Examples of large portal sites covering many different celebrities
Some of the example websites are very large and others are simple blogs. They all make money.
http://www.classicpopicons.com/
http://www.thexfactor.com/
Examples of single contestant/star websites
The first example is a contestant in the UK X factor TV programme. At the time of writing Cher Lloyd has got to the semi final. The google keyword tool for UK only shows 201,000 searches for her name alone. Below this are hundreds of other search terms with her name plus other words.
The competition is very low because she has only recently become famous. 10 weeks ago no one knew who she was.
Lady GaGa has U.S. Search volume of 30,000,000 per month. Look for yourself and see the tiny amount of competition.
http://www.cherlloydfansite.co.uk/
http://www.jamescordenfansite.com/
http://www.beyonce-knowles.com/
Section Five – How To Find Next Years Stars
A. Looking For Next Years Famous People
There is one resource that will give you 1,000′s of people who will be famous next year. This resource is Television Programmes that are coming to screens in 2011. You need to be aware of what is coming up on your television next year. Find out who is taking part in these programmes and look for new faces.
For Example – If there is a new season of your favourite crime series coming out in 2011 find out what new actors have been added to the cast. You are looking for relatively unknown actors who do not have a following. See if “House” has any new doctors in the new series and you will probably have a potential fansite.
The easiest programmes to profit from are the reality shows such as Xfactor, Biggest Loser, Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing On Ice and Talent shows. They will give you lots of new people to follow. You will need to use some judgement to choose the best ones.
Sites to search
http://tvdramas.about.com/od/tvshowsaz/TV_Shows_A_Z.htm
http://www.thevine.com.au/entertainment/tv/default.aspx
B. Looking For Next Years Shows
The other method is to build a fan site around a show. Star Trek has already been done many times and has a huge fan base. There are other shows that you can prospect for. I think the new “Hawaii Five 0” has potential both in the USA and the UK. Assuming it will be shown in the UK.
The reality shows mentioned above in section A will all be good candidates for a fan site. The point is you can check last years statistics for these shows to confirm that there is plenty of traffic for them.
Then you go ahead and build a site in the knowledge that when the time is right you will be sitting pretty with a great website 1,000,000′ s of people want to visit. Reality shows are seasonal but because there are so many people involved as contestants and judges you have many search terms you can use to drive massive traffic to your website.
My TV Shows For 2011 Would Be
Biggest Loser 2011
X Factor USA 2011
The Paul Reiser Show
Harry’s Law
Castle New Series
Glee New Series
But there are a huge number of opportunities out there.
C. Looking For Next Years Movies
This is a very easy group of potential celebrities to find. The Big Studios are always telling you what they are working on. Find out what films the studios are making and look for new stars. With MGM now saved from bankruptcy they will be worth watching closely for new projects. Look at late night TV interviews and see who is working on what.
Search For New Movies
http://www.themovieinsider.com/
http://www.movie-moron.com/?p=13779
http://teaser-trailer.com/movies-2011.html
My Movie Recommendations for 2011 would be
Harry Potter 8
Transformers 4
Pirates of The Caribbean 4
No Strings Attached
Apollo 18
Section Six – How to keep up to date with the news.
Google Alerts – Set up alerts for your personality or TV show. This way you will know who is saying what about your subject. You can then report it on your website. You become a clearing house of news and gossip which fans love. Google Alerts HERE
Watch Oprah – And any other chat shows and celebrity interviews. You will discover new opportunities. When your celebrity is interviewed you can use it for sound bites and quotes. You can also report the interview as a whole.
Watch The Show – If you are following a TV series then you will have to watch every episode. This will help if you are a fan yourself as you will enjoy the experience.
Start A Twitter Following – While you are watching the show you will be using twitter to have live conversations with other fans. You website will of course have your twitter feed displayed. To get a group of followers takes time but after the first 100 fan followers it gains momentum as people share your conversations on twitter. Every time you tweet you will get visitors to your website.
Facebook – Start a fan page based on your show/personality and look for news and gossip from other fans. It almost doesn’t matter how true the gossip is. Gossip is Gossip. It provides a backdrop for you to use google alerts to “report” the latest accurate news.
ABC, BBC and more – Bookmark on your google home page the feeds from the main entertainment pages of television websites. This will ensure you are up to date with what is happening.
Just Spotted – Here is a brilliant website for keeping up to date with the whereabouts of your favourite celebrity. Http://www.justspotted.com/radar
Celebrity Websites – Follow the generic celebrity gossip websites for any snippets of information and news. 4 examples:-
http://www.celebrity-gossip.net/
http://www.celebritygossip.com/
http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/
Pay special attention to this Heatworld website. It is an object lesson in how to monetise a fan website. Look at the layout and the affiliate programmes they are promoting.
Section Six – Tools & Resources
What Website Building Platform Should You Use
I recommend WordPress for fan websites as it is the easiest way to build this type of site, where you are daily adding new content. You must make it “hacker proof” with a proper user name (NOT Admin) and a good password. Change the password every Monday to be sure. The IP Lockdown Plugin will also help with security.
The reason for using WordPress is mainly the magazine type themes you can use. Further to this is the ease of use when adding a forum and a membership web site. For complex sites the magazine themes are ideal. For a single person fan website, the standard twenty twenty theme with a new header will work fine.
If you are completely strapped for cash you can use blogger.com to host your fan website. Once you start making money from the blogger website then you can use these funds to buy hosting and domains for your next fan website.
Domain Name Selection
There are a number of ways to approach domain names. The simplest option is “famousnamefansite.com” Hyphens are not a problem in my opinion e.g. “famous-name-fansite.com” I tend to stay with .com domains. Another option is the “Unnofficial” domain name. e.g. cheryl-cole-unofficial.com (Example)
Resources
The Best Spinner – A Tool to help you create many versions of the same article – A great time saver.
Xheader – A free online header graphic tool. Make a replacement header for the standard wordpress graphic options.
