In SEO, we always talk about tiered link building... This is an SEO tactic that has been proven to be one of the most effective in link building. The key allure of tiered link building is that it offers a safety net in case of future Google algorithm updates that could affect your site unfavourably.
With tiered link building, you build backlinks to your backlinks in stages that are identified either as Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3… etc.
- Tier 1 Backlinks link directly to your money site
- Tier 2 backlinks link to the Tier 1 backlinks
- Tier 3 backlinks link to Tier 2 backlinks
- etc etc
Example of Backlink Tiers
Apart from this being one of the most effective and safer tactics of building backlinks, what I like about it most is that it allows me to think hard before I get into the actual backlinking.
However, today’s post is not about tiered link building. Matthew Woodward has a complete video series on how to build tiered backlinks.
What I want us to talk about today is the tiered thought process that you need to have when you are creating your website or niche blog.
Let’s start by defining the problem.
UNSUCCESSFUL NICHE SITES EVERYWHERE
Although I do not have the statistics to back it up, I am sure a lot of people who start the journey to owning a successful niche blog give up before their blogs have borne them the results they had anticipated.
I know this because I have mentored several guys who, quite unfortunately, gave up along the way. Those who don’t give up continue labouring on their niche sites unsuccessfully.
The success stories I hear are few and far in between.
What is it that the successful niche site entrepreneurs do that you are not doing?
The answer is simple than you might have thought. It all boils down to how you think. What’s your thought process when you are building your niche site?
I have combined a few studies to show you how your thought process evolves from being a newbie to being a master webpreneur. The biggest catastrophe would be getting stuck at the newbie stage
Stage 1: Dualism- The Wrong Mindset to Have
Ever heard of dualism?
It is a theoretical approach to thinking which argues that there are only two rational views of anything; the right and the wrong; the beautiful and the ugly; the true and the false.
Dualism argues that there are only two types of people- the authority figures who know everything (gurus, doctors, teachers etc) and those who know nothing and have nothing to contribute.
This is where a lot of new niche site builders get stuck. But you don’t have to.
To the curious mind, this stage of thinking does not last for long. It would be unfortunate if you got stuck here indefinitely. But that’s what happens with most guys who give up.
If your mind gets foggy every time you look or think about your niche site, you are probably stuck at dualism. Students at this stage expect to be taught skills and knowledge that will instil them with certainty.
You are waiting for some guru to tell you the correct (or the incorrect) way of running a successful niche site. You are waiting for an authority figure to tell you how to build backlinks that won’t jeopardise your niche blog.
Dualism makes you feel helpless. The first step to becoming successful with a niche blog is to abandon dualism.
Stage 2: Multiplicity- A Better Approach to Niche Sites
To step into multiplicity, which is a better way of thinking about niche sites, you need to give up the idea that there’s a wrong and right approach to creating a successful niche site.
This is where you start welcoming multiple ideas. The idea of a guru starts to dissipate.
Here’s the reason why.
If there is no right or wrong approach to creating a niche site, then gurus cannot know what is right or wrong, right?
It is at this stage that my first niche site really took off. Before it started peaking, I would seek validation from people who I thought knew how to create a successful niche site.
If they said I was doing it wrong, I would immediately abandon the idea I was pursuing and take their route. I don’t know when I reached the snapping point and decided to do it my way… But I am glad that I did.
In multiplicity, you start believing there are many viewpoints, and all of them are equally valid.
However, multiplicity is still not the epitome of niche site reasoning. The downside of being at this stage is that you welcome every other divergent opining that comes your way. You start suffering from analysis-paralysis. You are also haunted by the ghosts of dualism. You find yourself lapsing, trying to establish which among the ideas that bombard you is the correct way of doing it.
Stage 3: Contextual Relativism
After the Multiplicity stage, which makes you believe there are many approaches to building a niche site, you are likely to enter into the contextual relativism stage.
At this stage, things start becoming clearer. You start learning that while all viewpoints are equal, there are some viewpoints that are more equal than others.
You learn that some approaches to building a niche site are superior. Others are utter nonsense. While the remaining are universally applicable.
