What would bring to me the point of whispering “come on…come on…you can do it!” to my computer, while periodically blasting Britney Spears oldies this past weekend?
(don’t ask)
Just watch!
Note: I’m making the rare decision to close comments here to help the community bridge the gap to YouTube. See ya there!
Dear Blogger has an interesting idea
A few weeks back I shot a late Sunday evening to my email club. The message was, if you want me to make you a niche review website, complete with your own domain name, hosting, and more, just let me know. It was a weird request but I had a plan.
So what happened?
Well, one response came in. An hour later, another did. When I woke up Monday morning, about 7% of the club had joined it. I deemed this pretty good for email marketing. I spent the next week sorting through responses from readers, all with equally amazing, creating, potentially profitable web ideas. Then I chose two winners…
The agreement?
The winners had to let me in on their passions with instructions for building a complete niche site for them, that included pictures, links, logos and more. Then I’d set it up with my experience and film it for all of you. The idea was to create a stand-alone video with the tools to launch your own niche websites.
The harder it is, the better
As you know if you’ve set up any sort of website, things can go wrong. Sometimes horribly wrong, to the point of having to start all over again. And when you are uploading to YouTube from another software, there are all sorts of variables (for example, sometimes YouTube interprets your video as the wrong file type and slices it at 10 minutes, or looks over a few pixels and denies you your right to HD quality). It’s a lot.
So why the Britney Spears reference? Because I was pushed near the edge while working through the YouTube errors and listening to crappy 90s music comforts me. (Judging allowed.) 😉
In the end things worked out – it took a lot of patience and help from the amazing Camtasia support but we pulled through:
Note: This is a DEMO. While we do cover real concepts like setting up a domain and hosting, a logo, Adsense, and more, the result is by no means a final website. That’s where part II comes in.
The nuts and bolts
In case you’re curious…Here are the facts behind “Make The Niche Website…of Your Dreams!”:
- I filmed in Camtasia 2
- I tried to get a domain name for $14,000, but settled for $3.13
- I say cool about 48 times
- Then we install my FAVORITE free, responsive WordPress theme
- We make a custom logo at pixlr.com
- The video does a 720 at one point, no clue how that happened 🙂
- Then we install a custom Adsense ad
- And more!
Here are my goals:
- I wanted it to be HELPFUL – as always
- I wanted it to be long-lasting (This could definitely happen, if you help out.) 😉
- I wanted it to be fun (Check out the little details.)
As usual I want the video to help you setup a niche site, then basically leave you to run it. You’ll know you’re using the best technology and not messing anything up.
I pushed myself since the last video too, making a logo and even some outros.
Yeah, we had outtakes…
Part II
In the first video here we setup a simple website. Then we give it a logo and install Adsense. In this next Part, the goal is to have a final result of a niche review website where you can earn revenue by reviewing the products you love.
Now more than ever before…
…I need your help to make this a success. YouTube is obviously a new project for me (I have put one reasonably popular video up so far) and entering a new realm can be full of scary judgments and scary setbacks.
Please join me over there, and let us know an answer to this question: What is your dream website, and what’s hold you back from owning it?
I’m closing comments here now to bolster engagement on YouTube. All you visual learners, please meet me there!
