How To REALLY Find Your Niche!

Posted 23rd August 2013 at 04:32 PM by Devin X
There's been an awful amount of people who have no idea what they're doing. I was just teaching a webinar last night and most of the students there had not decided on their Niche yet...after almost 3 weeks of classes!
It seems to be worse around the forum: it seems that most people have tunnel vision in that they only see the 3 big markets as the only ways to make money. By the way: Health, Wealth, and Relationships are MARKETS, not NICHES!
Furthermore, those markets have had enough niches carved out of them, and are so saturated with competition, that if you're new, you'd better stay away. Sorry, you might not agree with me, but it doesn't matter because I'm stating facts. Trying to swim against the current, fighting the future, and competing against giants, are all exercises in futility. And a lot of you wonder why you fail?
PART I
So how do you decide on YOUR niche? You need to EXPLOIT YOUR EXPERIENCE! Stop trying to do things because you think that it will make you money. You had better know that your project will make you money before you even get started! Now then,
First: a niche or sub-niche is a smaller segment within a market. MARTIAL ARTS is a market, not a niche. A niche within that market would be Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. A sub-niche would be Brazilian Ju-Jitsu for Women in the Featherweight class. Get where I'm going?
Second: you have to do some soul searching and conduct a self-evaluation for yourself. Grab a piece of paper, and do some brainstorming!
What experiences have you had in life?
What have you overcome?
What are you good at?
What certifications or degrees do you have?
What do you like to do?
What are you interested in doing or being?
Write it all down and be brutally honest with yourself. Take your time and keep it real. After you've done all that, try to identify 3 MARKETS that are aligned with your self evaluation.
Once you have those 3 markets, write down a table or list of specific target markets within each of the 3 broad markets you've identified. Try to find at least 3 more niches within the 3 broad markets and be sure to write it all down. Next, you will need to do research! Just because you have a certificate in dream analysis and interpretation from some hippie new age guru, doesn't mean that you have anything of value to sell to anyone else. The market demands override any of your interests or ambitions.
PART II
Now that you have 3 broad markets identified and 9 possible niches identified, it's time to do research to see if there is any congruency between your self evaluation, and what people are interested in. Make sense?
So how do you find what the people want? Visit these sites in order.
GOOGLE KEYWORD TOOL ([exact] match and low competition)
MAGAZINES.COM (look at headlines, pay attention for specific audiences)
Forums? Blogs? (search "keyword/keyphrase + blog/forum)
Amazon & Clickbank Marketplace (what products are selling?)
ALEXA (use "audience" function)
First, you want to use the Google Keyword Tool to find if there are any [exact] keywords/phrases that get a decent amount of searches per month, and are low competition. Write them down!
Next, go to Magazines website and look for any magazines that cater to the specific niches you've identified. Don't look for broad matches...be as specific as you can.
Then search Google for blogs and forums using the keywords/phrases that you found earlier. Pay attention to what is being discussed and who the target audience is for the sites you find.
Then, take a look at the marketplaces at Amazon and Clickbank to see what is selling. Look for decent gravity in CB and what is trending and best selling on Amazon.
Finally, go to Alexa and type in URLS of several websites that you found during your research, as well as from any relevant magazines that have websites. Use the "audience" function to look at the demographics of the websites visitors. Write all this stuff down!
You should now have a much better understanding of what the market is currently interested in. Look at your lists and analyze the data. Is there any alignment and congruency between your experiences, interests, qualifications, expertise against what people are searching for and already consuming? There should be at least 1 out of the 9 niches that passes. If not, then start over. If so, narrow the list down to the final 3 niches that could be viable. The final step comes next...
PART III
In the final 3 niches that you've identified. You need to understand the psychology of the target audience within those niches BEFORE you commit to that niche. During your research, you should have developed a pretty clear idea on who is interested in this potential niche, how old they are, and what their values kind of are. Go back and repeat PART II if you don't have a decent idea about who your target audience will be for each of the 3 niches you've narrowed down.
Assuming you're ready to finish this up and finally select your niche, there are several questions that you need to ask yourself, and need to answer. Write these down too!
What stage of life are these people in?
What challenges do they face?
What potential values do they have?
What motivates these people?
Do I identify with any of them?
Again, you're looking for congruency or alignment between yourself and your potential target market. If you're a female college student who is into Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, you'll have a better understanding of other female college students who are also into Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. Make sense?
Once you've done that for the final 3 niches you've identified, you should be able to make the best decision about what niche you will go into. Choose 1 and only 1. You might like all 3 of them, but at the end of the day, you have to run with one. So choose wisely. Once you make your decision, stand by it! Don't get shiny object syndrome.
Again, this is all about exploiting your experience, and the idea is to go into a niche market that you can serve extremely well. To use the female college student as an example...this person should focus their website on young females who are into Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. HOWEVER, she can and should draw into the well of the broader market of Martial Arts in order to keep up the production of relevant content. Does this make sense?
Okay, there you have it. You now have all the information you need to find your niche using both your own experiences, and the market's demands. Reading time is over. If you haven't found your niche yet, then this is what you should be doing right now after you finish reading this thread.