Can you think of one approach to niche sites that you’ve heard and now you believe is useless? What about one that you’ve heard about and you think is correct?
Although there are no right or wrong approaches to building a successful niche site, you start believing that some approaches outweigh others.
You might for instance start believing that WordPress is the better CMS for creating a niche site as opposed to HTML, Joomla, or other site builders (though they are not entirely wrong).
The decisions you make at this stage rely heavily on your power of evaluation, observation, historical evidences, as well as applicability.
But you still have a way to go. Scholars believe that although you are weighing the merits and demerits of certain approaches/answers, you are still heavily reliant on what your authority figure prefers.
Stage 4: Committed Relativism- The Final Stage
You have passed through all the critical stages of reasoning, and you are finally at the stage where you can read and learn about different approaches but you are self-reliant to make decisions.
At this stage, you are open to learning from everyone but you retain the responsibility to decide what to adopt and what not to.
For instance, are PBNs the better way of ranking niche websites? You might immerse yourself at finding what the views of different gurus are, but the final decision is yours to make.
The decisions you make at this stage are reliant on your firsthand experiences. You stop believing in gurus and develop a system that is your own.
For instance, I rank my niche sites using a combination of strong 301 redirects, Web 2.0s, and a few PBN links. Luqman relies heavily on scholarship link building. Tung Tran is acute on guestographics. These differing decisions have been influenced by years of trying out different theories, and finally pursuing one that you totally believe in.
This final stage of the niche site philosophy calls on you to be final decision maker. At this stage, your foundation of knowledge is rational and secure. You won’t easily be influenced to change what you know.
Where Are YOU
Learning is a process. And there’s nothing wrong with being at the dualism stage.
Every successful niche site entrepreneur (I included) has progressed from a blind belief in experts and gurus to a stage where they were able to compare a multiplicity of ideas to finally choosing those ideas that appealed to them most based on applicability and rationality.
The most important thing is that you keep your mind open and accept learning as part of the process.
You need to be able to connect your thoughts diagrammatically. Where are you now? What are you doing? To achieve what? Then what? With what effects?
I could think of a few reasons why the helplessness sets in
~ You are not interested in the process
You only care about the end result. Money in the bank, EiiiiYaaaa {Insert DJ Khaled's voice here}.
If this is you, there's little hope for you. You need to either change your mindset or change your hustle. Making money (with any form of hustle) is a process. You have to respect the process to enjoy the end results of the hustle.
Ask anyone who's making tangible money online. They had to go through the whole process.
~ You don't have the right information
In running a niche site, the process we talked about above begins with practical, continuous learning.
But how do you learn when you can't afford pricey courses from niche site masters?
Easy. Trust me. Everything I know today falls back into self-learning through the tiered thinking.
Learning how to start and operate a profitable niche site blog could be as easy as reading a blog or watching videos on YouTube.
Tiered thinking comes into play when you are trying to learn. You need to understand where you are right now. What information are you seeking?
If it is the first time you are hearing about Amazon Niche sites, the biggest question that you might have is, "What the heck is an Amazon Niche Site?"
And the good news!
The answer is just a few clicks away.
It doesn't matter whether you are using an outdated smartphone or a high-end laptop. Just type your query into Google, the way it comes into your mind.... What is an Amazon niche site...? Chances are, within a few minutes, you will have gained a gem that no one will ever take away from you.
If you are an intermediate niche site entrepreneur, your query might be more to do with how to make money with an Amazon Niche Site. Again, Mr. Google or Dr. YouTube has the answers for you.
If you consider yourself an advanced niche site maker, then you might want to know how to crawl expired domain names that have great metrics and backlinks from authority websites.
Again, you only need to ask. And who else is better at handling complex questions than Google?
Here’s to hoping that you will keep learning and trudging towards being a master in building successful niche sites.
I am liking every kind of words stated here and it keeps encouraging to me that since you are much determined and forcussed, you can do anything
loved Patrick the article points are well stated . Yes i also believe that its not an overnight process but one of continuous learning and taking action steps towards the goal. very well written and keep up the good work!