I cried at the end of Old Yeller. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. Dogs to me are like family members. Losing one is brutal, but time spent with them over the years is wonderful. Most people feel this way about their dogs, which should tell you something.
If you are going to open a site about man’s best friend, it must have an emotional element. This can come in the form of pictures, personal stories and so on. Regardless, this is not the type of site were you want to stick up bland, academic information regarding pups. Such material should constitute part of the site, but should not be the overriding theme.
Dogs are insanely popular on the net. There are millions of searches a day for keywords related to pups. The first step to opening this site is figuring out what your niche will be. If you try to do a general site, it will be difficult because you will have serious problems providing enough content to cover every breed, issue, medical problem and so on. This will lead to dissatisfaction with visitors. If they can’t find what they want, they will not come back. Repeat visitors are a very important aspect of a successful site, so don’t bit off more than you can chew, pun intended.
To pick your niche, you just need to focus on what it really is you want to say or promote. You could pick a specific breed. Even better, you could pick a specific issue such as training or a type of dog accessory. By going niche, you have a far better chance of making a major impact and becoming known as an expert in that niche. This is the key to success for your site. Always focus on a niche and dominate it. If you are interested in multiple areas that do not mesh together well, open multiple sites.
Once you have the particular niche in mind, you want to research all the keyword phrases people are using to search for your niche. You do this for two reasons. First, it is going to tell you the exact phrases you should use in your marketing. Second, it is going to tell you if there is enough traffic to make opening a site for the niche a smart move. Without this information, you are just guessing.
Everyone has his or her favorite tool for research keyword phrases. Most offer free trials, so try them out and pick one that best fits you.
Once you have identified your niche and relevant keywords, it is simply time to start building the site. The actual design of the site is beyond this article, but you should use the keyword phrases throughout the site. You should add bulk to the site by writing articles about your specific area, publishing the same in article directories to build up your link count.
Put it all together, and pups will become both your best friend and a profit center.
