STEP 5 Genre Specific


  Every genre has its important high profile sites. [ During Step 3 ] you identified related sites. Now, this research can be turned into results. If you only did limited research during this previous step, take the time to do more. You can never do too much research, and due to the millions of websites that can in some way be related, you can never hit every site.

Other sites in your genre are many things to you.. Yes, they are technically "competitors", but they are also competitors that can potentially review or link to your site, and you can keep under observation to see what they are doing right, and thing about ways to make your site work better or in a niche they are not covering adequately.

       Identifying Genre Sites


Your Bookmark File
Probably, you have already bookmarked some or many of the sites in your genre during the course of your own casual searching or research.

Use Search Engines
Use several deferent search engines, and search for keyword, phrases or topics related to your site. Visit as many of the queries as you can. If you start to see a core of sites come up, make sure you note these site, they are obvious higher profile sites where most of the traffic for these keywords are gravitating towards.

Links Pages
Many personal and commercial sites have comprehensive links pages, where people list their favorite sites, or best bookmarks. Every site you visit, look for these pages and be sure to follow these links for another crop of sites that might not necessarily be listed on search engines.

News Groups & Email List
Read your favorite newsgroups, and subscribe to related email lists. Get a feel for other sites out there, and the vibe of other related communities. You might want to take note of successful techniques and use them later in your own Community Building STEP 10

Once you have a list of sites bookmarked, you should see These are often commercial sites (although not always the case!) that are the most well know website of that genre. Also, there is another level of sites related to yours. Both of these important groups now need to be made aware of your new site.

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