Niches Are Everywhere

One of the common questions people ask me is how to find a niche. I laugh a little on the inside, but politely explain a few points on how to do it. However, that’s not what this post is about; it’s about where the niches are.

Anywhere you look, you can find a niche. Kevin Riley suggests going to the newstand (real, or virtual) and looking at magazines to get ideas. That’s only one way to do it. Watch television and you can find all kinds of niches there. What is that reality show about, what are they talking about on that sitcom, and what problems does that commercial solve? All of the answers will lead to a niche.

There are many other sources that will reveal niches if you are attuned to spotting them. Simply open your eyes and ears, and keep an open mind. Do this, and I bet the next time you meet me, you won’t ask how to find niches, but rather how do you limit how many you find.

Neat Niche Trick for Google

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.

Trend Hunting For Fun And Profit

Niche marketing can be profitable, and that means it can also be competitive. One way to stand out from the competition is to keep moving forward. Often, niche marketers will set up a a site or two, submit a few articles, and then let it all run on ‘autopilot’. That isn’t wrong, but it is a little bit foolish.

It doesn’t matter what niche someone is on, new developments are happening all the time. And if you want to build a following of loyal customers, then it makes sense to keep on touch with what’s happening in your niche market. After all, your customers are interest in a topic means they want to be well-informed.

One of the sites I use when doing research for members at ProHotList is Trend Hunter. It shows things that are popular, or could soon be popular, across several different main categories.

The “Most Popular” page breaks down trends by the week, current, and previous months.

Any business that wants to get a glimpse into the possible future would do well to check out the Business, and Technology sections.

Some of the posts are definite PG-13, but all in all, it is an interesting site. It is one of over 70 sites ProHotList uses when researching new ideas for its members.

What Is The Best Niche?

 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.

Niche Marketing Research: The Key To Online Success

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.