Build a Niche Store | Why Conversions are good with BANS

If you have been doing affiliate marketing for anytime, you would have to agree that a conversion rate of 2-4% for a website promoting an affiliate product is pretty darn good. However, many BANS owners are claiming conversion rates of nearly 50% (for every 2 visitors, 1 buys for those of you who don't understand conversion mumbo jumbo). Now from a marketing perspective, that is absolutely astonishing. Why do BANS stores convert so well? If you have checked in out yet, you should check out my BANS Review

Obviously, probably the biggest reason that most would state would be that eBay offers the best deals on the internet most of the time. While this is true, there is something else that makes BANS convert so well with their customers.

The bottom line is that BANS sites grab their customers at the very tail end of their product research. I will explain here.

When someone is looking to potentially purchase something, they go through a series of search queries which normally ranges from a general search all the way to the most specific search for a particular brand.

Just to give you perspective into this, which do you think will convert better? Those that do a google search for....IPOD....OR.....those that do a google search for 4gb blue ipod with case?

Obviously, this is a no brainer but you have to understand that that is the type of long tail keywords that you will rank for when you build a BANS site. Sure, everyone would love to rank for the term IPOD and fortunes are built on a keyword that strong.

And that person searching for a 4gb blue ipod is most likely searching with their wallet out. Hence, why the conversions are good from BANS sites.

What makes the business model of the build a niche store so beautiful is that you grab those buyers who do the most particular searches on long tail keywords.

That said, do you have to target those keywords? Not at all. Here is what happens when you grab an eBay RSS feed. Using the IPOD site as an example, let's pretend that you have built it.

Now if you were building a regular site where you were dropshipping IPODS (what most do), then you would most likely target the primary keyword and possibly a few other keywords for your site. They then will have to spend months trying to rank high for their keywords.

However, when you use BANS, you basically grab the eBay RSS feed on your site, and in turn, you are getting all the keywords that a seller places on their ad and it is usually very specific.

Plus, since auctions are constantly ending and beginning, you are getting fresh content almost every hour on the hour. What that means from Google's point of view is that your site is constantly producing fresh content and therefore, your site will constantly be crawled by google's bots. This means that your site will constantly be ranking for new things.

That said, who do you think google will find more relevant for the search word 4gb blue ipod?...a static site that hasn't been updated for months or your site that is constantly being updated?

I hope I am not losing anyone here but that is very powerful stuff in terms of getting ranked for these long tails. BANS is hands down the best turnkey opportunity out there currently available.

Aren't you ready to Make Money Operating the Best Turnkey Business Available Online??

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Some Tips for Your BANS stores

I figured that I would drop some hints and tips for building a BANS store in this post. The reason why I am doing this is because many of you who are what I call pipe dreamers get discouraged when you build a site and don't get exactly what you were hoping for. These tips can be applied to virtually any site running BANS, whether you are doing it yourself (without the software) or running PHPBAYPRO (which is made for wordpress). If you haven't read my lengthy, indepth BANS review you should check it out.

1. Always write content for your BANS site- A lot of people are tempted to throw up a ton of sites with nothing but ebay ads on them. These people may make some sales but the reality is that mostwon't. Think about it for a second....Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer. Let's say you are searching for an ipod. You do a query search for "4gb purple ipod" and in the top ten results, you get one site that lists a fairly decent description and another site that simply lists prices on the front page of google. Which one will you most likely go to?
   
   The reality is that although we as consumers may want to buy something, we don't necessarily want to feel like we are immediately being sold to. And nothing screams "I am trying to sell you something" more than a google description of your site that is nothing more than 50 words worth of prices. Writing content on you site will ensure that Google will pick up the descriptive words and list them in the results...not just the ebay listings.


2. Think about a home page without any listings- I have a buddy of mine that is fairing fairly well with a site that sells wallets. Unlike so many other BANS sites that I see out there in which you get a snippet of text followed by ebay ads, he has gone a different route. When you log onto his site, the home page has a beautiful graphic header and some images of...you guessed it...wallets. On either side of the images, he has a "his" section and a "hers" section. Underneath each of these categories, he lists all the different brands of wallets he is selling. It is as easy as that. There is very little selling going on on the home page. However, when you go to his site, it is very clear that he is selling wallets and you can peruse the different brands of wallets he is selling.
   
