Building Passive Income Niche Sites In Another (non-English) Language – Should You Do It?

Chances are, you’ve heard about niche (mini) sites. Maybe you’ve even build one. Or two, or three.

Niche sites are one source you can utilize to earn passive income.

But do those work on a Non-English speaking market?

What exactly is a niche site?

Niche site, mini site, keyword optimized sales site.. These come with a lot of different names, but the concept is similar: You build a relatively “small” website that offers information about some very specific niche subject (i.e. “Where to scuba dive in Krabi, Thailand“).

The most usual goal is to get the niche site ranking very high in Google, so when a person searches for information related to your niche subject – your site will show up among the first ones in search results. Majority of your traffic comes through search engines and the goal is to find an audience, who has a high buying intent (more about that on upcoming posts). When they come to your site, they’re looking for a solution to a problem they’re having. You’re task is to give them the answers – and make passive income while doing so (by monetizing your site).

Want some real life examples? Check out these 3:

Niche site(s) can (and probably should) be one part of your location independent passive income strategies.

But a few words of advice are in order; Seeing your first dollars coming through a site like this can very well take months. When your site is still relatively new and Google ranks it low in search results for your selected keywords, you won’t see many visitors coming to your site at the first few months. And when there’s no visitors, there’s no money to be made. But be patient. If you’ve done your (keyword) research well and stick with it, you will start seeing results later on.

But where does the money come from?

How do you actually monetize a niche site? When your site is ranking well with search engines (= Google) – here are a the two most popular ways to start monetizing it:

Affiliate products
Google Ads

If you check out the 3 real life examples, you’ll notice that Pat’s site (at the time of writing this) is relying on the Google Ads. Corbett’s site has an affiliate product. Tyrone utilizes both ways and has a lot of affiliate products available through his site. There’s also a third strategy for monetizing your site: selling it.

The third option comes available when your site has been out there for a good while already and you can show a verified track record of steady monthly income coming through that site. The buyer pays you a big enough lump sum and you give the ownership of the site to him/her after the transaction is done.

That’s the very basic layout how niche sites work. There are a ton of information available on building such sites all around the web. BUT, there is one thing that I haven’t seen discussed anywhere..

Non-English markets. Should you build a niche site, for example – in Finnish?

I mean, does it work? Is it profitable? Can you find affiliated products if you’re targeting a relatively small (country & language specific) audience? Does long tail keyword work? Maybe you should target the short tail? What about payment channels? Do Finnish buyers trust PayPal as a payment channel?

To be honest with you, I don’t know. I haven’t tried! My previous experiences are from niche sites that target English speaking audiences. I could start guessing about what could work and what might not, but because I don’t have any real world experience on this, I’m not going to do it. Instead, during the next few months:

I’m going to build a niche site in Finnish and share the progress with you here at Nomad Couch.

I’m going to use the exact same tactics, that I would use for creating a “normal” niche site but this time, I’m going to do the site in Finnish and try to monetize it.

If you’ve been thinking about going after niche site markets on a “Non-English zone”, the upcoming niche site post series are definitely made for you. No matter what language you’re targeting, the upcoming “small language hacked, niche site ninja tactics” are for YOU!

Although I’m going to build the site in Finnish, I’m going to share all my lessons learned and explain the process I’m following to every single one of you. If there’s anything that you’d like to know more about or if I express myself in a unclear way along the way, let me know and I’ll do my best to explain how the process works.

Let’s Start!

I’m going to start by doing some careful keyword research on few niche site ideas that I’ve been thinking about lately. On the next niche site post, I’m going to show you how I do keyword research and what I’ve found out so far.

I would be absolutely thrilled to see you asking a lot of questions, sharing your niche site experiences and maybe even participating by going after your own, non-English market!

You can post your questions and experiences in the comments or come join us at the NC Facebook page. Would be awesome to talk and connect with you guys & gals! Thank you so much for your continuous support and participation here at Nomad Couch. This blog wouldn’t exist without you. Thank you!

Ps. Did you see the guest post I wrote about Utilizing Mastermind Groups for the Virtual Business Lifestyle blog? It just got published today. I hope you like it!

Cheers!

