Because of huge amount of competition from larger company sites and thousands of smaller competitors, building general mall type sites or “catch all” sites is a waste of time. It will be extremely difficult to get even one visitor to your site if you’re trying to reach everybody.

Therefore, some smart Internet savvy marketers figured out that if they picked a niche area and focused only on that niche, then they have a much better chance of finding targeted visitors looking for very specific information on products and services.

But figuring out what a niche is and exactly how to go about promoting that niche is very puzzling to a lot of people looking to use Internet to grow rich, or at least make a comfortable living. Yes, you can make serious money on Internet with a niche site.

First, though, you’ve got to find a good niche.

Step 1. Pick a Niche Subject

This may be hardest part of your web site project. There’s literally tons of subjects to choose from. People are interested in a variety of things – from parrots to pilots. You don’t have to necessarily pick something you’re interested in, but it helps.

You’re more likely to do a better job at building your site when you have some interest in subject matter. It’s like taking a high school or college class. Some subjects are more interesting than others. Make sure you choose something that a reasonable amount of people are actually searching for online and want to find out more information about.

Here’s a free tool that will help you check popularity of specific subjects: (http://www.nichebot.com)

Step 2. Do Keyword Research

This is a part that many people skip. I’ve made that mistake myself and suffered consequences – a failed web site. Even though it’s nice to think that you can write anything you want and have total creative freedom, not using keyword rich content is a BIG mistake.

I’d rather lose some creative freedom and attract visitors to my site, than have a lot of flowery prose that zero people will see. You MUST include targeted keywords in your web site copy. Also, make sure you use your targeted keywords in upper third portion of your web site pages. This is also called optimizing your web site for search engines. Use Overture Keyword Tool for research: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion

Note: keywords must be relevant to THEME (subject) of your site. Be careful not to over use them. Search engines don’t like keyword SPAM.

Step 3. Get A Domain Name

Having a unique domain name is important, although some don’t agree. However, a unique domain name makes your site look more professional and trustworthy to visitors. I use BuyDomains (http://www.buydomains.com). They are not cheapest, but I stick with them because I like their easy interface and good customer service. Nameboy (http://www.nameboy.com) is also good.

Step 4. Write Keyword Rich Content

This may be a hard step for those of you who don’t consider yourselves writers. But, writing web site copy is not as hard as it seems. Just think of it as having a conversation with a friend about a product or service you’re really enthusiastic about.

Don’t think you can extol benefits of your subject? Tune your TV into QVC or one of other shopping networks to see how they can spend several minutes talking about benefits of all kinds of mundane products. This is what you’ll be doing for your web site.