Reading time is over...get to work! Oh and be sure to check out my blog, [URL="http://www.devondudeman.com/"][B]Devon Dudeman [/B][/URL]and get to know me. Let me show you how to become healthy, wealthy, and wise.
It seems to be worse around the forum: it seems that most people have tunnel vision in that they only see the 3 big markets as the only ways to make money. By the way: Health, Wealth, and Relationships are MARKETS, not NICHES!
Furthermore, those markets have had enough niches carved out of them, and are so saturated with competition, that if you're new, you'd better stay away. Sorry, you might not agree with me, but it doesn't matter because I'm stating facts. Trying to swim against the current, fighting the future, and competing against giants, are all exercises in futility. And a lot of you wonder why you fail?
PART I
So how do you decide on YOUR niche? You need to EXPLOIT YOUR EXPERIENCE! Stop trying to do things because you think that it will make you money. You had better know that your project will make you money before you even get started! Now then,
First: a niche or sub-niche is a smaller segment within a market. MARTIAL ARTS is a market, not a niche. A niche within that market would be Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. A sub-niche would be Brazilian Ju-Jitsu for Women in the Featherweight class. Get where I'm going?
Second: you have to do some soul searching and conduct a self-evaluation for yourself. Grab a piece of paper, and do some brainstorming!
What experiences have you had in life?
What have you overcome?
What are you good at?
What certifications or degrees do you have?
What do you like to do?
What are you interested in doing or being?
Write it all down and be brutally honest with yourself. Take your time and keep it real. After you've done all that, try to identify 3 MARKETS that are aligned with your self evaluation.
Once you have those 3 markets, write down a table or list of specific target markets within each of the 3 broad markets you've identified. Try to find at least 3 more niches within the 3 broad markets and be sure to write it all down. Next, you will need to do research! Just because you have a certificate in dream analysis and interpretation from some hippie new age guru, doesn't mean that you have anything of value to sell to anyone else. The market demands override any of your interests or ambitions.
PART II
Now that you have 3 broad markets identified and 9 possible niches identified, it's time to do research to see if there is any congruency between your self evaluation, and what people are interested in. Make sense?
So how do you find what the people want? Visit these sites in order.
GOOGLE KEYWORD TOOL ([exact] match and low competition)
MAGAZINES.COM (look at headlines, pay attention for specific audiences)
Forums? Blogs? (search "keyword/keyphrase + blog/forum)
Amazon & Clickbank Marketplace (what products are selling?)
ALEXA (use "audience" function)
First, you want to use the Google Keyword Tool to find if there are any [exact] keywords/phrases that get a decent amount of searches per month, and are low competition. Write them down!
Next, go to Magazines website and look for any magazines that cater to the specific niches you've identified. Don't look for broad matches...be as specific as you can.
Then search Google for blogs and forums using the keywords/phrases that you found earlier. Pay attention to what is being discussed and who the target audience is for the sites you find.
Then, take a look at the marketplaces at Amazon and Clickbank to see what is selling. Look for decent gravity in CB and what is trending and best selling on Amazon.
Finally, go to Alexa and type in URLS of several websites that you found during your research, as well as from any relevant magazines that have websites. Use the "audience" function to look at the demographics of the websites visitors. Write all this stuff down!
You should now have a much better understanding of what the market is currently interested in. Look at your lists and analyze the data. Is there any alignment and congruency between your experiences, interests, qualifications, expertise against what people are searching for and already consuming? There should be at least 1 out of the 9 niches that passes. If not, then start over. If so, narrow the list down to the final 3 niches that could be viable. The final step comes next...
PART III
In the final 3 niches that you've identified. You need to understand the psychology of the target audience within those niches BEFORE you commit to that niche. During your research, you should have developed a pretty clear idea on who is interested in this potential niche, how old they are, and what their values kind of are. Go back and repeat PART II if you don't have a decent idea about who your target audience will be for each of the 3 niches you've narrowed down.
Assuming you're ready to finish this up and finally select your niche, there are several questions that you need to ask yourself, and need to answer. Write these down too!
What stage of life are these people in?
What challenges do they face?
What potential values do they have?
What motivates these people?
Do I identify with any of them?
Again, you're looking for congruency or alignment between yourself and your potential target market. If you're a female college student who is into Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, you'll have a better understanding of other female college students who are also into Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. Make sense?
Once you've done that for the final 3 niches you've identified, you should be able to make the best decision about what niche you will go into. Choose 1 and only 1. You might like all 3 of them, but at the end of the day, you have to run with one. So choose wisely. Once you make your decision, stand by it! Don't get shiny object syndrome.
Again, this is all about exploiting your experience, and the idea is to go into a niche market that you can serve extremely well. To use the female college student as an example...this person should focus their website on young females who are into Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. HOWEVER, she can and should draw into the well of the broader market of Martial Arts in order to keep up the production of relevant content. Does this make sense?
Okay, there you have it. You now have all the information you need to find your niche using both your own experiences, and the market's demands. Reading time is over. If you haven't found your niche yet, then this is what you should be doing right now after you finish reading this thread.
Reading time is over...get to work! Oh and be sure to check out my blog, [URL="http://www.devondudeman.com/"][B]Devon Dudeman [/B][/URL]and get to know me. Let me show you how to become healthy, wealthy, and wise.
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