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Profitable Niches as Revealed by WordPress Theme Sales

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An affiliate newsletter from StudioPress provided some really good clues as to profitable niches.

StudioPress reported that their Top 10 Best-Selling Themes for January 2019 were as follows:

  1. Foodie Pro Theme
  2. Essence Pro Theme
  3. AgentPress Pro Theme
  4. Author Pro Theme
  5. Magazine Pro Theme
  6. Mai Lifestyle Pro Theme
  7. Refined Pro Theme
  8. Wellness Pro Theme
  9. Business Pro Theme
  10. Corporate Pro Theme

Most of the theme names should give you a good idea as to the niche they serve, but if you aren't familiar with StudioPress themes, AgentPress is a real estate theme, while Essence Pro is a theme for sites in the health, wellness, and lifestyle niches.

So, what did we learn about profitable niches?

Well, it seems that the following niche markets continue to dominate:

  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Real estate
  • Wellness
  • Health
  • Business

And that makes sense, right?

Everyone eats, should be concerned about their health and wellness, and hopes to enjoy a wonderful lifestyle. As for real estate theme sales, my guess is that more real estate agents now understand their need for a personal and professional website.

By the way, this blog runs on the Genesis Framework and the eleven40 StudioPress theme. I'm kinda miffed that my theme apparently didn't make the cut!! 😀

You might also be interested in the following posts:

Did you find this post about clues to finding a profitable niche informative and useful? If so, please share it with others! If you have a comment, question or suggestion, please leave a comment below!

Cheers,
sig-ros

WordPress Theme SEO: 5 Things to Look for

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Are you looking into SEO for your website, desiring more traffic, and wanting to progress to the next level? Believe it or not, your choice of website actually plays a significant part in determining your keyword-friendliness and Google Panda/Penguin readiness.

Most new website designers make a choice based on the price (or perhaps looking for a free website) and based on the color scheme. That makes sense…you do want an attractive color scheme, and the standardized themes for WordPress are oftentimes very alluring. However, it’s also important to remember that WordPress themes are all customizable. You can manipulate colors and text position by accessing the CSS files in the editor tab on your dashboard, or if you have a user-friendly theme, you can just select your color choices automatically with theme settings.

Of course, you don’t really want to go at it alone if you have no web design knowledge. This is precisely why many website owners choose these “prefabricated” themes, because of the elegant design and feel of the site.

However, when it comes time to choose between all of the themes that you generally like, you have to consider more than just visual elements. Let’s consider five important points.

  1. Easy Customization
    It’s no coincidence that most commercial themes allow plenty of customization, while free themes only give you the bare minimum. Easy custom design features are always a priority on all users’ lists, which is why designers allow so much freedom on the paid versions. It’s not just a matter of color either. Users want the ability to design their own layouts, their own column/frames features and their own widgets. And the fact that they use CMS software just proves they don’t want to mess heavily with CSS code—which is comparable with HTML in terms of technical terms.
  2. E-Commerce
    Chances are, your company can’t afford to promote a promotional site alone—you want sales, and the best way to get sales is to create an online store. While there are plugins for online stores available, the best store features (with graphics and java scripts) are usually included with commercial WordPress themes.
  3. SEO Plugins
    Your site needs plenty of SEO help, and the more plugins you have to install, the more time it takes out of your busy day. Therefore, you might try to choose a WordPress theme that provides all sorts of SEO help for you—without any extra installations. The best SEO features might include meta tags and descriptions, as well as automatic keyword density measuring tools, and perhaps even special plugins that help you evaluate the competition, and your own site’s SEO-readiness.
  4. Excellent Customer Support
    Free WordPress themes don’t offer much of anything besides a free ride—but commercial WordPress themes mean serious business since a lot of money goes into these projects. This is why the best themes all include customer support, just in case you have a technical issue with your theme. Don’t just settle on a knowledge base…make sure the company offers an online forum, email support and a live phone number. This will ensure you keep your site in perfect working condition.
  5. Dynamic Content
    Lastly, why pay for a boring theme? All the little touches go a long way in professionalizing the look of your company, whether you’re looking for sliders (which can rotate through several of your favorite product pictures), or separate index pages apart from the blog site, or even custom post sites, that let you design individual pages apart from one another.

Remember, you don’t pay for colors or for fancy design ideas…you pay for the functions you need to do business.

How to Privately Test Drive a New WordPress Theme

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I'm finally getting around to upgrading my last few blogs to the Genesis Framework from StudioPress and have decided to spare my readers the ugliness that usually accompanies such a change.

In this video I discuss how to use a plugin that allows you to test drive a new WordPress theme in the background, so that you won't miss a single click, commission or subscriber signup from your blog's readers. 🙂

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

Socrates: Newbie-Friendly WordPress Theme

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Socrates WordPress ThemeYesterday, I came across Socrates, a new WordPress Theme that has some very newbie-friendly features that decrease the need for hard-coding.

