Traffic. Everyone wants it; everyone wants to tell you how to get it but here’s the problem: it’s almost always recycled ideas that have long since been tapped out. You know what I’m talking about here: submit a post to social bookmarking sites! Blah, blah, blah. We’ve heard it already. So then what is a truly viral method of generating amazing traffic results? They’re hidden little gems out there called Niche Communities.
Why go for Niche Communities?
It's about the FOCUS
I know what you’re thinking right now and you have good reasoning behind it: “But Murray, in order to get the most traffic I have to go after those places with the most people!”. Yeah, maybe, if you’re a news blog or someone with a ton of influence already but what about us normal bloggers?
Let’s face it, not every blog will hit the front page of Digg but everyone always lists Digg as one of those places you HAVE to go for – I never really understood this because…
If you’re in an obscure niche, you can kiss these platforms goodbye in terms of great sources of traffic. For that reason, I want you to take a completely radical shift in focus; I want you to seek out micro communities on the web.
These sites generally don’t have the massive user base as places such as Digg but there are more than a few things going for them:
#1: A Niche means Passion
I love the movie Hackers
Ever stumbled upon a hobby which made absolutely no sense to you but the fans were so rabid that they’re willing to attack you for bad mouthing it? Niche communities and interests garner highly passionate people; they’re the type of people that will literally fight and die for it.
A passionate group of people always have a passion to share content which hits home within the user base. Seeking out these niche communities and connecting with passionate members will almost guarantee your related content will become very popular within the circle which can eventually spill over to the mainstream web as users generate buzz and interest.
Plan of action: Join a niche community and do nothing – seriously, just lurk for a while. Don’t jump right in; take your time to learn what members of the community enjoy talking about, what they share and the internal memes they pass around one another. Only after have you done a proper amount of people watching should you enter the community and begin networking with these passionate people – this will allow you to connect with them on a deeper level than someone that’s trying to only leverage the community for viral marketing.
#2: Greater opportunities for Authority
Gonna fall in line? Hell no!
Your chance to become an influential individual within a larger community has long since passed. Unless you buddy up with the owners of a major platform, you’re going to pretty much fall flat on your face trying to create any significant impact on a larger community – ask yourself “when’s the last time each of my posts went to the front page of Digg?”
Niche communities, on the other hand, give you the greater opportunity to build authority because there are so few players pushing to capture the role of “head honcho”. Once you’ve gained the respect of the community, created a great network and have been known to provide quality feedback and content, you’re much more likely to consistently be pushed to the fore-front of a niche community. At the flip of a link, you can turn your work into an insane amount of traffic and viral influence.
Plan of action: Find a niche forum or platform which is still within its infancy which you feel comfortable with. Write the best damn thread you could ever muster and push it out there (such as a resource thread). If you did your homework and created true value, your thread is likely to become stickied to the forum which means it’s a “required” reading by any and every member – if your link is there, as well, that’s phenomenal potential for traffic and influence.
#3: More signal, less noise
Shiiiiiiit, can't stand this noise!
Another amazing benefit of targeting niche communities is that there is far less noise. Go ahead, dig through the archives of major bookmarking sites and forums; what do you find? An onslaught of spam and mediocre content.
Niche communities, on the other hand, has far less activity which means that every time you have something to say, people are far more likely to listen. Trying to shout over everyone may catch a few ears but it’s quickly drowned out by the chatter of millions. Understand that your voice means nothing online if no one is listening.
Plan of action: Shut up, talk less but make an IMPACT. The speed of information is so rapid these days that a piece of content will spread faster than the rate in which people consume it – that’s why you’ll see 1,000 retweets on a post before there’s a single comment! Instead, say no to the constant chatter and, instead, try to craft each point of contact into a memorable experience – this will forever cut through the noise and create your own signal.
Shining Examples of Niche Communities in Action
It’s one thing to introduce the concept of using niche communities for viral traffic; it’s another to show some examples – here are a few for ya:
Reddit is a bit large for niche communities on the web but it’s undeniable the influence they have at turning content into a complete viral traffic explosion. Unlike Digg, Reddit leans toward the obscure content of the web; hitting the front page can instantly send an item into dizzying heights – it’s like a meme generator.
I actually have an example for you as well.
While browsing Reddit, I found a really funny link about art made by CAPTCHA. I figured it would be fun to shoot out on my Twitter feed to out it went (through su.pr). A few days later when I jumped back into my Su.pr account, I noticed something crazy.
