People talk left, right and center about niches and niche markets and we always wonder what they are talking about!! I was one of those people until I learned what it is and how it can make or break your online business.
1. What is a niche?
The word niche has different meanings. But in this article, we are going to focus on the meaning related to internet marketing. The meaning of niche is very simple, but yet very complex.
A niche is a segment or category of products or services that targets a specific segment or category of people. Example: “baby products” is a niche (category of products) that targets mothers (category of people). In other words: it is a product or service that is relevant to the needs of certain customers.
The reason I mentioned it was complex is because there are two types of niches: generic niches and specific niches or sub niches.
Generic niches: are the generic categories of products. In the above example: “baby products” is a generic niche. It is the niche that gathers all items that fall under the category of baby products: i.e.: baby toys, diapers, etc.
Specific niches: are the products that fall within the generic niche, which, in this example, includes: baby toys, diapers, etc. Therefore, with a specific niche we are more likely to target what the customer is looking for and is willing to buy.
2. Why should you concentrate on one niche?
When choosing a niche, you want to stick to one niche, why?
The answer is very simple, yet people always tend to ignore it. People always think that the more stuff they sell, the more chances they have to make money! WRONG! You don’t want your website to be an online supermarket, do you? When I want to buy baby clothes, I go to Mother Care, not to Taco Bell, right?
When you are specialized in one niche, you will eventually make money, assuming that you are focusing on the right niche (will discuss this in a bit), because when you are concentrated on one category of products, you are more seen as an expert and a professional.
Don’t get me wrong, you can still sell different types of things. But make sure you have a single website for each niche.
3. How to choose the right niche?
Now here’s the fun part! Fun because you have a world of opportunities of niches that you can choose from because, thank God, planet Earth is so populated that there are enough different people with different wants and needs!
Now, when you want to look for the right niche for you, the first piece of advice that I am going to give you is: what you like is not always the best thing to sell.
As a sales and marketing person, I can assure you that you only make money when you give people what THEY like, not when you try to convince them of what YOU like. However, sometimes you are lucky when your favourite product is popular.
To cut a long story short, you have to base your choice of niche on the big D and the big C:
D stands for DEMAND: you want to look at your demand. If your product is not in demand, there is hardly any point to try to sell it because nobody will buy it (going back to what you like versus what customers like)
C stands for COMPETITION: before you decide: “this is my niche”, you must first check your competition online. It’s good to have competitors online, that’s ok because it shows you that the product is popular. But when your list of competitors reaches millions of pages selling the same thing, it’s a tough challenge. I personally would say leave it and try to find something else. At least for now that you just started with your online business.
Once you have chosen your niche; by that I mean the generic niche, you want to start choosing specific products that you want to sell. You then have to do the same exercise (as in D and C) with each and every product that falls under that niche. You don’t want product that don’t sell do you?
Thank you for reading my article. I hope that the above information has helped you figure out a little bit about niches.
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