their purchase. The challenge is to encourage them to try it : ).

Alrighty, and that’s that! Take a look at the site: Raw Hawaiian Honey

Call to Action: This will be the first of many public niche marketing projects and as such, your questions and comments are not only welcomed but eagerly looked forward too. For those of you with experience in niche marketing, I welcome your suggestions and reviews. For those of you new to niche marketing, I welcome any and all questions you may have.. nothing is too simple : ).

Questions for my readers: Visit the site with the mindset of a first time visitor. Imagine that you have an interest in honey and, even if you don’t, imagine that something about the site caught your interest, you clicked, and now it has a few split seconds to try and win your attention.

1. What initial impression are you left with after first taking a look at the site?
2. Does what you first see encourage you to read more or would you just leave? Are you encouraged to read the content, skim it, or just leave?
3. After reading or skimming through the content, do you have a desire to try the product for yourself? If so and if anything, what stands in the way of making the purchase? If not, what could be different to have changed your mind?

While this feedback will be very valuable for the project itself, much more so I’d like you guys to be able to get an idea of the things that need to be taken into consideration as you make your way towards a successful niche project.

This little project has a lot of work to do and I’m looking forward to sharing the progress as we go along : ).

Next: After getting more feedback (though you can do it “alone”, peer review is a very important part of a successful niche project) I’ll make updates to the site. We have several new sections of content to add as well as a few new forms of advertising to bring in, all of which I’ll be documenting over the next few days and weeks.

Until the next update,

-Jonathan

In other news.. February is coming to a close soon! That’ll bring us already into the third month of 2006! That’s be bringing us close up on 25% of the way through the year. That’s crazy! It already feels like it’s been so much longer, time’s just been flying by! A few short months from now and I’m going to hit the big 20. Twenty years old.. wow.. I don’t feel that old sometimes ;).

Speaking of hitting the big 20, my good friend Matt will be leaving the teenage years just 7 days before me and he’s already shining bright. Matt’s latest product was absolutely insane.. He sold 3 complete websites for $1.. $1! That’s a really tough price to beat ;). Haven’t had a chance to check it out yet? Head on over to his blog, drop him a line, and ask him about it, he’ll fill you in. Be sure to tell him I sent you!

And finally as I wrap the evening up, I’ve got a small little announcement to sneak in here.. The buzz blog is now live! It’s still a big work in progress and it’s looking for more writers. I kicked off today’s news on a sad note with the passing away of Andreas Katsulas. My condolances to his fans, he had many of them. The buzz blog is a small experiment of mine and a way of keeping track of the latest news.. We’ll see how it develops.

And that’s just about that for the night! There’ll be more soon :). Have yourselves an awesome evening and I look forward, as always, to hearing from each and every one of you! God bless!

-Jonathan

So far so good :). The transition from Blogger to WordPress has been going well! There’s a bunch more cosmetive work and some ‘behind-the-scenes’ work to be done and I’ll be getting to that over the next couple of days ;). Blogger is an awesome publishing platform, especially for people just getting started. It just wasn’t meeting my needs. Look forward to a bunch of cool updates in the near future!

Also.. be sure to let me know what you think! Positive comments are the most appreciated ;)!.. *grins*

In other news, I’ve joined a new membership program today! I discovered Article Lightning this afternoon, a really professional monthly PLR (private label rights) article program run by Mike Long. I’ve just bought in and so far I’ve been very impressed. I’ll write up a review shortly :).

I’m considering dropping another membership of mine.. I won’t say more than that it’s a membership that may just not be right for me. I’ve decided to give it a full shot and have put it ‘on trial’, so to speak. If it doesn’t work out over the next couple of days, my $57 a month is going elsewhere ;).

That’s what it boils down to guys.. If you’re not getting value with your membership programs you’ve just gotta move on. Now, make sure that the YOU aren’t the reason! I decided to go ahead and give this program a shot because it didn’t take a lot of my time and I hadn’t given it a fair chance yet. A program is only as good as the person who uses it :). Nothing happens when you don’t take action. We’ll see how that one goes ;).

And that’s just about that! My good friend Matt Geri is getting ready to launch another product of his.. he’s been working verry hard on it and it is looking NICE. I’m going to buy it.. especially since it’s going to be a price you can’t beat ;). I’ll let you guys know as soon as it’s out which will probably be sometime tomorrow. There’s going to be a small feature in it from yours truly! ;)

And that’s that! Now I’m off to finish up a few projects and then work sumore on the blog! Have an AWESOME rest of the week guys!

Oh and.. Happy Valentines Day! A special “Happy Valentines” to my awesome girlfriend, who’s phone has been down all day and whom I haven’t been able to call up and surprise yet.. I love you dear :).

Until next time!

-Jonathan Wold

So this morning, before I get started on my crazy day, let’s talk about some membership programs! First off, if I’m willing to be shelling out a few hundred each and every month, they’ve got to be worth it! As a serious niche marketer, the programs that I retain my memberships to have made a huge difference. Whether an article program, a website-a-month program, or even just an information program, each of my memberships have contributed towards my success as a niche marketer, especially over these past few months. Today I’ll be sharing overviews of some of my favorites and then.. it’s back to work! :) Ready? Let’s roll!

Ready Made Content – This article membership program belongs to my good friend Joel Osborne, and was the first membership program I joined! This one started it all : ). As a member of Joel’s program, I get 150 original articles, each month, for less than 20 cents a piece. I’ve bought hundreds of articles over the past few months, both in packs and individually written, and let me tell you.. 20 cents a piece is tough to beat ; ). Each month Joel takes suggestions from the members, has articles written in a number of excellent topics, and delivers them! You can’t ask for much more and at that price, even if you only used 5 of the articles, you’re getting more than your money’s worth!

InfoGoRound – These guys wound up being the second membership site I joined! What makes them unique is that in addition to having articles each month, they deliver complete information product packages each month! That means that each and every month you’re delivered an information product that you can take, brand as your own, and resell! I don’t know if you’ve looked at the costs of product development lately and whether you have or not, I’ll guarantee that you can’t get a high quality good sized information product fully developed for less than 30 dollars, which is what they charge : ). In addition to that, they have a comprehensive database of articles and the option to submit your own articles and earn a free membership! Each month you submit an article that gets approved, your membership fee is waived. How cool is that?

Nicherama – These are probably one of the least well-known of my favorite memberships. Kevin Birch and Lou Roggio run Nicherama and for the absurdly low price of just $17 a month, you get a complete website-in-a-box. I’ve bought a few of these ‘types’ of memberships and Kevin and Lou’s is not only the one I’m happiest with and the one I’ve had the most success with, but also the cheapest! Each month they give you a complete website. Just a few minutes of quick changes, an upload, a couple links in, and its good to go! Just one of my websites through Nicherama has generated over $100 in the few short months I’ve had it up. Kevin and Lou are also extremely good with support which means a lot, especially to someone just getting started.

Alright! And that’s that! I am a member of a few other programs but one of them is sold out and the others.. well.. I need to look at them a bit more thoroughly before deciding whether or not to make any recommendations. These 3 are memberships that have made a big difference to me and my niche marketing experience over the past few months and are sites that I can recommend without any hesitations.

Have any memberships you recommend? Completely new to this whole memberships idea? I look forward to hearing from you! Drop me a comment or send me off an email : ). If you have a membership program to recommend, be sure to send me your affiliate link and.. a good explanation of why you recommend it. Drop me an email to jonathan(at)woldboys(dot)com.

Alright, off to a big day! All the best to you guys!

-Jonathan