Build a Niche Store Empire in 12 Weeks – Add a New Niche Site in an Hour!

The title is somewhat misleading, it should say… “Watch ME add a New Niche Store in an Hour!” :-) Really, the video is 41 minutes long… I take it from looking into my kitchen last week and thinking of a niche, to the store being active in a very broad niche! This site is going to be one of the unique ones you want to watch from start to finish!

Comments ALWAYS welcome!

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About the Author, Mark Hansen

Mark Hansen has written 468 article(s) at the Niche Store Builder site.

I have been doing my part to "Build the Internet" since 1994, when I built my first website! Since then, I have built hundreds of niche websites for myself and many others, focused on design, applications, ecommerce, search optimization and internet marketing. 

Latest Readers Who Commented on This Article

22 Comments »

  • Phil R said:

    Hi Mark,

    I just watched your video and I have a question or two.

    The only keyword research you did was to find the high searches
    for your categories without reguards to the KEI or competition.

    Is this a change or will you do it later?

    Infact you picked the domain and everything before you knew how
    many searches there were. What if the category only had one or two searches and you bought a domain name for it. Isn’t that a
    waste of time and effort?

    Is the fact that Terapeak showed that people were buying you didn’t need to do keyword research first?

    You video just seemed different from what you taught at the beginning of the series when we were picking out a niche with
    keyword research.

    Thanks,

    Phil

    Reply – Quote
    # 27 February 2008 at 2:05 am
  • Mark (author) said:

    @ Phil -

    In the video, I first looked at the sales volume in Terapeak, and determined that the Cabinet market itself (Not really a niche market) had a high volume of sales and listings in eBay. Relistically, any product, or in this case, “Term” (cabinet) that has a moderate to high number of sales over the course of 7 days, is going to be a worthwhile market.

    Since this is such a broad market, I am not really going to research my MAIN categories too indepth, but WILL definitely spend quite a bit of time on my subcategory or product pages, running very detailed KEI comparisons for each.

    In the first example of a “Hybrid Golf Club” site, it is already a long tail phrase… and the category choices are going to be somewhat limited based on the phrase itself. With “Cabinet or Cabinets” each individual main category will be setup and researched as a long tail phrase itself!

    In regard to your last question… yes, the fact that Terapeak showed SO many sales (volume) across so many categories within eBay, it told me there would be demand for the market or store. Narrowing that volume into categories and subcategories (Product pages) will almost be similar to developing a separate niche store for each main category.

    Mark

    Mark

    Reply – Quote
    # 27 February 2008 at 7:09 am
  • James Mann said:

    Great video Mark

    I am learning more each day thanks to your videos. Knowing how to go into mySQL and adding a query was definitely something I didn’t know about.

    I haven not seen all these videos yet so I think I will go back to the first video in the series and watch them all.

    I am really having some fun with BANS but I am still walking, running will come a little later.

    Reply – Quote
    # 27 February 2008 at 7:37 am
  • Rod said:

    Thanks Mark –

    Following the steps along the way like this clarified for me how the set up works.

    And thanks for boldly tackling a broader cross-category topic – this approach opens up access to some less competitive niches.

    For me it helped that I had already bumbled through building a first time store similar to this in another (smaller) cross-category niche, including playing in phpmyadmin. This meant I was able to spot a lot of helpful little tips – and to enjoy a few “aha” moments – along the way. The process will be easier and quicker to do next time.

    Reply – Quote
    # 27 February 2008 at 12:34 pm
  • Warren aka Edgie said:

    Mark:
    This is a little off the subject but could use a little help. When in my admin. area of my store the only products that show up are on the main page. In watching the video I think I know why. My store address is my Host gator server address and not On Line Camera World as you did when setting up the cabinet store. I went to my c panel but can’t see how to change it…Now this is a guess and if you have other suggestions please advise..

    Also I don’t have a raw Bans file in my control panel. What is the easy way to get one there?

