In my last post I showed you how to get “Your Number” and I trust that you did just that.
Now you have two more things to consider:
What business model are you going to follow?
What niche will you choose?
I outlined 5 common business models in my post 5 IM Business Models – Pros and Cons and you should have decided which model to choose. If you are having a hard time with that, try choosing your niche first as that may steer you to a particular business model.
Selection Your Niche
This post is about niche selection which, on the surface may seem simple, but is essential to your business success. Don’t gloss over this.
This will take some time and effort so be prepared. Better to take the time now and do this right than to put the time, effort and money into a niche and not see any results.
Should you follow your passion?
There is a very common saying “Follow your passion” which is often touted as the way to choose a niche for your online business.
So, should you? The answer is … it depends. If you have a passion for a niche that has a large following that spends money on that passion then that would be worth investigating.
If, on the other hand, your passion is … collecting bottle caps… you will have a hard time finding a way to make any income with it.
So, I suggest you look at your passions first, investigate them to see if there are already products out there that are selling well. If so you could become an affiliate. Is there an area that you believe could use a new product? You could create that product and market it yourself or have your own affiliates market it for you.
Please don’t choose a niche just because you can potentially make a lot of money. If you have no interest in it, it will prove a soul draining task that you come to despise.
I know because my niche selection method when I started out sucked. I looked for something that could make big commissions. I could have cared less about it. Although I put the work in, I hated every minute of it after the first week. It just did not work – what a waste of time and money.
Evergreen Versus Trend Niches
There are two broad types of niches in terms of longevity. There are those that last forever – the evergreen niche market – and there are the trendy niches that will come and go, sometimes very rapidly.
If you are just starting out, I suggest you stick with an evergreen market. The trendy ones, while sometimes very lucrative, can come and go very quickly and you will most likely find that by the time you are ready, it’s over.
Evergreen trends are ones that have been around for ages and aren’t likely to go away anytime soon. Some examples are:
* Making Money
* Anti Aging
* Weight loss
* Relationships
These examples are large markets. To be successful, you need to focus on a smaller segment or niche.
For example, in the Anti Aging market, you could focus on Skin Care. You could further segment that to Skin Care for Women and Skin Care for Men.
One of the advantages of a broad market is that once you have one profitable website, you can research and choose another related area and set up another, such as Exercise After 60.
Just make sure your site is earning you money before you move on to the next.
There is so much more to niche research but that is it for part one.
Stay tuned for niche selection part deux!
Barb