What does this convey overall? These small niche communities out there, like Reddit, are actually a MAJOR source of big things on the internet. There are tons of others out there besides Reddit that end up creating the majority of viral content and memes.
RezPLS
I previously mentioned my own experiences with viral explosions so I’d like to bring it up again. My friend and I created a niche website called RezPLS which was created solely for free massively multiplayer online RPG’s; instead of targeting games which had millions of players, we went after those communities that only had a couple thousand.
Here was the kicker though: there are literally hundreds of free MMO’s out there; we wanted to reach each of them.
Because of their small size, niche game companies would work with us despite our lack of “high end” news credentials – they wanted any type of publicity vs. none (at the time). We setup exclusiveve interviews, contacts, got a few kickbacks (like beta keys) and in all, after our content was published they pushed it out through their channels – this resulted in enormous traffic spikes in the 10′s of thousands.
Edit: I took a look at our Youtube channel for the first time in over a year. We’re at over 82,072 video views just from a few videos!
Conclusion: Create a quiet revolution
viva viva!
What’s the lesson that we can learn from all this – something that we can take away and apply to our own blog or business? Niche communities are where it’s at.
If you think about it: Everyone is in this mad dash to create influence on these over saturated networks where people are playing the numbers game. I don’t know about you but I much rather have a smaller group of followers and people that I network with that are PASSIONATE than thousands that are lazy and don’t interact.
YOU can create a quiet revolution and explode your influence by tapping into these niche communities. Infuse yourself with their members, take time to learn the lingo and culture, talk to others on a personal level – return the web to a personal experience vs. the sterile, corporate environment that it has become today.
Go out there and make an impact. Mix it up and try something other than chasing the big numbers – explode your influence by working with people who care – seriously, do it.
Murray,
Wow, that is some real kick ass stuff. Those “rezpls” numbers must be nice to see when you haven’t been paying much attn. to it. You are right, getting into these communities really is a way to skyrocket your views. And give a real shot at viral marketing.
This is actually something I really need to start doing myself. I am one of those people who just occasionally links things on reddit/digg etc. Therefore i really have no sense of community there. I need to start more of this. The problem, as with all things, is when. It is one of those 20 things i KNOW I need to be doing, but always seem to have something more immediate to work on.
It is unfortunate, because i have done a few things i thought, “could” be viral, but of course they did not “take’ because i do not have enough of a platform to launch them from.
Like I said, definitely something I need to work on.
Steve@Internet Lifestyle´s last [type] ..Follow the Yellow Brick Road – A Guide to Inspiration- Motivation and Melting a Witch
I hear ya man
Here’s the biggest problem with online promotion I see: People tell you about (kinda) tooo many things, ya know?
If you were to rewind about 10 years ago, you’d pretty much only be on one forum all day every day because you’re so absorbed with your community – you had a TON of people that would respond to your threads (in forums) you just have to port that idea to the most recent iteration of social networks ya know. It’s like we’re trying to be (like you said) 20 places at once but if we just focused on one or two, we’d be golden.
But, alas, it’s that one thing that’s on our list – we just need to make more time for it which can be immensely difficult haha
Solid advice dude. And very thoroughly covered as well. I dont have anything exceptional to add expect to say that this works.
Dino Dogan´s last [type] ..Content Is King My Ass
I don’t have any exceptional comment back at you either haha – thanks for the support bro; you kick ass and I’ll keep kickin ass.
Hi Murray,
This really hits home for me. Community building is essential for just about any type of online business if you intend it to have any long-term significance.
Also, your third item is SO important. I am currently at the point where fighting the noise (so to speak) is taking up way too much of my time.
Think small to grow large? I think so. After all, even companies like Coke, Pepsi, and Heinz started with a single idea.
You can’t build a large community without having built a smaller one first.
Very nice post Murray.
Have a good day!
BTW – Steve’s title today is freaking hilarious.
mark´s last [type] ..The Power of Priority
You nailed it Mark
It’s all about that core community. Just think of how screwed Apple would have been if they alienated their original community – they’d be a dead company because it was that group that kept them alive during the 90′s ya know? That’s the same thing with any business, you’re always going to have the original community and early adapters – the businesses that screw up are the ones that goes against this core group, at least in my mind – it kills the life and energy of the company.
Dude, there’s just so much noise out there that you wanna shut down and walk away sometimes – it’s just a constant flood of new stuff that you never seem to feel like you have the time to do anything without hearing about how others have already done it. It’s one of those things where you put your head down, ignore everything and keep working – it’s for the best.
