Finding A Niche

Success in an online business depends on finding a niche. For most beginners, this is the first major hurdle they have to cross. You know you want your own website, but you may feel like you’re staring at a map where there are dozens of roads to choose from, but you have no idea which one to choose or where to begin.

Niche is another word for theme. The goal in finding a niche is to build a website that has a unique theme, almost like the sound of an individual voice. Choosing the right theme for your voice is crucial to internet success.

The theme of your website can’t be too broad, like fitness or fashion. It needs to be narrowed down to a more specific topic. A focused niche will lead to focused marketing. It will allow you to get to know the needs of a small target audience. You will be able to become an expert in one specific area.

Finding a niche means choosing an area that you are especially experienced at or passionately interested in. At the same time, there has to be sufficient demand for your niche without having too many competitors.

Begin by making a list of things you are already skilled at. Maybe you’re an experienced piano player or artist or poet. Add to the list things that you really enjoy doing, like gardening or camping or bird watching. If there is something you are particularly interested in learning more about, add this to your list. Don’t overlook things you do every day, like parenting. Maybe you have a talent for motivating others, or maybe you collect something like coins or quotes. All of these are potential niches. If you’re still stuck, you might want to ask your friends what they think you are good at. What life experiences have you had? What problems have you solved?

When you have several dozen possibilities, it’s time to start narrowing it down. Whatever you choose must be a topic you are very interested in. A successful website depends on fresh content. If your topic is something that you will have to struggle with to write articles, choose another topic. Finding your niche means choosing a topic that is fascinating to you, so you can pass that enthusiasm on to your website’s visitors. The more you already know about your topic, the easier it is to get started.

Before making your final decision, you will need to do some research about supply and demand. There is no sense planning a website around a topic that will not attract visitors.

The goal in finding a niche is identifying an area that has a lot of interest (demand), but relatively low supply (existing sites). To find out how much interest there is in a particular topic, do a keyword search at overture.

This site will tell you an estimate of the number of times a particular word was searched on the previous month. Once you have an idea of the demand for your potential niche, you will need to evaluate the supply of existing sites in this niche. Search for your keyword at google. Chances are it will return millions of results, but only the first couple of pages are really relevant. Spend some time reviewing sites of potential competitors. If you find yourself saying, “I can do better than that”, you are probably well underway at finding a niche that works for you.

Spend time brainstorming and evaluating data – but not too much time. Make a decision what path you want to take and get started. The sooner you get started in a focused direction, the sooner you will be on your way to making money.

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