   What he accomplishes in doing this is that the appearance of the home page gives the impression that he the site owner, is selling the wallets. I think that this may have something to do with how well this particular site is converting for him.....he has managed to break the "guard" of the consumer by appearing to be the seller himself right off the bat.


3. Do not add contextual ads like google adsense to your BANS site- I kind of mention this in my BANS review. Most affiliates of ebay seem to believe that if you place more options you give the consumer meaning the more stuff you try to sell them, the more money you should make. The bottom line is the more options you give, the more opportunities you give the consumer to move away from the page, thus negating any potential sale. Stay focused, guys. Don't give the consumer any other options other than to purchase a product or back out of it. That means no adsense and no other affiliate products. Just your ebay products.
   
   Besides adding google adsense to a storefront just cheapens the consumer experience in my opinion. On a side site, I actually tested adsense on one of my better converting BANS sites. This site was converting at an astounding 48.7%. I added adsense and that number dropped like a rock down to 22.21%. Although I was suddenly making money with adsense, the potential revenues paled in comparison to what I was making.


4. That said, if your BANS site is not converting well, then you may want to test other things- Not all BANS sites are created equal. The reality is that most of your sites won't produce much revenue. However, not all is lost. If you are getting traffic but aren't getting the conversions (which you should be converting at 25-50%), then you are going to need to ask why. It could be something as simple as you choosing the wrong keywords or not adding the right items to your site. TEST TEST TEST. And once you are converting well, TEST some more.
   
   If everything fails but you are getting traffic, try different monetization methods. Then and only then it might be worthwhile to add adsense or some other affiliate product. The good news is that since your content is changing on a daily basis, the google bots will be there to constantly search your site.


5. Get Backlinks to your site- Don't be fooled by the few SEOer's out there that claim that backlinks don't matter in Google's algorithm. They do. The rule is that the more backlinks you get to your site (using anchor text with your keyword), the higher in the search engine results you will go. A lot of BANS newbie's simply don't understand this concept. They think that once they set up a BANS, the work is over. Not true. After all, you are competing with people like me that actively search for places to drop links to my site.
   
   Once again, what you are targeting has a lot to with the keyword you are targeting. So, the more specific you can be, keyword wise (Court calls this keyword sniping), the better off you will be in SERPS. And don't forget your inner pages as well as your home page. Usually, I will get backlinks to my home page with variations of my keyword. I will gun for the specific keyword on my inner pages. For instance, if I have a page for Taylor 310CE (acoustic guitar), I will make sure I place this as my anchor text.
   
   I should note that you don't necessarily need to do this for traffic as alot of these keywords are so specific and targeted that you will have virtually no competition.


6. Make sure your site is SEO optimized- Use the rule that someone should be able to get from the page they are on to any of your pages within one click. I actually do a little more, like keyword snipe for my homepage by adding keyword specific anchor text on each of my pages. You can also add a little snippet of anchor text at the bottom of every page for each category you have. Internal links will strengthen your position in the SERPS.

That is pretty much it. Building BANS sites are easy and they are currently a remarkable way to operate a turnkey business online. The trick is to do all the things that those guys that make the big bucks do. Once again, if you haven't checked out my BANS Review, you should.

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What Can You Expect to Make using Bans?

There are a ton of people applauding BANS as the next best thing in regards to creating and operating a truly turnkey business. But, the question is- Is it really that easy? Can a BANS store make you a ton of money in a set it and forget it kind of way? If you haven't read my BANS Review, you should check it out. I cover all the pros and cons of purchasing BANS including where most people go wrong with managing their BANS sites.

If you have been perusing the internet in search of reviews for BANS, chances are you have seen a montage of questions and answers in regards to whether it works, what works best (which I have a hard time believing based on the fact that most affiliate marketers are pretty silent about what truly works), and how much money can be made using BANS.

First, Let's examine How much money you can make if you have set up a BANS site.....

