How do you find niche markets...

14 years ago

A niche is any topic or genre if you will. For example internet marketing, weight loss, dating, etc are considered evergreen niches. This is because they will ALWAYS be in demand.

On the other side of that coin you have what I believe you are talking about. A "niche" market generally means a topic, service or product that is less popular than others.

How I find niche markets is to look at my own interests and break down into smaller niches from there.

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Jeremy Banks 14 years ago
I like to go after products because that is what a lot of people spend money on (info products are good as well but I don't know much about that area)

Here is what I use for ideas on a website to start
- Commercials (keep an eye out for new products)
- Infomercials (slapchop, baby bullet, snuggy, all HOT products)
- Amazon best sellers (you can go after BIG top sellers, or some micro niche top sellers)
- Walk around a store (look for small expensive items, or items that take up a big portion of the shelves, that means they are popular)
Good niches are all around you!
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Mike Mendell

14 years ago

When you're doing niche research, type in a few related keywords into Google and take notice of how much competition (in the form of AdWords) there are. If there are a lot of ads, that means it's a profitable niche. (These guys wouldn't be advertising very long if they weren't making money.)

Also visit your local bookstore and look at the magazine rack. All those topics are profitable niches because there's a big enough target market to justify the cost of producing and distributing a magazine on that topic.

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tokaje

14 years ago

I agree with the above suggestions, and when you have decided for a niche, then you need to get into a sub niche (more detailed) ex. NICHE: Health, SUBNICHES: diabetes, skincare, diet etc.)
And if you go to click bank.com and click on market place, you can see all kinds of info products in almost every sub niche you can market as well.

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Hamida Harland

14 years ago

For Amazon, I normally just use the bestsellers list to find niche markets. If a product is a bestseller, has lots of positive reviews, and lots of related products then it might be a niche worth exploiting. On Amazon price is also a factor that I take into consideration, as the commissions are low - I normally go for a product that costs at least $80.

I then use the Google Adwords keyword tool to check the search numbers for each of the product names, and also to find related keywords that I could use for content for my site. I'm not too worried about specific search numbers, but I like at least one of the products that I will promote on a specific site to get over 1000 searches.

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dsouravs

14 years ago

What about the competition.
Suppose a keyword has 5000 searches per month but also highly competitive...Then what to do.

Thnx

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ladywriter

14 years ago

Originally Posted by sdouravs

What about the competition.
Suppose a keyword has 5000 searches per month but also highly competitive...Then what to do.

Thnx

This is my problem. I just ran through about 10 keywords that I thought were pretty good, but found that the competition was overwhelming considering the number of searches. Even when I did the "intitle:"keyword" inurl:"keyword" inanchor:"keyword" thing.

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myob

14 years ago

Overwhelming the competition is my specialty.

In some of the most competitive and lucrative niches it is almost always impossible to rank for any relevant keywords/phrases without going through months of SEO strategies.

However, there are several alternative methods for rapidly driving traffic no matter how your sites rank in the SERPs.

A very powerful technique I use almost exclusively is submitting articles to context-relevant websites and blogs that rank ideally in the top 1-3 for my main keywords.

Other methods are article marketing to niche ezine publishers, offline outlets such as magazines, trade journals, newspapers, and media buying.

By strategically leveraging articles through syndication, it does not take many articles at all to crack any niche no matter how stiff the competition may be.

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ladywriter

14 years ago

Originally Posted by myob

Other methods are article marketing to niche ezine publishers, offline outlets such as magazines, trade journals, newspapers, and media buying.

This is a really important thing to remember when syndicating articles--there are offline avenues to submit articles as well. Your post helped me remember it right now

Since you have other techniques you use, would you say you ignore competition when you start a new site/niche and that you don't really try to rank that way? Just curious--seems it would save a lot of time but I don't think I've ever run across someone who didn't care what their Google rank was. (I know you didn't say that)

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myob

14 years ago

Originally Posted by kstark

...Since you have other techniques you use, would you say you ignore competition when you start a new site/niche and that you don't really try to rank that way? Just curious--seems it would save a lot of time but I don't think I've ever run across someone who didn't care what their Google rank was. (I know you didn't say that)

Yes, I do say that often and I mean it. Competition is actually the primary factor when I consider entering a new niche. Intense competition generally indicates the niche is very lucrative. However, trying to outrank entrenched keywords and backlinks head on can not only be time-consuming and expensive, but also tenuous and fleeting.

