Is alternative health a good niche market?

[NightWriter]

I ask because I'd like to create some products in that market.

I have been involved in alternative health for 20 years. I ran two metaphysical stores for several years. I have a database of odd knowledge. For example, if someone has an allergy I can show you how to identify an allergen and create an anti-remedy for it. In four doses some allergies go away forever.

Over the years I ran across about 100 purported cancer cures. I want to do a bibliography.

I'm also as expert as anyone at radionics... I could write quite a bit on that subject - no one is.

But, are any of these things marketable???

It looks to me like most of the products here on marketing itself. I'm afraid to write about something for which there is no market.

Yet, I think there are people desperate for answers to questions that allopathy cannot provide.

Thoughts, please. Is writing on those topics stand a chance of resulting in marketable products?

Thanks!

[jitterbug978]

Slightly saturated... but hey go for it... do what your heart desires.

If you want it bad enough you will succeed!

[Abraham_L]

hey NightWriter! There are several ways to verify if the market you're targeting to is profitable or not:

1. Have you checked out Clickbank? There you can see if there are products for the niche you're targeting to, and you'll see if the products convert well or not.
2. Googspy.com tells you if there are people using PPC to promote that niche, and if they're not paying more than $2 per click, then it's possible that the niche is profitable.
3. Go to Google, and search for specific keywords, but with quotation marks, and see if there are ARTICLES (I emphasize on this one cause if you see a lots of articles, then there are probably a lot of affiliates out there promoting stuff, and SELLING!), or websites out there promoting products for that specific niche, and so on, and if there is a good amount of them out there, is probably because they're making money from it.

Hope this helps a bit.

All the best

Abraham.

ps: if you want to ask me more questions, PM me =)

[mspiva1]

Also check Ask.com, Yahoo Answers and Wiki How. You will find lots of information geared toward your niche. You can even start to offer answers with links back to your products.

If you have started list building try using surveys (Ask Database--paid service or Survey Monkey) to gather info on what your target group is wanting/needing. Remember to go after the desperate buyers that really WANT an answer, product or how to for what they are looking for. HTH

[Abraham_L]

Originally Posted by mspiva1

Also check Ask.com, Yahoo Answers and Wiki How. You will find lots of information geared toward your niche. You can even start to offer answers with links back to your products.

so true! Yahoo! Answers can show you questions people are asking, and in your marketing, articles, or even your own product, just answer people's questions. Give THEM what they want, and they will pay for what you have to offer =)

[SageSound]

Originally Posted by NightWriter

I ran two metaphysical stores for several years.

Just a guess, but I'd say the market for stuff you sold in the stores fairly well mirrored the overall market in general.

If you're still connected to any other store managers or owners, you might try writing some materials and publishing them on Amazon's latest service (createspace.com), then send some copies to these managers/owners and ask them to put them out and see how they sell. Chat them up and see what IS selling and what isn't. I'm sure you're familiar with industry-specific magazines; what are they saying?

OTOH, I've tried inquiring many times over the years about various sales volumes at metaphysical stores, and those folks seem to run their stores the same way many of their clients run their lives -- on a wing and a prayer! It's no wonder that so many of them come and go so quickly.

If you -- as someone who was in the THICK of the business for "several years" -- are coming here and asking about what the market is like for those products ... well, it just seems quite strange...

-David

[NightWriter]

SageSound,

Alternative health and metaphysical are related topics, but not exactly the same. Metaphysical - I can tell you - is a difficult market. There are some success stories, if you can believe the company profiles you read in magazines like New Age Retailer, but if you are not in the right place, you're in trouble.

And... with the economy the way it is right now, if it isn't a necessity, they're not buying it. That's why I'm looking for something that's *needed* and not something that I'm going to have to work hard at creating a market for before I can get the sale.

In defense of those metaphysical store owners, many of them are not first and foremost business people - they believe in what they are doing as much as any priest or nun. It is something else besides just a business to them. This isn't always the case, but I have seen it often. It's something people do for the love of the subject and for the opportunity to fellowship with like-minded people - which is a strong drive, particularly for people who feel religiously or socially disenfranchised.

But, alternative health is another matter. I already used some of the techniques suggested above. It confirmed my thoughts on the subject.

Brilliant techniques, by the way.