| |
| |
|
Internet Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Niche Marketing - Assessing The Potential Of A Niche
Potential niche products exist all around us, but how do you decide which ones are likely to be worth pursuing? Here's a quick method that will give you a pretty good indication without having to spend large amounts of time and money on the task. Step One: This is a fairly obvious step - find out if other marketers are spending advertising dollars in that niche. If they are, you can be pretty certain that it's a profitable niche. Why? Because savvy marketers "don't" spend money on advertising that doesn't show a profit. You can check this out quickly on "Pay Per Click" search engines like Overture and 7search where advertisers pay each time someone clicks on their listing. Let's check out an example. For demo purposes I'm going to search on the keyword "snoring" because I have a project in progress on the subject of "how to stop snoring without surgery". Now go to http://www.content.overture.com/d/ and type in "snoring". When you arrive at the results page click on "View Advertisers' Max Bids" at the top right of the screen. A new window will open up asking you to enter a code to access the information. Enter the code and submit it. On the page that comes up you will find the bidding range for our search term - the higher the top three bids the more profitable (and competitive) the niche is likely to be. In this case the top three bids on Overture (at time of writing) for the keyword "snoring" are : $1.50, $1.47 and $1.46 - based on this we can be pretty sure that there is a viable market for niche products on "snoring" Step Two: OK now let's take this a step further and find out what search terms (keywords and keyword phrases) are being used to find our niche subject on Overture. Go to : http://inventory.overture.com/ and type in "snoring". This returns a list including : snoring 27352 stop snoring 8211 snoring cure 3308 snoring remedy 2366 cause of snoring 2186 snoring treatment 1233 snoring solution 1133 snoring problem 800 prevent snoring 623 ... and a whole lot more. The numbers indicate the number of times that each of those keywords/phrases have been requested in the previous 30 days. Step Three: Next we need to find out how many competing sites there are for each of our keywords/phrases. We're going to do this on Google - but first we need to decide what number of competing sites is acceptable for our niche subject. As with any subject, opinions differ widely. Rosalind Gardner (Super Affiliate Handbook) does not consider anything under 100,000 competing sites to be a viable niche. Jimmy D Brown (Nicheology)suggests 30,000 - 100,000 competing sites to be the ideal. At the other end of the spectrum Andrew Williams (Keyword Results Analyzer - Word Tacker Version) looks for niches with 1,000 or less competing sites for each keyword/phrase. For our example here I'm going to use Jimmy Brown's criteria : 30,000 - 100,000. Now go over to http://www.google.com and start entering the keywords/phrases from your Overture search, taking note of the number of sites which are displayed. (Enclose your keywords/phrases with " for specific results, e.g. "snoring cures"). Here's the Google results from the list above : snoring 977,000 stop snoring 121,000 snoring cure 3,850 snoring remedy 24,100 cause of snoring 2,310 snoring treatment 6,660 snoring solution 21,100 snoring problem 18,500 prevent snoring 3,510 So what does this tell us now? The first keyword "snoring" is a non-starter. The term is well outside our competing sites criteria at 977,000 and a far too general. There are no individual search terms in the 30,000 - 100,000 range, but that doesn't rule it out as a viable niche, the term "stop snoring" isn't too far out of the ball park and we can combine some of the other keywords/phrases to meet the criteria. Result - we probably have a viable market niche. Step Four: Finally we need to check the ratio of "supply" to "demand" for our keywords/phrases to make doubly sure the niche is worth pursuing. Here's how we do it. The formula is : Google Results(Supply)/Overture Results(Demand) The lower the ratio the less competition. Here's an example using our keywords/phrases : snoring : 977,000/27352 = 35.72 stop snoring : 121,000/8211 = 14.73 snoring cure : 3,850/3308 = 1.16 snoring remedy : 24,100/2366 = 10.19 cause of snoring : 2,310/2186 = 1.06 snoring treatment : 6,660/1233 = 5.40 snoring solution : 21,100/1133 = 18.62 snoring problem : 18,500/800 = 23.13 prevent snoring : 3,510/623 = 5.63 So do we have a viable niche? Based on the figures I would say the subject has pretty good potential. The niche is tightly focussed and the level of competition is low, so it's worth pursuing. Will the niche make money? The answer to that question will be down to how effective our marketing is. One final note : This system has it's limitations. If you're really serious about this Niche Marketing stuff you should invest in some specialist tools which will provide a more comprehensive range of keywords/phrases than Overture returns. Copyright © 2005, André Anthony Niche Market Know-How André Anthony owns and operates Niche Market Know-How a resource for beginning Niche Marketers. Visit http://www.nichemarketknowhow.com today to find strategies, tips, tools, products and resources for effective niche product creation and marketing. Get his Niche Market Know-how Mini Course here: http://www.nichemarketknowhow.com/course.htm
MORE RESOURCES:
A-1 Internet Design -Keeping Pace with the Global Internet marketing - PR-CANADA.net (press release)