The search engines in general, and Google in particular, comprise merely one method out of myriads of the other marketing tools available which actually are far more powerful and effective in the most competitive arenas. If all you know is SEO, you are at a serious disadvantage.

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ladywriter

14 years ago

Originally Posted by myob

The search engines in general, and Google in particular, comprise merely one method out of myriads of the other marketing tools available which actually are far more powerful and effective in the most competitive arenas. If all you know is SEO, you are at a serious disadvantage.

Mmm, I see your point. I guess I always thought of SEO as a guarantee, or maybe the easiest? I don't know why I thought that lol.....I do see your point.

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BloggingPro

14 years ago

Originally Posted by kstark

This is my problem. I just ran through about 10 keywords that I thought were pretty good, but found that the competition was overwhelming considering the number of searches. Even when I did the "intitle:"keyword" inurl:"keyword" inanchor:"keyword" thing.

Remember your competition only exists on page one.

Don't worry about any of that other stuff. You are only competing with those ten guys on the first page. Everything else is pointless to even think about.

When determining you need to look at the following things.

PageRank,
Age,
Backlinks to page,
Backlinks to domain,
Keyword in domain,
Keyword in Title Tag,
Keyword in H1 Tag.

If you find a keyword where a majority of the sites (more than 5) have high PR, old age, a ton of backlinks to page and even more to the domain, keyword is in the domain, title tag, and even the H1 you are going to have a helluva fight.

I mean a helluva a fight.

That is ALL that matters. Nothing else does. Its a completely dynamic thing. For example I rank above several Amazon.com pages that are super old, but because I am better optimized I rank above them.

Today SEO is more about your content PLUS backlinks.

Back in the day you could rank crap content with ease, today you need solid content and on page optimization.

It's always important to remember you aren't fighting against the world to rank, just those on page one.

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spen

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Hamida Harland

For Amazon, I normally just use the bestsellers list to find niche markets. If a product is a bestseller, has lots of positive reviews, and lots of related products then it might be a niche worth exploiting. On Amazon price is also a factor that I take into consideration, as the commissions are low - I normally go for a product that costs at least $80.

I then use the Google Adwords keyword tool to check the search numbers for each of the product names, and also to find related keywords that I could use for content for my site. I'm not too worried about specific search numbers, but I like at least one of the products that I will promote on a specific site to get over 1000 searches.

where shall I find the bestsellers list ?
thanks

Thanks
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myob 14 years ago

Originally Posted by spen

where shall I find the bestsellers list ?
thanks

Here you go: amazon.com/bestsellers

The list is updated hourly.

Also, each department/category can be sorted by bestselling items.
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kaylacalloway 14 years ago
Check out this posting on niche markets by Financial Author Ramit Sethi:

You need to be more specific than you ever thought possible

The first step is to be ultra-specific. Since 95% of people will never understand this, when you do, you get a disproportionate advantage over them.

Yesterday, I asked you to respond with your results of the Two-Qualifier method exercise. I'm going to show you how to take a potential target market ("women!") and get super-specific.

Why is this important? Because the more specific you are, the better you can serve your clients...and the more you can charge. That's why I can charge $1,500/hour. That's also why I have students who can charge $100/hour when their competitors can only charge $20/hour.

So, the Two-Qualifier Method is a proven way to niche down your idea:

[QUALIFIER 1] -- [QUALIFIER 2] who need (YOUR SERVICE)

Example: Working parents in the San Francisco Bay area who want (tutoring for their high school kids). Perfect. I would go one step further and say "ASIAN working parents" or "Working MOTHERS." See how specific you can get?

Now for the results:

The Loser:
It was hard to pick a loser because so many of them sucked. The most common problem was not naming the service and being way too broad. For example:
"Stoner college students who need freshly baked cookies and brownies." - Mathew

Yes, that was a real answer I got. Thank you, Matthew, for adding to the intellectual rigor of this discussion.

