Niche Marketing - A Discovery
Throughout my internet marketing education this year, I have read and received advice and suggestions on the “best” way to succeed and generate income streams. While my first choice was affiliate marketing due to it’s perceived ease of setup and maintenance, I soon discovered that creating my own products for specific, well-targeted markets was not only as profitable, but also offers substantially more control and options.
With that said, around September I began to obtain information that explains the hows, dos, and dont’s regarding what’s called Niche Marketing and Niche Product Creation. This is also around the time in which I posted the article regarding Performing Keyword Research. Since that process was new, I found it to be exciting, time consuming, and eventually unhelpful.
I read up some more, listened to a fa listew podcasts, and decided to give the keyword research another try. Based off of the material I studied from, I compiled a list of the key steps each resource provided, then adjusted a few minor things as I saw fit. This was primarily an experimental measure to see if I was maybe missing some minor details I had either ignored or overlooked.
Long story short…..I nailed down both the keywords and the niche I wanted to target!! Here were the keys I learned from this process.
- Make a list on paper, word doc or excel spreadsheet of any and all passionate interests, hobbies, or topics you are involved with, know about, or even want to know about. I suggest doing this task more than once and really taking it seriously!! I didn’t focus properly the first couple of times. When making this list, put down EVERYTHING you think of. Also, when you put down a broad topic like cars, try to drill down to the most specific areas of cars you like such as classic corvettes, 50’s era Chevy’s, fine tuning Mitsubishi Eclipses, etc. Repeating this for each topic you put down will help you define this list and maybe even discover a niche for you early in the process! If if helps out, I’ve provided a sample spreadsheet based exactly on the one I personally used.
- Next you need to define the following at a minimum for each prospective niche idea you put down: Passion level about the topic, how much you either know, or are willing to learn about the topic.
- In addition you will want to define the possible products you could create around the topic (ebook, newsletter, software, membership site, audio, video, training, etc.)
- At this point, I suggest you go back over your completed list including the information you inserted for bullet #2 and select 6-10 of the best items you prefer based off of all the criteria defined in the list.
With the information provided in your list, I would then take the 6-10 items selected in the last bullet, and use them as keywords when following the instruction provided in Brian Edmundson’s Keyword Research article HERE.
As mentioned earlier, when defining a niche market to create your own products in, you may have to repeat this process a few times. I personally had to repeat the process several times over a week period. The key is to take the entire process very seriously, and stick with it in the event it doesn’t seem to work the first time or two.
If you feel that your list does not seem to be very interesting, feel free to ask others (friends, family co-workers, etc.) what they’re interested in for additional inspiration. I personally found some other niches that I want to look into when I’m ready for a new niche challenge.
Once I found the niche, the next issue was to define what product I could create the quickest for the niche. Due to cost concerns and a need for speed, I decided ebook creation was the route to go. First lesson learned about ebook creation? Do not sit down and just start writing!! I know a lot about sports, but writing about it proved to be a big challenge when I realized I want people to buy this. So I utilized another tool suggested during my studies…the use of a mind map. Using the Mind Map application Freemind, I defined each chapter of the book, including title, topics, and book structure. For each of the topics, I made minor notes to address what I wanted to cover in each chapter.
During creation of the ebook, it became apparent that I would need some sample photos, and illustrations to bring the content to life and provide the reader with additional clarity on my information. This resulted in my seeking some outside help, which delayed the release of the product, but will definitely enhance both sales, and product value.
Niche Marketing definitely has additional learning steps I’m adjusting to, but they easily require their own post for proper coverage. I’ll let you know about them really soon!
Here are some samples for you to use if you like. To view the mind map you will need to download the free application Freemind:
Potential Niche Spreadsheet Sample
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