Lately I’ve been looking into developing a couple of niche websites and using them as research projects. I'm hoping this is something that might get me more motivated in writing content. I don't have a lot of faith in ever making much of any money online although the pro's say to stop thinking and just do it and the results will eventually come. Only time will tell.

steaming-coffee.com

The steaming-coffee.com was a domain I registered almost a year ago but haven't done much with. I came across an article on researching sctuff online and picked up a few topics I would like to write about. I have questions and wonder what the SEs deem as “spamming”. I setup the site structure on steaming-coffee.com so that I can display different information within my template for each page/topic on the website being viewed. Where I’m worrying is that I’ve created the directories and the filenames the same only of course, the PHP pages have a .php extension. I haven’t found the information I’ve been wanting to online to start filling in the content so I might make a trip to the library to see if that helps at all. I love coffee which is why I choose the topic.

mentalhealthdegrees.com

The mentalhealthdegrees.com website was from a suggested niche I’d come across on WF. I figured what the hell, the domain was available and surely I could find some information online to fill in the content. I haven't placed any AdSense ads on it yet since the ones that were showing up are currently coffee related. Again, something else I might have to do some research at the library.

computers101.ca

Another project I’ve been continuing putting some time and effort into is computers101.ca where I have changed from my default template into something I don’t actually mind staring at. My original vision for the site was tutorials, how-to’s, FAQs in an effort to make the website useful to others while essentially putting my "notebook" online. Between being at work, out and about, and at home, I needed all my pieces of paper that I have on how to do certain things into one central repository and I figured I might as well try to make it useful at the same time. I know there’s probably 1000’s of websites with computer tutorials on the web and quite frankly, if they suited my needs, I would use them.

therecipecards.com

I'll get back into this website shortly. Thankful to have at least a skeleton up there with some recipes that will all eventually be removed in favour of my own. This website will be one of three in a network of food, nutrition, and weight loss related websites from a personal perspective. I did WW a few years ago and lost 65lbs (all of which I’ve gained back unfortunately, damn that emotional eating!). I have found their program to be very effective for me and want to get back on it. I have a lot of people ask me how I’ve lost weight who have weight loss goals and will at some point unleash the site unto them. I’m hoping some viral marketing might do wonders for these websites. I do a bit of a modified version of their program and the overall goal of the three sites is to help people eat properly, exercise, and be healthy. I want to show them that eating healthy, fat-free food can be just as delicious as those packed full of fat and calories.

Other Projects:

I have two other projects I was hoping to have more work done on then I have. One is due to a conference coming up in Seattle where I figured I could promote it. I will still promote it and maybe I’ll get more feedback from people on what type of information they would like to see them on the website or what would entice them to visit. It’s currently just a forum that had I believe it was close to 20 sign ups in the first 48 hours and has since leveled off.

The other project is sports-cards.ca. I was hoping by now I’d have the vision in my head at least partially coded. I suppose the good news is that I have most of my ideas drawn out on paper including some of the database schema and I guess I really just need to sit down and start coding it. I’m hoping this is one that will grow dramatically thru viral marketing and the one thing I’ll be offering that I’m yet to see on any other sports trading website. Fingies crossed that it gets done by the end of this NHL season. I collect hockey cards which is in the off season now so there isn't as much going on which is partially why my attention has been diverted elsewhere. Oh, this I think will also be by far the biggest project I’ve ever coded.

Back to the grind!