Extreme Niche Empires – Full Review
I’ve been looking forward to getting my hands on the official release of Extreme Niche Empires by Sean Donahoe for quite a while now.
I just did an ‘all-nighter’ checking this course out and it doesn’t dissapoint.
I couldn’t sleep but I’m so glad I stayed awake (and not just because HeatMap Theme features in Extreme Niche Empires.) 
For new Internet Marketers this course could very well be the missing piece of the puzzle that you’ve been looking for to get you up and running (or ‘rockin and rollin’ as Sean says).
Authority Autoblogs – Scale and Automation
What we have here is a course in how to create Niche Authority Autoblogs from start to finish (and beyond).
We’re not talking about the usual spammy junk autoblogs; we are actually talking about blogs that visitors will find useful and interesting, but, at the same time are designed to be automated in key ways that will make your job easier, grow your blog authority, and of course make you money.
The types of niche sites that Sean shows you how to create contain both original content and automated useful free content.
Who is Extreme Niche Empires for?
The great thing about this course is that it starts out with easy steps that new Internet Marketers can follow, and then builds slowly during the six hours of video towards more complex concepts, tips and techniques, that more experienced IM’ers will also find useful.
The whole thing feels like you’ve got Sean Donahoe sitting next to you while he steps you through everything you need to get an Authority Autoblog set up using his particular method.
Is ‘ENE’ just for making Authority Autoblogs?
Extreme Niche Empires Members Area
While the focus is on Authority Autoblogs, there’s no reason why you can’t apply the principles presented in Extreme Niche Empires to other types of site. In fact I will be taking a few of the golden nuggets in this course and applying them to my own sites, which are far from being autoblogs.
Newbies start here!
Sean Donahoe has thought of you when making this course
One of the nice things about this course is that Sean takes things right back to basics in the first few videos. He includes the stuff that most courses just don’t cover because its just assumed that its common knowledge, when actual fact it can be a real stumbling block for those who are just starting out.
Sean covers basic subjects such as getting yourself a domain name and web hosting in detail, and even shows you his quick and easy method for installing WordPress and his ‘plugin pack’ which contains all his favourite WordPress plugins, plus a special one that he’s had specially created.
He also covers installing your WordPress Theme (which of course is HeatMap Theme). Actually the version supplied with the course is a special version I made for Sean called Pro-Lite, which has less features than the full HeatMap Theme Pro, but on the other hand will be slighty less daunting for new players.
In addition to the above, the course covers the following topic areas:
Mind Mapping to create your ENE Empire
Sean shows you his technique for designing an Extreme Niche Empire, using online mind mapping tools and a selection of free keyword discovery and SEO tools, to help you discover a niche that will give you an excellent chance of success. The mind map way of doing things is a great idea and something I intend to start doing myself.
By the time you’ve finished this process you’ll have a mental picture of exactly who your blog is for, and what keywords you will be targetting with your site.
Configuring WordPress and Plugins the ENE way
Extreme Niche Empires steps you through configuring WordPress, Heatmap Theme and all of Sean’s favourite plugins in the special ways required to create an ENE site.
You have two options here. You can either just step through it all manually following the videos, or Sean offers you an additional ‘clone site upgrade’ which includes a preconfigured package with everything setup ready for you to just copy onto your web host.
I’d say that if you are really strapped for time and just want a template all ready to just fill with your content then go for the upgrade. If you’ve got time though its worth getting under the hood and manually configuring it.
Ad Networks
Sean Introduces us to the ad networks we will need to start cashing in on our sites. No suprises here. The usual suspects are present – Adsense, Clickbank, Amazon and Commission Junction.
Original Content for Your ENE Blog
Sean confesses that he doesn’t like writing much (he’s dyslexic), and gives advice on how to outsource very cheaply, and/or use tools which will help you write your articles. Even though it might not be Seans cup of tea, I’m sure you can be an original creative writer and still use the techniques in this course.
…Supplemented with Autocontent
A special plugin developed by Sean is supplied with the course which allows you to pull useful and relevant autocontent into your blog.
Sean even shows you how to bring You-tube content into your site and have it look great at the same time, by replacing the default You-Tube player – great stuff.
Placing Your Ads on Your ENE Blog
Sean takes full advantage of HeatMap Theme’s ‘ad size compatible’ styling here to create an arrangement of ads from various networks which maximises click-thru but at the same time doesn’t look spammy.
Putting my Heatmap technical hat on here – Sean is making his course applicable to the widest range of themes so understandably he uses text widgets to hold his ad code, and an additional plugin to place ads within the content, however, these things can be mostly taken care of within HeatMap Theme itself, without the addition of a plugin, apart from the mid-content ad placement he mentions.
Heatmap ad widgets are also specifically styled to hold ads, so for pixel perfect precision, Heatmap ad widgets would be the better choice than a text widget which also offers more flexible options as to when and where ads appear on your blog.
But apart from that, Seans arrangement of ads is neat, unobtrusive, and will most likely convert well on a nicely put together site. Of course, HeatMaps ad-centric styling makes it all work nicely.
On Page SEO / Off Page SEO
The course covers on-page SEO and off-page SEO. Sean steps you through optimising your content to ensure search engines love it.
Putting my Heatmap technical hat on again: Sean uses Yoast’s SEO plugin to format the html titles which is a great plugin, and can help create optimised titles, but, if you are keeping things simple then HeatMaps SEO titles work really well when used as intended.
Sean also introduces you to the ‘Cyclone Effect’ you can gain for your site rankings if you implement his techniques for harnessing the power of twitter and other social media sites, combined with ‘pinging’ techniques. This is actually one of the cornerstones of Sean’s strategy.
If this all sounds daunting, don’t be afraid. Sean explains everything nice and clearly in his trademark jovial ‘friendly-geek-next-door’ manner.
Putting all Together
I could be writing for a long time about the sheer volume of knowledge, hints, tips and bonuses included with this course, but I figure I’ve been writing long enough already.
Suffice to say, Sean also goes into great detail about how you can round everything off into a polished Authority Blog, and even shows you how to clone your successful sites to build yourself another golden goose, and also suggests ways in which you can off-load the sites that turn out to be lame ducks and still turn a profit.
Summary: Is Extreme Niche Empires for You?
For new Internet Marketers who are interested in creating quality niche sites I put this course in the must-have basket.
ENE brings lots of ideas together into one neat package, and to top it all off, its got its own support forum where you can get answers as you build your own Extreme Niche Empire. You are not just left on your own to fend for yourself.
For more experienced Internet Marketers, I personally feel there are enough golden nugget ideas in this package to more than justify the relatively small asking price.