With Socrates, you'll find:

  1. Easy to Manage Navigation Links
  2. That you can instantly Monetize Your Site With the Ad Bar
  3. Built-in Clickbank monetization
  4. 50+ Backgrounds or Upload Your Own
  5. That You can Create Custom Headers On The Fly!
  6. How To Create Multiple Layouts
  7. Three Footer Widgets For Extra Customization

The developer, Dan Nickerson has a special licence deal going on until noon Eastern today – April 15th.
Check out the Socrates demo today.

WordPress in a Day

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Awhile back I introduced you to Justin Parr, creator of the Doglirious site (shown below)


Justin built his site on a WordPress blog platforms using the StudioPress themes for WordPress. Doglirious is based on the Lifestyle theme, (as does NPT) and MyEnergyPal uses the StudioPress Church theme. Here is how they appear ‘out of the box'.

As you can see, each theme was modified to the webmaster's specifications with changes to overall color scheme, the header graphic, bullet list icons, pictures included in the ‘Featured Section' near the top of the page and other design elements.

Doglirious belongs to Justin and Michelle, and and Justin did all the design work for that one as well as a number of other blogs – all equally as gorgeous. I did the theme customization for MyEnergyPal, and the logo was sourced out to 99Designs by my partner in the project.

Can a Newbie Get Similar Results?

Absolutely! Installing a WordPress blog takes only a minute when you use SimpleScripts (offered by BlueHost hosting) and every StudioPress theme ‘out of the box' is beautiful.

While it is possible for a new webmaster to to modify these themes by availing themselves of help from the StudioPress forums and/or other online design and blogging support communities, there is a somewhat steep learning curve to the process which can take considerable time to absorb and master.

And you'll need a few things to make the site your own, including:

  1. A Logo (Header Graphic)
  2. Featured Content Gallery plugin
  3. Pictures/Graphics to put in the Featured Content Gallery
  4. Color scheme customization to match your logo

And although I always encourage new webmasters to learn and do as much as they can with their own blogs, learning how to design graphic elements isn't a compulsory part of that mix — especially not if your mission is to get your site up and making money as fast as possible.

But Paying $5K for a Custom Site is Ludicrous!

Unfortunately, I've spoken with WAY too many people who have literally spent a fortune having a site designed for them – often to the tune of $5,000 for 3 – 10 page sites – and then they still don't even know how to change a link.

It drives me nuts to hear these stories, because it is completely unecessary to spend that kind of money, especially on a site that you can't operate. Learning how to post content to a blog is easy as pie to do, and with continual improvements to WordPress, the process just keeps getting easier.

The WordPress interface is super intuitive, but just in case you want to go deeper into the functionality, there are plenty of blogging instruction videos available that will teach you how to work your blog. So, there's absolutely NO reason why you should be held hostage by a webmaster on whom you must depend to make all your site changes.

The StudioPress themes are beautifully designed and they're only $59.95 per template – so why in the world would anyone pay $5000 for a website — not to mention KEEP paying that webmaster to insert content and/or links?

The thought strikes me as preposterous.

There IS a happy medium, however. One that won't cost you an arm and a leg — and nowhere close to 5,000, or $3,000 or even $1,000.

Justin's Design Tutorials

Justin Parr has just finished a series of video tutorials that show you EXACTLY how he created Doglirious using the Studio Press lifestyle theme. As our guest blogger DinerDave is quoted saying about Justin's help..

“I love that I can do this on my own. I’ve learned more working with you than I have in the last 4 years working with my last web developer.”

Debora Humphries, another happy user of Justin's system, just left the following comment on this blog:

“I do have Justin’s package and I absolutely love it. Best money I have ever invested for training. The man is really talented at clearly explaining and demonstrating a step-by-step method on how to customize the “Lifestyle StudioPress Theme.”

And now you can learn how to create a beautiful blog with Justin's video tutorials at  Affiliate Blogger PRO.

Designing the DinerDave Website

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So now I have a hosting service, I've done my market research, and I've written pertinent content based on that research for DinerDave.com. Now it's time to design the layout and look of the site. Once again I turn to Ros for recommendations on who could create a professional looking blog.

WHO Will Design DinerDave.com?