- Juha

Photos in this post:

Language by Troutfactory

Malta Euros by Marfis75

October 21, 2010

44 Comments

COMMENTS

http://www.mtvirtualassistant.com Claudia

Hi Juha, great post! I run 1 niche website for the English market, 1 blog for the Italian market and 1 blog for the Latin American market in Italy. On the first website, I sell my products and services and on blogs I use Google ad and affiliates products. Well, it works for me. 70% of Google searches are not in English. This means that people first search on Google is in their native language. Of course if they don't find enough info, they will end up writing in English (as I do) but what about people that don't speak English? Mostly of my readers don't! Remember that international niche markets are fresh and sometimes competitors free. I can speak only for my personal experience in the Italian market. Here in Italy there are a lot of Google top position in search results free and available but believe there are many other countries in the same boat. So, let's see what happens with you new Finnish website….good Luck!

juhaliikala

Hey Claudia,

Awesome insights, thanks for sharing those! You're right about the "freshness" of the international markets. That's actually one of the main reasons, I want to test waters here in Finland and see how it goes. I'm sure there are money to be made. My biggest worry is the lack of affiliate products in Finnish. Those simply don't exist yet (only a very few). But more on that later.

Where have you find the affiliate products you've been selling to the Italian markets? ClickBank? E-Junkie? Somewhere else?

Cheers!
http://www.foroilyskin.org/ Oily skin Ramy

Great information. It is good to see the proof in the numbers. English is my first language, I wonder if it is worth doing a niche website in my second language to see how it works out with the possibility of less competition!

http://www.ilporyynanen.com Ilpo Ryynänen

Hey Juha

It's awesome that you are going to try building niche sites in non-English language. I look forward to your reports about the project. I wish you happy work hours!

juhaliikala

Hey Ilpo!

Looking forward to the results myself! The niche site basics are really the same, no matter whether the market is local or global, but especially the affiliate programs are rather different. Instead of finding products from E-Junkie, ClickBank and others, in Finland the affiliate products can be found through networks like TradeDoubler, TradeTracker, Euroads and others.

One notable difference between the affiliate products found from E-Junkie versus TradeDoubler (for example) seem to be, that the products through TradeDoubler have a MUCH lower commission rate. Or then again, maybe I just haven't find the one's with a good commission.. we'll see!

http://socialmediocracy.com Tom Laine

Hi Juha, great post (again)!

Have you considered teaming up with people from different countries/with different language skills to cross-build websites/landing pages for each other? Try hooking up with people from e.g. Brazil, China, Russia, France and Spain (or other major language countries) and translate each others niche websites or landing pages to be better reached via non-English searches. Ever considered or tried that? Setting up e.g. Chinese home page/landing page/niche site might rank high in search engines or even attract advertisers targetting the subject countries – and to get ranked high in Baidu could be a killer! And then again linking the high rank page/site to your main (English) website brings high value to the main site's rankings, right…?

Could be totally wrong here, but have you or do you know if anyone has actually tried this?

juhaliikala

Hi Tom!

What a great idea! After this "Finnish niche experiment", your suggestion would definitely be a interesting project to look into. Getting back links to the main site would be a great idea as well. Hmm.. have to really give a good though on this!

Let's change more thoughts about this, this evening!

Thanks for dropping by buddy!

http://www.phlebotomytrainingsite.com/ Terrence Klaymore

I gave some serious thought to building niche sites targeting foreign markets last year and decided that it was just too much trouble. When it comes to dealing with translations, targeting unfamiliar markets, etc., it seems like its just not worth the trouble.

However, I do know one or two people that enjoy it, although I believe that they speak the language as well.

http://www.nomadcouch.com Juha Liikala

Hey Terrence!

The only reason I'm considering the Finnish sites, is because I'm Finnish myself (I can do the site myself in both Finnish and English, if I wish).

Although it would be possible to do hire a person to translate the site(s) to other languages as well, I agree that it would be a bit too much trouble and not necessarily worth the trouble. It's not just the translations, you would also have to find affiliated products / promotions /ads that work for that specific country & language group.

Thanks for your thoughts on this! Cheers!

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http://www.hedberg.biz/index_en.php Henrik Hedberg

Hi Juha, this is exactly what I have been pondering the last weeks. Will there be enough traffic to monetize the effort? The finnish market is still quite virgin for many keywords and niches. I will start to build one as an experiment in the near future, it's in the construction – DIY industry. I could keep you updated on the results if you are interested.

Juha L

Hey Henrik.

Finnish "niche site market" is still fresh and there seem to be quite a few good opportunities in regards of monetizing a site based on pure search engine traffic. Still, the lack of products is an issue I've found out to slow things down a bit compared to the English speaking market.

Which affiliate networks have you been utilizing so far for finding affiliate products?

