Pruning Your List of Niches
We’ll prune it down to the niches of your liking by analyzing them. We’re not going to analyze them by using exact data or an exact science.
No niche is perfect, but there are many things to consider when deciding to do internet marketing in a niche.
The most important part of this process is finding out the things that appeal most to YOU when it comes to each niche.
Use the following 21 questions when determining whether a niche is for you or not.
Some of the questions are about the profit potential of a niche.
Other questions are about how easy it’s going to be for you to reach your target audience on a daily basis.
Then there are questions about how fast you can grow and become a force in any given niche market.
If a niche doesn’t sit with you after asking these 21 questions then delete it from your list.
By the end you will have a handful of niches left to choose from.
Keep in mind that there are more questions than just these 21 questions you can consider when selecting a niche.
These happen to be the questions that are important to me based on my experience with internet marketing.
Besides having a general interest in a niche and being comfortable with it ethically, I want a niche to have profit potential, potential to generate easy traffic, and potential for fast growth.
Question #1:
Are there multiple products in the niche?
The first question you want to ask yourself is, are there a lot of good products?
You want to know this because you may quickly run out of good products to offer to your website visitors or e-mail list subscribers.
If you’re running AdSense or selling ad space on your website or selling ad space in your email newsletter, then that’s one thing.
But if you’re going to be depending on making commissions, then it’s vital to have multiple offers you can promote.
Question #2:
How big is the problem your prospect is having?
If it’s not a hobby niche, how big is the problem the prospects are having?
Is the problem they’re having big enough that they’d be willing to part with their hard earned money to get a solution?
Maybe someone would be willing to pay for pain relief, but they wouldn’t be willing to pay to solve a lesser problem.
Question #3:
Are there potential JV partners in the niche for explosive growth?
Here’s something not many marketers consider when selecting a niche. Are there potential Joint Venture partners already in the niche?
Are all of them so big that they would never consider doing a JV deal with you? Or are they so small that it wouldn’t matter if they did a JV deal with you?
There’s no faster way to grow a business than by using Joint Venture deals, so it’s something to consider.
Question #4:
Does it make sense to build a list in the niche or not?
Are other internet marketers in the niche building an e-mail subscriber list?
Would it make sense to build a list in the niche?
You may or may not want to get into a niche where it’s a must to build a list in order to make nice profits.
Take a look around at the competitors and see if they have opt-in forms on their websites or not.
Join their lists and see what it would be like to market in that niche.
Question #5:
How expensive is available ad inventory in the niche?
One major thing you have to consider before getting into a new niche is how easy it will be to reach your target audience.
If you’re looking to pay for traffic, then you’ll want to see how expensive the ad inventory is for that market.
For example, you’ll find the costs vary when bidding on keywords and URLs using CPV networks like LeadImpact and also when bidding on PPC keywords with Google AdWords.
Question #6:
Will it be easy to generate free traffic in this niche?
If you’re looking at going the free traffic route, then take a look around at how easy (or hard) it would be to reach your target prospects in a particular niche using free methods.
You can use the Google Keyword Tool to discover generally how competitive keywords are in a niche.
Also try to do some digging around and find out if your competitors are successfully using other free sources like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.
If they can do it, then why not you?
Question #7:
Are there high end products or services at $1,000 or more in the niche?
Are there products or services being sold at $1,000, $5,000, or even $10,000 in a niche?
Not many niches have customers who actively spend $1,000 or more on a single product or service.
If you can find many offers in your niche in those price ranges, then that’s a good sign that you can make easy money in your niche.
Because in a niche where high end products are being sold often, you’ll find it’s easier to make 1 sale at $1,000 than 100 sales at $10.
Question #8:
Are there continuity programs like membership sites in the niche?
It’s easier to make dependable income when there are continuity programs in a niche.
I’m talking about membership sites, subscriptions, etc.
They are especially lucrative when there are services that customers need and will keep paying for month after month.
Webhosting and auto-responder services come to mind.
Question #9:
How fast do vendors pay out in the niche and do they pay out at all?
When vendors don’t pay out fast or if they don’t pay at all, then that can cripple your business in itself.
That’s why I recommend staying away from any affiliate programs that aren’t on networks like ClickBank, for the most part.
There are exceptions to the rule.
Many product vendors wait up to 90 days to pay out commissions, and many don’t pay out at all because either they’re dirty or they’re not responsible enough with their money.
If the only available affiliate programs in your niche aren’t on affiliate networks then my advice is to avoid them like the plague.
