Make Money Online “How to”

Finding Your Niche

So you have decided to start an online business, and you are probably
chomping at the bit to build a site. However, there are a
couple things that have to be
put in place prior to starting your business. Without these pieces it
makes it far more difficult to correctly build your business.
Planning is paramount to your success. Just like you start
building a house with a strong foundation, instead of putting on the
roof first. You start your business by making sure you have a good
business plan. You already have your vision statement.
Now it’s time to go ahead and pick your niche.

A Niche is a small focused market that you want to provide your goods
and/or services to. There are couple guidelines to follow in
picking a marketing niche.

1. The niche should be something that you have a passion
   for. If you select a subject that doesn’t have your interest
   or passion you will soon get bored with it and your business will
   suffer or even fail. Selecting a subject that you have a
   passion for keeps you energized and your business moving forward and
   growing strong.
2. It has to be something that other people are interested in
   as well. The more people sharing this interest the better.
   Working in niche that’s too selective will make it very difficult to
   grow a business there just won’t be enough people out there.
3. It has to be something that other people are willing to
   spend money to either learn more about, by products for, or spend money
   to go do.
4. Finally it should be something that you are good at or have
   the ability to become a master at in a relatively short amount of time.

Let me give you an example:
I have been an avid birdwatcher since third grade. Now, I
won’t tell you how many years that is, but suffice it to say
it’s been a long time. So this meets criteria one, it’s
something I’m passionate about.

So does this make a good niche? Will let’s take a closer
look, I go out to Google and do a search for birds, birdwatching, and
birding. The search returns page, after page, after page of
very interesting websites. So with that many websites out
there it’s obvious that there are other people interested. I
also know this is true because of all the people I meet out
birdwatching.

Okay, so now I’m two for two lets see how the third criteria
matches. My experience with birding is that this is a group
of people who love to learn, they will buy books, audio material,
gadgets, birdfeeders, or houses, binoculars, cameras, specialized
wardrobe, and will travel distances to go stay at locations where
special events or rare birds can be found. So now were three
for three.

Now for the final criteria, as I said before this is something I’ve
done since third grade. I live in some of the best locations
on the eastern seaboard for birding. Most of these places
have international recognition for outstanding birding.
Because that I’ve been able to work with and study alongside some of
the best birders in the world. During my time in the military
I traveled and lived in many locations around the US and
Internationally. The whole time learning from the best
birders of that location.

Okay, so four for four. It seems like a good niche for
me. However, this may still be too broad a subject and in
fact it is. I know I can’t be the master, expert or
guru in everything about bird. I might want to go ahead and
specialize even further. For example, I might want to create
a website and build my business around a tighter niche of backyard
birding, This would include birdwatching, bird feeding, bird
houses and even a bit of gardening and landscaping.

This would give me a nice tight group of people, and an area that I’m
particularly good at. It appeals to all ages even young
children and housebound seniors. My site could cover
everything from how to build a birdhouse, to what bushes, plants and
trees to landscape your yard with that will draw and attract the widest
variety of birds.

On this site, I could also sell bird houses, birdfeeders, garden
figurines, birdbaths, I could write articles on where to place certain
feeders and what kind of seed to put in them. Finally, I
could also write e-books detailing plans on how to build your own
backyard sanctuary and get it placed on the national registry.

Now, you’re probably not a birdwatcher and it probably isn’t your
passion. So what are your passions, it could be a hobby,
something you do well at work, it could even be some that you’ve always
wanted to learn more about. It could be Yoga, scrapbooking,
model railroading, scouting(boy or girl), or eco-tour guide.

Think hard and be creative. If you need a spark remember what
you wanted to be or do when you were a little kid. That after
all is when you were the most passionate about things. Always
wanted to be an Astronaut? Well maybe astronomy, space
tourism, or tracking space debris (yes people actually do it) might be
your passions.

So for today sit down with pad and pencil and make a list of no less
than 25 subjects that you have an interest or passion for.
Once you have your 25 on your list make five columns to the right of
each subject.

In the first column start numbering them from 25 to one.
Where 25 is the item you’re least interested in, through to number 1
which is your strongest passion.

In the next column we’re going to number these one to 25 as well. This
column will be based off of popularity. Where 25 is the least
popular meaning it has the least number of people interested.
One obviously has the highest popularity. And this one may
take longer but it’s fine but use Google and do some research off of
main keywords about that subject. This will also take a
little bit of your best guesses. I don’t worry there’s no
right or wrong, just your best guess.

As you might be able to guess at this point the third column is going
to be for income potential. Head back to Google run your
previous searches again but this time actually go look at some of the
websites. What you’re looking for here is how much people are
willing to spend for either information or products in that particular
subject. Put 25 next to the subject that has the least income
potential. And continue all the way up to 1 which has the
most income potential.

In the fourth column you’re going to number from 25 being the least to
1 being the expert on the amount of knowledge you have about that
particular subject. If it is a subject you have just been
dying to learn and think you can learn it quickly put the number down
that you think your level of mastery can be close to in 3 months.

The fifth column is for the totals. For each subject line total up the
four previous columns and put a total in this in the fifth
column. Now you can sit back and evaluate which niche is best
for you. The perfect niche for you would be one that has a
total of 4, but don’t be discouraged if your lowest score happens to be
5,6, or even higher. If you look at the niche with the lowest
score and it just doesn’t excite you simply move to the next higher
score. There’s a reason for this, even though you scored each
column it doesn’t quite take into account the fun factor. The
fun factor is just some that you can’t put a number to. It is
in your heart. And when you have a couple that are close in
score always follow your heart.

From this point forward, when you have free time, learn more about your
niche. Look at websites, read, listen to audio books,
magazines, fieldtrips, etc. Anything that will elevate you to
mastery levels.

Until next time then enjoy the day and we’ll see you next time
when I will cover the SMART way of goal setting,

Harry Fink
Rising Star Marketing, LLC