Let me know how things work out for you. Would love to hear your results later on.

Pingback: The Evolution Of Nomad Couch: Back To The Roots And a Whole New Site! | Nomad Couch
http://www.bestskincareproductshome.com/ shajjadjuis

In this moment I am building a niche site but still in English. First time i am haring about Niche site in Non English Language. This sense good. Waiting to see your result…

Shajjad from Best Skin Care Products

Juha L

Hi Shajjad, I'll sure keep you posted on this and will share the results later on here at NC. Thanks for dropping by!

http://www.ecompressionsocks.com compression socks

Best of luck on your venture to build a good site similar to the niche websites that you mentioned. Can't wait to see the results.

Juha L

Thanks! I'll keep you posted on the results. Cheers!

http://alwaysasap.com Andy

Hi Juha..nice to know you from this site.

Actually I do like to build website with my own language (non English), it makes me more enjoy writing because my English ability is bad. But, we have to think logic. English site has high potential opportunity to generate income than other language sites. The market covers international readers, visitors or customers. However you don't need to worry. If you find niche in your language and able to take your site at Google's first page, you will get good traffic and at least your income will never be Zero. You just need to optimize your ads, contents, and landing page to attract your visitor and make more money.

http://www.nomadcouch.com Juha Liikala

Hi Andy,

I really believe that the "true gold" in the non-English niche markets are yet to be found. A LOT of opportunities there to utilize if you just take your time and do your homework.

Which language market's are you personally targeting? Good luck!

- Juha

http://www.mymedicalassistant.net/medical-assistant-certification Medical Assistant

Thank you!
http://www.mymedicalassistant.net/medical-assistant-certification Medical Assistant

I think there is a great amount of money to be made from foreign language niche sites – even though I'd be curious to learn more on how Google Adwords works abroad… Thank you for the article!

http://www.nomadcouch.com Juha Liikala

Hi Medical Assistant,

I haven't personally played enough with Google Adwords to really be able to tell how good or bad they work with non-english sites. AdSense on the other hand, still seem to work pretty well with Finnish niche markets.

- Juha

http://www.eshowerscreens.com/ Ken

Hi Juha,
great post I just finished my first Niche Site I created with the help of Pat and Tyrone.
<a title="shower screens" href="http://www.eshowerscreens.com/">shower screens
After that I will try to start a Non-English Site. Will see how it goes. Great Blog you have here!
Thanks,
Ken
modelingforkids

I used to feel sorry for those for whom English isn't their first langauge. This is of course ignorant, as the opportunies for non-English niche sites are huge!

http://www.nomadcouch.com Juha Liikala

I agree. There are many MANY opportunities that are still waiting for to be found. I'm curious to see when the real "gold rush" starts here in Finnish niche markets (hopefully not too soon, so I have time to weed out the best myself first!)

Thanks for dropping by, cheers!

- Juha

http://www.weathervane-cupola-world.com/weathervane/ weathervane dan

Never thought of building niche sites in different languages.. Sounds like a very hard thing to do. What if you ever had to contact people that came to that niche site. I guess if you just build it and forget about it then its fine. I was thinking of building e commerce stores in other countries. Might be a little harder.
http://www.socialworkersalarydata.com social worker salary

Good luck for those who have adequate searches in their Mother tongue!
http://www.lawschoolrequirements.info/law-schools Sam Timmins

Great pose Juha, I've been following Pat Flynn for a while and am familiar with his site and the efforts he's put in. Niche sites can definitely be worth the while but you're right, they need a lot of patience starting out.

All the best,
Sam

http://www.nomadcouch.com Juha Liikala

Hey Sam,

I agree, patience is THE main ingredient in all successful online business activities. These things just don't happen overnight.

"The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it." – Arnold H. Glasow

Thanks for dropping by Sam,
Cheers!

- Juha

- Juha

http://www.bestbaseballworkouts.com baseball workouts

I am a big fan of Pay Flynn and read his blog all the time. Great article!
http://www.mtvirtualassistant.com Multilingual VA

Hi Juha,
sorry about my laaaaaaate reply! I've never been notified about your message so I was just checking my message on the internet….and here there your question! sorry about that!

there are quite a few italian sites. Just to give you a couple: tradedoubler, zanox, clickpoint, pubblicidee, springtrade ect.

Hope it helps.

Claudia.

http://www.nomadcouch.com Juha Liikala

Don't worry about it. Talk about how late I was to answer the comments left in this post..!