I agree completely. Connecting with the right community that “gets” you because you “get” them is the new sweet spot in internet marketing.
Tammi Kibler´s last [type] ..Writing Jobs Online
Push vs. pull marketing at its core Tammi – get them on your side by actually connect with them, not by trying to fit in with your marketing message, ya know?
Awesome Murlu. Reddit posts some really cool stuff so its no wonder you get so many views from that.
Murray,
My partner is working on a couple of new niche sites for us. For my part I have to come up with a marketing strategy. Our niches are way different that your game niche but I thing the community concept would work well.
Sheila Atwood´s last [type] ..77 Best Practices for Landing Pages That Rise Above Status Quo
Exactly Sheila – at the core of it all is the community which these ideas can be applied to really anything – there’s always people to work with and a community that’s hungry for more information – just deliver it to em
Wow, Murray, great post, and excellent timing… again. I’m just about ready to jump into creating a new niche community that has only existed informally before now. I have one branch ready to go, just need to adjust the set and make the big picture come in a little clearer first.
I like what you’re saying here in this post, and I find it encouraging to think we don’t have to compete with the big boys. Besides, entering a niche community where we are passionate too is much more fun (funner?
)and easier to sustain.
Thanks,
Peggy
Peggy Baron´s last [type] ..How to Write a Search Optimized Blog Post by doing it Backwards
Awesome Peggy! Get out there and get it! Don’t loose site of your work and take it to the NEXT level.
You’re exactly right about the niche communities – you get to talk to people that you really want to be around – you can connect on a deeper level because you’re not trying to talk to everyone; they get you and you have something to shoot back and forth – it’s like chatting with someone that has the same movie – it opens a ton of new dialog between you two; just gotta take that concept to an online community.
BOO YA!
Mate you should play baseball because you constantly hit them out of the park – tell you what.
I like this one mate…
“A passionate group of people always have a passion to share content which hits home within the user base. ”
OMG – isn’t it so! Not just that – its the whole language they speak which in turn can show you the right keyphrases to be targeting…anyway, I digress and you already know this…
Great article mate – and certainly something I keep in mind when I build any more than 5 sites in the same niche – you know, get that extra bit of influence and all.
Kick ass indeed Murray
Thanks Alex – for a second I wasn’t sure if I talked about an upcoming post because I was writing recently about using baseball as an analogy – get outta my head yo!
Ummmmmmmmmmm
Yeah man, hit em on their level – we can shoot the shit all day because we’re both there – its way harder when people are just either too far off or too far below ya know
I want to share (you know, passion to share and all
) but I cant find the RT button!!! AAAARGH (im on laptop but it is widesreen so I should be able to see butons? Are they floating? Not displaying for me -using firefox btw 
)
awesome post! Did I already say that?
Respect.
They be floatin’ dawwwg – somewhere on the left sidebar – might need to resize – it’s a treasure hunt!
Yeah, agree with you that it is hard to hit the front of the big establish communities. That’s why recently, I try to find the growth communities and try to growing with them.
Dana´s last [type] ..The 4G Tablet PCs-Motorola XOOM- BlackBerry Playbook 4G- and Samsung Galaxy Tab 4G LTE
True, Murray!
When you are talking with the right people about the right stuff, you are bond to make an impact, then preaching to thousands of people that don’t know what the heck are you talking about.
Also, if you stop and think about it. Every “big” community has started as a small puny website trying to attract interested users and if you become a star before it hits the roof, you can really benefit. And you will become from a small niche start to a worldwide superstar.
Like you said, big communities are great and you can find a lot of great stuff, but you have to filter all those noises that keep getting louder.
Alex´s last [type] ..Barbie in club
You hit on a perfect thing Alex – the fact that if you’re apart of a small community in the beginning (before it explodes in popularity) lets you go along for the ride; you’re one of the “founding members” of the site because you were putting work into it well before it caught on. When people show up and see that you’re one of the big guns in the niche community, you immediately get a lot of recognition.
Of course, you can’t really predict if this will happen but even so, those connections you’re making on the site already are priceless.
Niche communities are definitely great places to expand your influence because these are people that are highly targeted and interested in what you have to say, as opposed to general communities like Facebook, or Twitter.
Henway´s last [type] ..GoDaddy Reviews
Hi Murray,
This post really resonates with me. Being in the earlier stages of my blogging journey it has finally dawned on me that many of the blogs about blogging contain regurgitated info of relatively low value.