I reviewed dozens of WordPress template sites and became frustrated that I could not find the perfect “skin” for DinerDave.com. Then I read a case study on Doglirious.com in the latest revision of the Super Affiliate Handbook (Feb 2009). I was very impressed with the layout and functionality of this particular site and knew right then and there that I wanted the EXACT same layout for DinerDave.com! Well, as fate would have it, one month later Ros recommended Justin Parr, the creator of Doglirious.com, to create these beautiful StudioPress theme sites for her subscribers. After checking out Justin's portfolio of work on Juscott.com and the templates available on Studiopress.com I was hooked! I made up my mind that I would use Justin to create the Diner Dave website, rather than trying to spend hours trying to learn CSS, basic design and editing templates.

Selecting a Theme and Design Package

That afternoon I purchased the same StudioPress “Lifestyles” theme that Justin used to create Doglirious.com (with the bonus “Streamline” theme for free…I can use that for another website later). I uploaded this theme through NetProfitsToday link and selected the Gold Package from the design services page on NPT. I did so because I wanted a strong foundation for the Diner Dave site and that included all the advanced plug-ins and features included in the Gold Package for email marketing, social bookmarking, tag cloud, etc…

Ros said in her recommendation for Justin's design services, it is “preposterous to pay $5000 to have someone create a website” and then not know how to change links, upload pics, or perform any other simple updates. I agree! As someone who has actually spent thousands of dollars to create a static website I'm here to tell you that $999 for Justin's Gold Package I selected is a steal! It is possible to find web designers on Elance.com or Rentacoder.com to create WordPress sites for the same price or maybe a little lower, but I prefer to hire a person that is recommended by someone I trust (Ros) AND that guarantees their work.

Creating the Logo

Creating a logo was the only service offered by Justin that I did not select. I created the logo a few weeks before Ros' post on Justin's design services. I reviewed several logo creation sites like 99designs.com before selecting logoloft.com to create the Diner Dave logo. The main reason I selected them was because of their impressive portfolio of work AND they were running a $99 special on logo creation. I contacted them and described exactly what I wanted. After a few revisions, I received the finalized Diner Dave logo. I was very pleased with the results! Now it was time to get started on the site.

Justin Works his Magic!

After contacting Justin via email we set up a phone and online meeting (via Yugma.com) to discuss how I would like the design and layout of DinerDave.com to look. I already knew what content I would be adding to the site…it was just a matter of organizing it in a website for ease of use and arranging merchant offers on each of the pages. I started by creating a map of the home page on an Excel spreadsheet (because I couldn't email him a cocktail napkin!). Here is a copy of that spreadsheet:

dinerdave-spreadsheet

After discussing my vision of the layout and design of DinerDave.com, Justin had a checklist of items for us to cover before he started in on the design work. The list included:

  • Color scheme – I chose red, a color that invokes passion. Plus, I wanted to make sure the color scheme matched my logo. He matched the primary and secondary colors to those displayed on the site.
  • Layout – Obviously, I wanted to place the AWeber email / RSS opt-in collection form at the top right of every page. I know from experience that I will make 100x more money on merchant offers with my email subscribers than random visitors to the site. I also needed to make sure that my revenue producing merchant offers/reviews were featured close to the top of the page (ie the “Diner Dave Daily Deals”). I relied on Justin's recommendations to determine where to place the remaining content.
  • Google ads – There are several locations in the Lifestyles template where you can place Google ads, but I decided I only wanted one area in the right column for these ads. I really want the emphasis of Diner Dave to be content over ads.
  • Category and tag selection – Once again I chose the categories I selected based on my market research. The categories are based on what people are looking for on google and other search engines: restaurant coupons, restaurant gift certificates, restaurant reviews, etc… Moreover, I already had content for each of these major categories.
  • Navigation menus – I selected a 2 tier navigation menu to give visitors a broad overview of the dining out tips and advice featured on the site. The primary navigation bar contains broad topics: tips and advice, web discounts, the about us page, and contests to win a free lunch (a popular concept I started with DinerDeals.com). The secondary navigation bar lists the most popular categories with my merchant offers – THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT to monetize the site.
  • Pictures and graphics – Justin was a huge help when it came to selecting the perfect pictures for the featured article box on the home page! He also taught me how to find and download these pictures myself using sites like Dreamstime, iStockPhoto, and Stockxchange. Plus, he advised me on how to use tools like SnagIt and Picnik.com to capture and edit screen shots, photos, tables, etc..
  • Plug-ins – I added the SEO All-in-One pack and Ninja Affiliate Links to my admin section to optimize the site for search engines and to cloak affiliate links.

After my data dump, a few dozen emails back and forth, and a couple more phone conversations, here is the result of our collaberation (drumroll please…..):

DinerDaveHmPg

I can tell you that one of the great things about dealing with Justin is that he will patiently walk you through how to use WordPress to create and edit posts, create pages, optimize your site for search engines, create categories, and everything you need to know to become a self sufficient blogger. I HIGHLY recommend him to anyone that is looking to create a new website or transfer an existing website to WordPress!

