Competition In Niche Marketing

December 16, 2008 by Michael Oksa · Leave a Comment
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A lot of misconceptions surround niche marketing. Much of this confusion stems from comparisons to traditional retail businesses. Without question, there are similarities, but the Internet makes entering a niche easy and inexpensive. However, an amateur approach will produce weak results. One thing that is necessary for bot types of business is looking at the competition. Here are the pros and cons of competition when ot comes to niche marketing.

Little to no competition - At first glance new niche marketers will be happy at the prospect of having little competition. The competition can range from hardly any to none at all. What could be better than being one of the select few people buy from, right? Well, there is a downside. Unless you happen to fortunate enough to find an untapped, hungry market then the lack of competition reflects a lack of a market.

Pros: Buyers more likely to find you. Grab larger share of market. Possible trendsetting if first to untapped market.

Cons: Market may not spend money. Market could be non-existent. Less motivation to improve.

Too much competition - Believe it or not, this can be a good thing. It shows that there are people making money in the niche. There is another benefit of a lot of competition, you will have to learn how to compete if you want to stand a chance, and what you learn in the process is valuable, too.

Pros: Shows there are buyers. Will learn more due to necessity. Competition increases quality and ultimately benefits customers.

Cons: Have to really stand out. Harder to attract buyers to you. Takes longer to get noticed.

The amount of competition in your niche isn’t as important as understanding what it means to you. Knowing how much competition is out there is a good, but not perfect, indicator of how large the market is. Research needs to be done to get an idea, but not everyone has the time to do it (that’s the main reason I started ProHotList), yet it’s important. If you’d rather spend your time earning money than on niche research, then a ProHotList membership is a smart move.

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Niche Marketing On YouTube

September 8, 2008 by Michael Oksa · Leave a Comment
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There is one resource that a lot of people in niche marketing overlook, and that is YouTube. Though entertainment reigns, there are tons of marketing-related videos available. You can also use it to discover new niches. After all, if someone is willing to produce and upload a video, it means they care about the topic.

You can gauge the popularity of any video by the number of views, it’s overall rating, and the comments it gets. The first two are helpful, but the comments are where the real niche gold is. Granted, you may have to wade through a bunch of frivolous comments, but there are sure to be a few that you can use. Any questions for clarification of what is presented, show a need for more information in the niche. Information you can provide.

Here’s a sneaky tip, for the most popular videos in your targeted niche, try to create a an ‘answer’ video related to them. Or, a similar video that uses the same keywords. The idea is to be displayed alongside these popular videos.

Another resource you can use in conjunction with YouTube is ProHotList. Here you will find tons of the hottest and most popular niches. Grabbing just one or two of these could pay off in a big way. It saves you the time of ding the niche research, and gives you more time to have fun making videos.

Once you are ready to upload the video you need to do two basic things. 1) Give it a compelling title. Your video’s title is the equivalent of a sales letter’s headline – make it count. 2) Get as many people to view it as soon as possible. If you have an email list, encourage them to view and comment on the video. In general, you have a 24 hour window in which the video will go viral or plod along. Do your best to avoid the latter.

Using YouTube in niche marketing can help in discovering new markets, as well as reaching current ones. And I would say that is very useful indeed.

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5 Bits Of Bad Niche Marketing Advice?

September 4, 2008 by Michael Oksa · Leave a Comment
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This post is designed specifically for those who have not yet made the dive into niche marketing. The key is to just get started, pick a niche, and then market to it. The following advice will get you past some of the more common roadblocks to niche marketing success.

1. Stop doing research. While research is important to selecting a good niche, you can also get into a rut where you are doing research, but not taking action. Stop! Your research is done, for now. If you have even the slightest hint of a niche topic then go for it.

2. Stop thinking ‘perfection’. The perfect niche does not exist, so you can’t find it. Some niches may be a better match for you, but you will never know until you try one. The problem is that the niches that tend to make the most money are competitive, while those that aren’t competitive are more risky.

3. You can always get better, but… Only if you start. Don’t be afraid to learn from a lack of success. I like term ‘fail forward’, you take action and keep improving. Nobody gets it 100% right, 100% of the time. Don’t let the fear of failure stop you.

4. You can’t pick the ‘wrong’ niche. Just as the perfect niche doesn’t exist, neither does a completely wrong one. The worse thing that can happen is that you will pick a niche that doesn’t work for you. Good. Now you know to try another one. I can guarantee that the lessons you learn from your first foray into niche marketing will help you immensely in each successive one.

