Sorry I’ve been a bit slow on putting out new posts here recently. I’ve been busy getting NOW-U hoping with Justin Lewis as well as the killer Podcast series and of course taking care of the family.
Note: I will also showcase this post on my online money making tutorial series.
Today I want to share with you some great ways to find a niche market. Sometimes finding a great niche feels like wrestling with a bear. Trust me it's hard to win against the bear.
When it comes to making money online you need a niche and you'll need some niche website ideas, or at least an idea of where to start looking. The problem is many people want to make money online but, they do not want to spend time finding a niche market to get into.
Below I’ll show you several ways to find one easily and beat the niche eating bear.
Magazines
Like to read magazines? Good, you can easily find a niche this way. You don’t need to buy one to figure out a niche though. Heck, you won’t even need to look past the cover either, just go to your local supermarket or drugstore and browse the headlines.
Another place? Check out the magazine section on Amazon or magazines.com. Again, there is no need to buy one there are thousands of niche markets staring you in the face on the cover.
Amazon
I just mentioned Amazon for finding a niche market above, but, this time I don’t mean by browsing the magazines. What you can do instead is simply browse the Amazon categories. From there you can simply “niche down” which means to find smaller niche markets inside the overall market category.
If you’re looking for a popular niche Amazon will flat out tell you what they are. Go to Amazon’s top seller’s page. You’re welcome J
eBay
eBay is an old classic; but it still works. They even have an affiliate program if you’d like to promote eBay products too. Back in the day we used to use an area called eBay pulse. Pulse is gone but now we have eBay Popular.
This area shows the most popular products by category and is a great way to scope out a new niche market for yourself.
Friends & Family
I love this method because it’s one of the easiest ways to find what is currently trending. One of my first niche markets was a toy niche and I scored big with it. The way I decided on that niche was one of the members of my family was playing with the toy that I decided to build the niche around.
If we listen to what people are telling us they are using within our own families we can uncover boundless niche markets.
T.V. Shows
T.V. shows themselves can be niche markets. Look at what the folks over at Buddy TV do. That site is massive now.
The best thing to do is get into the show as a fan and get in at the ground level rather than 5 years into it. It’ also best to start off small and focus on one niche in this industry rather than 50 different T.V. shows at once.
Hobbies Into Niche Markets
An easy one, but it works. Your hobbies can be easy niche markets to get involved in. You don’t generally need to research the topics in your hobby because you’re probably already extremely knowledgeable.
Being knowledgeable in a market makes it easy to write good content and come up with ideas.
Advertisements
If you absolutely must watch T.V. make it count. Watch what commercials pop up and there’s a good chance you can snag one of the ideas as a niche. But, what I suggest doing is watching what problems the commercial solves and that’s the niche you should get into, not the product itself. I.e. if you see a commercial for a product that solves allergy problems, your niche could be allergy relief. Easy enough?
Nightly News
In 2009 I jumped on a trend just by paying attention to the nightly news. I know, it’s boring and the news is usually depressing but sometimes you can get a nice niche idea.
I am not going to discuss the niche but it’s a problem that was all over the news in 2009 and I was able to take that issue and build a website out of it. The good part is that since it was a new trend, competition was minimal.
I’ll take the easy score anytime!
Social Events
These can be trendy, yearly or brand new. But, this works with events that have media coverage like The Super Bowl, The Oscars, Grammy Awards and any other type of event like that.
You can simply build a fan-site around it and even build some cool Fan pages associated with them to drive traffic. The social traffic alone is worth it.
Google Trends
Google trends is great because you can type in any keyword in the box and research how it’s trending. The more popular the trend is the more traffic that niche could generate. Of course, you’ll want to look at historical trends Google gives you as well to help you determine its long term value.
YouTube & Social Sites
Pinterest, Facebook, MySpace and anything similar fall into this category as well. You can browse these sites to see what is trending and popular. You can then build a niche around these ideas. Not a whole lot more to say for finding niche markets this way.
