I’ve had a few more than the usual emails over the last week - people asking for various things ranging from advertising (see yesterday’s post), potential jobs and people that want to get started in this business but have no idea where to begin.

Now, I do try and help people as best I can, but some people need hours of guidance to explain things that are very simple - I have no problem with that, but the questions are recurring - so why not post it on TUK so that everyone can use the information?

Note that the below is for newbies; most of those that have been semi experienced will have done this before. However, everyone starts out somewhere - my first positive transaction was actually the flip of a domain name (HipHopUpdates.com, which I bought for $7.15 and sold for $60 an hour later) - and the idea can help people make their first little bit of capital online.

What you need: A domain and hosting (which allows Wordpress)

You can get the domain at GoDaddy. Use the coupon code OYH3 to get your .COM domain at only $7.15

.COM is always better - the few dollars you pay extra will add on $20 - $30 onto the final sale price.

Choose a domain about a certain topic. Hot topics include sport, medical related, science… you get the idea.

You want your domain to be short - the shorter the better. Make sure some kind of keywords are included in the domain though. Do not use hyphens - if you are, make sure your domain is only two words.

So you’ll have something like… cancerinfo.com (just an example).

You need hosting next - I recommend Hostgator. Use the coupon code wordpress to get your first month at $0.01 Hostgator is what this blog as well as Blog Premiere are hosted on and it is one of the best hosting services around.

Now what you need to do is point your nameservers at your hosting. You can find your nameservers in the email your host will send you. You can find out the area to change nameservers under your GoDaddy control panel.

Now that you have pointed your nameservers, it can typically take up to a day (usually takes a couple of minutes for me) for your domain to resolve. Try adding on your domain instantly - it should work.

Here comes the important part (sorry for writing this in a rambling style, I’ll have it broken down at the bottom of the post).

You should run this off Wordpress as that is the easiest for newbies to use, however you may also use a standard template. Search Google for “Free Wordpress Templates” (I like Prosense for niche websites) or pick up an HTML template at somewhere like OSWD.org.

Next, you need to create content.

Do not whine - it is fairly easy to do so if you practise a bit. What I’d recommend is looking at Ezine Articles for ideas (do NOT copy and paste) and then writing your own 300 word articles on related topics for the niche you’ve chosen.

If you are using Wordpress, setup your articles as pages, not posts.

Make sure that you sort out your permalink structure, as well as the other basic things - you can read more about setting up a blog in this post.

You will need a header. Now, I’m going to be quite frank - I can’t design for nuts, so either you choose a theme which uses text for it’s header, or use something like Cool Text (or Logo Pixy)

So you have your articles and your fairly decent looking website. What next?

Add value.

How can you make your niche website… different?

By adding value, of course.

For example, in a mortgage related website you could add in a free mortgage calculator (you can find examples of these all over the web), for a celebrity website you could add a picture gallery… you get the idea.

Next - monetization.

The most appealing thing about a website to most people is how much money it can potentially make. The more revenue sources you can add to your website (don’t overdo it - 3/4 is fine) the better. For example, you could put in Adsense, a couple affiliate programs…. you get idea.

After you have set these up, you can list your website for sale at the various webmaster forums (Digital Point, Sitepoint - costs a fee, Namepros etc). Try and mention the hot points about your website in your listing - the domain, the monetization potential, you get the idea. Be positive! :razz:

Step by step, broken down.

1) Choose a related domain

2) Buy hosting

3) Set up Wordpress

4) Write 5-10 articles.

5) Add value if possible

6) Monetize

7) List for sale.

Obviously each of those steps could be broken down into a post of its own, and this post is a little basic - however, these are the bare instructions you need to create a niche website. I’ll talk tomorrow about a little idea I had to have your niche website guaranted to double their money… in a month.

I have flipped websites for anywhere between $5 - $1,500 (note, the latter was not a niche website but I will be talking about it soon) and you can do. You should generally expect anywhere between $20 - $100, which is not bad for an hours work especially if you’re a newbie (beats minimum wage, doesn’t it?).

If you have any tips or questions, post them below and I’ll try and help out :)

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