    Thanks for all you are doing am trying to keep up but work long hours amd am a little slow….Warren

    Reply – Quote
    # 27 February 2008 at 4:15 pm
  • Mark (author) said:

    Hi Warren -

    Your site works fine on my end,…

    Open a new browser and type your domain into the browser, I can go through all your categories with no problem at all. Products on every page!

    in regard to uploading the raw bans… check this link: http://www.thenichestorebuilder.com/build-a-niche-store-empire-adding-new-domains-to-your-hostgator-account.htm

    Mark

    Reply – Quote
    # 27 February 2008 at 4:19 pm
  • Warren aka Edgie said:

    Mark:
    It is fine on line just not when in my area where I built it ( My admin area)

    Warren

    Reply – Quote
    # 27 February 2008 at 4:48 pm
  • Eric said:

    Raw Bans file inside the Hostgator cPanel?????

    Must’ve missed that video….and I can’t seem to locate it.

    Can anyone point me in the right direction? Looks like an EXTREMELY easy way to upload a store! :)

    Reply – Quote
    # 27 February 2008 at 6:25 pm
  • Eric said:

    I’m a moron….sorry. Just saw Mark’s link to the video (above)

    …don’t mind me…

    …carry on! ;)

    Reply – Quote
    # 27 February 2008 at 6:26 pm
  • Warren aka Edgie said:

    Mark:
    Ok have this site so screwed up now I think I will start over again. Trying to get all my pages to show in my store admin area I have lost several catorgies and sub catorgies and to top it off I get a 404 message on all the pages in my site when I go to view my store. This is what I was trying to do got this from the bans forum…

    In order to get products displaying on the home page please follow the steps below:

    1. Log into your store admin panel
    2. Click on the Store Pages link
    3. Next to your main chosen category – Baby – click on the Edit link
    4. On the edit page find the input box named Search Query
    5. Enter a search query to target your home page products…ie: Baby
    6. Save your page changes…

    I complete it for my category (Baby & Maternity) and it worked prefectly.

    I can’t see any way to undo this mess any advice….Thanks again

    Reply – Quote
    # 27 February 2008 at 6:49 pm
  • Honey Wesley said:

    It just keeps getting better and better! I enjoyed this video tremendously and learned a lot even though I’ve put up three BANS stores already!

    I’m looking forward to putting up my next three the proper way!

    A big ol’ kiss to you! MMMMWWWAAAHHHH!!

    Thanks, and keep ‘em coming!

    Honey

    Reply – Quote
    # 28 February 2008 at 1:25 am
  • Chris said:

    The download button is missing. Plus, your audio goes really low after a while.

    Other than that, nice video!

    Reply – Quote
    # 28 February 2008 at 8:36 pm
  • CSmith said:

    Hi Mark,

    I have been following along and patiently taking my time following the steps. I am excited because I already have 2 sites up and have 10 more researched.

    I just wanted to give a tip on Terapeak. If you click on the “+” beside the category within the Search Report section, it will allow you to see the avg price, sell thru, etc. with one glance. You are able to quickly compare which categories are doing well or not.

    Reply – Quote
    # 29 February 2008 at 2:11 am
  • Rochelle said:

    Mark – Fabulous video! I finally found a spare hour to watch it and I’m glad I did.

    Even though I’ve got 12+ BANS sites I learned some great tips from this. Perhaps the best was the raw BANS file in cPanel. Makes setting up a new site a snap! I might have to write up an instruction on that one.

    I have a few comments and questions now that I’ve finished the video:

    - The audio drops in volume about 5 minutes in but seems to correct itself at 16:38 minutes.

    - I thought we had to create new users for every database we add. To clarify, it is ok to use the same user for every database?

    - You stated that users of HostGator don’t need to change their CONT files back to 644. Why not? (I hadn’t heard this before.)

    - Regarding choosing categories within CJ when adding a new site (for the new PID) I have been choosing auction each time for the type of site. How important is whatever we choose here?

    - Regarding your database sitewide search mod, can we add an asterisk ( * ) after a term to get all terms that start with a specific word? For your store, could you have entered ‘cabinet*’ ?

    Rochelle

    Reply – Quote
    # 29 February 2008 at 7:36 pm
  • Mark (author) said:

    Rochelle -

    I am actually surprised so many have sat through the whole video! :-) I heard that same issue with the audio and only think something went awry during the conversion into Google video… it was actually a constant recording for the most part.