5. Do it wrong on purpose. Now I’ve gone too far, right? Hear me out. Remember, this advice is for those who still haven’t taken that first step. Well, I am giving you permission to do a lousy job. Pick a niche that doesn’t interest you, has no apparent market, don’t do enough research, get an irrelevant domain name, don’t promote it, etc. This will force you to learn some things that you can then apply to a niche you ARE interested in. In other words: If you are going to learn from your mistakes, you may as well get them out of the way early.

Niche marketing has its share of challenges, but it makes it harder if you are your own worst enemy. There is a wide chasm between understanding niche marketing theories and learning from experience – it’s the difference between thoughts results.

If you want tons of ideas and other advice on how to cash in on niche marketing, choosing niches, free downloads, personal assistance, exclusive information and more to increase your profits then visit ProHotList now to take advantage of all your membership has to provide.

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You’ve Got My Word…

August 27, 2008 by Michael Oksa · Leave a Comment
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When people are encountered with a new product they are often weary to make a decision to buy it. A way to overcome this is to remove the possible risk of making the purchase. The way to do this is with a guarantee.

How long should you make the guarantee? That depends on the nature of your product. For physical items you have to figure out what the expected life is, and take it from there. You don’t want people returning items just because the item’s time is due. For electronically delivered items, such as eBooks, a longer guarantee offers several benefits. A one year guarantee hard to beat for these reasons:

    1. It removes the perceived risk of buying. The person reading the guarantee may even be thinking, “Ha! I’ll just use it for a year, then ask for my money back”. Which brings us to…
    2. The buyer may intend to return the item, sight unseen, but thinking they can always return it later. However, after some time they forget about it. This tip will help take care of those who planned on asking for a refund even before making the purchase.
    3. Less competition. Few people use a one year guarantee, so you will stand above and beyond them.

Guarantees can be conditional or unconditional. For simplicity’s sake, an unconditional guarantee is recommended. All that means is you will refund a buyer’s money with no questions asked. The conditional guarantee can be effective in some cases, though. A common condition for information products is that the person has to prove that they failed – AFTER applying the information.

Regardless, of the terms of a guarantee, they can make a big difference in the number of sales. Keep them simple enough to understand, but don’t get too hung up in the details.

Above all else, be sure to honor any guarantees you give. If you don’t, you have lost a customer for life. If you do honor them, and do it professionally and courteously, then you just may have made a customer for life.

For example, the ProHotList Forum offers a guarnetee on the membership. Yes, people may take advantage of that from time to time, but that’s okay. What counts is that I can stand behind anything I offer. Check it out now to get tips on the hottest niche marketing, IM advice, money-making techniques, and other member’s only benefits.

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6 Indispensable Sites For Niche Marketing

August 20, 2008 by Michael Oksa · Leave a Comment
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Research should be at the forefront of the thought of anyone that is interested in niche marketing. Obviously, you have to identify a niche, but you need to do more than just guess. How many people are looking for it, where they are looking, and what they are buying are a few things you must know if you want to do well.These are the sites I seem to turn to again and again. The list is not complete, but it’s a good idea to see if you can add them to your repertoire of sites you use in your marketing efforts.

Google’s Keyword Tool: A quick way to generate keyword lists for optimizing your site, or other niche marketing efforts, with the right words. Ideally, you want to find words and phrases that have a lot of searches, but minimal competition. Which is why I always turn to…

SEO Book: This site is excellent for getting estimates of how many people are searching for different terms at the major search engines. But SEO Book also shows the top 100 results that contain the term you enter. To drill down further for long tail keywords, simply click on the term in the left column. It’s easy to use and returns results for other major search engines (and more).

Trend Hunter: The best niche marketers understand staying well-informed in the latest developments in their market. Trend Hunter can be used to spot the newest trends, and a sign of things to come. Be sure to check out their ‘Popular’ page, too.

eBay: Most people may think of this as an auction site only, but it is a niche marketer’s dream. Especially if they want to find markets that are willing to spend money. There are plenty of links hidden on the site that can help you get new ideas, and target more active markets. My current favorite is the eBay Express categories page.

