Marketing Review Online

How to Find Your Niche - The single most important question when starting your online business.

First, let’s define what exactly, is a “Niche” - A niche is a set of people looking for the solution to a problem, and not finding enough relevant solutions.

Read that again carefully. It is essential that the demand outstrips the supply available in the market. If you start in a market that is already saturated with competitors, the chances of success would be slim.

So what criteria should be used while selecting your niche?

Criteria to Select Your Niche

• Demand should be there for the solution you want to provide. People should be willing to spend for what they are looking for. (Here’s a tip - people will spend more readily for what they want, not what they need. E.g. games vs. groceries)
• Supply should be less than demand.
• It should be in your area of interest. While you might be able to create a successful business outside your areas of interest, you would be more likely to put in a sustained effort into it if you are passionate about the topic. It would feel more like an extension of a hobby, not like work.
• You should be able to define your USP. Why should someone buy from you, and not your competitor? If you cannot answer this, you need to put more thought in defining your business plan and what benefits it provides.

How to Find Your Niche - The Exact Steps

1. Make a list of five hobbies that you are passionate about. Do not yet think about demand, competition etc. These would be things that you may like to do if you have a lot of free time on your hand - play guitar, ski, yoga - anything.
2. Now search for forums and user groups on the net related to these topics - http://groups.google.com/. Browse through these forums and see what kind of questions people are asking there. Are there some common questions that many people are asking but not getting relevant answers to them? These could be potential business ideas.
3. Plug these questions/phrases in to a Keyword Research tool and see what kind of phrases it comes up with - try Keyword Discovery. How many searches are being done collectively for these phrases?
4. Search for these phrases in Google and see how many results it delivers.
5. Identify the ones with a decent number of searches and lesser number of competing sites.

These phrases would form the backbone of your business. Done right, this process would deliver solid business options that you can capitalize upon.

Here’s the two best Keyword Research tools available in the market:

• Keyword Discovery
• Wordtracker

Happy hunting!