The "low competition" in Adwords tool is bull crap. It doesn't matter that much at all, any member on here will tell you the same. Can someone back me up here?
If the CPC is low, it could mean partly because the CTR is high. You have no reason to worry about the CTR of a niche. At this stage, don't worry about how converting a niche is. It's ridiculous.
Lower CPC means less SEO competition. Higher CPC (insurance, health, etc) will have high SEO competition.
What kind of theme are you using? I never really had a site below 5% CTR unless it was a video site or something.
First off, thanks for a great post. Pos rep. But I'm starting to wonder if I'm freakin jinxed with all of this. I got started with niche sites using another BHW members service, got a nice article site created, been adding content and I have my EMD keyword ranked #1 on g00g. Also have some at #3, and so on. This has been due to spending a pretty good chunk of change on linkpushes, .edu backlinks etc.
The site's been up since Sept 1 and I have made MAYBE 3 dollars. My ctr since the start has been 0.40% (that is not a typo) and my total earnings are less than 10 bucks. Total page views is maybe 5,700.
I started off with the CTR wp theme but it looks crappy so installed a free theme that kind of matched my EMD. That sucked too. Then I went back to CTR but disabled it's ads and put in maxbanner plugin.
WTF?? I'm not giving up but I'm reluctant to start other sites if I can't even get this one to throw me a bone.
I agree with most things you wrote in your guide, but here you are just wrong.
What kenwithblue said in this post is true.
I have 1 Micro Niche Website ranking #2 - #4 in Google for such keyword:
competition Low
global monthly searches 8,100
usa local searches 3,600
CPC ~$2
An here are this website earnings for last month:
Ads impr. 1 864
Clicks 7
CTR 0,38%
CPC 0,06 ?
CPM 0,24 ?
Earnings 0,44 ? for a WHOLE month!!!
Pretty pathetic...
My other websites have average CTR of 10%
So I don't advice anyone to follow the LOW Competiion route if you want to earn with adsense.
It's another story if you try monetize with a CPA or a content lock.
there will be lots of relevant ads showing on your site, as there are lots in line to be shown.