Selecting a Hot Niche

Hi LJ,

What are you interested in?

Janna

Hi,

Those are all interesting subjects. I'm probably not the best person to answer questions about finding a profitable niche. I just build sites about topics I'm interested in an then go through the painstaking process of building a business one newsletter subscriber and/or blog reader at a time.

If you Google Allan Gardyne's associate programs website, he has a free 18-step formula for getting started in net marketing that a lot of people like.

;-)

Janna

Hi LJ,

I just posted on my forum about an excellent blog post I read today. This is AWESOME info.

Goes into how to find a bunch of niches quick and easy, then filter through different key word tools to find the ones that may be profitable, yet not too competitive.

Keyword Sniping - Finding And Choosing Profitable Niches

Really good stuff.
Hope this helps and best of luck!

Linda Buquet

>I just posted on my forum about an excellent blog post I read today. Linda Buquet.
I've seen an other interesting topic abot searching a niche on her forum.

I've always said, at least try making money with whatever it is you are passionate about early on in the game. If you succeed, you'll be in heaven! But if you fail, you probably should stick with a job unless you're driven and motivated enough to promote niches you aren't so much into. I can't tell you how many times I tried getting into niches primarily because of the "potential" to earn big bucks. It's tough to stay motivated when you're only in it for the money. Money can keep you going for a while, but give it some time and things start to get boring.

In terms of "finding" a niche, look no further than Google. Type in anything and everything and if there's a result, it can and may be profitable. If something exists, anyone can make a profit on it - at least that's my viewpoint. Profitability has a whole lot to do with who is navigating the ship. In the eleven years that I've been retailing nutritional supplements, I've seen hundreds of competitors go out of business probably due to not turning a profit. On the other side of the coin, there have also been just as many stick around for a while.

If you have the skills, determination, discipline, and especially passion towards a particular niche - that should be your #1 niche to start out with. I can tell you from personal experience that passion alone can keep the fire in the belly going for a long time, even through unprofitable times.

But choose something else outside your passion and expertise and you've just taken a big step back since it will be unfamiliar territory. It's no different than starting a new line of work. You have to train and educate yourself, sometimes go back to school, before things get going. But start a new job in the same line of work as your previous one and you'll be up and going in a short period of time.

Jamie

what if your passions don't include popular consumer items like computers or cell phones? for example, I am news junkie but how do you turn that into an AM business?

My other passion is health related (detoxing the body of all it's impurities) and I know there niches for that, but there's probably too much competition.

so, saying follow your passion is not that easy.

Jamie,

You sound like you got your ducks in a row.
Excellent post!

I'd like to pick your brain for the community if you don't mind ;-)

The question I pose is kinda hard to put into words,
so bear with me if you will...

Rosalind and I were talking about a market I'm thinking about,
when she gave a couple of good angles to the market.
After I said 'wow' and all that, she said "it must be the marketer in me".

I agree.

So the point is, when looking at a market,
you're actually looking for "ways" to "enter" the market.
THIS is what I believe the term "niche" refers to.
Jeremy told us in the first webinar that we can make money in ANY market,
we just need to carve off a piece of the pie.

And I believe it DOES get easier, and that ANYone can learn this "view".
But, it takes experience.

...or so we get told.

I believe there are markets at every turn of our heads.
But I think that seeing what I call "the angle" is the hardest part to grasp.

If I decided to get busy with the first thing I see.
Let's say cell phones. (because mine is sitting right here)
If I decide to narrow it down to 'blackberries',
that's still not an exploitable niche in the cell phone market.
So trying to 'dig down' into my idea, I take it to nichebot.
(My tool of choice. The tool isn't the point of course)

The search #s are off the scale, as are the competition #s.
But there is a possibility or 2.

"blackberry outage" has some good numbers,
but that's not someone looking to buy or review etc.
(Dealing with the conversation in their head is my point here)

"free blackberry games","free blackberry themes"
and "free blackberry ringtones" are ALL boasting GREAT numbers,
but we all know why there's no competition for those terms.
(Again, the conversation in their head)

Hey! There's one! "blackberry curve verizon", predicted daily count of 98,
but as a place to start, it only has 3 competing pages!
So I dig deeper.
"blackberry curve and verizon" isn't bad.
Neither is "rim blackberry curve 8330 verizon".
In fact, there's a page full of good numbers here!

OH, wait. There's why.
"when will verizon sell the blackberry curve".
So THAT'S what this conversation is about.

End of the road, drop off ahead.
Right?
If all the legs from a top level keyword are this bad,
it usually stops there for most.

"Too competitive" they will say.
"Besides, how much money can I make selling one brand of cell phone,
and I'm not up to building a huge cell phone site, so that niche is out."

Here's my point to this:

No matter the market, the research starts with basic keyword searching.
And taking a top level keyword for ANY market to ANY keyword tool,
isn't going to give you much of an opening to that market.
Then in most cases, when you dig down, you have an even MORE limited "view".

You will go back and forth through the keywords like a lost mouse in a maze.
Fighting for the right numbers, and knowing you need a sizable amount of keywords.

Frustrated.

So the question I pose is this...

How does one come up with the "angles" to research FROM?

Search is changing everyday.
And searchers are becoming smarter.
Instead of "fix my motorhome", you see things like
"fix the transmission on my 1978 winebago chieftan with a dodge 440"
(just for an example, not an actual term I found)
So where do you come up with the thought processes to search from?
It's not just something we should be thinking about as we go through our list.
It's something we need to think about as we build our list!

If it's a product, you can start with the product name.
But what a limited view that really is. Ya know?
Instead, you need to see the research from a "statement" view. Not as a "term".
What was referred to as a "problem statement" recently. (Talking about Derek)

The customer's are searching. HOW do we listen?