End Goals
One way to think of a niche is to think of an ultimate goal. I like to start by saying “I want to” and you simply fill in the blank. So you might say “I want to lose weight” or “I want to get bigger biceps.” The beauty of this type of thinking is that if you want something, there is a solution.
Solution style niches are great because if you can answer your visitor’s questions and give them what they want you can make some good money. This can work in determining nearly any niche. You can even start by stating things that you want for yourself. Face it; if you want something, other people do too.
Skill
Do you have a particular skill already? You have a great place to start your niche then! This could be an old skill that you don’t use much anymore or it could be a skill you’ve used all of your life.
Just like hobbies we can use our skill sets to our advantage because we have knowledge on the subject. It takes far less research when you already know a lot about the subject.
Work or Ex-Work
Just like a hobby and skill current or ex-work is always a good place to get niche idea from. Of course, if you hate what you do or used to do you might not want to go into that niche. I.e. I would never create a website teaching people how to be good retail managers (run for your life).
Reading Books
Readers can rejoice in the fact that all the time behind the book isn’t for nothing. You can get into a niche based on a book topic or based on the actually books themselves. Some people love to read and do book reviews as a living (like this site).
Of course, you can gather a wealth of ideas from non-fiction books as well. Just browse the titles in Amazon’s book section for ideas.
Online Communities Like Forums
Just like social sites online forum area great place to find ideas for a niche. One of the easiest ways it so simply look at the question topics that are being posted. I.e. if you’re on a cooking forum and someone asks how to make good southern fried food, you’ve just found a niche in “southern fried cooking.”
You can simply go to Bing and type in “niche idea forum” so if you were interested in finding niche ideas for cats go to Bing and type in “cat forums.”
Then search for cat questions on the forum you decide to look at and you can find hundreds of niche markets there. Just remember, if someone is asking, there is a demand.
Tools & Programs
Finally, you can use a tool that can help you. One of the easiest is Keyword Canine because it has a section called “Niches” you simply open the segment up and it comes up with a bunch of niche suggestions. It even shows you how easy or hard the competition is. Check out my review above.
This is the only tool I own that is still on the market that does this but I recommend it. It of course does a dozen other awesome things too; the niche option is just a plus. I also use that as well as Market Samurai for research.
I also offer Niche Blitzkrieg Underground where I give my students there weekly niches. It’s a great place if you need a big boost getting off the ground. I’ll be adding more videos in there soon as well.
Finding Your Niche – Closing
In the end make niche research fun. Don’t beat yourself up to find one right this second. Put some thought into it and make it amusing for yourself.
The choice for your first niche doesn’t have to be your last; but make it something you want to be involved in. You know what I call a niche that you do not want to be in that feels like a chore?
Work! ….and work sucks.
On my final note; you are not limited to just these 17 ways to find a niche market. There are hundreds of additional ways to find one you like and this is just a small sampling.
Thoughts? Comments? Still struggling to find niche website ideas on your own?
If you have additional ways to find a niche; please share with us below, because it will help others who are struggling with this topic.
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About Michael Brown
Thank you very much Michael..As always you give us fantastic way's to help find new niche's.. I do use some of the helpful ideas you suggest above.. Thank you and have a fantastic day…
Thanks Thomas. Do you have a favorite way?
Hello,
Thank you for sending me email. Yes I am struggling, each time I sent you an email "failure notice"
I have a lot of to read, to understand and to take notes. I almost finish lesson one. The test is 4/4. But I am still not ok some parts are not understanding. Remember it's my fist time in this system, not too good in English, not too good on computer. I stay some days late at night. You are going so fast with me. It is a lot of to learn.
What do you think about - " How languages are important " "How to become a pilot" - Travel and vacations – Household gadgets – Cooking – Baking – Wine – Cake decorating – Plants -
Marie,
I tink all of those would be fine niche markets.
