There are many problems in life that are only problems because we think of them as problems. In other words, our attitudes get the better of us, and one of these problems is putting up an online business. Make no mistake about it putting up an alternative media site is a business. Get the idea out of your head that you are just engaged in some sort of hobby. Forget about the idea that this is some sort of passion project. No.
If you are thinking of putting up online media-based property that caters to a specific demographic or specific range of interests shared by a specific group of people, you have to think about this project in business terms. It is business.
If you are able to wrap your mind around that, then everything will be easier for you because you will be able to blow away whatever passes for alternative media or alternative community platforms on Facebook and other social media outlets. That’s right. You will be blowing them all day every day. Why?
Well, it all boils down to specificity. You may have a following of only a few hundred people but if those people are very loyal, you can turn that low-follower base into cold, hard cash. You could then turn this cold, hard cash into more awareness to grow your base, which produces more cash and on and on it goes. That’s the only way you can fight against better financed yet confused brands on social media platforms.
Also, alternative media enables you to build different levels of monetization. You can sell ads, and many advertisers are interested in that.
You can also sell links. There are many search engine optimization professionals that would be interested in that. Don’t dismiss this because SOE links for lucrative niches can earn you tens of thousands of dollars every single month. In fact, in the finance field alone, high-quality links can earn you hundreds of thousands of dollars despite the fact that only very few people are aware of your brand. Sounds crazy, right?
It seems like the old rules of traditional media have been turned on their head, but that’s what’s so lucrative about putting up an alternative media site in this day and age. Don’t let the small size worry you. Don’t let the hypertargeted or laser-targeted demographics scare you off. There’s a tremendous amount of money to be made in alternative media today. You just have to know what you’re doing.
So, how do you go about doing this? Well, let me race you through the process. Obviously this is a short article, and I cannot cover all points in fine detail; however, I can present you a big-picture plan. You can blow up this plan, and add more details to it to turn it into some sort of blueprint which you can then take from point A to point B to achieve ultimate success.
Whether you define success as 1000 extra dollars every month or $100,000 or even $500,000 every month totally depends on you. If you set a high goal, then you should also step up the work, planning and raw mental firepower needed to achieve that goal.
Let’s begin.
The first step is to figure out which alternative media community you want to cater to. This is crucial. Niche selection will either spell out your success or guarantee your business’ early death.
Here’s a hint. Whatever target market you’re shooting for must be already a target of heavy amount of advertiser dollars. Even if there aren’t too many advertisers trying to reach those people, if these advertising companies or businesses are willing and able to pony up a lot of money to reach these few people, then that’s the right niche.
Second, you have to be personally interested in the niche. Ideally, you should be a member of the community. This doesn’t really need much explanation because, hey, let’s face it. Putting up a business and becoming successful with it requires stamina. This is a marathon. It is never a sprint. You can’t just give up. You have to keep at it even if the money doesn’t come. You have to keep day after day after day until you succeed.
Once you have identified the niche, the key is to do outreach. The good news is that regardless of the community that you are trying to market to, there are already websites and brands that cater to it.
Now, they might not be doing a great job. They might even be fragmented and defused, but it doesn’t matter. Find them. Develop communications with them. Start building a relationship with them, and then ultimately they would start sending you traffic. You would give them content and, eventually, you come up with your own distinct brand.
You then take this brand with its base of traffic on all social media platforms and start a branding there as well. Eventually, you would start absorbing members from all these many different sources and direct them to a central website or blog. Once you are able to do that, you can engage in all sorts of community-building marketing practices like list building, which can turbo-charge your reach, influence and credibility.
Once you reach this stage, the money appears. Seriously. That’s the point where you should start banking on your property, and here’s the trick. By reinvesting your money to get more awareness and to get more credibility and authority, you essentially write your own paycheck not just today but long into the future. You start developing a brand as the “go-to” source of a particular type of eyeball.
That’s how you play the game. That’s how you make money with alternative media sites.
If you don’t have this mindset or this view, you’re going to fail. Your project is just going to get another blog. I’m sure you don’t need me to remind you that 90% of blogs fail.
Do yourself a big favor. Set up a game plan. Do a lot of research. Be clear as to the outcomes that you want to achieve.