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Choosing The Right Niche...

by JonoC
18 replies
I spent all of last year writing and subsequently marketing an ebook on depression.

I have been through 2 copywriters so far and am currently working with a third.

Conversion rates have been pitifully low (0.5% max) and I think it is because of the niche I have chosen.

There are three reasons why I think this is: 1) people with depression tend to find it difficult to make positive decisions for themselves. 2) about a third of the traffic I receive comes from people looking to help a loved one and not themselves. I imagine that it is far more difficult to get someone to spend money on someone else rather than themselves. 3) there is a lot of confusion about what depression is and whether it is a physical disease or psychological.

Number 3 I think can be overcome with good copywriting but I think the other 2 cannot.

I am giving it one last try to see if I can turn this into a viable business then I am walking away and will try on a different niche.

I obviously don't want to make the same mistake again so my question is:

How do you make sure a niche is actually profitable before you create a product?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
#choosing #niche #profitable
  • Profile picture of the author nicholasb
    well whats the process you are sending your visitors through? Are you just sending cold traffic directly to a sales page or are you warming them up first through some sort of funnel?

    I personally know this is a great niche, I have a product in the how to be happy niche that sells very well for $500, it's most likely just the process you are taking them through to make the sale.

    One thing you have to keep in mind is that you are dealing with depressed people, who are usually easily irritated and sad all the time. Try to brighten up there day a little before you try and sell them something.

    Focus on making them happy first then your product will practically sell it's self.
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    • Profile picture of the author JonoC
      Originally Posted by nicholasb View Post

      well whats the process you are sending your visitors through? Are you just sending cold traffic directly to a sales page or are you warming them up first through some sort of funnel?
      Thanks for the insights.

      I send cold traffic through adwords. I know that this does result in lower conversions but .5% is incredibly low.

      At this point I am only interested in using traffic sources that scale quickly and ppc fits the bill perfectly. How would I warm up my traffic with ppc? Would I send them to a different page then onto my sales page?

      DubDubDubDot: yes, one of my copywriters had depression themselves and another one had written copy for a similiar product.

      StingGB: yes I understand that. The reason I went with the depression niche was that I do have a fair bit of inside information.

      There are two more niches in the health field that I have "inside" information on and I wanted to analyse both of these before I chose one. I can certainly ad value to the market place and I have experience in both.

      iPrescenceBizSolutions: That was the reason I got into the depression market in the first place. It hasn't worked out so far but we'll see. If I do decide to walk away and try again in a different niche then I don't want to make the same mistakes again. I have some pretty good information and experience on two other niches.

      Kayfrank: yes there are a number of products on clickbank catering to the depression market. None of them have gravities of above 2 however which might mean that the market is just no good.

      I think you could be right about the email marketing, that is one of the avenues that I am looking at.
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  • Profile picture of the author DubDubDubDot
    Originally Posted by JonoC View Post

    I have been through 2 copywriters so far and am currently working with a third.
    Did the first two have references in your field? Does the third?
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  • Profile picture of the author kayode10
    To choose a niche that is profitable, you must have the following things in mind
    1. the niche you are targeting must be in buying categories
    2. the competition in the niche must not be too high because only in the way you will be able to generate targeted traffic without much work
    3. the niche must be insatiable: i mean they will always want more of the similar product you sold to them at the front end.
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    • Profile picture of the author DonnyBoy
      Originally Posted by kayode10 View Post

      To choose a niche that is profitable, you must have the following things in mind
      1. the niche you are targeting must be in buying categories
      2. the competition in the niche must not be too high because only in the way you will be able to generate targeted traffic without much work
      3. the niche must be insatiable: i mean they will always want more of the similar product you sold to them at the front end.
      I totally agree with you man... These are the essential points you mentioned
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  • Profile picture of the author StingGB
    Originally Posted by JonoC View Post

    How do you make sure a niche is actually profitable before you create a product
    I see this question a lot on forums and it perplexes me. You are coming at it from the wrong angle. Picking a niche simply because it is known to be profitable won't necessarily make it profitable for you. You need to find a niche that you know something about which will give you an edge over your competitors, because if you don't they will eat you for breakfast and you will never get anywhere with it in terms of profitability. Put simply, the only niche that will ever be profitable for you is one you are expert in, and you can add value to.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sushiman1111
    I think that there are basically two categories of niche: aspirin and candy. Of the two, aspirin is the better choice, because if you have a bad enough headache, you'll pay for aspirin to get rid of it. Candy, well... If you have some extra money and feel like something sweet, then maybe you'll buy some candy.