WikiAnswers/YahooAnswers: Q & A sites are perfect for finding out what people want to know right now. Sometimes these questions are very simple, and border on common sense. Most questions are asked once or twice, but the smart niche marketer looks for are questions that seem to keep popping up, or do not get a lot of answers. These sites not only help you identify problems in your niche, but also give you the opportunity to position yourself as an expert on the topic.

There are over 50 more such sites listed in the exclusive members area of the ProHotList forum. Along with a breakdown of tons of specific niches, and how to capitalize on them. New resources and information are being added all the time. Visit ProHotList now to take full advantage of your membership.

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Niche Marketing Tips – The Niches Where The Big Bucks Are

August 18, 2008 by Michael Oksa · Leave a Comment
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By Steven Wagenheim

Okay, let’s stop fooling around here. You want to make a boat load of money and retire in a year or two? You need to hit the niches that are in such great demand that prospects would trample over their next of kin to buy what you have to sell. The problem is, most marketers don’t really know what the hot niches are. Well, I’m going to reveal them right here, right now, in this article. So take notes.

The hottest niches are those that all relate to our addictions, sad as they are. I’m talking about gambling, drinking, smoking and relationships. Think relationships aren’t an addiction? Tell that to the gal who can’t dump her loser of a boyfriend. Turn on the TV and half the ads you see are for dating sites. And even with smoking ads banned from TV and radio, you think sales have slowed down any? Not a chance.

But hey, if you’ve got a conscience and don’t want to get involved in any of those niches, there is always making money. People are always looking to get rich. Why do you think lottery sales are through the roof? Why do you think Vegas and Atlantic City are booming with gamblers. Everybody is looking for the big score. So if you can give somebody a legit way to earn a buck, they’ll jump all over it.

Then of course we have another really big problem. Even though we have a nation of smokers and drinkers who are killing themselves, people don’t want to die either. So health is also a big thing. If you can give somebody who is smoking a great 30 day system for kicking the habit, they’ll pay just about anything for it. Overweight people will sell their soul to find a diet that actually works. And the poor guy with cancer would kiss a frog if it would cure him.

These are the big things that sell. Yes, there is a ton of competition and breaking into these niches is not easy, but if you manage to make your mark in one of them, you can probably retire after a few years. The money being spent on the above things is indecent.

Of course if you’d rather just find something that isn’t like trying to break into Fort Knox, you might want to check out the free report in my signature that will show you how to find niches that don’t require you to be a Donald Trump to break into.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Pick up your FREE report at http://www.nicheresearchrevolution.com/report.html on how to research profitable niches so you’re not spinning your wheels trying to find that diamond in the rough. They’re out there…You just have to know how to find them.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Wagenheim

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Neat Niche Trick for Google

August 17, 2008 by Michael Oksa · Leave a Comment
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When doing niche research, one of the things it is helpful to know is if people are spending money to advertise it. That’s what Google AdWords is for – you select the keywords you wish to target and your ad will come up (depending on relevance) alongside search results and sites that subscribe to Google’s AdSense service. For anyone that’s been trying to make money online  that comes as no surprise.

But, did you know there is an incrediblt easy way to view all of these ads, and how to find out how many people are targeting any phrase with an AdWords PPC campaign? Here’s a step by step method you can use.

1. Go to Google.

2. Enter your search term in “quotes”.

3. Look in the right hand column under “Sponsored Links”.

4. If there are only a few, you will have to count them by hand.

5. If there are several, you will see a link that says “More Sponsored Links »” Clicking that will show you how many ads there are, and it will also display every ad.

You can use this information to gauge how many people are spending money in AdWords to promote the niche. It will also give you ideas for ads, because you will see al of them laid out in one place.

Click here to see the main search results for “computer parts” and notice the ads that are displayed.

Click here to see ALL of the ads currently in Google’s rotation.

While this trick is very easy, niche marketing takes some work, but each tool that you have at your disposal means more profit potential. Google is just one of many tools that ProHotList uses to do the boring stuff and offer its members exclusive information.

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3 Simple Niche Marketing Money Makers

August 15, 2008 by Michael Oksa · Leave a Comment
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While niche marketing seems to have lost favor in some circles, I can assure you it is still making money for plenty of people. Consider this, anything that’s sold can be put into a niche of some kind. The real question is how specific the niche is. For anyone interested in profiting on the Internet, what really counts is the amount of money the niche makes. What follows are three areas any niche marketer should be well-versed in.