    - I thought we had to create new users for every database we add. To clarify, it is ok to use the same user for every database?

    1 user works for 100 databases! :-) There is no need to add a new user within the same HG account.

    - You stated that users of HostGator don’t need to change their CONT files back to 644. Why not? (I hadn’t heard this before.)

    When you install the site from your own hostgator account, the file is already at 644, and never needs to be changed BEFORE you do the software load. Since it is being done from localhost, HG allows the edit on the file. PUBLIC website users are not within the localhost environment and therefore cannot write to the file.

    - Regarding choosing categories within CJ when adding a new site (for the new PID) I have been choosing auction each time for the type of site. How important is whatever we choose here?

    I choose the actual market for my sites. Its my understanding this may have an effect on how vendors automatically accept or deny your application for the other affiliate programs. For instance, if you are applying for a Credit Card affiliate account and have auction on your general market, the CC vendor may have chosen to automatically approve ALL sites that are in the home and garden category, but manually approve all others.

    - Regarding your database sitewide search mod, can we add an asterisk ( * ) after a term to get all terms that start with a specific word? For your store, could you have entered ‘cabinet*’ ?

    Absolutely! ANY characters you would use in the search term box works fine in this box as well. For me, I add the term in order to narrow the results in the beginning, as I go through and optimize my categories, I usually change each one as needed. The benefit is that ALL those child pages you didnt really need, but came as part of another category… ALL have relevant terms to your niche site! :-)

    Mark

    Reply – Quote
    # 29 February 2008 at 9:16 pm
  • Rochelle said:

    Mark – Thanks for answering each of my questions.

    And now, another one: How do you get the grey box around the quoted text when you add a comment?

    Reply – Quote
    # 29 February 2008 at 9:58 pm
  • Phil said:

    Mark,

    Loved the raw bans tip.
    I want to remark quickly on how I got a quick burst of activity on to my new bans site http://www.jeepsandthings.com
    I literally went to the news groups and posted the link to my site on only 4 auto/jeeps groups that were un moderated and overnight the stats shot up with 200 views in 2 days,

    It has also been crawled by google and yahoo and it also
    gave me a bunch of search queries used on the site, which has given me some new ideas for future niche sites.
    Literally all in only 2 days. I haven’t even stared to begin getting the back links or SE submissions yet or even the site map in place.

    Stats info:
    United States us 583 7485 21.13 MB
    Unknown ip 48 72 1.55 MB
    Canada ca 9 17 248.43 KB
    Netherlands nl 8 20 251.70 KB
    Germany de 1 4 129.51 KB
    South Africa za 1 2 29.05 KB
    Russian Federation ru 1 4 129.99

    Unknown robot (identified by hit on ‘robots.txt’) 0+28 1.10 MB 29 Feb 2008 – 10:22
    Googlebot 18+8 739.52 KB 27 Feb 2008 – 20:47
    Unknown robot (identified by ‘bot/’ or ‘bot-’) 4+4 248.80 KB 25 Feb 2008 – 03:43
    Yahoo Slurp 1+1 40.58 KB 26 Feb 2008 – 22:07
    Unknown robot (identified by ‘robot’) 1+1 39.91 KB 25 Feb 2008 – 16:15
    Unknown robot (identified by ‘crawl’) 2 39.84 KB 27 Feb 2008 – 16:30

    cucv sales 8 11.7 %
    brenn t-16 carrier 3 4.4 %
    m151a2 for sale 3 4.4 %
    m37 dodge troop carrier 2 2.9 %
    s280 shelter for sale 2 2.9 %
    m35 a2 for sale 2 2.9 %
    cucv m1008 2 2.9 %
    cckw 353 for sale 2 2.9 %
    ford burma jeep 2 2.9 %
    1941 dodge wc for sale

    I generally don’t like the news groups but this has renewed my enthuesiasm.

    I also have another site http://www.hangarauctions.com which has earned about $90 this year with no promotion at at other than adding the site adress on to about 100 emaills to aviation friends and customers. So, yes folks, BANS does work.

    Your videos and site are great.