    Any niche can be profitable, but some are a lot easier to sell than others. Seems like depression would be a tough one, for the reasons you listed.

    And the advice about going with what you know is right on. There are people out there making bank in niches that you would never figure could be profitable (hair ribbons, anyone?), but they're doing well because they know the field and have a passion for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author kayfrank
    Have you looked at products in this niche on Clickbank and the kind of results they get? Popular books on amazon? What kind of sales pages do successful marketers in depression niche use?

    I think people with depression might need to build a trusting relationship with you first before they buy (like most niches in fact). Perhaps you could offer some free help - 7 part email series for example - that will help to build a relationship up with your subscribers first.
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    • Profile picture of the author endydaniyanto
      Hi Jono,

      I'm sorry that you have spent so much time creating a product to help people but haven't reached the profitability you want.

      I've never created a product of my own, but I agree with what other members say about choosing a niche:

      Originally Posted by kayode10 View Post

      1. the niche you are targeting must be in buying categories
      "Depression" itself I think is not so much a "buying" category, like "cars" or "fashion". Though people do buy cars and fashion (and depression remedies), it's something else that leads them to the sale.

      One tip I've received from another marketer is to choose a more specific or "segmented" part of your chosen niche. For example, instead of "cars" you can go for "car accessories" and then "vinyl accessories" etc.

      I wonder how you can do this for "depression" ... maybe you can give a "side solution" to depression. People tend to be depressed because of something missing, if you can identify that something missing and use that as a "loss leader", then maybe you can sell them your product after that.

      Originally Posted by StingGB View Post

      You need to find a niche that you know something about which will give you an edge over your competitors
      This one is also important: maybe you're not passionate enough about depression?

      If you're not passionate enough about your niche, you won't understand well the exact language and delivery that people are looking for. This is actually one of the toughest parts of marketing: aligning your frequency with your prospect's frequency.

      Hopefully these suggestions help. Good luck with your product!

      Cheers,
      Endy
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  • Profile picture of the author submitinme
    Originally Posted by JonoC View Post

    I spent all of last year writing and subsequently marketing an ebook on depression.

    I have been through 2 copywriters so far and am currently working with a third.

    Conversion rates have been pitifully low (0.5% max) and I think it is because of the niche I have chosen.

    There are three reasons why I think this is: 1) people with depression tend to find it difficult to make positive decisions for themselves. 2) about a third of the traffic I receive comes from people looking to help a loved one and not themselves. I imagine that it is far more difficult to get someone to spend money on someone else rather than themselves. 3) there is a lot of confusion about what depression is and whether it is a physical disease or psychological.

    Number 3 I think can be overcome with good copywriting but I think the other 2 cannot.

    I am giving it one last try to see if I can turn this into a viable business then I am walking away and will try on a different niche.

    I obviously don't want to make the same mistake again so my question is:

    How do you make sure a niche is actually profitable before you create a product?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks
    I actually think that there is nothing wrong with your choice of niche. The actual problem must be with your choice of finding the audience. Trust me depressed people spend most of the time looking for resources that could help them overcome that. To get the right target audience first you need to find the right keyword to target. You should get into the mind of a depressed person and find the key terms. For example, people with health anxiety would be a lot depressed and they always fear and impending doom. to grab the attention of such people, you need to produce content such as this No More Panic - Health Anxiety and direct them to buy your ebook from there. You should also have active participation in Yahoo answers sort of communities and all major social networks. I know this post is quite old. But if you still haven't given up on the niche, I would say you had chosen the best one!
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  • Profile picture of the author rossm
    What you have been doing in the past is "hit and run" marketing. Sending traffic to your offer and then either one of two things happens.

