As the internet evolves at breakneck speed, so do the methods used to derive maximum revenue from online websites & internet based businesses. Did you know that some knowledgeable webmasters are creating absolute FORTUNES today, just by setting up relatively simple content based websites? This article aims to give you the foundations required to join them.

Today, we'll look at how you can yourself create sensational content based niche sites and grab your slice of the hefty profits available to online information publishers. We'll delve into the methods of creating content sites, which (free) content based software to use and what types of internet business models work best with content publishing. We'll also touch on the most effective ways of researching which niches are the best to create your content-based sites in.

But first, let's touch on just WHY having your very own content based sites could return staggering profits for you:

The whole world is coming online. The internet is all about information, and the publishers who know how to implement a successful information based website (in any niche) can extract income from a wide variety of sources. The information based website can yield revenues from contextual (Adsense) advertising, affiliate income for related products and direct revenue from sales of in-house products (such as eBooks, software & courses directly related to the content subject). The right content, in the right niche can have an explosive impact on your bottom line.

Technology has evolved to a point where many internet users have access to broadband & wireless connections and fast PCs. This means that information publishers can offer content through a wide range of media including text on-site, ebooks, audio and even video. Many low-cost tools are now available to create high quality audio/video products and stream them from your own website.

Some niche markets are just beautifully set-up for content sites. For example, take the travel niche - here, website viewers are far more likely to click on to the publishers Adsense displays (as many people do their holiday research online) and affiliate links. If for example you have a website on holidays in the Maldives, how likely are targeted browsers to click on Adsense displays offering quality Maldives vacations? Very. For more information on the travel niche take a look at this Travel Niche Site Creation Kit. The best part is that there are literally thousands of niches and sub-niches for you to create content sites in. Internet marketing, finance, travel, health & beauty...the list is endless.

Now that you're fully aware of the potency of developing your own content based niche sites lets look at how you can get hold of free software that can have you churning out quality niche sites, again and again.

There are of course different ways to go about creating content based websites. However, if you're looking to the future then one of the best options is JOOMLA

Why Joomla?

It's a high quality CMS (content management system). The days of having flat html website pages are numbered. Sure, the majority will still present their content in this way for years to come but the spectacular returns will be made by those using & *understanding* content systems like Joomla.

Joomla is currently available for FREE. It's also quite simple to install and allows you to create good looking pages that are completely customisable.

Presenting content through blogs became highly popular during the backend of 2004 and is still "in" today. Blogs do offer a lot of advantages compared to standard html pages but the problem now is that it's possible for certain types of software to create literally thousands of "blogs" at the touch of a button. Many of these blogs contain identical content. These "spam blogs" are spreading through the internet like viruses so you can imagine the problems of using blogs now to present quality content. You're up against *millions* of sites - all competing for attention. The chances of being spidered & indexed with a good search engine location? Not so good anymore. Joomla is a content presentation platform that is a natural progression from blogs.

Joomla can easily be set-up to create very good looking content pages that also blend in affiliate links (eg via Amazon/Clickbank), adsense displays and your own product offerings. This is the structure that all your content websites should take - no matter what niche they are in. It's a structure that maximises your revenue from any given number of visitors. Joomla can also be used to implement various successful internet business content-models including membership site, storefront & "magazine" formats.

We've now investigated the benefits of owning quality content sites, how to structure them and the most dynamic free CMS software available.

In this last part of the article let's focus on how to identify niche markets that are ripe for you to penetrate. If you're struggling on deciding which niche market to enter then here's a quick checklist that you can use to make sure you've chosen a niche that should fit in nicely with a content based site:

Your proposed niche should have a high number of prospects interested in it. What constitutes a high number varies according to circumstances, but in general there should be a potential market of millions, or even billions (for example the travel niche outlined earlier).

Your prospects should be cash-rich. They should be able to afford to buy what you're pitching. For instance, people interested in the stock market tend to be relatively affluent individuals looking for ways to increase their wealth. Most of them will gladly spend money to get hold of information that will help them develop their stock picking skills.

There should be at least a couple of high-ticket affiliate programs that you can plug in to increase your overall revenues. Many content site owners will not have their own big-ticket product so it's important to be affiliated with a quality program that can generate hundreds of dollars or more per sale. Again, the travel niche is a great example of this because the site owner can set-up a site about the Maldives as a luxury holiday destination and can link to several travel agents that offer 5% commissions on holidays sold. Given that the average Maldives holiday sells for several thousands of dollars it means very plump commissions for the content site owner.

There should be an active contextual market available. Adsense is fast penetrating just about every niche imaginable, but there remain some areas where the number of contextual advertisers remain small. This can be a problem for the content site owner, as fewer advertisers can mean fewer potential ads and smaller pay per click values.

Determining which niche to enter is an important decision because it's a long term commitment. Once you enter a niche with a content website, you should be looking to develop it constantly. This means updating the site with fresh information of value to the target prospect so they keep coming back to your site again and again. This will inevitably mean they keep buying more related products from you and keep clicking over your Adsense displays.

The great thing is that it really doesn't take that long to create an impressive portfolio of content based websites...all pulling in substantial revenues from various sources.