This is a guest post by Brandon Connell who teaches how to make money blogging and more at BrandonConnell.com. In this post, he is going to be telling us 5 ways through which we can begin finding a profitable niche that will help to make money online.
Everyone knows that in order to succeed with some serious traffic and income, you have to find a winning niche. The trick is finding one that always results in a happy ending regardless of how saturated the market is.
I am about to provide you with tips on how to locate niches that will always come out on top no matter what.
1. Desperation = Success
When I talk about desperation, I am not talking about YOUR desperation to create a profitable website. I am talking about how desperate your target readers are.
It is important to look at a niche just like you would a business. You want to open up a business with a high supply and demand. A good way to realize what these niches are is to think about everyday problems that people have.
Serious human problems include but are not limited to:
- Weight loss
- Skin and beauty
- Relationships & dating
- Finance and savings / investment
These seem like very competitive industries, and they are. But that really does not matter because even though these niches get flooded with new blogs and websites every day, the same if not more abandon these niches every day as well.
Remember; that overcrowding and competition has nothing to do with your success, no matter what you read online about it. All you need is some link building and a little traffic to make a niche site profitable. But the niches that become profitable with that traffic are those where the reader is desperate for a solution to an issue that they have. Are you their answer?
2. Research Isn’t Just For Journalists
You are probably a blogger if you are reading this, so you consider yourself a modern day journalist. But you do not have to be a journalist to know that you must research in order to know your target market.
Research is vital to niche site success. If you choose a niche with very little search volume and competition, you are lowering the bar way to much. If you do not want to go after an ambitious niche, then do your research and find one right in the middle with a reasonably mid-range search volume and competition level. Check out the Google Keyword Tool to get started with niche analysis.
3. Ask Your Readers
Have you even thought of asking your existing blog readers and those you network with what they would like to read or learn about?
Setup a poll, or create a new blog post telling readers that you are starting up some niche sites and need ideas. You will be surprised about how many people have an opinion on this subject.
4. Check The Products
Visit clickbank, or paydotcom, and see what products are offered in the various categories. This will give you an idea of what you will end up promoting when you start your niche sites. You may find that a product really jumps out at you, and it may give you an idea for a niche site.
I often find ideas by looking at products, and the expected commissions for those products. If it is something you can stand behind, there is no reason not to give it a shot. You don’t have to be a complete expert in the niche if you like a product. You can simply research the niche and write a few articles for that niche site, or outsource the writing on the cheap.
5. Check Your Hobbies & Skills
This may be obvious, but many people forget to check what hobbies, interests, and work history skills that they have and can share with others. Thinking of these things will bring ideas on what niches to start up.
Let’s take for example my work history. At one point in my life, I managed a Hollywood Video. On top of that, I have been in business for years by myself. With this information, I may decide to start a niche site on business management! As a matter of fact, I didn’t even think of that until I wrote this article.
Your Turn
Take a look at the ways you are deciding on niches, and how you can use the methods above to benefit your financial standing.
Share with us below additional ideas or success stories on choosing profitable niche.
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• how to find a profitable niche online • how does a small niche website become profitable • how to find a profitable niche • finding a profitable niche online
I think finding your strong niche is better than finding a profitable niche. It is very difficult to write content that you don’t have much knowledge on.
Strong niches are something that most tend to reserve for their blogs. But when you are focusing on niche sites or micro niche sites, the objective is totally different. In that case, it does not matter how well versed you are in the subject. You can research the subject to get the content on that niche site, or outsource it to someone else. The entire goal of a niche site is to make it profitable.
A blog however, is a different story. Those are something you need to make sure you are strong in the niche, and the money will come eventually.
You made a good point here about profitable niche sites. You mentioned also in the article about back links…what are the best back links strategies?
Don’t forget about Amazon and other sites that have affiliate programs! Pick a niche that you can aggregate products into from various online stores. The trick is to find a demand with low competition.
Yes, that kind of automation is great for niche sites. Thanks for the contribution!
i think this is interesting advice. It applies in some niches but for a lot the amount of link building that would be required to put yourself in a position to make money is not practical for the average enterpeneur.
I tend to write for ambitious people. You are right, this isn’t for an average person. But it takes above average dedication to seriously make money with niche sites.
Hi Brandon, this is a very helpful post for me. I am looking for posts that advise us how to find the profitable niche that is rightly suited to our talents, hobbies or skills. I also agree that by asking your readers, they will provide their opinions that might help on certain subjects you need to know more about. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Felicia. Readers are what really matter, and they feel welcomed if they can give yu advice.
Great post. I strongly believe that survey your target audience is one of the best ways to find out what they really want. It is extremely important to learn to speak your customer language.Here is the interesting story how I surveyed make money online niche -Two months ago there was a big launch of the product, which was promoted by all the big affiliate marketing gurus. In that launch, they were organizing competition to win the free ticket of the program. Almost 2600 comments were posted on that blog, and it was an amazing source for me to understand what this type of market really wants. I copied almost 400 best ideas from that blog, so that I can create the product, which speaks their language.
Great Peter! Sounds like you are on the right track then. Go where the people are. How is that working out for you so far?
Thanks for the tips! Although I would have probably written this in reverse. The first step in finding a niche is looking at the things that you yourself love to do. 🙂
Hi Jen. I believe that finding something you love to do would be applied mostly to blogs you wish to create. Niche sites themselves, to generate income, you really don’t have to love the topic. You just have to be able to research and write, or outsource. Then you can go and market it to make money.
Hi Brandon
I am in a small niche and I researched searches, traffic and my competition. It’s in a niche I love and so far it’s going well. Next week start the product reviews and hopefully selling to lots of customers. Thanks for sharing. You sure know your stuff.
Patricia Perth Australia
Hi Patricia. Thank you for sharing. It is great to find small winning niches because you have little to no competition.
Also finding the right niche depends of the things you know to do better . For example you cant start in cloths niche if you dont have even a little idea about it.
I completely disagree here. You don’t have to have any knowledge of the niche whatsoever if it is just a niche site. You can outsource or simply research a little on that niche to make it work. The only time you need to know your niche is when you are blogging and updating the site daily.
Your number 3 idea is a great way to get started! I love when I am reading a post where the reader asks for my input! I do some research depending on the question, but I think when you ask the readers to get involved, you are creating a stronger connection between them and your blog and it can also really bring out some useful information you didn’t know or coul’ve over looked!
Hi jasmine. Great points about asking your readership for help. It creates a feeling of community that makes them want to come back.
hi Brandon,
I’m glad that you mentioned that you worked at a Hollywood Video. That means you know that nothing in life is guaranteed, and we’ve always got to be ready to adapt. 🙂
I think a big part of finding a “profitable niche” is finding one that isn’t too bloody competitive! Easier said than done. 😉
Scott
Competitiveness really isn’t a big deal. The entire market can be saturated, and you can still make money with it. You just have to know how to market. Don’t stress about finding a “secret” niche, but rather on how you plan to market your niche site.