I know that visiting forums and other communities would be a standard answer here.
As would trends, news portals, articles, etc. etc.
But I'm wondering if their is another way to find these internal conversations.
Something that makes the research a whole lot easier.

Derek Gehl did a research video that blew my mind!
(pm me for a link)
And in it, he confirmed a suspicion I had a while ago.

Exploiting a niche involves mixing your keywords with statements!

(If you don't know who Derek Gehl is, you need to pm me for this free video!)

He took hours, not days,
to come up with a list of thousands of kws,
right in front of the world in this vid.
So, my question is about brainstorming 'statements',
'angles', 'niches', 'points', 'THOUGHTS'.

...The first time I became aware of this point to research,
it was in a video testimonial of sorts.
A BIG name caught in a crowd at an event,
asked about how great it was, etcetera.
And got talking about research.
He said something that hit like a hammer.

"Of course by now, I've ran all the keywords though the logical steps,
like COMBINING them with the common phrases. 'How to' and the like."

That thought stayed with me for the rest of the night.

Kept thinking "the common phrases".
Sounded like phrases he just somehow knew.
Maybe it's only from experience?

And as it progressed from me BUILDING a swipe file of phrases,
I started wondering who among the names HAS a swipe file already!

What's supposed to be SO damb easy according to SO many marketers,
that they take an AFTERNOON to crack a niche area of a market WIDE OPEN!
Might simply be a copy and paste tactic some people already use!

And if not, then we should build one right here together.

I have more on this.
I'll share it later.
After I hear your thoughts.

So what do you think?
Any ideas we can start with that will build
a MONSTER brainstorming thread for this community?

... I know somebody does ;-)

Hey!
We got 3 opinions!
(I've also gotten several pm's. Thanks guys!)

Thanks Jamie, Mike, and Jason for your perspectives.

Jamie,
You said:
"I can separate myself from the stance of being a money-maker
and step into the shoes of a human being looking for something online."

That's the only REAL way to look at research effectively, hu.
If everyone only had the ability of that vision.

When you compared the different views of a high-schooler and a college educated person,
I think you really nailed it.

It IS about different positions in life, or different environments.
Education, comprehension, experiences, etc.
But, there in lay the problem.

Check it out...

There's an old psychologist trick to show the different ways people view things.
They will have 2 or more people (usually used for couples)
simply write a description of the room they are in.
The differences can be absolutely staggering!

But the part that really interests me, is how they will describe the same item
(lamp, temperature, mood, etc.) with different words.

Not everyone can imagine what another person or group might think or feel.
It's really hard for most to even grasp the idea of people thinking differently. LOL.

But when we try to put things into words, we are actually assuming the other person understands.
Especially if the person speaks the same language.
Right?

But in almost EVERY instance, another person would have phrased it another way.
Used different words to say the same thing.

Jason,
You are right of course.
Thanks for the distinction, it could have led people astray ;-)

Let me re-visit what I said and explain to everyone.

And then I have a secret to share :-)

It's true that you need to have an idea of what market you plan to enter.

I think the confusion came when I said:
"If I decided to get busy with the first thing I see."
And went straight into researching blackberries.
This was just an example of researching a market, not a way of deciding upon one.

When I said:
"No matter the market, the research starts with basic keyword searching."
It again assumes that there is a market to research.

So thanks again for the distinction Jason.

You DO need to know something about the market you plan to enter.
Or at least have a deep enough interest in it, that you are prepared to learn about it.

BUT, an interest in or knowledge of a market,
WILL NOT ENSURE YOU FIND ALL THE ENTRY ANGLES TO IT!

It's what I said earlier in the post that was key:
"So the point is, when looking at a market,
you're actually looking for "ways" to "enter" the market."

Again, this assumes you know what market you want to investigate further.

See, I agree 100% in "Knowing your customers" being a first step.
The only thing I'm proposing is that understanding the LANGUAGE is hard.

REALLY hard in fact.

Possibly hard enough that I confused some with the word "angles".

It's a 'tomayto' 'tomato' thing.
Actually, I like the 'wash' 'warsh' one. Makes me laugh :-)

'feeling their pain' won't get you rich, helping them will.
Also true. BUT, when you decide you can help... it's back to keywords.

Because, you might have the cure to the common cold,
something EVERYONE would have interest in.
But if you're only advertising for "great tasting medicine",
how much of that market are you going to miss?
(Some people actually believe medicine HAS to taste horrible to work! :-bleck!)

My point is that, it's not 'feeling' like others,
it's simply phrasing it like others.

That's what I meant by: "The customer's are searching. HOW do we listen?"

I'm telling you, when Derek Gehl released that video I mentioned,
I ran up the stairs to my wife screaming "I knew it I knew it, didn't I tell you?"

But I was way ahead of the game this time.
I'd had a plan for about a year ;-)

Simple words...

*insert pause* LOL!!

Pulling a "big name" out of my hat, K?

Do you think John Reese would, even for a second,
chance forgetting a step in his research system?
I don't.

And if part of that system is combinations to use with his keyword research,
do you think he would just rely on his 'experience' to nail the right words automatically?
To simply think and feel like the target market he's wanting to reach?
Again, I don't.

He has a list of "triggers" to help his mind come up with different word combinations.
I'd make a SERIOUS bet on this!

Think if I write to him he will share it? (LMAO!!)

So, what's the deal anyway?

K, I said there was a secret.

There are only 3 types of words
that you need to be aware of.
Then a simple list (the swipe file) to make this all work.

Hey Mike,

You said:
"I do want to work more on the swipe file idea you brought up."

What if I told you...

*but whisper, because it's a secret,*

.

..

... it already exists.

More on that after the next few comments.

There is NO "newbie" excuse when the subject is having your own point of view!
Let us hear YOUR voice next!

Success to us ALL!!