Niche marketing has become one of the keys to succeed on the Internet. As ‘mainstream’ markets become more and more crowded, the gold is really in finding those untapped niches. This kind of thinking does not apply offline, since offline businesses are often limited by geographical location, but online businesses can use this business model to great effect. Whatever hobby or interest that you can think of, there will be people who are interested in it who are on the Internet. This article will look at a simple formula to uncovering these little-known yet profitable niches. The first thing you have to do is spend ten to fifteen minutes doing competitive keyword research. What you want to ask yourself is “Are the top twenty Google listings for this keyword weak or strong? Is it realistic to outrank them in the future?†If many of these sites are established websites, you may want to think again before entering the niche. But if there is little competition, then this is something you could explore further. Ideally, you’d want to target a niche which has these kind of keywords: a sizeable amount of searches every month, and not too much competition in the search engines. You can find out the amount of searches for any keyword by using the keyword tool at Digital Point or using a software like Good Keywords or Wordtracker. Another key factor you’d want to consider is whether the sites in the top twenty listings are consciously using backlinks to get there. If they are, it could be harder for you to spoil the party, so to speak. The way to check this is to enter ‘allinanchor: your keyword’ (without the quotation marks) in the Google search engine. Some websites got those positions by luck, while others optimized their sites by gaining lots of backlinks.
I don't mean to be contrary, but shouldn't we learn how to compete in the "crowded" mainstream markets? Let's take an example. The forex market is very crowded and competitive. You can easily pay several dollars per click doing ppc. If some marketers can afford to spend several dollars per click, that means there is serious money there. That being the case, I'd want to know how to attack that market and suck some profits from it instead of always looking for that "untapped" niche. Does that make sense? I'd rather be a player in a market, than always hunting for niches.
I think niche markets are good for testing, or for young webmasters to get their feet wet. The large markets are where the really big money is at, but thats going to take skillz, and probably some cash to really compete.
Both approaches have their merit. Right now I'm building niche sites to establish a revenue base before dipping my toe in the big pond.
You can gain an advantage with mainstream niches such as weight loss by focusing on the sub-niches. For example, go after weight loss for bodybuilders and athletes. If you focus on a niche that is too narrow, you may have problems finding other things to sell to those people in that niche. For example, I know that there are people interested in keeping hermit crabs as pets and there's not a lot of competition there. Still, what else do I have to sell to these people later on? Whereas if I market to people who are interested in losing weight, I can sell them beauty products or health products.
Interesting topic, however I think I would like to go for the tapped into areas. Those places which have been already tested to make good cash instead of really looking for those untapped niche markets. Just my view.
I agree, many small niches help you take over a larger niche. If you have say 10 related small niche sites, you can point those backlinks to a site you build later on serving the main niche. Also, the fact that you control the advertising on the sub niche sites means that when you launch the big one (or even another sub niche site for that matter), you have instant access to traffic from your own network. Then theres lead generation. If you are running a list on your sub niche sites, an email out to your list to announce either a bigger site or a related sub niche site is another source of instant traffic. BTW, I call a network of related sub niche sites a "Niche Cluster" Taking the niche apporach is like building a strong foundation for your main niche - one brick at a time.
I say go after both markets, but take your time to learn everything with a small niche site first. I just think it would be better for your bottom line that way.