Building and running a niche site can be a great way to earn income passively. Niche sites have become very popular and people are making thousands of dollars of recurring revenue every month from them. According to Income School’s Project 24, with 30k monthly page views, you can expect 1k passive income if you set your site up according to their tested process.
Can I make passive income from a niche site? Yes, you can make passive income from a niche site. Project 24 teaches how to replace an active income with passive income in 24 months following a tested method that can lead those who follow the recipe to make over $7,000 in 24 months. A niche site can be monetized with ads, affiliate links and info products for example.
In this guide, we uncover the various ways you can build a passive income stream with a niche site following the renowned Project 24 method. We have personally benefited immensely from this program as by Ricky and Jim as Project24 members ourselves. We are excited to share some of their tips with you. All of these tips are provided on their YouTube channel for free, but you can get a full blueprint and their exact methodology explained in depth in their course.
Transform your active income into passive income in 24 months using Project 24!
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What Is A Niche Site?
A niche site is a blog or website that addresses a very specific topic meant to appeal to a particular audience (or niche). The target audience that the blog addresses share specific interests that are fairly targeted.
For example, instead of addressing gardening as a general topic, the website may address caring for succulents specifically. With such a targeted topic, the traffic attracted to the site will be interested in learning more about growing that plant specifically.
Unlike blogs or authority sites that usually have the intention of creating a large following, a niche site’s goal is usually to be more passive. Information, resources, recommendations, products, and services must relate to niche and appeal to the readership so they can take action fairly quickly. In general, niche site readers come for information and leave, but they can be lead down a funnel to make purchases on the site. For example, niche sites generate income through advertisements, but also infoproducts, affiliate links, eCommerce and other means we will cover in this guide.
1. Creating a Niche Site
It requires time and effort to build a successful niche site but it’s totally worth it. If you have targeted knowledge or skills you’d like to share, this is a lucrative way to monetize a blog. As long as your traffic keeps growing you can expect a steady flow of income.
To build a successful niche site, you need to choose a niche that appeals to a specific audience. You should also make sure to carry out search analysis to better understand your competition and how you can outrank them in Google. We will talk about all of this including the content mix according to Ricky and Jim’s methodology, and how you can monetize the traffic on your site. Let’s dive in.
Choosing The Right Niche For You
A niche site is a highly lucrative way of making passive income but it takes time to build and requires your utmost dedication at first. It’s not called Project 24 for nothing! It will take 24 months to be able to build a site that is capable of replacing an active income with passive income when done right.
Choosing the right niche is key. When you narrow down to a specific niche, you put focus on a smaller, more valuable audience, and that is part of the key to success with a niche site. You don’t want to build a huge authority site if you would like to make passive income. To choose the right niche, you should consider a couple essential factors we cover below.
Passion
Your niche must be a topic you are passionate about. You must be willing to spend hours reading, researching, and writing about your niche topics. If you choose a niche you aren’t passionate about, you will get bored after sometime. Even if you are outsourcing part of the content, if it’s not something you are passionate about, you probably won’t follow through. And if it’s a niche you’re already knowledgeable about, ensure you stay up to date with information related to it. Ask yourself if you could write 200 articles ranging from 1,300 words, to 3,000 words minimum on this topic. If the answer is yes then that niche may be for you.
Popular
Your niche must be a popular topic that many people search online. However, it shouldn’t be a topic that is not too popular with regards to competition from other authority websites (we cover that a bit below). Your blog will not gain the traffic you need if you choose a topic with too much competition. Choose a topic that is trending but be aware of seasonality and how evergreen it is. Watch the video to the left for more info on how you can choose a popular niche.
Monetizable
Your niche must be able to be monetized. Choose a topic with products and services that offer income opportunities. If you pick a topic with little or no sales options, you limit the amount of money you can make from your site. For example, making an info product in the dirt bike niche may be harder than for sailing. If you are looking for a niche site idea, Ricky and Jim have a list of over 350 niche site ideas that are ranked by them in Project 24.
Passive
If you are not careful, your site will become an authority site, not a niche site. In which case you will be spending much more time catering to your audience. In the video to the left, Ricky and Jim talk about how you can make your site more passive. Take these points into consideration before getting started creating content.
Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is content that will still be valid in a couple years from now. So you can imagine that content about iPhone reviews just five years ago is no longer valid. Especially in the technology niche, if you are writing about things that will no longer be relevant in a couple years from now, you will constantly need to update your content. However if you are writing about things like gardening for example, techniques risk not changing very much in the future. In which case your niche site will be much more passive.
Competitive Analysis
Also pay attention to how competitive your niche is. If you are planning on writing about things like fitness, recipes or personal finance, you may have a much harder time rakinging due to competition. Watch the video to the left to learn how you can curb competition when choosing your niche. Let’s talk about how you can attack your competition below following Project 24’s methodology.