I have seen people claim to make $500 a day from their sites. I have also seen people complain that they aren't making anything. So what is the difference between affiliates that are making a killing and those that aren't?

The #1 reason why most people fail to make moneywhen they operate a BANS site is that they have TOO FEW SITES. These Niche Stores are a lot like websites....you build it and do the footwork and they may come. Worse still, is that you do get traffic but no sales. The big money makers not only take the time to research keywords but they also build a ton of sites.

Think about pareto's theory here. 80% of your income comes from 20% of the sites. I think that this can be applied for the most part. Of all the BANS site owners that I talked to, most admitted that most of their sites don't pull in any measurable amount of income. That said, they also said that the ones that did pulled in quite a bit of income. So, using this theory, you would have to agree that the more sites that you are running, the better your chances of making any measurable kind of money.

Just yesterday, I spoke with a guy that currently was running 8 BANS sites. He said of the 8, only 2 were pulling in sales. Disheartening? Maybe but remember....you only need a few of your sites to hit to pull in money.

Just to give you an example, I am currently running over 100 BANS sites (which I have a few that are from the actual BANS company, a few from PHPBayPro (made for wordpress) and then the rest are set up in Joomla). Of these 100+ sites, I am generating roughly $90 a day in sales. And just to note, I will admit that out of all these sites only 18 are pulling in daily revenue for me.

So, what you should take out of this is that in order to truly make money with BANS, you need to go out there and purchase a ton of domains.

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Short on cash and can't afford to buy a few hundred dollars of domains? Try this approach instead. Purchase 2 domains a week and build two a week. After a year's time, you will have over 100 sites!

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It is like everything else, folks. In order to make money online, you need to build a ton of sites. This applies whether you are using adsense or peddling affiliate products or anything else for that matter online. And to be perfectly frank with you, some will generate a ton of cash for you. Others will generate next to nothing. The big **secret** that most of the big money making BANS sites owners know is that the more you build, the better your chances of making money.

On a side note- if you are wanting to start small and test the waters so to speak, then you had better be down with doing keyword research in order to find an item that isn't so competitive. Sure, if you can own the search engines with your keyword being IPOD, then you would be making a pretty healthy living just off of one site. However, understand that these types of keywords are pretty saturated in the BANS department.

I actually have a BANS site that is converting very well because the keyword I chose is not only a non-competitive keyword (less than 300,000 pages) but it is also a "buy" keyword for the particular niche. And the best thing is, that I have 2 listings on the front page for that particular keyword and it gets roughly 150 searches a day!

So, if you don't have the capital to start an immediate BANS empire, don't fret. Start off small. Start building 2 a week and really keying in on proper keyword research, no pun intended. There is money to be made here. Even the smaller players with ebay sites are making $10-20 a day. The key is to get started.

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BANS Review

If you have somehow made it to this page by accident and have no idea what BANS is, it is short for Build a Niche Store. The Original BANS store is geared toward Ebay and its affiliates and at the time of this writing, is making some people money in the neighborhood of $500 a day, all on autopilot. This is a BANS review and I give the pros and cons of purchasing this software and whether this opportunity is for you.

Obviously, this isn't done from one website. Most of the big BANS affiliates have created a ton of sites, each one geared for a particular product/niche in mind. Some affiliates have as many as 500 BANS stores. Like I said, this is money made all on autopilot once it is set in place.

How BANS works

Basically, what the BANS software does is pull RSS data from ebay and display it on your niche site. For example, let's say that you are in the shoe niche. You create pages for ugg boots and place a little snippet of code with the location number that ebay has set for boots. You then set up the list of keywords for items that you want ebay to feed to your set. In this case, you would probably want to target "ugg" as one of your keywords.

The BANS software will then display all the items that it finds via ebay and list them in a nice and tidy order giving the impression to the viewer that you are an actual store. If you have been an affiliate for any amount of time, you would know that there is nothing better than to get a customer who has searched for a brand name. In all likelihood, these guys are buyers.

And believe it or not, this type of store actually works very well in terms of conversions. Many affiliates are reporting a 50% conversion rate, making this software a proverbial cash cow for its affiliates.