1. Affiliate products- ClickBank and CommissionJunction are the two best-known affiliate services available. There are different requirements depending on each affiliate program, but you basically get a coded link to make sure you get credit for any sales you generate. The nice thing is that you do not have to go through the hassle of creating products of your own. In fact, you can look at affiliate product stats to get an idea of which products sell the best, and therefore, which niche to market to. The key to selling any affiliate product is to differentiate yourself from everyone else. Most people will simply take any provided marketing materials and use them as is, but if you make it fit into your unique site, you will stand out and make more sales.

Pros: The product is already created. Niche market research is usual done before the product is released. Sales pages and other promotional materials created for you.
Cons: High competition to sell the same product. Can be a numbers game, where you send a lot of traffic to get a few sales. Takes more know-how to do really well. Only get a share of the profits.

2. AdSense – Google offers a way for anyone to make money online. Provide good content, and be careful in selecting keywords, then add a snippet of code; and before you know it you have a few ads people can click on, on your page. The better job you do at selecting relevant keywords will lead to more relevant ads being shown on your page. This means there’s a greater chance someone will click on them and put money in your pocket.

Pros: Free to use. Fairly easy to set up. Passive stream of income.
Cons: Little to no control over ads displayed. Clicking an ad takes people off your site.

3. Create your own products – If you are knowledgeable in the niche you choose, then you may be able to write a guide or series of special reports that you can sell to people on your own. It is not as much work as you may think – especially if you like the topic you are making a product for. Establishing yourself as an expert will generate more trust in potential customers. One more thing, you can always hire someone to write it for you. Doing this may cut into your overhead, but getting a professional writer to flesh out your ideas can add to the finished product’s overall value.

Pros:You have full control over the product. You keep all the profits. You can add any links, upsells or special offers you like. Less competition.
Cons: Takes time and effort to create products. Research has to be done; both before choosing a topic and while creating the product.

While this is not a comprehensive list, it does give you an idea of the basics. These three methods have made many people wealthy, and there is no reason why you can’t get a piece of those profits.

So, it is safe to say that niche marketing is here to stay, and profitable as ever. There is no one method that is better than the other, which is why the pros and cons are listed. Understand the differences, and select one that you think will work best for you. Above all, take action. You have to do something if you want to see results. For example, you can join a growing number of people in the ProHotList membership forum. Where new niches are revealed along with unique insights that will put you ahead of your competition.

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What Is The Best Niche?

August 14, 2008 by Michael Oksa · Leave a Comment
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 A niche where people are likely to make only one purchase is fine, but only if you can generate the volume to support it. To make more money it is better to find a niche where people will buy the same thing repeatedly, or buy related products.

For example, a friend of mine collects sports cards. As a collector, he is not going to buy a few cards and then stop. This is a niche where people will buy the same thing over and over. On top of that, some of the cards may be very special, creating a need for special display binders. Proper storage is important for the other cards as well. But he also needs to know how much the cards are worth, and try to get an idea of their future value. Of course, to do this he has to be informed about the players on each card which leads to the purchasing of reference guides and perhaps a subscription to a few sports and/or collector’s magazines. So, not only have we established a niche where people keep buying the same things (sports cards), but it is also a niche market where people are likely to buy related products.

Catering to those niches that continuously spend money is part of what will keep people coming back to your site for what you offer. But there is one more thing to consider to get people to return to your site. You need to show people that you know something about the niche if you want to be recognized as an authority that people can trust enough to potentially buy from. That is one reason why when you are starting out that choosing a niche you are interested in will help.

Once you have found a suitable niche, try to branch out from it, but in a logical way. Think about the related products or services your current niche may also like. Check out competitor’s sites to see if they offer related products. Visit and read online forums related to your niche. There will often be discussions that point out ways you could logically add to your offerings.

Marketing to a niche where customers make one or two large purchases may be okay with you, and can put a large sum of money in your bank account, but only sporadically. Each payment may be bigger, but you will have to work harder to keep bringing new people in to buy from you. By finding a niche market that spends a bit here, a little there, and needs another thing, then something else to go with it, you may get smaller amounts, but in volume. While you will still want to seek out new customers, you will be generating income from current customers at the same time.

It’s easy to see that the best niche is the niche that keeps spending money. Go to ProHotList to find what some of these niches are and to stay ahead of the competition.