2. Outranking Your Competition
A lot of online marketers talk about using a variety of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tactics with some that are more sketchy than others. Ricky and Jim teach a very clean, easy method to follow that won’t get your site in trouble or make it tank when Google updates their algorithm. Here are some nuggets of quality ways you can drive traffic to your site according to Income School’s Project 24.
1. Write About What People Actually Search For
A big mistake that people make when they start creating their first website is writing about topics that people are not actually searching for. They usually write about things that they are passionate about or that they know about, like really cool tidbits of information that they learned in their niche.
But, if you are not writing about things people are actually typing into Google, the chances of your content getting found will be very low. Watch the video to the left to learn more. We also recommend you check out AnswerThePublic.com. Type in your niche idea and get hundreds of searches people make on that topic.
2. No KeyWord Tools – Alphabet Soup Method
Ricky and Jim tell people not to use keyword research tools. They are a waste of time. They use a methodology that is clean and easy to carry out, for free. It’s called the Alphabet Soup method. They explain how to do it in the video to the left.
As a quick summary, in Google, type your main keyword, and the letters of the alphabet, for example “A”. Do not hit enter. You will see suggested keyword phrases. Those are topics people are actually searching for. They provide a full course on how to do this in depth in Project 24.
3. Analyse The Results in Google
Another step you should take is actually analyzing the results to come out and Google to build your hit list, or the list of articles you will write. When you search for that term, do you see a lot of very high authority websites, or do you see forums, low authority websites, old and outdated content? You are finding low quality content then there are high chances that you can outrank those articles with high quality content. However, if you are finding high authority websites, then you will need to take a more aggressive approach.
4. The Content Mix
In Project 24, Ricky and Jim provide an easy and repeatable methodology to build your niche site and get it ranking quickly. This methodology consists in writing 10 response posts, 10 staple posts, and 10 pillar posts. Response posts are about 1,300 words long, people posts are about 2,500 words long, and pillar posts are 3,000 words plus. The 60 step process to build a niche site based on the content mix is provided in Project 24.
4. Monetize & Make Passive Income
For more details on each idea, we have specific and detailed guides you can read. If you click on the image or the orange button, you will be brought to a guide on our site that goes into more detail on the idea. Let’s dive right in.
1. Ad Placement
Running advertisements is a very passive way to make income, and is one of the first ways you can monetize your site. Google Adsense is a quick and easy place to start, but once your traffic begins to grow, you can get better ad deals with other adbrokers.Advertising companies will pay good money to attract your traffic to their products. You can take advantage of this and make money doing so. Ads can earn consistent passive income for your niche site. You earn commissions based on the number of times the ad was viewed or clicked on. Running ads on your site is a very passive way of earning income. The amount you can make will mostly depend on how much traffic your niche site can attract. Sometimes you can make more money by bypassing an ad broker and working directly with companies to advertise on your site. This can be especially profitable if you have a lot of targeted traffic, and they pay you a monthly recurring fee to be featured as the main advertiser on your site.
2. YouTube
YouTube is currently a huge opportunity to drive traffic to your niche site, and create an extra passive income stream. Not only can YouTube Drive targeted traffic to your website, signalling to Google that you’re brand-new site is authoritative, you can also help provide you extra passive income through ad revenue.
Once your channel reaches 1,000 subscribers and 4k hours of watch time, you can have automatic ad placements on your videos. This helps provide passive income, while informing people of the existence of your website and sending traffic to it. Having a YouTube channel can boost the EAT on your website, or the very important “Expertise, Authority and Trust”.
Ricky and Jim provide a full YouTube course in Project 24 were you can learn more about their exact methodology they use to boost traffic on their website and increase their passive income. Learn More About YouTube in Project 24
3. Affiliate Marketing
A niche website can make a good amount of passive income through affiliate marketing. The amount that you make will mostly depend on the levels of traffic on your website, the affiliate products you are promoting, and the number of conversions (or sales) they generate.
Some niche sites can earn more than $2,000 a month just from affiliate marketing. As an affiliate marketer, you can earn commissions from some of the products that sell through your niche site. All you need is a product/service that relates to your traffic and the content on your site. There are hundreds of affiliate programs out there. Some of the most well known include Amazon Associates and Commission Junction. These programs allow you to promote products to your audience, and receive a commission on every sale made.
For example, if you have a legal niche site, you can sell legal products like books, apparel, courses etc. and earn a commission from sales. Affiliate marketing through your niche site is a very passive way of earning money. The secret is not to overdo it and to promote things you actually use and love. Remember, your niche site is an informative blog and not sales page. Focus on providing quality information about your topic and not just sell or promote products. Moreover, to earn your audience’s trust, promote products and services you use or have benefited from. Learn More in Our Affiliate Marketing Guide
4. Selling Digital & Physical Products
You can make money from your niche site by selling digital products. Such products include eBooks, podcasts, courses etc. are more popular today than ever before. The best part is that the process of selling these products can be completely automated. It’s also very easy to create an ebook. We show exactly how to do it in the video to the left.