Question #10:
Are exact match domains available in the niche?
While this isn’t a must, it can give you an edge when it comes to free traffic from Google.
An exact match domain is a domain name (.com preferably) that matches a keyword you want to rank for in Google.
One easy way to find whether there are exact match domains available in your niche is to take your keyword list and copy and paste it into GoDaddy Bulk Domain Register.
You can use that feature on GoDaddy to find out whether there are exact match domains available without actually buying the domains through GoDaddy.
Question #11:
Could you create a product in this niche?
Having your own product gives you maximum leverage in a niche.
You can create cross promotion deals with JV partners and you can sit back and let your affiliate army crush your offer with traffic all day long.
If it’s a physical product you must create in a niche, then that may be something you can’t do.
As for digital products, if you don’t have the expertise in a niche, then there may be Private Label Rights material available on the web that you can use to aid you in creating a respectable product.
Question #12:
Will it be easy to build your authority in the niche?
Having your own product is honestly the ultimate way to build authority in a niche.
Another way is by having JV partners who customers associate you with, so you’re borrowing your JV partner’s credibility in a way.
A popular blog can also give you authority in a niche.
Are there already authority blogs in the niche you’re looking at? If so, then you may also be able to have one yourself.
Question #13:
Do you already have knowledge of this niche?
It’s much easier to enter a niche when you already have knowledge or expertise in it.
You don’t have to be an expert, but being an intermediate is enough to share what you know information-wise.
If you have a burning desire to learn more about a niche, then that can help in entering a niche as well.
In that role you’re more of a reporter than an authority figure.
Question #14:
Are people spending money in this niche?
Many hobbies are popular and solutions for problems are searched for all over the net, but that doesn’t mean they spend money on it.
In this case you’ll need to verify whether there are buyers in the niche or not by checking out bestseller lists using the resources in Part 1.
It’s easy to make the mistake of choosing a popular yet unprofitable niche, so make sure you “do your homework” on this.
Question #15:
Is coaching being sold in the niche?
Everyone knows there’s good money to be made in coaching, whether internet marketing coaching, life coaching, etc.
Coaching packages are sold for thousands of dollars, so if you’re a good lead generator then you can either sell your own coaching packages or generate leads for coaches who do sell packages.
They can afford to spend more on leads you generate for them because they’re charging high prices.
Question #16:
Are there pay per lead offers in this niche?
Promoting Pay Per Lead Offers can be much more profitable than Pay Per Sale Offers, which you may be accustomed to.
It’s easier to get someone to fill out a form than buy something.
If there are Pay Per Lead Offers in the niche, then you may have an easier time converting your traffic into money.
Question #17:
Will it be easy to stand out from the crowd in this niche?
Some niches have a crazy amount of competition, but that doesn’t mean you should be scared to enter them.
Is there a way you can stand out from the crowd in a competitive niche?
Think about it, because standing out can help you stomp your competition into the ground. This has a lot to do with positioning.
Maybe you have expertise in a sub-niche that you can share that will put you head and shoulders above your competition.
Question #18:
Are there webinars or teleseminars in the niche?
Webinars and teleseminars generate sales like crazy, but not every niche is responsive to them.
In any niche you need a vehicle to make money, so if there are webinars and teleseminars in a niche, then chances are you can do the same thing or promote them as an affiliate.
While the average conversion rate of a sales letter online is roughly 1%, webinars and teleseminars convert generally around 10% or more.
Question #19:
Are there call centers in this niche?
What converts even higher than webinars and teleseminars, is one-on-one phone selling, so keep an eye out for it in the niche you’re assessing.
Just beware that many call centers are pretty lame.
However, just using the phone to sell will increase your conversion rates to as much as 50% depending on how the lead was generated.
If there are call centers in a niche, then you can also use the power of the telephone to close more sales.
Question #20:
Is this niche related to Health, Wealth, or Relationships?
If the niche you’re looking at is related to Health, Wealth, or Relationships, then you may have a mass market on your hands.
Health, Wealth, and Relationships-related products and services are known to be cash cows.
Also, the traffic potential is generally higher when related to Health, Wealth, and Relationships.
Question #21:
Are there many searches in Google in this niche?
Take a look at the Google Keyword Tool (type “Google Keyword Tool” into Google to find it).
If you see low traffic levels for keywords in your niche, then it doesn’t make much sense to choose this niche.
Sure the competition is likely low.
However, there’s usually a reason for that – a lack of customers.
