When performing search engine optimization, I often deduce
that people have selected their niche site by using their heart and not their
head so much. If you are building a site just for fun that is okay with me but
if you are spending the money to pay someone to do SEO then the niche site
needs to offer at least some money.
Instead of choosing a product and developing a site around it,
I suggest that site owners study the market first. Choose the niche area, then
tailor the product to match. In this manner, someone can discover ignored
niches or even carve out a nice niche market for himself.
The People You’ll Meet
To study a market, begin with the sort of people you’ll be in
contact with. Believe it or not, you really do have a lot of contact with
people who view your website and buy your products. Even if you feel like you
are going to be behind the computer that is not really the case. You might be
communicating from email but it is still communication. So consider the type of
people you like to interact with.
Find their Concerns
Once you have determined what people you want to
serve, start looking in forums and blogs to find things that are their concerns
or “problems.” See those are the things you are going to solve for them – eh,
Superman? So you need to see what they worry about. For young parents it might
be diapers or sleep through the night. For older families it could be aging
parents or hair loss or some illness.
You are going to take this problem and solve it or
fix it. Not exploit it so do not feel guilty. After you sort out some problems,
between 1 to 10, go to a search engine and do research on how many searches are
performed monthly. Also take a look at what sort of solutions are already
offered.
Data Analysis
By now you should have a good notion of what the
people are looking for and what they want out of a product. They may have used
some products that were not suitable. You can look at product reviews to see
this. Start
writing down your findings.
Next, you want to look at the products already on the market.
Start with the top websites in the niche area. What are they selling? What did
they sell in the past (use Way Back Machine). What are they offering and how
they communicate with buyers?
Start Creating
Once you know the answers to all these questions it’s the fun
part: Create your product and website! Get those ideas all together and start
putting together a package that works for you. You will be selling it, so you’ll
be involved with it, for a long time. So be sure it is something you truly
enjoy working with. This is the best way to create a product to sell on the
Internet.
Next time we’ll talk about making a site or blog to go with your
product.
