So how do you find a niche? Is there some sort of magic formula you need to be the master of to find it? Of course not, the only thing you need right now is a pen and some paper and we can go through how to can find a profitable niche and at the end I’ll even show you where you can make the most of the information you’ll have too. Let’s begin!
STEP 1 – BRAINSTORMING!
So the first step we’re going to go through on how to find your niche is to get that pen and paper and start writing down things you’re interested in. Anything you care about. These can be hobbies, things your passionate about and even things you’d love to learn more about.
The important thing here is to come up with interests which you would be happy writing about. These are going to be the subjects of your websites so if you’re not interested in the subject then you’re not going to succeed as you’ll get bored quickly and then give up before you’ve even started to see any results.
I don’t want you to give up.
I want you to be successful.
Task: Write down 4 things you are interested in. E.g golf, laptops, iPhone’s, Amazon Kindle’s, surfing, watches… Anything.
STEP 2 – NARROWING DOWN THE OPTIONS
So if you tried starting a business which whats on your list now, you aren’t going to be successful.
Let’s say you chose surfing as your niche. There are massive companies like Billabong and Ripcurl that would outrank you very quickly and so would many others because of the level of competition.
So we are going to narrow it down to something very specific. It’s going to be much easier to target “rash shirts for surfers” than the whole surfing industry. You could easily get a website ranking very high for something that is very specific and not many people are targeting.
Don’t think you’re limiting your potential market. There are over 1 billion people online and in 2012 over $1 trillion was spent in online shopping. They reckon by 2018, in the UK alone, £1 in every £7 will be spent online (source) as more and more people are switching to spending online.
I know people who make a 6 figures per month selling equipment to make your own jewelry. I’ve met one lady who is making money online promoting Halloween costumes for pets… Now that’s random.
Task: With the 4 topics you have, write down 3 really specific things within the niche. E.g. rash shirts for surfers, golf bags for beginners, waterproof Kindle covers etc. You get the idea.
STEP 3 – DOING YOUR RESEARCH
Fantastic, now you should have 12 different things you could potentially start a business with. Now it’s time to see if there is a viable business opportunity with them.
There’s a couple things you can do to see the topic ideas you’ve noted down are worth exploring further. We can do some keyword research with Google’s Keyword Planner tool and with Amazon.com
With Google’s keyword planner tool you can enter search terms people might use to look up information regarding the topics you’re drummed up. Here’s an example of what you’ll find:
What we’re looking for are keywords with a decent search volume and low competition. Personally, I look for keywords with at least 1,500 monthly search results and low competition. As you can see in the example above, none of these keywords would be any good because they all have high or medium competition.
If you find that there’s a decent amount of keywords with low competition and decent search volume for your topic, it’s potentially a good one. Make a note of that topic for step 4.
You can use Amazon to see if there are books on your topic. If you find there are several books on it then that’s a good sign!
You can even dig through the reviews of the books to find out what people think are missing in the book. These can be future blog posts you can write. Also go through the contents of the books (which you can do for free on Amazon) and see what’s covered in it. These are also potential blog posts you can create on your website.
Task: Use Google’s Keyword Planner tool and Amazon.com to see if people are searching for things related to your topic and if there’s books on your topic. Keep note of which topics you’ve written down are really popular.
STEP 4 – GETTING A WEBSITE UP AND RUNNING
Woo! This is exciting right. Now you should have at least one of your ideas to the point where you know that people are looking for it online. Next you’re going to have to pick one to run with. Keep the others still because you can return to those and create websites later, but for now we’re focusing on just one.
Now it’s time to get a website domain up and running. You can use Namecheap like we do if you if you want to get your domain name with a free year of WhoisGuard (so no one can get your personal information) and then you can grab hosting with SiteGround. I have mad love for SiteGround ever since they fixed all the issues HostGator refused to help me sort out.
SiteGround if you’re reading this… Mad love! *fist bump*
If you want help getting your website up and running quickly with a helping hand then check out my free mini course. You don’t need to give me your email address or a single cent to grab it. Check it out and let me know what you think 🙂
Task: Check out my free course: How To Start A Business With $100 per Month and With Just One Hour per Day: Starting Your Own Side Hustle
When you’re starting up your own business there are things will take time to learn, but as always, I’m here to help you out.
You’ll have your own successful business before you know it!
Bring your game faces dudes and dudettes!
*fist bump*
