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> Get Articles > Niche Marketing > Getting Started? Why Your 1st Step is Finding a Niche Market
Getting Started? Why Your 1st Step is Finding a Niche Market
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Nava Bromberger
navamarketingtwist.com
Marketing Twist
http://www.marketingtwist.com
Getting Started? Why Your 1st Step is Finding a Niche
Market
© 2003 Nava Bromberger
The most common thing I hear from people is that they don't
know where to begin building an online business. Well, it's
no wonder... The internet is an enormous place and a huge
opportunity. But if you don't pick a piece of it then you'll
not only soon be overwhelmed but worse, probably not see
much success.
Let me explain.
Building a business on the internet is just as real as in
the brick and mortar world. In many ways it's easier once
you have a good system in place. But that doesn't mean you
should skip the most basic decision of what your business
has to offer and if this is a viable business to have.
This is called niche marketing and taking the time to decide
what your niche market is the smartest way to get started.
In case you're not clear on what a niche is, it's a very
specific portion of a much larger market. For instance,
internet marketing is a market. But, book marketing,
listbuilding, and traffic conversion are niche markets.
What this means is that you need to take the time to decide
what information or product you're going to offer. From
there, you can find out if there is a market for this
product, how large it is, and if they spend money. In other
words, is there a target market for this product?
Take the time to measure your market and if any of the above
items aren't true for the niche market you want to go after,
then find another niche and be glad you didn't invest too
much in this one.
Why target a niche rather than a large broad market?
Well, for one thing it will give your site a purpose and
focus. Anyone coming to your site will be able to instantly
identify what it's about.
You'll also have a much easier time getting a decent ranking
in the search engines because your keywords will be more
specific which means less competitive. And, if you do a pay
per click campaign, specific keyword phrases are always
cheaper than the broader general keywords.
Using highly targeted keyword phases will also bring much
more qualified traffic to your site. For instance, wouldn't
you rather have a site that's the definitive source about
Porsches than just a site about cars in general? Imagine how
much more valuable your visitors would be if you had a such
a site and they found you by typing "porsche 911" into a
search engine. You may have less traffic but it will be more
qualified which means your conversion will be much higher.
Which would you rather have, a site that gets alot of
traffic but has no sales or a site with half as much traffic
but consistently makes sales?
Using this example, several things would be accomplished:
First of all, you'd be targeting a very specific audience
and giving them exactly what they're looking for.
Second, this particular niche of Porsche enthusiasts tends
to have money to spend which is good since you'll have
products to sell.
Third, if you can write articles about Porsches that provide
alot of valuable information you'll quickly become a
recognized authority on the subject of Porsches.
And fourth, being a recognized authority on Porsches you'll
attract joint venture partners who have related products or
services.
Here's how to find a niche market:
1.) Ask yourself some questions. What do you already know
alot about or have a passion for? This can be anything at
all.
2.) Do some research to find out if people are looking for
this type of information or topic.
Overture has a keyword suggestion tool which lets you type
in a keyword and see how many times it was used in a search.
There's also a free program that does the same thing called
Good Keywords. Both also give you related keywords and
phrases so you can get a better sense of where to narrow
your scope.
Wordtracker provides the same type of service but offers
tools to organize all your keywords so you can later upload
them into a pay per click campaign or use them on your
website.
If you want to do some serious research then check out
Nichefinder. This software not only lets you know what
people are searching for but also does a supply and demand
analysis so you'll also know how much competition is already
out there.
Visit some message boards or newsgroups where your target
market hangs out and listen to what they're talking about.
Look for issues or problems they're having -- these are all
potential products just waiting to be created. Take it a
step further and start answering questions and you'll have a
following for when your product is ready to launch.
3.) Get a catchy domain name that has a keyword your target
market will recognize and design your site entirely around
this niche.
4.) Start capturing emails and building a list that offers
valuable free information this market wants.
5.) Write and publish articles on your website about your
particular topic.
6.) Create a link directory and exchange links with
complimentary sites. This will increase your link popularity
which will improve your ranking in Google and other search
engines.
7.) Find products that would be useful to your market and
recommend them to your list. Most have affiliate programs
and you'll earn a commission.
8.) Create your own product and sell it on the front-end.
Then use the affiliate products for back-end sales.
9.) Most of all, be honest and serve you market well. Never
recommend anything you haven't tried or used yourself. Give
them the best information you possibly can -- in fact, over-
deliver in this area. It will payoff because you'll gain
credibility, trust, and respect which over time will
translates into more sales.
Basically, once you know that a niche market exists for what
you want to offer your next goal should be to dominate it.
If your site is tightly focused on your target market's
needs, you're consistently writing good articles, and
offering products that solve their problems -- then
dominating this space will happen automatically.
Focusing on a niche may be a little more work in the
beginning. But, once you decide what niche you're going to
target everything will fall into place. You'll have products
that you know are in demand, a site that increases in value
every time you add related content, and a business that
continues to build over time.
Links to Resources Mentioned Above:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
http://www.goodkeywords.com/
http://www.marketingtwist.com/wordtracker
http://www.marketingtwist.com/nichefinder
© 2003 Nava Bromberger
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Nava Bromberger publishes Marketing Twist ezine. Why do some
people struggle to make money online while others just rake
in the cash? You'll find out in each issue of Marketing
Twist. If you make less money than you want to, you need a
twist ... a Marketing Twist. http://www.marketingtwist.com
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