May 9, 2008
Save on Gas?I know, loaded statements for sure! Yesterday, Alan over at Affiliate Confession wrote a post about using the current gas prices to your advantage with Build a Niche Store.
While I don’t have a store of my own in the exact market (I do have a Segway store though), I thought it was worth going a bit deeper into and explaining how to use BANS to actually Save on Gas and stick it to the Oil Companies at the same time!
I see heads spinning from here… Mark, how in the world can a Build a Niche Store website help me Save on Gas?
In order to understand how using a niche site can help you save on gas or even get FREE GAS, you have to realize there is literally NOTHING that our Government, or we as individuals, can do to change the price of gas at the pump! Most pumps have instructions that begin with… Insert card, Lift Nozzle… here lately, they need to add Bend Over! The only thing we can do is find a way to reduce the impact on our own budget and set your Build a Niche Store goals accordingly! Bear with me during this quick little exercise and you will see exactly what I mean…
Back in 1982 when I first started driving, I remember paying .75 cents a gallon for gas! In order to get my gas that cheap again, I need do a bit of quick math and determine how much a niche site will need to earn each week. Assuming I use about 12 gallons each week @ $3.75 per gallon, that’s a cost of approximately $45.00/week on gas only! That same amount used to cost me $9.00/week in 1982! I need to build a site that will earn only $36.00 each week, to overcome the high cost I currently pay! Imagine… after 3-6 months and your niche site is earning $200+ per month, you will be getting FREE GAS! Puts in a whole new perspective doesn’t it?
Here is where the fun begins… figuring out which market to target! In Alan post, he recommends going into a very good market like Scooters or Mopeds and after a bit of my own product research in WordTracker, the market is definitely ripe for the picking! But… what if you were to take it a step farther and target not only the gas saving vehicle, but SEVERAL ways to save on gas? Just because the term “Save on Gas” is not an actual product… does not mean its not a niche market.
My first step of research is over at the wikiHow page on how to save on gas. The page is actually very helpful and pointed out a few things I can try on my own vehicles to spare the gas pinch while I get this new store off the ground. Some of the notables:
Along with these product level ways to save on gas, how about some of the other things people would do in order to save, that could be easily implemented through your hostgator account? After only 10 minutes of quick research in WordTracker… people are starving for more resources on how they can save on gas. Not only will your site be a BANS affiliate site, it will eventually become an authority sites based on all the info you have!
Now that have the idea - what do you do next?
First and most importantly, research your niche market with WordTracker or some other keyword research tools. Find the terms associated with gas savings and start looking for domains that fit the bill! I used several methods from Brian to find an expired domain with traffic I could use for this purpose… If you can find a domain name that already has some history, links and traffic, you could start earning from day 1!
Just for kicks… I ran he terms scooter and moped through WordTracker, some of the higher kei terms:
The bottom line… don’t always focus on products only for your Build a Niche Store. Thinking outside the box just a little, could get your Gas for .75 cents a gallon, or even Free Gas within just a few short months!
Mark
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18 Responses to “Save on Gas - Supplement your Income with a Profitable Niche Market”
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This is a very clever idea. Promoting an ideal over a product more or less… And since that ideal is currently such a hot button (Saving money on gas), there is by default, MANY products which you can sell to accomplish it!
Very good idea, I will definitely think about what you have posted here!
Mark,
Great post. Looks like you went into a bit more depth than I did. There are some nice ideas in your post for niches, one of which I put up a site for a couple of days ago. That’s what it’s all about, finding the niche and capitalizing on it.
Thanks for the link BTW,
Alan
After further research reading this post, I decided to try to find a good domain for a store in this niche… I found one that I thought was a really good find: http://www.save-at-the-pump.info
What do you think? Good domain name for a site?
If I were you, I wouldn’t have posted this. Excellent idea!
Mark,
I like the way you think about niches. I have started to carry a little notebook around with me so I can write down the niches I find.
I paid 19 cents a gallon for gas and 14% interest on a house loan. With gas prices going through the roof and people not being able to sell their houses and move up…. there are going to be thousands of niches ready for the picking this year. I am going to be ready with niche sites. Are You?
A very interesting idea and not one I would have thought of - thank you!
Feel for us Brits who are paying about £5.00 per gallon - that’s about $2.50. We can’t imagine petrol at 19 cents!
Denise
Mark,
This is a terrific post. I love when you give ideas for new BANS stores. The great thing about ebay and BANS is that the niches you can promote are limitless. I think that this post of yours is a great reminder of that.
Thanks,
Fred
We’d kill to pay $2.50 here in the states. Right now we’re at $3.75 and going up!
@ Denise:
Hi DeniseI think you got that conversion the wrong way round ;)
with currency exchange rates around $2 to the £ we’re paying $10 a gallon here in UK, about 3x the US rate but our house loans are much cheaper :) So live in UK, drive in US
@ Mark:
Great post Mark, I’m starting to see the bigger niche picture now too.
@Best Golf Putters
Quite right! I meant to double the figure 5 but halved instead!!! My mind was on Mark’s brilliant post.
Denise
I like the way of thinking about the income from a niche store as providing “free gas”. It changed my view point about the gas situation from negative to slightly more positive. But just think about it, with the prices of gas and everything else that we buy being impacted by that and prices rising…I think even more people will be online buying to save gas, and time! That’s great for our niche sites!
This really dates me, LOL, but when I started driving, gas fluctuated between 18 and 23 cents a gallon. I remember the gas wars stations used to have to try to outsell each other!
Great ideas - thanks! It got me thinking about other “inflation” hot spots and I’ve seen headlines about food prices rising too. Let the brainstorming begin!
having the right mind set with allow an entrepreneur to prosper and thrive even during a economic slowdown.
When inflation hits, it’s better to ask oneself how can I increase my income.And the internet, BANS in particular may be the required tool
is it easier to do a blog at wordpress and link to it? or should you have the blog on your site?
pros and cons??
@ Jeff -
If done on the wordpress site - your url will be something like “myblogname.wordpress. com” versus “mydomain. com/myblog/”
I prefer to use my own domain for EVERYTHING as it strengthens you main site. If you have a blog outside of your own site, it strengthens THAT domain versus your own.
Mark
that makes sense.. well i installed it a few minutes ago and that was simple enough.. i haven’t tried to add the actual content page link yet… now it’s just finding unique content.. i just posted over on the BANS forums about this… i was thinking i could take an artilce from the AP or anywhere and post it on my blog as long as i put them as the author, but e/body says i can’t do that… I guess i could always just rewrite the article in my own words… UGG i so struggle with this part :)
If you don’t know, head over to jtpratts blogging mistakes for the best wordpress setup.
Start with his “Wordpress Plugins Used” post.
This is a great idea. I’ve been working on two BANS stores of this type. http://prepaidgascards.us and http://hotscooters.net. I feel smarter, now that I know someone else thinks this is a great idea!