The commission structure for EBAY affiliates

The commission structure for becoming an EBAY affiliate is 50% of all the fees that ebay makes off the winning bids. Plus, if the person doing the bidding hasn't signed up yet for ebay, you will make $25 per sign-up (in the US). In other words, many of the BANS affiliates out there are making a ton of money simply through new sign-ups.
Can I make Money with BANS?-The Realities of BANS

So, I am sure you are looking at this cross-eyed and thinking to yourself, you said that some EBAY affiliates are making $500 per day using BANS. But what are most affiliates making? Well, the answer is mixed. First of all, in order to really exploit BANS, you still are going to have to put your internet knowledge into use. You can't really expect to make a killing using BANS if you haven't researched the keyword in depth. You also can't expect to make money if you can't get your site to rise to the front page of certain long tail keywords. And this is what most amateur marketers haven't really figured out. You will make money using BANS if you have a solid foundation on internet marketing. If you don't, then you had better get to learning (this is true if you are trying to make money online for anything).

However, that said, I will say that you will be surprised with the traffic you get and what keywords are used to get to your site. Just as an example, I selected a niche in the "sports and outdoor" niche and found that many of my visitors were coming from an actual product that was displayed for a day. And that is the beauty of this software. You actually get traffic from the product descriptions themselves and not just from creating content.

In other words, let's say that you have an ipod BANS store. Someone searches for 4 gb blue Ipod. Now, if someone is searching for something that specific, you can pretty much bet that they are searching for a place to buy it. If your site ranks for that keyword (which it could just by default if there isn't many pages indexed), then you have a chance to make that sale. And if they have never signed up for ebay, then you would make $25 from a bid plus a commission if they get the winning bid.

Multiply that by 500-1000 searches on over 100 sites and you get the picture. A BANS store will help you get visitors using ultra specific long tail keywords that would otherwise go unnoticed by most individuals.

Things NOT to do with a BANS Store- Mistakes that people make using BANS.

If you already have a BANS store or are in the process of setting one up, here is some advice as what to do (or not do) when you set up your BANS site.

1. DO write snippets of content before you display the ebay products. Make the content at least 100 words. You can write anything. You can say something like "I search the internet for the best deals for _____......" or whatever. The point is that when someone searches for something, the chances of them going to your site from the SE is significantly reduced if they see just listings of the products in the SE descriptions. Obviously, the more content you have the better, but you want to write just a snippet up top, then display the ebay products and if you want to add more content after this, then by all means do so.
2. DO find sub-niches- One of the biggest mistakes that many BANS newbies make is to simply list a niche like "guitars" and then wonder why they aren't getting much traffic and more importantly, why that traffic isn't converting. Personally, I really sub-niche out. For instance, if I was going to go with the guitar example, I would probably create pages for specific brands....Taylor 310 CE for example. I would then write a little snippet of text talking about how I look high and low for the best prices and then post whatever Taylor 310's are in stock on Ebay. This works wonders for me because even if my site get 2-5 visits a day, I know I will convert at least one of them. The more specific you are, the better the chance you will supply the need for the visitor.
3. DO NOT place adsense, other contextual ads or affiliate products on the page- This is internet marketing 101. I know that a lot of people think that if they load up a page with numerous "money makers" then something, anything, should convert. This isn't normally the case. REMEMBER, you goal as a BANS store owner is to get them to purchase an item through you. In other words, no distractions....no place for them to click to other than ebay themselves.
4. Do Research Keywords- Another newbie mistake that a BANS owner can make is to not take the time to research keywords and competition. In other words, let's say that you have decided to create an IPOD BANS store. You just randomly decide that your primary keyword should be IPOD since that is what you are selling, right? Well, don't expect to get a bunch of traffic from this. Like I said earlier, keywords are especially important (I actually spend more time on my keywords than building content for my stores). You have to think outside the box and find keywords that will not only convert but ones that you can rank well for. Trying to rank for the keyword IPOD will get you nowhere. Remember that you are looking for keywords that will convert.
   
5. Do get links to your site- Another problem that most "make money online" people deal with is that they can't compete with those affiliate marketers that actually build links to their sites. If you aren't building links (through directories or other ways), then you won't rank for the keyword that you want to rank for.
   

