My Small MNS Journey

Hi there!

Intro
One of the most common questions that crop up on these forums is usually along the lines of "If you could start over, what would you do?". And I suppose this is my answer to that question! On this thread, I will journey my entry into the Micro Niche Site world. It should be noted that I have NEVER tried to rank micro niches. That isn't to say I don't have a decent amount of exposure to SEO, but I have never tried ranking sites that are more or less.... articles on a pretty niche topic. As most know, my expertise sites in the programming world, not in the SEO world, so hopefully I can learn some things along the way and share them with everyone.

The Goal
I really don't have any set goals for this. I just hope that my success' (and failures) help someone along the way, and there is a healthy discussion built from this thread. Maybe make a bit of money along the way, and learn some new tricks to jam up my sleeve for SEO.

The Plan
I have already kicked this off a while ago. I purchased 3 MNS on this very forum (Just hit the BST section, plenty there). Why did I do this? Well I felt it was probably the beginner thing to do I myself can generally gauge the level of competition with keywords, but a complete newbie may not. Infact he is more likely to just throw around money and see what sticks, so let's just do that (At the beginning anyway!). My only other purchase has been a subscription to SerpBook.com to track my results. That's it, and from here on out it will all be about ranking. I do have various tools lying around, but most of it will be slow link building to see where we get.

The Sites
I suppose a good run down of the sites may be useful.

MNS 1
Non Branded Keyword.
Quite a generic keyword, plenty of articles can be written on this subject.
Probably my best chance of ranking/making money as it fits into the MNS sphere quite well.

MNS 2
Branded Keyword.
Not only is it a brand, but it also refers to a specific "make" if you will.
I think it may be easy to rank, but it also comes along with issues of trademarks. I'm also not sure on how much you will be able to "write" about it.

MNS 3
Non Branded Keyword.
While it is a "broad" niche and can refer to many things. It is also kinda "vague" if you will. Probably quite hard to write about.
This niche is probably more likely to turn into an Amazon store if anything, as it refers to a certain product.

Day 0

Rankings
MNS 1
Main Keyword - 23

MNS 2
Main Keyword - N/A

MNS 3
Main Keyword - N/A

Moving Forward
I have got in touch with an article writer, and started drafting up longtail keywords to attack. To me, while the longtails can be used to bring in traffic, it's more about filling out the site and showing google that the site isn't stagnant. A google that keeps coming back for new content is a happy google. I plan on getting about half a dozen articles ready at first, and posting one approx 5 days apart (Maybe less). I COULD write the articles myself, but I feel my time is better spent working on other projects.

I found my old subscription to Sick Submitter. While not an amazing program, it is kinda handy for building small amounts of links. Because it doesn't slam out links xrumer style, you can slowly build links natually. I plan to make something like a Squidoo lens first off, and use Sick Submitter on that lens to see how Google reacts. If it doesn't like the links, then we know not to use them on my main site. Otherwise I can do a small blast to my main site. I'm basically taking a cautious approach to all of this, as going to slow simply means it takes longer to rank. Going to first and getting slapped by google means you won't rank at all. Ever.

Following this thread pyronaut.. I hope you'll succeed on this journey.. Goodluck!

It's been tough going, but things are starting to come together.

Rankings
MNS 1
Main Keyword - 23

MNS 2
Main Keyword - N/A

MNS 3
Main Keyword - 23

Aswell as this, I have a few longtails that I am starting to track amongst the niches, but nothing too substantial.

For backlinking so far (Across all sites), I have build profile links/angela style links across the board. Once I create them, I ping them, and create an RSS feed out of them. I then use SickSubmitter to submit that RSS feed to various aggregators. Aswell as this, I did the usual RSS aggregators for the actual site feeds aswell. So far, I am still with the original content that the MNS came with (2 articles), but these will soon be expanded. I am happy enough with where I am at so far.

The plan going forward is more profile links, some bookmarks (Pligg, Scuttle etc) and then onto content style links (Web 2.0, Article directories). The only issue at the moment is that I don't have the time to really sit down and write the articles that would go out to Web 2.0 sites. I could spin some crap using TBS, but I prefer to have things readable.

Goodluck, will watch this thread.

Good set up work, and follow-up work. Will also follow your progress.

subbed!

I follow your progress

If you need any kind of help regarding SEO ... just hit me up. (I can rank any keyword).

Best of LUCK !

stfrank said:

If you need any kind of help regarding SEO ... just hit me up. (I can rank any keyword).

Best of LUCK !

Click to expand...

I suppose the point of this is just being completely upfront with what I'm doing so others can just walk along beside me and replicate it

Todays update


Rankings
MNS 1
Main Keyword - N/A - Dropped out of rankings completely

MNS 2
Main Keyword - 126

MNS 3
Main Keyword - 23

As you can see, one site has entered the serps (But at 100+) and another has dropped out completely. I'm not worried however, some movement is correct. I have slowly been dripping links out for all sites. I also did directory submissions ONLY for MNS 1. And now it's dropped out of the SERPS. Ofcourse it could be a coincidence since I expect some movement, but it could be a telling sign that directory submissions are a big shite pile nowdays and should be avoided.

For MNSs, I recommend quality over any type of quantity these days. If your onpage seo is good (not over optimized) and your content is original, informative and helpful....then it is not hard to drive traffic, to your site through quality guest blog posts, videos, and social signals.

Also, if you are getting good content on these sites....your "main" keywords might not be the lucrative ones. Many MNS sites make a lot more money off their long tails if done correctly....

Subscribed...... i will see your ranking and try it myself. I have 15 MNS around 1.5 year old with only 1 article. And i didn't do anything because of time. After your success i will give a try................

Great thread Pyro, will be following you on your journey. Wish you all the best!

Any update sir?

Sent from Tapatalk

The branded MNS 2 word was moving up as of the last update. You shouldn't run into trademark issues with it if it was used in a review context, and the keyword is not in the domain name (article title and body is okay).

Great thread very informative, would like to start something like this myself just a question of time. Will be following with great interest.

Sorry if I missed it but how you planning on monetizing?

Tnh updated man

Waiting for your update bro...........

Great thread so far! Subscribed!