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Niche Marketing Research: The Key To Online Success

August 12, 2008 by Michael Oksa · 1 Comment
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Regardless of what the critics say, making money online today is all about niche marketing. That includes finding and exploiting viable niche markets. Building a successful Internet marketing business is an ongoing process of finding hungry markets and offering products & services to them. But not all niches are hungry niches, and without good research, you’re shooting arrows in the dark.

Whether you’re an affiliate marketer or content developer, building AdSense sites or information products; effective niche marketing research allows you to find those hungry markets – the right niches. It’s what separates the successful marketer from those who struggle and wonder why they can’t find any lasting success.

Researching niche markets can be tedious, but it’s absolutely essential. The industry is strewn with countless marketers who skimped on, or altogether skipped, this step. While many gurus will tell you to simply pick a market you’re “passionate about”, many have gone broke doing exactly that. Being passionate about a market has nothing to do with making money. Without proper research, you can expend a lot of time, energy, and resources learning that the market you’re passionate about is too small, doesn’t spend money, or just doesn’t have needs into which you can sell solutions.

Niche marketing research begins with developing a list of potential markets. Websites like eBay and Amazon are good starting points. Your local bookstore or library can also be a good source of inspiration in developing a list of niches to explore. But if you limit your research to simply listing niches, you will most likely join the ranks of those who don’t make it.

The good new is there are many tools to help research niche markets once you have developed your initial list. The bad news is this is where the real work begins. In order to uncover profitable niches and separate the winners from the losers (that will eat up your time & money), you must first determine their relative size, what their needs are, whether they’re willing to spend money to address those needs, and how to get in front of them.

Without this kind of market intelligence, your chances of success are greatly diminished. But good niche marketing research can ensure that all the hard work you put afterwards will have the greatest possible chance of success.

However, there are a few simple things you can do to get an idea of just how hungry your market is likely to be. At the very least, you can see how active it is, and how many people are looking for information related to it. That’s one of the main functions of a site like ProHotList – to identify niches you may not even be aware of, and to gauge how viable they are.

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Why Your Niche Matters

August 11, 2008 by Michael Oksa · 2 Comments
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Selecting the right niche is one of the key factors in how successful your online business will be. That is why research is a vital step before making the full jump to Internet marketing. This is the first in a series on why niche research is important and how to go about it.

 The niche you choose must be one people are interested in.

While it may sound obvious that you should be sure there is a market for whatever you are offering, too many people ignore this step.

Guessing does not work here. Fortunately, with the Internet it is relatively easy. Check to see if there are any of the following related to your niche…

  • Forums – If there are several forums, it’s a good sign, but even more important is how active each niche-related forum is. If there are only 4 or 5 people and a dozen or so posts that were last made two years ago, then it is a clear sign that someone else probably thought there was a market when there wasn’t one. On the other hand, if there are dozens of forums with 100s of members that are making posts several times a day, then you have found an active niche.
  • Blogs – The nice thing about the Internet is that anybody with minimal time and know-how can express their interests to the world. Blogs are one way to do it. However, just because you find one blog dedicated to making homemade, fruit-flavored peanut butters doesn’t mean there is a market for it. Take a hint from the suggestions above and look for a blogroll that lists many related blogs, along with comment activity to determine if you have found a niche with good potential.
  • Articles – The key for using published articles is to look at the sheer volume of them. Chances are these articles are pointing back to a sales page of some kind (be sure to check where the links go, don’t assume). And the more articles, the more likely they are leading to actual sales. The only thing better than a big market is a hungry market that is spending money.
  • Websites – Each of the above are technically websites, but I am referring to websites that are built specifically to cater to the niche you are researching. What hints are you looking for here? Ad links, affiliate products, current information (check for a current copyright date, e.g.), and any other signs of activity. It’s much easier for a site owner to keep things up to date if they are helping his or her business grow.
  • Current products – Some niches just don’t do well online, so you have to do a bit of background work to check what’s really going on. It is possible several people got the same bad idea and tried to build a product around it. If you find negative indicators to a product’s success, it’s possible the niche may be to blame. Again, this is not the time to guess one way or the other. Be sure to check for related forums, sites, blogs and articles to see how all of the pieces fit.

These are just some of the ways you can go about researching a niche. It may seem time consuming, but it takes a lot more time to keep chasing niches that don’t produce results. Take the time to do the groundwork and you will be setting yourself up not only for niche success, but niche domination.

ProHotList is a site that does this kind of research for you. It’s a valuable tool for anyone that understands the importance of choosing a niche and deriving profits from it.

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