Launching a website these days is extremely easy. Making the project a success is the hard part. Just to be clear, I won’t be taking you through the entire process of launching a niche site from square one. There are numerous resources on the topic already available online. Instead, I’ll focus on one particular facet that greatly improves the chances of making your project a success. There happens to be a rather simple way to improve the appeal of your niche site that’s within anyone’s reach. Read on!
Most often, one will start a website for business or recreational purposes. The entire process of running your own space online can be fun and rewarding in multiple ways. Whatever the launch motive may be, it’s usually the social aspect of the Internet that people are trying to harness in one way or another.
A niche site will focus on that in particular. It’s goal will be to bring together people who may be scattered across various geographical locations, but who nonetheless share a strong interest in a topic or issue which isn’t very popular within their immediate social environment.
What may a niche site be about?
Well, the most straightforward answer would be ‘anything!’. There can be a distinction made between popular niches and long-tail niches, the latter being highly specific in their subject matter.
The less popular the theme is, the more its enthusiasts will crave contact with other like-minded individuals. They will use the Internet to satisfy their need for social interaction.
A niche site may serve as the platform for:
socializing – meeting new people with shared interests
learning – this would include various hobby sites, where people discuss and exchange knowledge on the subject they’re passionate about
networking – finding people with whom one can build in the real world, perhaps including professionals wanting to advance their careers
dating – with time becoming an increasingly valuable asset, many people find themselves unable to participate in regular partner matching rituals, risking waste of time in case of incompatibility
The social aspect of niche sites
Regardless of the category your niche site fits into, the strong social aspect of it is a recurring theme. It’s imperative that you make sure your target audience has advanced means of interaction at their disposal.
With your eyes set on long-term growth, you want your online community members to keep coming back.
You’ve taken care of the aesthetic aspect of your website – maybe a catchy name, a clean logo, and modern graphic design. There’s no denying that fine feathers make fine birds. Then, there’s the user experience aspect. The options and features your niche site offers, what’s in it for members in signing up for an account with you, etc.
Obviously, your site members come mostly for interaction with other people passionate about the same stuff they are. It’s your job to satisfy this essential need. Now, there are things like comments section, to talk about articles, and message boards, serving as large discussion panels, but they’re all missing something.
The void can be filled with live chat, allowing for public and private conversations in real time, also on the go, using mobile devices, which may be particularly important if you’re hosting a global online community.
How do you improve your niche site?
You can probably see the answer coming now – it’s by adding group live chat widget to it. A solution like Chatwee enhances your website with a dynamic element and a platform for immediate interaction between community members, bringing them even closer together.
Its features have been designed to facilitate real time contact and include:
clean, modern design and advanced customization options
private and public conversations across multiple chat rooms
group conversations
offline messaging
Single Sign-on > log in to the site and automatically pop up in the chat as well
rich media posts > links, images, animated gifs, a rich set of emoji
powerful moderation, including real time banning, message deletion, and profanity filters
It’s also super easy to install and it runs in the cloud, so no extra toil is put on your niche site. Please refer to the full features list for more.
Final word
To wrap things up, the biggest idea I want you to take away from this post is that if any niche site is to be successful, it has to focus strongly on the social aspect. That is to say, it’s even more crucial than the business side, as growing your community will be a prerequisite for monetization anyway.
There can be a niche site for pretty much anything, and globally, there probably is enough people to start an online community centered around any topic.
Having a group live chat installed on a website makes it way more attractive for people seeking contact with other like-minded individuals. It helps site members strengthen their bonds via real time interaction across multiple devices and timezones.
Let me know if you have any experience with niche sites, either as a member, or someone who’s started one, down in the comments or better yet, tweet me @Chatwee