    Cheers

    Phil

    Reply – http://www.jeepsandthings.com \r\nI literally went to the news groups and posted the link to my site on only 4 auto\/jeeps groups that were un moderated and overnight the stats shot up with 200 views in 2 days,\r\n\r\nIt has also been crawled by google and yahoo and it also\r\ngave me a bunch of search queries used on the site, which has given me some new ideas for future niche sites.\r\nLiterally all in only 2 days. I haven\’t even stared to begin getting the back links or SE submissions yet or even the site map in place.\r\n\r\nStats info:\r\n United States us 583 7485 21.13 MB \r\n Unknown ip 48 72 1.55 MB \r\nCanada ca 9 17 248.43 KB \r\n Netherlands nl 8 20 251.70 KB \r\nGermany de 1 4 129.51 KB \r\n South Africa za 1 2 29.05 KB \r\n Russian Federation ru 1 4 129.99 \r\n\r\nUnknown robot (identified by hit on \’robots.txt\’) 0+28 1.10 MB 29 Feb 2008 – 10:22 \r\nGooglebot 18+8 739.52 KB 27 Feb 2008 – 20:47 \r\nUnknown robot (identified by \’bot\/\’ or \’bot-\’) 4+4 248.80 KB 25 Feb 2008 – 03:43 \r\nYahoo Slurp 1+1 40.58 KB 26 Feb 2008 – 22:07 \r\nUnknown robot (identified by \’robot\’) 1+1 39.91 KB 25 Feb 2008 – 16:15 \r\nUnknown robot (identified by \’crawl\’) 2 39.84 KB 27 Feb 2008 – 16:30 \r\n\r\ncucv sales 8 11.7 % \r\nbrenn t-16 carrier 3 4.4 % \r\nm151a2 for sale 3 4.4 % \r\nm37 dodge troop carrier 2 2.9 % \r\ns280 shelter for sale 2 2.9 % \r\nm35 a2 for sale 2 2.9 % \r\ncucv m1008 2 2.9 % \r\ncckw 353 for sale 2 2.9 % \r\nford burma jeep 2 2.9 % \r\n1941 dodge wc for sale \r\n\r\nI generally don\’t like the news groups but this has renewed my enthuesiasm. \r\n\r\nI also have another site http://www.hangarauctions.com which has earned about $90 this year with no promotion at at other than adding the site adress on to about 100 emaills to aviation friends and customers. So, yes folks, BANS does work.\r\n\r\nYour videos and site are great. \r\n\r\nCheers\r\n\r\nPhil’); return false;”>Quote
    # 29 February 2008 at 11:30 pm
  • Cindy said:

    Mark,

    I tried doing one site without changing the 644 but it didn’t work so I always make the change. Is it possible that there is some setting on my account that is causing this?

    Also, I understand that HostGator is upgrading to PHP5 and we need to be sure our databases are updated. Can you go over the process?

    Thanks.

    Cindy

    Reply – Quote
    # 29 February 2008 at 11:52 pm
  • Terry Tarlton said:

    Hey Mark, In this video you relate to setting up a “skeleton” site so that when I add a domain I can use File Manager in C-Panel as per your instructions in this video. What OTHER video descibed this process?

    Terry

    Reply – Quote
    # 2 March 2008 at 9:24 pm
  • Dorian said:

    I’m unable to download your videos. When I click the link on the lower-right corner of the video and get taken to google video, there is not an option there to download the video. The only thing there is a button that says, “Email-Embed”. Perhaps the download option is only available for Windows browsers. :-(

    Reply – Quote
    # 5 March 2008 at 8:21 am
  • Mark (author) said:

    @ Dorian -

    Very odd… I went to Google myself and the download does not appear for this video, even though it is checked as an option in the menu administration.

    Mark

    Reply – Quote
    # 5 March 2008 at 8:42 am
  • Manuel Merz said:

    Hey Mark, first of all thank you for doing all this inside know how about build a niche store, really appreciated.

    I am not quite sure myself why you did a mysql query and not use the search query inside your bans admin to determinate “cabinets”. Has that any particular reason? Thanks for any feedback and keep your work up :)

    Reply – Quote
    # 4 July 2008 at 4:56 am

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