Niche Marketing Lesson #7 - 21 Questions to Determine a Profit Niche

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 e-mail
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 dirty.
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 Planner. 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. There are a
lack of customers.

To Your Success,
YOUR NAME