I should note that not all BANS sites that you create will make you money. This is primarily why you hear about people operating 300-500 sites. Just like anything else online, you have to learn through tests and trials. As a side note, I have nearly 1,000 sites (not BANS) running right now and maybe 20% of those sites are actually making me real money. The same goes with BANS. You can cut down the failure rate by doing proper keyword research though.

How to Really Make Money Using BANS- What the Top Affiliates aren't going to tell you

Whenever I am perusing forums, I read thread after thread of either people complaining that they haven't begun to make money with their BANS sites or they are asking if anyone is making money with BANS. Below is a short checklist I have devised for you that will show you exactly what you need to do with your BANS sites. Most of my sites can make it to the first page of google within two months time.

1. Research your niche for keywords and competition- If you do a google search for the keyword that you are going to target, what comes up? Are there any BANS sites there already? If so, how many links are linking to them? How many pages are indexed for the keyword? Now, do a "in title" search. How many pages are using that in their title tag? Also, make sure that you are in a sub-niche. The more targeted you get, the better your chances of success.
   
2. Pick a domain name, preferably using the keywords in your domain- Many say that the search engines don't care about a domain name. All things considered equal though, if you are competing with a site that has the actual keyword in the domain and you don't, which do you think will get ranked higher? Yuppers. Keywords in the domain are important. Don't let anyone tell you any different.
   
3. Create unique content for each page you produce- This can be a 100 word snippet before the actual ebay listings. You don't want to create more than that because you want some of the auction items to be above the fold (where the visitor doesn't have to scroll down). Also, you don't have to build a huge store. Usually, my stores consist of only four pages each.
   
4. Get lots of backlinks for your sites using your keyword in the title tag- You can do this by creating sites, such as Squidoo or Zimbio or hubpages or simply by submitting to directories or writing articles for directories. Personally, I do all three. I usually will create 2-5 other axillary sites (like blogspot blogs or yahoo 360 blogs, ect) as well as a couple squidoo pages. I will top it off with regular directory and article submissions. Alot of work? Sure...on the front end. However, 6 months later when you are getting regular traffic with a keyword without much maintenance and making a couple hundred a month, wouldn't you suppose it would be worth it?

That is pretty much it. If you want to make money with BANS, you will have to do the footwork in order to make it work. I never said it would be easy. However, if you follow this list, you should be able to start profiting from BANS pretty quickly.

What you will need with BANS

The software for BANS itself is fairly expensive (around $100). However, there are some other things that you are going to need if you truly want to profit from BANS.

• Hosting account- As with everything else online, you will need a hosting account. I suggest hostgator as they have great support and are setup to handle BANS. If you can grab a reseller account. If you are short on finances, choose the baby gator account.
  
• Domains- Sometimes godaddy will run a special on .info domain for .99 cents. If this is the case now, then you should jump on this. Buy 100 of them if you can. If there isn't a special running on domains, then you will have to be a little more selective on what you choose. Typically, I suggest you purchase 2 a week and build those two before moving on. By the end of the year, you will have more than 100 BANS sites up and running.
• A little knowledge into setting up a database (backend) on your server- You will also need to either know how to setup a mysql database or have someone do this for you.
  
• A fair amount of understanding in keyword research and competition for websites- One of the things that most people who want to make money online don't quite get is the fact that they will need to know not only marketing tidbits but also will need to understand how to rank. Bottom line is that if you can't rank on the front page of google (eventually), then your new 'bread and butter' website won't do a thing because no one will be able to find it.

I would like to caveat this with the statement that there are other ways to make money as an ebay affiliate other than purchasing the BANS software. In fact, a friend of mine was doing it well before BANS actually was selling. The key to doing it is know how to be able to grab an RSS feed (HTML enabled) and place it on your site. He has been doing it for a couple years now. The biggest obstacle to this is the technicalities of doing this (which I will show how to do this later).

That is pretty much it to BANS. Can you make money with BANS? Sure! Is it as easy as some want you to believe? No! Of course not. If it was, everyone would be doing it.

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