Getting the Word Out

Now it's time to let my DinerDeals.com subscribers know about the NEW DinerDave.com! Look for the next post that deals with how to motivate existing subscribers to join my new list.

BizZites Review: All-in-One Affiliate Datafeed Store Builder & CMS

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UPDATE as of April 5, 2011: Bizzites has been sold and the new owner will no longer be supporting it. They plan to take the site down in fact.

Please visit Affiliate Datafeed Integration Software and Services for other datafeed solutions.

I've been working with a BizZites affiliate store builder for the last couple of days and man, I am truly impressed!

But before I tell you more about BizZites, let me say that I've worked with a number of different affiliate datafeed tools including Webmerge, Popshops, Datafeedr, Goldencan and Pepperjam's Store builder — just to name a few of those that I've found useful on my affiliate sites.

Those datafeed tools vary from software that you install on your computer to third-party management tools and plug-n-play code snippet generators. In some cases, use of the service means giving up a portion of your commissions, e.g. the 4th-click merchants at Goldencan.

While those tools spit out merchant product feeds in an attractive format (some more customizable than others) none of those datafeed tools actually builds the site for you. You still have to have a website / blog into which to import the merchant product data.

If you dread the thought of having to set up your own blog or static website or if you're just tired of working your way through site setups and tweaking out a theme before you can get down to the meat and potatoes business of incorporating products and reviews, that's where…

BizZites Reduces Your Workload

BizZites is a COMPLETE website building, datafeed integrating, content management system.

When you login, you immediately see how many departments, categories, products, and articles you have running on your Bizzite site, and the number of clicks you've received at the top of the store builder interface. It also specifies the theme in use.

The store building process is all laid out for you step-by-step by realistic step. I say ‘realistic' because beside each step is an estimate of the time it should take you to complete the step — although I think some of the estimates are perhaps a little over-guesstimated, i.e. it estimates 15 minutes to change / edit the default video code if your template includes video. I say 2 minutes tops once you've got the embed code.

Themes, Videos & Pics Built Right In

Bizzite ThemeYou start by selecting a theme from over 50 beautifully designed ecommerce, blog-style and landing page themes with a choice of left and right navigation, as well as 3-column sytles (one demo sample shown to the right). Next, upload your logo. Don't have one? No problem, their design team will create one for you for a very reasonable fee.

Then you set your default store options including the store's name, tagline, description and so on… just like you'd do with any other site. Experienced WordPress users will note the structural similarities and also appreciate that the BizZites setup is more intuitive, not to mention guided.

Many features that currently require separate plugins or hand-coding in WordPress are built right into the BizZites interface such as rotating pictures and Adsense setup.

I LOVE the little warning messages such as “Don't Change Until you know what you are doing” that I found beside Space Delimiter in URLs in the Video Code section. Good advice!!

On the other hand, if you're an experienced designer / developer / webmaster, BizZites permits full-scale theme modifications.

Join Networks, Add Your Products

You can apply to the Affiliate Networks directly through the BizZites interface if you're not already a member. Along with plans to add eBay and Amazon soon, affiliate networks in the interace currently include:

  1. Commission Junction
  2. Performics
  3. ShareASale
  4. Pepperjam
  5. LinkShare
  6. Link Connector
  7. ClickBank

Once you join, you simple plunk your ID into a form blank beside the appropriate network's name and you can start building out your feeds.

Vendor names are listed with the number of products in the feed alongside in brackets. Click on the vendor name and it opens up a list of categories. You can choose the whole feed or just a category. Alternatively, you can search for products from all vendors or just one specific vendor by keyword using either broad or exact match.

The screenshot below shows the products in the Small Appliances > Food Processors category at Best Buy.

Bizzite Add Product

And if you have product feeds from other vendors not listed within the BizZites interface, you have to option to upload those feeds and work with them.

Overview of BizZites Features & Benefits

  • 40+ Million Affiliate Products to Choose from
  • Powerful and simple ajax enhanced admin
  • 3 Membership Levels
  • Proprietary Keyword Tools
  • Content Creation Services
  • Exclusive Back Linking Services
  • Built in Pinging and RSS Feeds just like a Blog
  • Custom Site Building Services
  • Vertical Market Analysis Services
  • Membership, Forum and 24/7 support
  • And much more . . .

Is BizZites the Right Affiliate Store-Building Solution for You?

I would HIGHLY recommended BizZites to you if:

  • You're completely new to affiliate marketing, don't yet have a website and are committed to building a full scale affiliate site that looks great and incorporated merchant datafeeds, or;
  • You're a more advanced affiliate marketer who just wants an easier way to build out a great-looking datafeed site in less time.

Visit BizZites now and take them up on their 30-day FREE Trial.

Or, watch the BizZites video.

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