    They buy or they dont.

    The remaining 99.5% is money being left on the table.

    You need to:

    Send targeted traffic to a squeeze page and give away something of value, a free report for example. This is the beginning of the relationship stage. Giving away something free get of you off on the right foot.

    The squeeze page captures the lead and you market further with auto responders, further building the relationship and trust of the reader.

    Then you introduce your product and their is a far better chance of selling it.

    Golden rule of sales: Sell yourself first!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeffery
    Authority! Selling almost any type of health related product online these days does best when the product is endorsed by a person or organization of authority. Otherwise, your can seldom compete with all of the products that are endorsed by a sense of authority.

    Jeffery 100% :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author Sue McDonald
      Originally Posted by Jeffery View Post

      Authority! Selling almost any type of health related product online these days does best when the product is endorsed by a person or organization of authority. Otherwise, your can seldom compete with all of the products that are endorsed by a sense of authority.
      I agree with Jeffery. You have to have some qualifications in the health field or get someone who has the qualification to partner with you. Get them to proof read your material to make sure what they are endorsing.
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      • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
        Have you considered reformatting your book for Kindle and perhaps selling it on Amazon? Or even using a print-on-demand program? I think you might have more success in this niche by doing that.

        And if so much of your traffic is looking for advice about a loved one, have you thought about re-writing it a bit to slant in that direction? Or at least, having two different sales pages - one aimed at sufferers and one aimed at those who are trying to help.

        Just a couple of thoughts, after reading both this and your earlier thread on the subject.

        I think scrapping something that is this personal and that took you so long would be foolish. You've done the work already. If one form doesn't work, another might.

        For that matter, put up your initial copy on this as I know that was written by a good copywriter, but add a physical option using a print-on-demand service. And still add it to Kindle and any other book marketplace that you can. Even a trickle of sales at each location would add up nicely and give you a return on all that time, work and money spent.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joey Starkey
    I don't do anything in your niche, nor would I have picked it because it is just not or interest to me. I like to have several different products to monitize my lists. plus in this niche I would think that you would make more sales to people that have realtives buying your products then the person that is depressed.

    I just posted this thread on the forum today dealing with Niche Selection. I have seen others listing a post so I think this is OK. Mods if not please delete my post.

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-building.html

    One question for you though are you promoting your own product?

    Good Luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author kampret262
    of course I did some research first...then build blog SEO Friendly with Unique Content..so that the reader interest with our Blog....

    it's time to make money...!! ^_^
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  • Profile picture of the author BrianDouglas
    Depressed people are pessimists by nature. Tell your new copywriter to make them feel optimistic about your approach. I hear you can make a lot of money in self help, especially with well being/depression stuff, but you've really got to, in my opinion, convince a pessimist. It will take either astounding, optimism inducing copy, or word of mouth from around the internet in places they already trust. Or both.

    Induce optimism, THEN make the sale, in my opinion. How? I guess it depends on your material and what you can claim. For the most part though, stay away from the norm of 10 pages worth of content on one long page - I don't know why people still run those types of micro sites, it's pretty much an auto-close for 99% of visitors to see a "sales page" anyway.

    Personally, I think that you either need to be shared on trusted places, or build your own property that gains you trust with your own following, and let them buy your book through that. I don't see any depressed person buying a book on depression from a sales site from anyone they don't already know when it is likely that nothing has helped them already. You can probably start blogging about the topic, join forums and help people on the topic, and watch your readership grow, and just keep a link to your book there for them to get "the good stuff". When people get a little help from some posts, but think they can get it all with one-shot purchase of your book, they will do it, because you've already given them quality and value, you've already shown them you work with integrity.

    You can't think of content to make? Expand on existing parts of the book, hint at them, "leak" bits and pieces through the discussions you start on your site, refer to blog posts as "threads" and encourage interaction and for people to ask your advice on-site.

    Build YOURSELF as the helper, the book will sell itself once you do that, for the most part. Show them YOU are the person who knows how to help them, and they will ask for your help.
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