Niche Project: Hawaiian Honey For Sale

It all started over breakfast just about 2 weeks ago. “Hey! We should sell this online!” We talked about it for a few moments and, already completely convinced as to the quality and “sweetness” of our potential product, we decided to give it a go. We brainstormed some ideas and did our research and, a few days later, in between time spent on freelance work, RawHawaiianHoney.com was born.

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