We also have a full guide on Podcasting, and, surprise! Project 24 includes a full podcasting course too! Selling digital products is a very passive way of earning income from your niche website. You are more likely to make more income if you create content that relates to the product that you intend to sell. For instance, that cooking niche site can make a good choice for that recipe eBook you want to sell. Learn about how to make an eBook in this guide, or more about eCommerce here.
5. Sell Information Products
You can earn passive income from your niche site by offering educational content in the form of webinars, courses, tutorials etc. Generate traffic by posting high quality content on different topics that relate to your users. Most educational sites will earn close to $1,000 per month depending on the levels of traffic and how engaged the traffic is.
Having a YouTube channel can increase the chances of selling courses because people get to know you as a teacher. Ricky and Jim provide a full YouTube and Info-Product course in Project 24 explaining how to. This means of making income is highly passive, especially if you created evergreen content (or resources that will still be valid years from now). You might find it to be a little challenging as you start but once you develop more content, you can grow your site to earn you good levels of income.
Learn More About How to Create Info Products in Project 24
6. Email Marketing
Email marketing is not dead. You can make money by sending your subscribers emails that brings them down your sales funnel. As long as your emails provide actual value and not terrible salesy spam, this can be a great way of converting your traffic. One excellent way of getting people to sign up to your email list consists in offering a free digital product in exchange for their email address. For example, on our own website, we provide over 300 passive income ideas in exchange for your email address, but we then send you quality content only. Not only do people actually receive a document containing 300 passive income ideas, they also receive a sequence of emails that are full of value. And if they don’t want to receive them, that’s ok! All they have to do is unsubscribe. Email marketing is a very passive way of earning income. You can create automated email funnels in a variety of different products such as MailChimp, or SendInBlue.
7. Selling Your Niche Site
In the video to the left Rick and Jim explain how you can buy and flip a niche website. Learn more about how you can create successful passive income niche sites in Project 24
Of course, you can make a lump sum of income is by actually selling your niche site. Selling your niche site is rather easy if it has a lot of potential, income, and growing traffic. There are many different platforms that allow you to sell niche sites. Most niche websites that earn $1,000/month can sell for anywhere from $24,000 to $36,000 per site (source). There are many places online where you can sell your niche site. Some popular sites include Flippa, or Trustiu.
You can also flip niche sites once you get good at blogging. We can do this is by buying niche sites with a lot of potential, improving upon the content, and then reselling them for a higher price. Income school shares some of the sites that they have sold and tips on how to do so yourself. Selling niche sites can be a very passive way of earning some extra income. You can develop and sell your own sites but you might need some time and effort. You can also decide to purchase an existing site, to pay for new content, boost traffic, and then resell it for a profit. This is a much more passive way to make money.
How Much Can Niche Sites Earn?
Creating a profitable niche site will not be an overnight success or source of income. You must be willing to put in the effort and time required to make that site a success. You should also follow a proven method or you will waste hours and hours, months and years of precious time.
Ricky and Jim’s course is called project 24 for a reason. It takes you through the steps required to replace a full-time active income with passive income in 24 months. And they have done it many times, for many years, and are still doing it today.
With the right effort, content, and dedication, your niche site can help you rake in up to $7,000/month in 2 years according to Ricky and Jim’s Project 24. The successful duo proves that it’s totally possible to earn thousands of dollars per month with a niche site, but only if you’re willing to put in the required effort. And even beginners can do it. Initially, you make little to nothing, but with time, and as the popularity of your sites grows, you can be sure to make more by monetizing your traffic. Learn about exactly how to do it in Project 24.
Related Questions
How long does it take to build traffic to your site? According to Ricky and Jim from Income School, it takes a brand new site approximately 35 weeks to reach 90% of its traffic. For a moderately establish site, it takes about 25 weeks, and for a very well-established site it takes about 18 weeks.
Is building niche sites a passive income idea suitable for the long term? Yes, some of the niche website passive income ideas can be very dependable. However, do be attentive to seasonality, evergreen content, and the way that you carry out the SEO on your website. If you follow sketchy backlink building methodologies, you risk your website being docked in algorithm updates.
Ricky and Jim provide a very clean and easy methodology to follow to build a successful niche site. They do not use sketchy SEO tactics and focus on quality content. Learn more in Project 24. We are Project 24 members and highly recommend Ricky and Jim’s course that not only contains a 60 step method to replace active income with passive income in 24 months by building a successful niche site, but also contains a full photography, podcasting, YouTubing and Info-Product course! Learn More in Project 24
