Build a Niche Store Review

Back in April while researching some products on ClickBank I came across a piece of software called Build a Niche Store, often referred to as BANS. At first glance I thought it looked like another get rich quick scam but after further browsing of the site and doing some Google searches I decided to lay my money down and try it out. In a nutshell, BANS is a website builder that makes it extremely easy to set up eBay affiliate sites with the goal of earning sales commissions from the eBay Partner Network, eBay’s affiliate arm.

For those who may never have set up their own website, the process is really not all that difficult. First, you need a domain name, but be sure and choose one without any domain name trademark issues. Domain names can be purchased for less than ten bucks a year from online sites known as registrars, the most popular being GoDaddy but I recommend Namecheap as well. Second, you need a hosting account. These vary greatly in cost and features but a basic account can be purchased for less than $100 per year with some hosts offering monthly payment plans. BANS recommends HostGator for their software and it seems to work seamlessly with the BANS software. You should check out several HostGator reviews as well as other host reviews before making your final decision. After getting your domain name and hosting account set up, you are ready to install BANS. Its manual guides you step by step through the installation process and you can easily have an eBay affiliate site up and ready to make money in an hour or less.

BANS succeeds greatly in making it easy to set up an eBay affiliate site but being so easy can also be a negative thing. By making it so easy, it also makes it easy to set up a site and then do nothing. In today’s affiliate marketing environment, Google doesn’t seem to care too much for websites that are nothing more than affiliate doorways to a merchant site. You’ve got to add something valuable to your site such as unique articles, product reviews or commentary about your niche. Offering your users nothing more than links to eBay will only put you at risk of being removed from Google’s index and since being in the search results is the key to getting traffic to your niche store, it will be hard to make any money if users never find you.

My personal experience with BANS has been somewhat of a roller coaster ride. I made my money back and more in my first month. The next two months fared about the same as the first. Because of my early success, I got too confident and left the sites sitting there stupidly thinking they would continue to grow. However, the opposite happened and my fourth month brought nearly nothing. I got discouraged and took some time off then came back with a stronger strategy. Now, any sites I build are strictly content based, meaning that if you removed all the auctions and other affiliate ads on the site there would still be enough content left to have something worthy of presenting to the user. I’ve just recently launched my first site using this strategy and I’m pleased with the early results.

I think one of the greatest things bout BANS is the community forum. It’s one of the best and most active forums I’ve been on and I’ll have to say I think the forum alone has been worth the price. There are lots of great and helpful people on there. The knowledge I have gained through the forum concerning not only niche store building, but Internet marketing in general, has been immeasurable. If you decide to give BANS a try, look me up on the forum. You’ll find me there as Shawn S.

If you don’t have the time to put into maintaining a website, then affiliate marketing may not be for you, but if you are able to commit a few hours each week adding something valuable to your site then BANS is an easy way to start making money in affiliate marketing.

Do you have a BANS story?