Internet-Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How To Use the Multiplier Effect in Web Marketing One of the most exciting things about doing business online is the Multiplier Effect. It's the principal factor behind some of the fortunes that have been made on the Internet. Add-on Sales - The Key To Success On The Web Question: Can you guess the cheapest way to make a sale?Answer: Sell to the customer that just bought from you!All successful salespeople have one thing in common: They know how to make sales "after the sale". There are many costs associated with finding a buying customer. Tracking Google and Googlebot Using PHP Many people work for hours and hours, days and days to make sure the Web site they have is ready for Google and it's Googlebot whenever it might come for a visit.The problem most folks run into though is how do you know it is there? Some forum and blogging scripts come with better ways to track bots as they comb through your pages. Candy Jar Marketing What is one of the main keys to a successful internet business? Marketing. What do we all strive to perfect? Marketing. Creating Multiple Streams Of Income Part 2 Over my years of experience in doing business on the Internet I have noticed two things that prevent most people from making any kind of money with a part time business.First most people are led to believe, or come to their own conclusion, that what ever happens on the Internet should happen fast, including building and becoming successful at business. Time is Money in Online Marketing We all do it.Spend time and money sourcing those vital pieces of kit to get the best from our endeavors. Aesthetics and Web Marketing For four years I worked in the editorial department of a major Internet directory. My job required me to search for and review thousands upon thousands of Web sites. Ten Tried And Tested Viral Marketing Campaigns Believe it or not, viral marketing did not originate from the web. Named after microscopic organisms that reproduce at a very fast rate, viral marketing traces its beginnings from offline marketing. How to Explode Your Database Marketing And Back-End Sales To Increase Your Bottom Line Profits Set up multiple simultaneous marketing campaigns with database marketing automation email software that get results exploding your internet business marketing while growing multiple optin lists, prospects consistent follow, increasing Back End Sales, and bottom line profits.When you don't follow up your prospects or customers with additional information, you are allowing valuable customers and prospects to skip from your grasp, go to your competitors, and satisfied their needs, at the expense of what should have been you're your profits. Do You Really BELIEVE You Have What It Takes To Make Your Website A Success? Last week, on a cold, dark Friday night I stood barefoot outside a large exhibition centre in the heart of London preparing to walk the 3 most difficult metres of my life. Why were they going to be the most difficult? In between me and my destination was a bed of red hot, burning coals. The Forbidden Fruit: Marketing Credit Cards Online A common question and topic of discussion among Internet marketers is, "What market should I go after?" The number of answers to this question are as varied as there are grains of sand in the Sahara, but there is one thing that I have noticed in my eight years marketing online: people tend to shy away from and even be scared of ultra-competitive markets.What type of markets am I talking about? Well, there are quite a few. The Worst Internet Marketing Strategy Ever? Many people are downright frustrated.And when you look at their internet marketing strategy, it's no surprise. Classified Ads - What Works & What Doesn't Do classified ads really work? Should you include an email address or fax number in them? How about a call to action?Questions like these are often brought to the attention of OhioHelp.net, an Ohio-based company specializing in helping businesses worldwide with their marketing, public relations and freelance writing services. Improving Your Conversion Reduces the Need to Constantly Promote Your Sites I just got off the phone with Michael Fortin, one of the top copywriters and conversion experts on the web.We were doing a teleseminar for our members on conversion and testing for website owners wanting more out of the traffic they already enjoy, rather than constantly having to promote their sites to support low conversion rates. Reap Incredible Profit with This Simple Strategy Why is it some people are incredibly successful at utilizing the power of the Internet in their marketing while others can't seem to figure out the winning formula?How often do entrepreneurs and salespeople look for that next magic formula to build their business and increasing revenues, never quite making any of it work? Many people make it much more difficult to succeed than it need be while others know exactly what to do ? and they do it.Ask anyone who has effectively integrated the use of the Internet into their overall marketing strategy and they will tell you success in building your business, both online and off, is about systems. What Businesses are Succeeding on the Net? The most basic question any Internet business owner will have to answer at one point or another?"what should I sell?".After the settling down of the dot-com bubble, sanity checks have brought realistic expectations to the fore. Truth and Lies How low can one get? The number of encounters I have had in the few months as a network marketer with liars is astounding. Why do people need to stoop to lying in their attempt to succeed? Do they really believe that they will attract customers by using deceptive means. I Hate Asking for Referrals! - 6 Proven Methods for Getting a Flood of Referrals Without Asking Yes, I admit it - I hate asking for referrals - don't you? Be honest. Doesn't your heart start to pump faster and hands start to sweat even thinking about asking a customer for a referral?If you're like me, you hate to impose on others. Grab that Browser! The Captive Affiliate Marketing Model Creating mini-sites that grab your browsers and prime them into buyersIf you're familiar with autoresponders this will be simple, but yet many affiliates don't even think of this, and I can understand why - because when you glance over this idea it seems a little over-enthusiastic for making a simple commission based sale. But this is a common flaw in affiliate marketing - we're stuck in this mindset of keeping things as simple as the concept suggests. Web Marketing: Unusual Tricks Of Internet Marketing Gurus To Attract More Visibility Do you post to message boards, e-mail discussion lists, classified ads sites, FFA sites or newsgroups?People will usually read the subject line before they read your ad or message, so it's important they get noticed.Below are ten simple, but powerful web marketing tips to get your ads or messages noticed.
|
| home | index |site map |
| © 2006 |
