Hey Fellows,
One of the most awkward things that we have seen from members at Wealthy Affiliate is deciding on a niche or a product to promote. More often or not this is a result of people making things more difficult than they actually are.
Someone that is relatively new to marketing will typically think that there are "secret" niches out there...ones that they have to find in order to build a big profitable campaign.
This is simply not the case. I can tell you it has less to do with what you promote and more to do with how you promote it.
For example, if someone was looking to buy a silver iPhone 4s and you direct them to a Blackberry, you are not going to make a sale. Although relevant at first glance (both are iPods), they are not precise to what people are looking for. Was this the niche or the way it was promoted?
The WAY IT WAS PROMOTED!
I typically suggest to members that they initially try promoting something they are interested in, passionate about, or are hobbyists of. The reason for this is that when you are interested in something, you are a consumer and you can write about something with ease.
You understand the audience because YOU ARE the audience...meaning that you will be able to build more relevant and targeted campaigns with half of the research (than if you were promoting something you were not interested in).
Being able to write about, engage, and discuss concepts within your niche is essential. If you think about anyone that has been successful over the years, any thriving business is driven at the core by passion and the person's passion to make it succeed.
So, now that I have gotten this out of the way I am going to discuss how you find niches. Again, please remember that it is not the niche that makes you a profit, it is the way you brand yourself within it and how you promote it.
How to Find Niche Markets
If you were given nothing other than a car and a bit of gas, how would you go about finding a niche?
I hate it when people say you need some sort of special software or some special knowledge to find a niche when really it does not take much. You can find niches every where you look, online and offline.
I will tell you exactly what I would do if I had a car and some gas to find niches...
I would head to the mall. I would check out some stores...what are the hottest new games people are buying, what sort of clothes are hot, what is selling in the department stores...you could even take it a step further and ask the people at the stores what their hottest sellers are (who knows the business better than the people that buy it), and ask them why it is selling the best!
Then I would hit up the magazine stand. You can get a ton of ideas by simply browsing the sections of magazines. Off road trucking, scrapbooking, stock trader investment strategies, solar building...etc.
You could even browse through a magazine and record some ideas. I did this once as an example within the WA forum and I showed people how I found 25 niches in under 10 minutes just by looking through a womens health magazine (women are a huge purchasing power if you didn't know that already!!).
So that is what I would do if I didn't have the Internet...and is what I have done in the past.
However, online is a whole different ball game. There is a technique I use that will literally reveal unlimited niches. UNLIMITED. Read about it on my blog post...
Google Instant Technique - Using Google to Find Hidden Niches
The place I usually start when looking for a niche is dmoz:
Dmoz.org
This place is everything you need for niche marketing...you can find just about anything within this directory.
Then once you have chosen your niche market, you can find products to fill the void and turn the discovery into a gold mine! There are a few resources that you can take advantage of to easily find information about niche markets. You can take advantage of focus groups and social networking sites. Below are a few examples.
This place is everything you need for niche marketing...you can find just about anything within this directory.
Then once you have chosen your niche market, you can find products to fill the void and turn the discovery into a gold mine! There are a few resources that you can take advantage of to easily find information about niche markets. You can take advantage of focus groups and social networking sites. Below are a few examples.
Using these platforms will allow you to find what people are talking about, and what people are currently buying. By collecting this information, you will be able to find markets that are hot, and markets that are thriving.
Sometimes you want to check out other forums as well. To do this, I type in:
niche_name + forum
Obviously, replace "niche_name" with your niche. You will come up with forums within that niche that you can probe for intimate market details. This works great and is something that you should also incorporate with your research.
How to Find Niche Keywords
We are constantly in contact with members at WA through our Forum, and one question that always comes up is "How do I find Niche Keywords?". The usual definition for a "niche keyword" is a search term that receives high volume traffic, is very targeted to the product/service you are promoting, but does not have many advertisers promoting it.
Pretty rare indeed?
How about a revised definition...the one I stand by and follow:
"A niche keyword is one that contains 3+ terms and is directly relevant to the landing page and product that you are promoting."
OK, let me walk you through this. This is NOT a niche keyword:
"diet review"
And this is a niche keyword:
"low carb diet reviews"
The problem with the first search term is that "diet review" could relate to any type of diet...and this is not what you want. These people are very early along in their research and likely do not have an idea what they want or should be looking for yet.
The second keyword however is much more targeted and will be more profitable. I know this just by looking at the term as it fits the criteria.
The people already know they are interested in a "low carb" type of diet...now they are looking to see which low carb diet they should go for. If you deliver this information, then you will have a winning campaign. Relevance converts!
This is just a simple example, but this sort of "niche keyword" marketing should be applied to any industry that you promote.
(1) At least 3+ words in length
(2) Relevant to what your content is about
(3) Relevant to your website and what you are promoting
We are constantly in contact with members at WA through our Forum, and one question that always comes up is "How do I find Niche Keywords?". The usual definition for a "niche keyword" is a search term that receives high volume traffic, is very targeted to the product/service you are promoting, but does not have many advertisers promoting it.
Pretty rare indeed?
How about a revised definition...the one I stand by and follow:
"A niche keyword is one that contains 3+ terms and is directly relevant to the landing page and product that you are promoting."
OK, let me walk you through this. This is NOT a niche keyword:
"diet review"
And this is a niche keyword:
"low carb diet reviews"
The problem with the first search term is that "diet review" could relate to any type of diet...and this is not what you want. These people are very early along in their research and likely do not have an idea what they want or should be looking for yet.
The second keyword however is much more targeted and will be more profitable. I know this just by looking at the term as it fits the criteria.
The people already know they are interested in a "low carb" type of diet...now they are looking to see which low carb diet they should go for. If you deliver this information, then you will have a winning campaign. Relevance converts!
This is just a simple example, but this sort of "niche keyword" marketing should be applied to any industry that you promote.
(1) At least 3+ words in length
(2) Relevant to what your content is about
(3) Relevant to your website and what you are promoting
Keyword research is a highly profitable component within any successful Internet marketer's repertoire. We have keywords that generate several thousands of dollars each month in revenue because they are marketed correctly. A niche keyword doesn't convert, it is all about the marketing!
If you take anything from this, it is the understanding that it is not about the "niche"... it is about how you target that niche with your 'marketing'. This may be a huge revelation for many (there is nothing wrong with that), but you can make a living with pretty much any niche online.
In other words, it is not about what (the product) you are promoting, it is about how well you understand who (the niche) you are promoting to.
Whew...I am exhausted. I am going to go find myself some niches now.
Until next time, take care!
Cheers,
Kyle (& Carson)
The Wealthy Affiliates
Niche Marketing Inc.
P.O Box 13243 549 Michigan St.
Victoria, BC
Canada
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