David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

Time to look at another market for website ideas. Having just read that Mothercare has launched a social network site called Gurgle, I'm going to look into the topic of child birth.
 
Child birth can be broken down into several distinct sections - conception, pregnancy, delivery and child care and development.

Conception

This would be a great section to discuss herbal remedies to help with conception, naturally with affiliate links to herbal / health food merchants.

You could also recommend products that could help with conception, again with affiliate products.

A nice addition here would be a poll to find out which product (A, B or C) is more popular with pregnant women thus helping those trying to conceive.

Pregnancy

Relaxation products would be ideal to promote along with books about pregnancy and naming babies. Why not run a monthly competition offering £50 worth of pregnancy books as a prize?

The reason why Gurgle will more than likely be a success is that pregnant women like to chat about their experiences. They want reassurance, to impart advice and to be prepared. A forum would be helpful though a quirky outlook on this would help as a standard forum can look daunting to some people.

Delivery

There's probably not much you can sell at this stage but you could try things like gifts, flowers and personalised cards. Friends and family might want to buy gifts so naturally you would be there to offer your advice!

Child care and Development

Also known as toys! This is an ideal section to promote toys, learning tools, child care products, etc.

The most lucrative law recently was the mandatory introduction of car seats which meant a boom for all car seat retailers!

Summary

In this case, the visitor will more than likely be a parent or prospective parent. Offer them information, reviews and services that would benefit them. Offer than a newsletter with helpful hints and advice. Find something quirky and use that to boost your site. Something as simple as a baby name generator would be handy.

How about a facility that would email (or even use old fashioned mail) to spread the news? For £x a month, you could offer to send out a pregnancy newsletter to immediate family and close friends. Just an idea!

Just remember t consider your visitor and put yourself in their frame of mind. You are more likely to succeed if you do.