Let's look at another contribution that seemed reasonable, but actually wasn't.

"Bay Area female with income of 80-120K income who need personal training." - Jessie

Seems OK, but do you see the problem with this?
- How old is the woman? (A 22-year-old woman and a 45-year-old woman have almost nothing in common fitness-wise.)
- What kind of personal training? Be more specific and targeted with your market.
- What do they really want? Do they want to lose the spare tire? Do they want toned arms? Do they want to gain muscle? Train for a marathon?
The Winner:

There were also a lot of good ones. I picked two.

"French-speaking expatriates in Tokyo who want to improve their Japanese language ability." - Aurelien

[French-speaking expatriates] -- [in Tokyo] who need (Japanese language tutoring).

LOVE IT. Super-specific and a very well-defined market that you can easily find.

The next winner:

"Laval University academics with research funding that need help building a website." - Kevin

[Laval University academics] -- [research funding] who need (help building a website).

See how clear those are? There is no doubt about who their target market is.

Okay, now that logistics are done, let's get to the material.

Once you've identified a potential target market, how do you know it's profitable BEFORE you start?

Make your ideas pay
Now that you have an idea and a niche market, the next step is to get inside your customers' heads -- and make sure you have a profitable idea using the Pay Certainty Technique. This technique ensures that you have potential customers who are willing and able to pay you.

Introducing The "Pay Certainty" Framework
The problem with having so many ideas is you're just not sure which will pay off. And nobody wants to spend 9 months pursuing a futile idea -- only to discover you've made $0.46 in Adsense money -- so we get stuck before we even start.

When you apply the "Pay Certainty" Framework, you can quickly "score" ideas to see if they have any real possibility of ever paying off -- BEFORE you ever spend any time developing them.

Here's how it works.

Take each of your ideas and write them on a piece of paper. Next to each idea, write down who would pay you for your service.

You should have a page that looks something like this:

IDEAWho Would Pay?Social media consultant for law firmsLaw partnerMotivational consultant20-somethings looking for new jobsFreelance nonprofit fundraiserNonprofit executive directorsMusic instructorParents of ambitious children

Great. Now apply the "Pay Certainty" Framework.

For each person who would potentially pay you, ask yourself:
1. Do they have the ABILITY to pay? Do they actually have money?
2. Do they have the WILLINGNESS to pay? Do they want to pay?

This lets you instantly eliminate half of your ideas...that would not have earned you a dime.

Example: The "Pay Certainty" Framework in action on some examples

"Chicago law firms with 3-10 lawyers who want help managing and maintaining their firms' hardware and software assets." - Mathew
- ABILITY to pay: YES, lawyers swim in money
- WILLINGNESS to pay: NO, they don't pay freelancers and are ultra-conservative
- VERDICT: ELIMINATE

"24-45 year old, middle income families who need help on budgeting." - Angi
- ABILITY to pay: UM NO
- WILLINGNESS to pay: NOT IN THIS LIFETIME
- VERDICT: ELIMINATE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE

"Music instructor for ambitious children -- client is mother"
- ABILITY to pay: Yes. Parents of ambitious, successful children tend to be more affluent than those of average children
-WILLINGNESS to pay: Yes. Parents will spend virtually anything to ensure their child is successful, well-rounded, and gets into a top college
- VERDICT: GREAT IDEA. PURSUE!

The "Pay Certainty" Framework lets you rapidly eliminate bad ideas that would have never earned you a cent, and focus on the most promising ideas...ones that will almost certainly earn you significant amounts of money on the side.

This technique is powerful in helping you get control of your many ideas and escape "Analysis Paralysis." But it just scratches the surface of the advanced techniques I teach in Earn1k.

You'll learn step-by-step, foolproof strategies to "stress-test" your idea before you invest your valuable time in them. You'll learn how to identify "weakly successful" ideas -- ideas that are seemingly profitable, but will never bring in enough to really make it worth your time. And you'll learn subtle positioning tactics to triple the value of your idea...so it's irresistible to your customers.

