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Home » Niche Selection

What are the Signs or Characteristics of a “Good” Niche?

Submitted by Lisa on Saturday, 4 October 20085 Comments

Niche MarketingHere are just a few pointers when assessing a “good” (profitable) niche:

–> You want competition

–> Instead of going for zero to little competition, look for a unique angle in a competitive market

–> Make sure that some small businesses are competing in the market (not all Walmart’s and Amazon)

–> Look for variation in the market; i.e. not everyone is just selling ebooks or physical products. This means you have more chance of differentiating your product.

–> Make sure there is keyword traffic for ‘buyer’s terms’. By this I mean the exact phrase that would lead them to buy your product, if you’re selling a dog training course, then searches for ‘dog training course’ should be there. This doesn’t have to be there, but it helps. Other examples include, ‘Buy dog training’, ‘dog training online’. These are what I mean by ‘buyer’s terms’.

–> Check to see that when you type in the most popular keyword phrases in Google and Yahoo, PPC ads are displayed. Test out how much an Adwords ad for that phrase would cost and how much traffic it would get you by using the free Traffic Estimator tool in Google Adwords.

–> Check to see if the product you have come up with is the solution to a real problem that many people have. You need to be able to define the problem very clearly.

–> Can you gain access to people who have the problem?

–> Make sure that the niche is not just a fad (or if it is, you realize this up-front and understand that the profits will eventually fade over time).

Just a few tips I’ve picked up usually from learning about niche selection the hard way. I just don’t want you to experience the same.

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5 Comments »

  • cedric said:

    some great tips.

    What would you advise when most of the competitors in your niche are e-commerce stores. Would an affiliate site be a good idea and would it stand a chance?

  • JR @ Internet Marketing Strategies said:

    Great tips, thanks!

    JR @ Internet Marketing Strategiess last blog post..Link Building - 11 More High PR Do-Follow Social Sites

  • wilhb81 said:

    Yeah, I agreed with your thoughts here, as you don\’t want to choose those least famous niches, such as Philosophy or history, rather than the business and health. Unless, you have a very deep knowledge on the least popular niches…

    wilhb81s last blog post..Have a Brand New Life in Houston!

  • Izrada Web Stranica said:

    Yup, you are so right with this tips. Well, I am sure most of the people will not even understand what all that means, because they are hearing this kind of stuff all the time but they can’t put it in work. I know, I was like that but lately I’am also beginning to understand that mindset. I was just doing keyword research for some of the most competitive markets and I couldn’t believe how much opportunities lies in “buying” phrases. Nice way to find phrases people look is of course to use your brain. Google Keyword tool is excellent, it has most “accurate” data for Google since it’s from Google, it has “filter” so you can filter out the modifiers you don’t want. A good start is to use word “buy” and filter out word “free”, of course that doesn’t apply if you want to give something for free like free report. But also people too often rely on tools and not on their brain. I was also very surprised that people don’t even optimize for the recommendation that Google is giving them with related searches. Ouh, you pushed the button, I just really like to talk with people about all this but I don’t know many people that know this stuff so I sometimes write long comments :)
    Anyway to introduce myself, I am Davor Bomestar and I’m from Croatia, for now I like your blog, I hope that will be on the same or higher level like LB Bible blog.
    And yes, hope you don’t mind a few keywords in the “Name” ;)
    p.s. Am I stupid or I don’t see a “Submit” button for Comments?

    Izrada Web Stranicas last blog post..10 zakon Wordpress plugina, treci dio

  • Lisa (author) said:

    Cedric … It’s definitely possible to compete in an ecommerce dominated niche by being an affiliate. I’ve not done it myself, but I’ve seen some great ecommerce sites that were actually affiliates.

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