As a apology note for every reader (if you happen to read this comment, that is): Sorry all, I've been working on my new blog AND I'm also been trying to enjoy my summer vacation at the same time. I feel a big sting in my heart that I've been not commenting back here for many weeks! I'll fix my manners and get back on track right now!

Thanks for those site mentions Claudia! I've used Tradedoubler with Finnish sites as well, but I haven't heard of the other ones you mention. I'll definitely have to check those out myself.

Cheers!

- Juha

http://www.etreheureux.fr etre heureux

I’m a French blogger
there is much less competition
but french people don’t click much on adsense links
and we lack of affiliate good products
but we’re working on it ^^
i wish you all profitable niche sites

http://www.nomadcouch.com Juha Liikala

Hi French blogger!

In Finnish niche markets, AdSense has not been the issue, the lack of good affiliate products have. This was especially true when I tried to find information product based affiliate products (ebooks, etc.). Quite frankly, there just aren't any yet. In addition, there have been few more obstacles, that I haven't really had to think about when creating niche sites for English speaking markets:

1. Content creation (articles): for English niche site, I could hire someone from oDesk.com or similar service to do all the niche research and article writing and it wouldn't cost me very much. For a Finnish site, I couldn't do that. I'd have to hire someone from my country and pay a lot bigger amount of money for the same job.
2. Getting backlinks (for boosting search engine traffic): Once again, much harder with the regular "article marketing & spinning tactics", basically, because of the lack of finnish article submission sites like ezinearticles.com. (as a side note, then there would also be the Google's Panda Update..)

In addition to those, there have been some other "findings", but I think I'll leave that as a post subject later on.

Even with the issues mentioned above, AdSense and Physical affiliate products would still be a good way to monetize a Finnish (or any other "small language market") niche site. There are quite a few niche areas, where there's good amount of physical affiliate products one could promote. The content creation part would still be an issue, but if you can do it yourself (or find someone who actually could do it for a decent price + good quality), then I'd say definitely do it.

Good luck with all your niche sites! Let me know how you progress along the way and give me a shout if you stumble to anything you'd like to exchange ideas on!

Cheers!
- Juha

http://hummingbirdfeederrecipe.org/ Hummingbird Feeder

I'm also building mini niche sites. Best of luck to me!
http://emttrainingground.com EMT Training

Great post! I haven't considered other markets to this point, but the wordpress translation plugin does offer the opportunity. Thanks for the insight.
http://www.aboutmedicalassistant.com/ medical assistant

well i was thinking of this building a non English niche site..great post!!
thanks
regards
http://www.socialworkersalary.com social worker salary

Traffic is the problem…..usually for countries which are not developed!
http://www.hairloss.co.in hair loss

I've been following Pat on nichesiteduel.com and have to say the stuff he has posted there is very good for beginners trying their hand at optimizing niche sites.
http://yourphlebotomytrainingguide.com Alexa Harper

I’ve always known about passive income through blogs but I never thought about the idea of doing it in another langugage. It’s an interesting concept but one I don’t think I’ll tackle anytime soon until I master it in my own language.

Alexa Harper
http://weeksweightloss.com/why-and-how-to-eat-vegetables eat more vegetables

I've tried this a couple of times and found that it really is a hit miss. You really must know the language thoroughly otherwise you get penalised for grammatical mistakes and your site is nowhere to be seen on the first few pages.
http://etreheureux.fr Jean-Luc

Great post
I agree with Claudia
Here in France adwords is not so popular and traffic is far less important
so you'd better sell your own products
Ruben

Hi Juha,

I would like to know how it’s going with your niche site in a non english language. I live in belgium a small country, and it’s verry hard to find a niche subject that have enough monthly searches. Most subjects have only less then 1000 exact searches a month… is that enough to create a small amount of money ?

Thanks for the information you search on your blog…

Greetings,Ruben
http://www.nomadcouch.com/ Juha Liikala

Great question, Ruben. Even with a relatively small language market, niche site opportunities do exist. I’ve found quite a few good Finnish niche site subjects that get more than 10k exact searches a month. I haven’t got any big results so far (money vise), but I’m quite happy with the results anyway.

I’m trying something different right now. Yesterday I registered a domain name that involves (what I believe will be ) a hit product this Christmas. There’s only ~1000 exact searches for my main keyword right now, but as the Christmas closes, I’m quite sure that number will go up significantly. I’ll let you know how it turns out after the Christmas sales come in!

Cheers!