As far as emailing me you should get a redirect notice that tells you to submit a ticket at http://www.michaelbrownsupport.com and I’ll get back with you. We do this so we can keep all questions, tickets and requests in one area. This helps me make sure that anyone who wants to communicate with me can.
Michael It is great to be back and I am glad to see you are just as active and supportive now as you were when I first came aboard!
Wow Jason! Longtime
Glad you're back as well and I hope all is well. Give me a shout on Facebook and fill me in on how it's been going. Really great to hear from you again.
Sorry to contact you via your blog, but… I need help transferring my list from Constant Contact to Direct Connect. I was contacted by Shawn. I gave him my username and password for Constant Contact. He said he would work on this but I have not heard from him. I tried to email him but it did not go through. Please let me know what is going on. Thanks, Beth
Thanks, Michael, for some excellent niche finding suggests. At least half the battle is finding a suitable niche, which you can then serve the needs/wants of.
A really great list of ideas for niches, some that I have never thought of before! One thing, though, is the link you gave for earning a living reviewing books. I got excited and went straight to it…I read a lot and love books…but you don't get paid on that site and they require a fee, so you might rethink that recommendation.
Thanks for the inspirational ideas here.
sheila,
On that particular site I was pointing out that the site owner makes money by simply reading and reviewing books. The authors pay the owner whtever the fee is for that service. So basically, they found a need in that niche and catered to it.
This is something that you could do too if you love to read and don’t mind writing reviews. Of course, it’s something that would have to start off small and grow bu could be fun if you’re passionate about it.
Am I making sense or am I completely confused by what you’re talking about (it’s been known to happen befoe my 1st cup of daily coffee).
Beth,
I talked to Shawn and he said he is contacting you. Maybe he did already, sorry for the cofusion.
Thanks David!
Finding a niche should be critical and like you said, half the battle. It’s easy to rush in some time but when we really site back and search for something we like it makes it so much easier.
Ahhh…it's not exactly clear, but that could be me. It's not that important, just sounded like you could make money from this site by reviewing books, but you don't make any money from them, you just get to keep the books. And if you want to be a reviewer, you have to pay a fee. Maybe I'm looking at it from the wrong angle…one of someone who would want to go to this site to make money…not the one who owns the site. Maybe that was your point? That this was a type of site you could start? Then you would make money?
Hey Michael
Your above post was great, as the Niche selection is undoubtedly what has stopped me in my tracks every attempt I've made. Finding something I enjoy which has sufficient demand and isn't already over-supplied has proven un-conquerably difficult for me to-date.
I'd love to do what you do … helping others find their own freedom and fulfilment, so keep up the great work.
Col.
Sheila,
Yea, I was saying that, that is a type of site you could start and make money with. I'll try to re-word what I have in the post to make that more clear
It would be nice if there was a site where you could get paid as a reviewer. I am sure it exists
Thanks Colin! Glad you liked it.
Hi Michael,
I must say, there are so many ways of finding a niche I want but sometimes I feel myself getting overwhelmed. I try to stick to the basics and go with the passion but it has been so long since I've practice with this passion I just can't seem to get myself attuned in it. I'm sure I will find a way to get back in the swing of things though. I'm new to your course and feel so comfortable with what you have presented all of us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now onto more motivation.
Thanks Sharon
I appreciate the kind words and glad you’re part of the course.
I have enrolled in your program. I am scared "stiff" on how to begin. I have read most of the training material. I'm afraid that I will mess up on the domain and websites. Can I easily correct them if I make a mistake? I am a newbie and I am desparately asking someone to help me get started.
p.s. I have enrolled in the Niche Blitz Underground.
Kay,
Everything is correctable. If you make a mistake with your hosting, Hostgator will help you 24/7 via phone or a simple chat window. If you make a mistake on your site, my team and I are here to help inside of your Niche Blitzkrieg account.