When you first start reading them their info seems to be ‘best practice’ because most people are saying the same thing. I am now thinking that most of them say the same thing because firstly they all feed off each other for information rather than apply creativity and original thought and secondly because many of these blogs become popular and need to feed the system to maintain their high levels of popularity.
I am now reading less of many ‘expert’ blogs with their similiar content written ten different ways and concentrating more on blogs like yours, Tristan’s BloggingBookshelf and Steve Scott’s Site (to name a few) who are prepared to break from ‘accepted wisdom’ and write relevant and actionable content.
I now realise that this is what I need to be doing on my own site – relevant and actionable information rather than generic crap.
Here ends my self-counselling session in your comments section. Thanks for a great post to reaffirm my thoughts on the majority of blog information!
Brenton Russell´s last [type] ..Progress Report – Project Lifestyle Design- February 2011
(adding to the email I sent ya…)
Brenton,
I’m really glad to hear you and I highly appreciate what you had to say.
Sometimes it can feel like a pain when working on the blog because there really isn’t any way that I’m making money from it because it’s an outlet for my ideas, work and knowledge. I keep it that way because I want to stay focused to delivering great content, ya know? Sure, I could easily write posts that are heavy on SEO and appeal to what people expect to read but that would be a cop-out; I go into my posts as if they were going to change the world (or at least the actions of one person).
I’ve never really been able to connect with those posts that are just “Top 10 blah blah blah” because it doesn’t give me direct, actionable steps; when I want to learn something, I look for those in depth articles that take me through the process – which is why I try to do the same in my own writing.
Glad you were able to find my blog; yours is still pretty young eh? It’s great to see that these topics have left an impact and helped spark that idea of going beyond the basics; I hope you’re able to do the same as your blog grows because, although it may not always be rewarding on the monetary end, it’s so much so in knowing that you’re making an impact – you’re already doing it Brenton, keep at it man!
Definitely one of those things that can work. Niche communities are tough audiences, too. They know their quality, they know their stuff, and they recognize impostors faster than you can say, “Yikes!”
On the other hand, when it’s something they love, they’re the most devoted because, let’s face it, they’re already spending all that time on forums dedicated to that ONE thing. We spread ourselves thin if we try to go to the places where the massive crowds are.
I’m going to bump up my action on my parenting forums a notch or three!
Delena
Delena Silverfox@Modern Aboriginal Mama´s last [type] ..Breastmilk kills cancer- Power to the Boobie!
Exactly right Delena; I think that’s why one of the important steps when joining a niche community is to lurk for a while so you can pick up on the lingo, focus and types of people that frequent the community this way you can easily become integrated; you have to love it through else you will always come across as a fake.
If you think about it, you’re probably extremely familiar with a skill which you could talk about excessively on these forums. You’d learn a bunch of great information and pass it back; you can cement yourself as an authority and these people will eventually become followers on your own blog because they want more information.
What a great post, Murray. I use sites like Digg just for the back links because they tend to play an important role in most SEO analysis tools. At one point in my blogging career, I ditched Digg altogether; however, I recently started using them again because their interface is really easy to use now.
You’re right, though. We need to seek out our niche communities because that’s where the people we need to reach hang out. It’s also where we have a chance of them actually hearing us over all the noise. I’ve found that blogmarking communities like BlogEngage, Blokube, and BizSugar offer both the bookmarks and the community.
I’ll be featuring this post in my Monday mashup. Thanks for sharing your strategies with us.
PS My son is a Lego fanatic. He’d love the Lego army image.
Brad Harmon @ Big Feet Marketing´s last [type] ..How to Improve Your Twitter Profile
Digg did draw me back in a bit with the recent redesign but yeah; it’s sort of off and on because it seems like it’s always been run by the “big boys”; those niche communities (especially Blogengage) has been quite amazing because, for the most part, people are actually interacting with another instead of just carpet bombing their links – though it does have a bit of problem with it at times. Blokube came up quick and I’m really diggin’ BizSugar (no pun intended) – another is SERP’d which does great but there are some bugs that prevents you from posting at times.
Overall; these smaller communities are amazing because you can actually talk to people instead of being lost ot obscurity in the same wash of content from major blogs – ya know?
Thanks for considering adding me in the links – looking forward to the post and glad your son got a kick out of the legos
This is great stuff. You do provide valid reasons why niche communities are the place to start creating influence over people. Niche communities are great places for this since people in this communities are hard to convince but when you do able to convince them they are very loyal.