Read just about any internet marketing book or report and you will find that they all talk about niches, and finding your niche. They tell you that finding a good, paying niche is vital to your online business, which is true. But no one tells you how to recognize a good niche, or where to start looking for a niche. So let’s talk about what a niche is.
First — a niche is a small segment or part of a large market. And markets and niches are always made up of people, groups of people who share the same interest or problem. This is important to understand, because many beginning marketers run into problems because they target too large a group.
For example, “Pets” is a huge market with many sub-markets like Dogs, Cats, Fish, Reptiles and on and on. None of these topics qualifies as a niche, remember a niche is very small. Pets is too large, Dogs is too large, Dog Training is closer but still too large, and How to Potty Train Your Dog is a niche.
Do you see? Dog Training is not a niche because it’s too large and covers too many possible areas, like Potty Training, Leash Training, Agility Training, No Bark Training, Therapy Dog Training, Clicker Training and on and on. To get to a niche you have to drill down further into your market and subject.
How does this apply to you? Well, if you are starting an internet marketing business, one of the first things you have to decide is what market you are going to target and what product or service you want to sell. It’s fine to decide that you want to be in the “Pets” market, but what on earth do you sell that is about Pets? The Encyclopedia of Pets? By drilling deeper into the market you will find various target groups that are already looking for products in very specific areas.
Finding a small, focused niche makes the decision of what product to produce or sell very easy because your research has already shown you what your niche group is looking for. Think about this a minute — you already know what they want — so give it to them.
This is the beauty of doing niche research, by the time you have your targeted niche you also have some great ideas for products. If quite a few good products already exist, pick one or two and sell them as an affiliate. And if there are very few or no good products, you write or produce a great product and sell it.