Niche Market

Quite literally, a niche is an ornamental recess in a wall designed to show off a statue or other decorative object. Here is an example:




When applied to Internet Marketing, a niche is a specific segment of a larger market. Think of the wall in the photo above as the marketplace and the niche is the recessed area that has been carved out of the wall in order to position your business.

When you think of a niche as something you create or you define, a small area of the broader marketplace where you are going to operate your business, it makes sense that you don't really "pick a niche" as so many people usually say. Every niche can be different depending upon how you choose to focus and define your own business.

Really, you are setting the boundaries of your business operation. You are "carving out" a specific place or target where you want to do business. You define your own products that you will sell, your business plan to sell them, the audience you want to target, and everything else related to what and how you're going to sell.

Two business owners may say they are in the "organic tomato growing" niche, but in actuality, their businesses may look very different. That's because they have each chosen to "position" their businesses differently.

One owner has an authority site where he sells reports, ebooks, and other digital content on how to grow organic tomatoes. A second business owner has chosen to sell tomato starts, fertilizer, canning jars, tomato cages and other accessories. Each owner has created, defined, and carved out his own niche in the marketplace.

Certainly, this is more than you need to know about what a niche really is in Internet marketing. But it's important to realize that a niche is a very specific segment of the overall marketplace and that you, as the business owner, will create and define your own niche (often by default), because of how you position your business (what and how you sell).

The best to all of you,

Steve