Steps to Success #2 [Selecting a Niche]

byAlexSol

13.5K followers

Updated 11 years ago

Previously I shared a post titled Baby Steps [to success] and I have decided to keep on posting other parts of the success puzzle, parts that will hopefully help you move forward.

Step to Success #2 – Choosing a Niche.

Most beginner marketers completely destroy their heads trying to decide on a perfect niche – this is also why most people fail in creating a business.

I have coached over 10,000 people since 2008 (on and offline) and I have noticed that a beginner must try, on average, 4 different niches to finally find something good. 9 people out of 10 will fail with the first niche and that’s when they would quit the idea of owning a business and go back to a 9 to 5. Some will move on to a second niche and succeed – others will fail. From those that fail; some will try a third niche and some would quit the business… General rule; if you have motivated yourself to keep trying – you will, most likely, succeed with the 4^th niche.

So which niche should you chose? Any niche! Just do it right now. I have seen far too many people who would spend months and even years researching a niche to finally say: “Nah, it’s not going to work”… and this is what you MUST absolutely avoid doing! Do not try to find a perfect niche; do not try to build a perfect website/perfect newsletter/perfect video in order to launch a new project. Launch your project right now, at this very moment. You know what? Stop reading this and go pick any niche!

Pick any niche; dog training course, weight loss course, Beats by Dre headphones, cleansing pills, dating program, elliptical machines, solar panels – and get to work;

·Do basic keyword research to see if there is a demand for this niche.

·Never mind the competition. If there are many competitors, there is money to be made.

·Create a basic site/landing page using SiteRubix, Wordpress or other platform.

·Add “grabbers” to your site. The tool to grab a client: Telephone number to order, e-mail, BUY NOW buttons, opt-in form – make it easy for a visitor to take some kind of action.

·Get traffic. I would recommend PPC – simply because it’s the fastest way of testing a niche by getting loads of traffic right now.

·Track everything. Google Analytics is an amazing tool and it will help you see things you would otherwise never see/understand. If your bounce rate is 90% - maybe your site is simply not relevant to your offer? Maybe your call to action is not strong enough? Maybe your order form is too complicated and people leave the site in the middle of the transactions? Track and analyze.

Four (4) weeks pass by, you are creating new content, constantly testing but you do not get sales – MOVE ON. Take another niche. Do not waste your time trying to perfect your failing campaign. If you do not make any sales at all or very few sales (while getting traffic) – it’s probably a dead niche. If you do not get at least 0.5% conversion during the whole month – the issue is most likely not in your website but in the offer/niche itself. Set it aside and pick a new niche, rinse and repeat. Do not spend more than a month on an unprofitable niche, time is money. Repeat until you finally get to a niche that will make money.

There is a way of picking niches that I suggest to everyone I talk about the subject; good niche is such niche that has a big profit margin and that also makes you happy.

For instance, if you really love dogs – a dog training course might be a good product choice for you. First of all, since you genuinely like dogs and are interested in dog training – it will be a lot easier to work with this niche. You will enjoy researching, writing and selling in this niche. Then, you can earn $30-$50-$100+ on every single sale, and that’s good. Finding the perfect balance between what you like and make money with is really awesome in the short and long term.

The thing is, it takes almost the same effort to sell a $200,000 yacht and to sell a 20$ iPhone case. The big difference is that when you sell a yacht you will get a $10,000 profit and when you sell a phone cover you will get $1. Sure, I might exaggerate a little here – but try to aim for products that will bring in a higher amount of money. Selling WA is also a great idea; the amount per sale is not big but this amount is recurring. As I mentioned many times before, there are a few people who joined WA under my affiliate link 6 years ago and they been paying their membership during all that time. A $20 monthly commission during over 6 years means over $1500 for me. Yes, I get $1,500 from a single sale. How cool is that?

Recap.

Do not waste time planning every little detail. Take action right now, take any niche and get to work. If it fails within a month – take on another niche. Test and track until you find what works. Don’t forget that “failed projects” are not a waste of time but rather experience and learning curve.

Now go make money.

To our success,

Alex