This is all part of the Earn1k course.
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- c4822 14 years ago
  
  Kaylacalloway - What a fantastic description and explanation on niche markets, I'm going to marinate on this for a while, and get specific with my niches.
  
  Thanks
  
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  fitz10 14 years ago
  
  The amount of searches done for something doesn't really qualify something or disqualify it as a niche. A niche is just a subtopic of a general topic. For example, selling weight loss products to women who've just given birth is a niche within the weight loss field. There could be 5 million searches a month for that or there could be 500 searches-- either way it's a niche within weight loss.
  
  As for where I find ideas for Amazon items to sell I have several ways:
  
  -Look around your own home. Amazon's best selling products are often home goods and you'll often find things around the house to inspire you.
  -A variety of other shopping websites: shopping.com, ebay.com, Shopzilla to name a few
  -Look at magazines. If people are willing to pay money each and every month to get a subscription to a magazine about a particular topic, there's a buying market there. Pay close attention to the ads in the magazine, these are the things people are buying in the niche.
  
  Thanks
  
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Charlotte Jay

14 years ago

There is just so much controversy over how to choose the right niche these days. Big market, small market, in-between market? I actually have a list I procured from the War Room which has proven to be very helpful in getting ideas. I also use 43things.com and will peruse the magazine racks at the bookstore for ideas.

Thanks
1 reply

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myob 14 years ago

Call me lazy, but basically all I do is head on over to dummies.com. All the heavy lifting in marketing research has already been done. Nearly every niche idea from there has turned out to be an asounding success for example in promoting Clickbank and Amazon products.
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marcuslim

14 years ago

Think of niches as needs. The three major mega niches are health, wealth and relationships. Within each of these are sub niches. So for health a sub niche is weight loss. For wealth, real estate is an example of a sub niche, while for relationships, dating is a sub niche. Recently, Bill Guthrie did a WSO massive niche list so you can very quickly get ideas for all sorts of niches at a glance.

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Marcus Lim
Silver Bullet Publishing

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tristatemedia

14 years ago

there is a great video on chrisfarrel.com on how to look up niches.
he actually recommends going with the very popular niches to make money.
good video, check it out
good luck

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Slugger_mn

14 years ago

Find something where the keyword yields more of a stat like this;

competition, 32,xxx

monthly searches, 9,900

Then push up a site under the keywords similar to this, it is easy traffic, and you can make great money doing this, I wouldn't reach for the stars while your still unsure of even what a niche is, start small, generate some profits, and work your way up...

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GrahamLutz

14 years ago

Google "keyword research video" - you'll get exactly what you need to learn how to find a niche. Its about putting in the time, being creative, and practice, practice, practice!

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fccs

14 years ago

Checkup the newest trends on google also!

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Deekodesk

14 years ago

Google trends, adwords keyword research tool. subscribing to niche email lists are some of the ways i do in order to keep track of niches in my domain.

Thanks
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Jelanib 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Deekodesk

Google trends, adwords keyword research tool. subscribing to niche email lists are some of the ways i do in order to keep track of niches in my domain.

Would you say that it is best to choose a keyword with low to medium competition with atleast 1,000 monthly searches?

Also, is it better to go for a low volume market with low competition or a high volume market with high competition?
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simonbuzz

Banned 14 years ago

In simple words the best place to find niche market are Yahoo answers and amazon

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Ben Armstrong 14 years ago

If you're selling Amazon products I would say you'd like to be in a niche where there are at least 5 similar products to review that get at least 500 searches a month for their product name and have at least 50 user reviews & 3.5 stars for the product on amazon. The next thing to look at is the general search term for your products. eg. XXXXX reviews. I like this figure to be at least 2,500 a month.

I then type that term into scroogle scraper and analyze the top 10-20 sites, I'll generally analyze the top 2-3 in depth and then just have a quick look at the others. This is the best way to guage how easy it will be to rank on page 1 and even number 1.

Having said that... All of the above are guidelines. I'll often break some of these rules for varying reasons.
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How do you find niche markets...

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