When researching how to start an Internet business you will likely be advised to find your niche or to find a business you can be passionate about. But what if your passion isn’t profitable? How do you find a profitable niche?
The first rule of niche marketing is that it is advisable to begin by researching a market to try to determine where a marketplace shortage exists. Once identified, find a product to fill that shortage. That approach is much more likely to succeed than trying to find a market for a product.
Before doing any research, decide on the type of market that interests you. The Internet provides access to an abundance of markets. Start your research on a broad theme and then dig down into the market. The following is a good starting point to find your potential list of markets to review.
1- A market following one of your passions.
2 – A market within the Internet Marketing (IM) niche.
3 – A market that follows the big spenders.
For the first just list any, and all the subjects that you feel passionate about, such as hobbies, sports, your work, or any subjects that you are knowledgeable about. If you are passionate about the subject then it would seem natural that you could make others passionate as well.
The second market – IM – is probably the largest market currently on the Internet, and therefore, a highly competitive one. There are many niches within the overall market, and maybe there would be something that could be of interest. Some of the high flyers in this market are:
Private Label Rights
Resell Rights
Search Engine Optimization
Traffic Generation
Blogging
Membership Sites
The third is one that tempts most newcomers, but they really don’t know where to start to look. The key here is to find information regarding which subjects have the most searches made, and where people are spending money in that market. Some of the highest money spending markets include the following:
Dating
Travel
Stock Trading
Diets
Pets
Real Estate
Again there are many niche markets within each of the above topics with room to dig down to find the best possible returns.
With your list of markets to explore, it is time to fully research each one thoroughly. Make extensive notes as you dig into each market. Evaluate the number of searches in the niche; assess whether money is being spent in the niche; and then find that vital “something” that is missing, which hopefully you will be able to find and sell to the market.
When you have completed the research on your niche market list, you will need to make an evaluation of which one(s) presents the best business proposition, then start developing the niche. Remember that it takes time, so be patient and don’t try to short-cut the research or you may miss some important information. When the product is selling like hot cakes – start all over again.
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April 6th, 2008 at 6:09 AM
Hi Linda … I was just researching this very same topic and that’s How I ended up on your blog and what a gem of information you have here! … I myself had this idea to put a “so many steps to starting your journey online” but instead of the participant researching in the typical ways I wanted to speed this process up by doing it with a small selection of all these tools you get shoved in your email box on a daily onslaught even when your not asking for them to be delivered?
… So up to speed I have picked the best out of a massive bunch and I’m so surprised at the results with my first effort this really will work out for one and all as I tweak what I have already bought, tried, and tested now all my page needs is a little more organization … just like you have here well its been a pleasure to visit this blog I’ve saved this link to my favorites and will be adding it to one of my pages if not all in the near future thank you for this valuable information you have here Linda.
All my best to you and yours
Phillip Skinner
April 6th, 2008 at 8:08 PM
Hi Phillip,
Thanks for the compliments! There certainly is a massive amount of information and tools to choose from online. I’m sure your readers will appreciate the recommendations.
Stay in touch.
Linda
July 28th, 2008 at 6:20 PM
I love when they say, “all the good niches are taken”. Thats funny! I found mine in freebie sites. narrowed them down to IFW’s. (incentivized freebie websites). I hit a goldmine cause i can get people paid an average of $120 from their first day and every other day on.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:11 AM
Niche Markets
MY definition, then, it is a business that focuses on a smaller market and that is addressing a need for a product or service. Let us take a Wal-Mart store as an example, in it we have the whole operating store, inside the store are many departments such as toys, Ladies Fashions, Beauty dept, etc. These departments can be termed as a niche markets, and can be still further broken down into even smaller ones such as, Dolls for girls, Ladies lingerie, Facecreams, etc.
Charles
September 30th, 2008 at 5:34 PM
Charles, that’s a great analogy! Thanks for posting.
September 22nd, 2009 at 5:07 AM
Hi Linda,
It’s Carlos from Lynn Terry’s forum. I just thought I would say hi. I found your site here while doing research on better ways to uncover niche markets. Neat that you showed up in my search listings though I can’t remember if you were on page 1 or 10. Sometimes I skip the top page of rankings and head deep to page 10 or more to see if there is something interesting that Google missed.
Anyway great to see you regardless.
Have a great day!
Carlos
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Hi Carlos,
Thanks for stopping by and for letting me know how you found this post. It’s always good to know how people go here.
I hope you’ll be sharing your research results. I look forward to seeing what you learned.
March 8th, 2010 at 7:34 AM
Affiliate marketing is a extraordinary way to generate money and be your own boss, investing your skills and creative knowledge to work for you and not others, but affiliate marketing does need work and time. You must build it up like any other business.|probably the biggest reason why people do not succeed in online business it’s because they never develop a business mindset. In order to be successful one has to be able to commit to a plan, products and strategy until one is successful. What happens in reality is that people gives up at the first sign of an obstacle.