Hey Guido,

Totally agree about the smarmy “I love your site” comments. If I’m doing outreach for an Amazon niche site I go straight for the polite request to purchase a link.

For my authority sites / ones that have my name behind them (namely Niche Safari and my other ‘authority’ site), I’d be more inclined to not purchase links at all and instead obtain links through:

* Networking, e.g. going on Podcasts
* Responding to journalists using HARO
* Creating valuable link worthy assets

Come to think of it, my link building methods are very different depending on if I’m creating an Amazon Associates “niche site” (which for me is simply a business model – I plan to sell my niche sites every 2 years) vs. an authority site where my name is the brand.

Thanks for commenting!

Regards,
Chris

I get a fair amount of link requests, despite a clear heads up on the contact page that link request emails will be ignored. That’s my first filter.

Most can’t be bothered to personalize the email or send automated blanket emails, while names are easy to find on the site. That’s my second filter.

They all believe that a “unique” article at a 3 star textbroker level is a selling point or somehow valuable to me. Or that me handing them a link equals “working together”. This will be the third filter.

So lazy. So selfish. They would get a big “Haiyaaaa” from Uncle Roger.

The best thing is that my sites are a complete mess. Old sites being restored and a massive work in progress. It would be so easy to give me some tips of what I could improve. And even though I am well aware, I would happily actually look at their site and be much more willing to give them a link. Because they’re at least trying to be helpful.

If people want to sell/buy links, that’s totally fine. You do you. But don’t pretend it’s anything else in your email. Don’t tell me you love me when all you want is a prostitute.

Do the hard work and create a useful resource like Chris did with this blog post. Hopefully in a little while he will be able to show that it has gotten him a few links, because he’s helping people first.

/rant

Perhaps another data-driven post on competitiveness of niches is called for? Perhaps average domain authority by niche would work? You could pick say keywords with around 1000 volume, and see what DA is required to make the top 3 in serps.

Therefore, your suggestion that aggressive ads with Ezoic, AdThrive or Mediavine could double those rates is accurate.

I also agree that entertainment niches are very, very low. However, the potential traffic is very, very high. If you go the entertainment route, you need millions and millions of monthly visitors.

FYI, I wouldn’t dismiss sports, automotive, technology and food and drink. I’m in those niches and they earn quite nicely and the potential traffic is ridiculously high. In fact, the ad revenue from y tech blog is far higher than I expected it would be.

I agree with you that Business is disappointing for ad revenue. I thought it would be higher and it is hard to get a lot of traffic. On the flip side, many business niches offer other excellent revenue opportunities.

I have one site in the gaming nieche which has been really frustrating because of the low rpms but it is actually in line with your figures.

I’ve started another site That is more finance focused. I hope it’s not too competitive to break into!

Hey Ahmed,

I don’t really have a good service right now. Rhino Rank was who I was using for a while, but I’m hunting around for a better service at the moment.

Cheers,
Chris

Thanks,

You win the prize for best comment.

Wonderful post and website, and sexy profile pic.

Love

Emilia