My Niche Site Experiment – Choosing a Niche

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Ok, I must admit I’ve skipped a few steps in this whole niche site creation process but I’ve decided to simplify things and include some of the tools and methods in this one post. There will also be another post which I’ll publish soon on how I do keyword research.

Niche site building is something I’ve been talking about doing in my goals this year but its only recently that I’ve managed to spend some time going through the process of creating one. After spending time reading and surfing around blogs, I’ve discovered that there are a gazillion different ways you can approach this matter and it can get really confusing. After much thinking, I’ve decided to choose a method that is practical and more methodical.

What Niche Products Have I Thought Of?

Coming from a health background, I’ve decided to go around searching for specific health niches that are profitable, those that I am familiar with and of course those that I have some knowledge. I must admit again that I’ve been doing a week of research trying to find good niches before jumping head on into it. Not having done any niche sites before, it was quite a challenge but if it wasn’t for a number of tools I use, I wouldn’t be able to put all of it together and narrow down to a specific niche.

Niches I’ve thought about:

• Baby Diapers
• Olive Oil Skin Care
• Shea Butter Skin Care
• Skin Phototherapy Products
• Arthritis Alternative Treatment Products
• Dental Hygiene Products
• Heart Rate Monitor

You’ll realize that those products are quite diverse and different from each other but why did I choose them?

Why Did I Choose Them?

Profitable / Demand – Each of these products can be monetized because there is a demand for it and most will need those products except probably the last one. Of course people will continue to have babies and the skin care industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. People will continue to grow old and arthritis is a chronic condition that almost everyone will experience as they age. Everyone will need dental hygiene products and don’t tell me you can walk around with bad breath!

Interest / Knowledge – I don’t plan to have babies yet but this is an area I can definitely write about. Hospital skin care is boring but commercial skin care is very profitable and people are on an endless search to look beautiful, even men (for the meterosexuals). Having some knowledge in this area will help me create a page dedicated specifically to those types of skin care. This goes the same with the rest of the products on the list. Heart rate monitors is another product that I have been interested in for a while and I’m actually planning to get one. So doing a lot of research on it over the past few weeks has got me on a head start on all the information I need.

Specific Niches – I believe it is much easier to choose a sub-niche of a large niche and make money from it. An example is health is a very large niche. Narrowing it down will take you to all sorts of things. In this example skin care is a subgroup of the health niche. But having a skin care niche site is just not specific enough, given that there are so many different types of skin care products on the market. You absolutely have to narrow it down to bring down the competition.

I’ve decided to narrow it down to popular ones including shea butter and olive oil skin care. These 2 niches are much more specific and have a variety of products that will help you make money if you were to start a niche product site.

Longevity – Finally, Is there a possibility for any of those products to have any long term income revenue? Google Trends might give you an idea but its important to ask yourself the same question. Do people go for the same thing 5-10 years down the road?

Tools and Resources I Use

The internet is filled with a mountain of information and sifting through it is a real PAIN. So of all the big and experienced names I’ve narrowed down to a few bloggers for my niche study that I’m sure all of you know.

1. Bloggers and Articles

• Steve’s Ebook on Choosing Niches is broad but a good read to find niches. I don’t think he has it on his website now, you’ve got to be in his newsletter. ( Hi Steve )
• Alex’s Niche Site Challenge is another reference on how I start my niche process.
• Murlu’s Niche Ideas are ingenious and brilliant. You guys must read his post.

You must be thinking…What only three??? Of course there are more but I like to keep things simple to avoid confusion and I prefer to stick to a handful of people who have experience in creating niches sites.

2. Market Samurai

 

Enough said. Use Market Samurai or spend hundreds of hours doing what this clever piece of software can do for your niche research in a fraction of that time. This is my most used used tool and my fav!

3. Google Trends and Google Insights

 

Sure they both help me do some research and gather insights about products but Market Samurai also has trends that tell me enough information already. But still its interesting to see what the world’s trend is like for baby diapers.

 

4. Amazon Searches

A look into bestsellers under the health category show baby diapers and dental hygiene products. What a coincidence! I simply love Amazon and I must say that I was influenced a lot lately to go with the Amazon niche site approach. There’s literally millions and probably billions of products on Amazon. You can find literally anything under the sun (except groceries) on Amazon. If you are someone who is interested to start niche sites, go the Amazon way ( have I given you a clue?).

The benefit of using Amazon is:

• that it has virtually any product under the sun listed there.
• a high traffic site with tons of buyers everyday.
• tons of related products to a particular product you wanna sell.
• Amazing upsell. Amazon has perfected the art of upsell.
• Amazon Associates. Sign up as an affiliate. commissions are small btw 4 – 8% but Amazon products sells.

5. Ebay Pulse

If you are wondering what this is, Ebay Pulse tells you what are the popular searches and bestsellers. It gives you a daily snapshot of current trends, hot picks, and cool stuff on eBay.

For Practical Purposes…

If you have skipped everything above this line and scrolled down here then let me show you a checklist of things I kept in mind while choosing my niche..

• Yes you love that niche product but do you think it is actually profitable? Is there a DEMAND? Yes shea butter skin cream may be popular with Body Shop or Loccitane but are people actually interested to buy shea butter cream on the internet? Use the Tools I’ve mentioned to give you an idea…
• Is your niche product overly specific or still too broad? Do your research again and use the tools to guide you.
• Is it a fad Product? An example of this would be the skin phototherapy product mentioned right on top. It is a fairly new skin care technology that I’m not even sure of its longevity.
• Is there longevity in the product? Will people continue to use it? As for baby diapers and toothbrushes… YES.
• Don’t swarm yourself with information and fail to start. Stick to methods that feel comfortable to you and get your niche site started.
• Familiarity, Knowledge, Interests. Ask yourself if you have any of the three before deciding on the product. I would say that you need to have the interests and knowledge but not necessarily familiarity.
• If you can’t think of a niche, think of a product within a product. The Razorblades Analogy.

Enough Said…

Alright, so I haven’t revealed my niche yet, but I like to make this more interesting. GUESS my niche product site! Clue: It’s on the list

Oh and tell me what you think about this entire process.

Tagged as: choosing a niche site, niche site, niche site creation, niche site design, niche site experiment, niche site guide, niche site methods, niche site resources, niche site tools, niche site tutorial