I like to occasionally share what I’ve been working on. Maybe it inspires someone, maybe it inspires no one, maybe I’m just talking to myself.

I decided to go ahead and buy the Build a Niche Store (BANS) software and give it a try. I’ve only built one store with it, and it’s mostly easy to use.

I did come up with one problem, however. The niche I chose related to certain consumer electronics, and the BANS database was out of date on the category numbers, so I ended up having to add them manually. I did comment on that in the BANS members-only forum, so I won’t be surprised if that gets taken care of.

I just made the site two days ago, so no indexing yet. But if you know CSS and can cope with a header and footer file, the templates are pretty easy to adapt. Those are the ways I usually create my own websites, so it is something familiar to me.

The challenge to that kind of site is getting search engines to like it. After all, it’s nothing but eBay listings. But at the same time you can narrow those down into a pretty interesting niche.

If you do decide to buy BANS, make sure you follow the link sent in your emails to get into the Member’s area. The forum is quite useful and several members have created MODS that can improve your BANS website.  Some are doing quite well, others are just beginning.

I’m having a lot of fun thinking up potential niches, and considering whether some of my domains that are just sitting right now could do well as BANS sites. At the very least it will be a quick way to add something to undeveloped ones.

I don’t expect this to become my only tactic for earning money online. Some people do quite well with it, to the tune of several hundred dollars a month per website, while others struggle. I like to have a variety of sites, and my first love remains creating content sites. But for a greater balance in where my income comes from I’ve been exploring more options like this.  If it works, it should be relatively hands-off compared to many of the other sites I run.
Besides, it’s fun to see what else I can make work for me.

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