Choosing a Profitable Niche – Part 2
In part 1 of choosing a profitable niche, we discussed searching for niches and 2 approaches for getting started.
We also covered some of the pitfalls and questions to consider while searching for the right niche for your online business.
Next, we looked at some of the different main categories as an example of niches you could find good opportunities for a profitable business.
In part 2 of choosing a profitable niche, you are going to research deeper into the main niche you have chosen and refine the search down to a more focused portion of the overall niche.
This will lead you to the best opportunity to have a profitable niche from the start.
The best part is, once you are making a profit you will become more of an authority on the subject and use this to expand your influence in the niche.
Researching Your Potential Niche
Go through the research process used in this lesson, and answer these 4 questions for each topic that you are considering.
– How big is the niche?
– Is there competition in Your niche?
– How potentially profitable is the niche?
– Is there a potential for back-end products? Choose a niche that seems to have a good balance. That will be the one you want to pursue.
We will go into refining your Niche next.
Once you’ve identified a potentially lucrative niche, you need to go the extra mile and dig deeper.
You need to zoom in on the market and find out EXACTLY what they want.
Narrowing Your Search
Keys to Consider:
Determine what information people would be willing to pay for.
People are likely to pay for information that will…
ease their pain… or,
fuel their pleasure
Most successful information products are focused on a problem and a solution. There are niches where people are not going to pay for information.
If you find yourself in one of those niches, I recommend you either…
1) choose another Niche or
2) figure out a different way to monetize it. In other words, offer your information freely to build your list and generate income by promoting physical products and/or affiliate products
Use Surveys to Narrow Your Search
One of the best ways to find out exactly what your niche wants is to conduct surveys.
If you have a list of subscribers in your niche, survey them.
Here are three ways you can conduct your survey.
1) Send out a questionnaire to your list asking questions and review the email replies
2) Self-hosted survey – There are many WordPress plugins that you can use.
3) You can use a 3rd party survey company like Survey Monkey. They offer a basic account for free that is limited but will give you a start. Google offers the ability to create basic surveys if you have a Gmail account.
If you don’t have a list, there are several other ways to conduct a survey.
Here are few to consider:
1) Hire a market research firm (I do not recommend this method due to the cost)
2) Make a deal with a list owner in your niche. Create a win-win situation where the list owner benefits from the data being collected.
3) Use PPC. You can send targeted traffic to a survey that you host on your website or create using SurveyMonkey or another service. This will cost you some money, but very cheap compared to some alternatives (as few as 100 respondents may be enough).
4) Use free traffic to do your research. Get involved in forums in your niche, and then poll other members. Use social networks, etc.
5) Call people you know who are in your niche, text them, email them… do whatever it takes. Poll your neighbors, your church members, whatever you need to do to make sure your product hits the bullseye.
Entice Your Audience Offer Incentives
Give your audience a reason to respond by offering incentives.
When you offer incentives for your survey your results will get a higher response rate. Make sure the incentive is targeted to your desired audience.
Some examples of questions you can ask:
1) What is your biggest problem regarding _________ ?
2) How hard is it to find the answers to solve your problem?
3) What would you want to learn about ________?
4) How much would you be willing to pay for a solution to ____________ ?
Be sure to include at least one or two open-ended questions. Multiple choices are easier to analyze but open-ended will give you more valuable feedback.
Dig as deep as you can. (8 questions is a good target, but you may want to do just a few questions if you’re polling your list)If you decide not to do a survey, it is an absolute must that you do more research, which could include the following resources.
Go to Yahoo Answers: http://answers.yahoo.com
You want to know what PROBLEMS they are having. So pay special attention to questions like…“Can someone tell me how to fix/improve/avoid… ______?”“Is there a better/cheaper/faster way to… ______?”“I need help with… _______” Look for problems related to your niche that people are discussing on the forums.
Do article research at Ezine Articles: http://www.EzineArticles.com. This is the largest article submission site. Research here will show you what is being done by other internet marketers to provide information in your niche.
Are all of your audience’s most burning questions already being answered for free in these articles? Look at the author bio boxes to see how they are attempting to monetize the articles (I.e. do they have a competing information product?)
The more competitive the niche, the more important for you to have a strong USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
There are ways to break into a market without a USP, but I generally don’t recommend it.
Create a Product for Your Niche
Let me give you fair warning. This is where a lot of new marketers fall short.
Once you’ve narrowed down your topic, it’s time to envision your product and come up with a great brand name.
You have done your homework and you know what people in your niche need, it’s time to build a product that meets their needs.
If you’ve paid attention, this will be where you shine.
But be aware that if you create a product that nobody wants to buy, more than likely you can trace it back to this lesson.
You will find that you didn’t dig deep enough into your market to find out what they want to pay for.
Remember, it’s not what you want that matters…
It’s what your audience wants that counts.
Summary:
- Choose a Broad Niche
- Research the niche to narrow your focus
- Decide what topic to focus on
- Survey your market
- Entice your audience
- Create Your Product
Let me know what you think, leave a comment below.
