How to Exploit the Least Exploitable Niches

Not all niches can easily be exploited. Some niches simply don’t seem to have enough sources of content and material that you can write about. They don’t have enough bloggers who can blog about that particular niche. Very specific niches, such as the gold-mining industry, for example, are very difficult to exploit. You don’t get much traffic nor do you have much enough and evolving content to write about. So, you’re kind of stuck in them.

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However, there is a advantage to such niches too. If you look closely, you’ll find very less bloggers in such niches. Which means that there is almost none or little competition! And if you take advantage of this, you can be on top of your niche, and even be comfortable with what you earn! Here’s how.

Find other bloggers in the same niche

Network with other bloggers in the same niche as yours. This may seem difficult since you may not easily find fellow bloggers. But do it, and then network with them. Share links, exchange comments and ideas, set up a blogging network (limited to that niche), and invite more bloggers. Slowly, but surely, your network will build up, and so will your authority, boosting you towards the top of the niche.

Set up a forum

What better than a forum to get to know and mingle with fellow bloggers? Forums are a very good way of promoting discussion and promoting your niche. Create a forum using one of the many open source forum scripts available out there(bbPress, phpBB, SMF, etc). Forums will allow you and other fellow bloggers to interact more with each other and share experiences and opinions, and thus benefiting all of you.

Take help from non-blogger experts

There may be many non-blogger experts in your niche out there who can help you out by providing information and the latest news. The best people to go to might be newspaper journalists who work in this niche. Go to them and request from them information about the latest in the niche. Don’t lose hope if they reject. Find others. Some will be happy to oblige.

A little note here: if those experts are bloggers themselves, why not network with them? Invite them to visit your blog and join your forum. They’ll be happy to do so, as it will benefit them too!

Take advantage of social media networks

Social media networks such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Del.icio.us are there for a reason. Stumble and digg your blog articles and encourage others to do the same. Information starved people (in the same niche) will definitely come to your blog, as you are providing information to them! Don’t stop there, though. Expand your blog’s reach to the many other social media networks like Reddit, Ma.gnolia, Fark, etc and join niche related networks. Don’t just limit it to just your blog. Visit other niche-related blogs as well and network with their owners as well.

Submit your blog to niche-specific social media networks as well. An example is Knitting @ CraftGossip for knitting blogs. You will find many more niche-specific directories and social media networks. Take advantage of them!

Guest Blog for other niche-related blogs

You may think I’ve gone mad for saying this. There’s already so little in this niche and I’m asking you to give some part of what precious stuff you have away to others? Exactly. Guest blogging will help increase your credibility and authority in the niche, boosting you towards the top. For the short term it may seem bad, but the long-term benefits are enormous. Wouldn’t you choose the long term benefits over the short term disadvantages? Just try it once and then see the reader appreciation you get.

Building authority and credibility is important if you want to lead in your niche. And nothing is better at it than writing for other blogs. Their readers will come to know of you and if you write really well and with authority and confidence, it will come across in your writing and readers will begin to appreciate you and respect you.

Monetize your blog

Take advantage of contextual advertising agencies such as Google AdSense to display relevant advertisements on your blog. Also, take advantage of ad agencies other than AdSense, such as BidVertiser, AdBrite, to exploit the earning potential of your blog. Use non contextual ad agencies such as Chitika to display products on your blog. Sign up as an affiliate with affiliate programs and then promote their products on your blog, earning a commission for every sale that goes through your site. For example, use Amazon’s(no affiliate link) affiliate program and then promote books related to your niche.

The key here is to keep experimenting with different monetization strategies. Keep experimenting till you find just the right one which works for your blog.

Do you have any points which could make it into the above list??