"All of the Good Ideas are Already Taken" - Niche Market Help
Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of emails, PM's, and IM's about niche selection and how to choose the right topic when starting a new website or a blog. Most people tell me that all of the good ideas (or keywords) are already taken, that there is too much competition and no more room left for them. If you feel this way, or you know someone who does, this post will help.
Picking a Niche is Difficult
Why?
Because it’s important.
It’s right up there with choosing where to live, who to date, or what degree to get. Your actions and your entire future start the moment you make a decision – and of course, you want it be the right one.
When someone says “the good ideas are already taken” or “there is no room left for me”, what they’re actually saying is this:
“I’m this close to giving up.”
There are an infinite amount ideas that can turn into successful websites and online businesses, even within saturated markets, you just have to spend time to figure it out. It is NOT easy, and if you really want this, you cannot give up.
Selecting a niche is a long-term decision, but if it’s the wrong one, it’s not a long-term loss. You may fail, but as long as you learn it is time well invested.
Of course, it’s always good to start off on the right foot, so here are some tips and strategies to help you during your niche selection process so you can give yourself the best chance.
Forget “Brand-New”. Think “Better-New”.
In order to succeed online, you cannot do what everyone else is doing.
Follow the crowd, and get lost in it.
You know this.
Unfortunately, many people interpret this to mean that they have to create something totally brand-spanking new, something completely innovative that has never been done before, in order to succeed.
This creates a tall mountain to climb because:
- It’s difficult to think of something totally brand-spanking new.
- Even if you do, you are playing in unknown territory.
The more intelligent approach is to forget about starting fresh, and start with something that’s already working, and make it better.
In the early 2000s, the Segway was invented to revolutionize how people walked and how streets and cities were designed.
So what happened?
Segways are now banned on the sidewalks of 30 states in the U.S. and security guards at the mall are taken a little less seriously.
Changing how people walk is a tough mountain to climb.
Now take Tesla Motors, on the other hand. Tesla isn’t reinventing how people get around – the company is still making cars – it’s just making the car better by making it smarter and more efficient.
The Tesla Model S recently won the award for the 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year.
People want better, so give them better.
It doesn’t matter how much competition there is – if you can give them better, and milk it, you’ll win.
So how do you know what’s better?
Simple: Be the market.
Be a consumer, a customer of products within that market, and be conscious of your experience and the experience of others in that market as well. Read comments, reviews, participate in forums and discussions and truly get to know who your potential target audience is by becoming a target yourself, and figuring out, along the way, what needs to be improved.
The only difference between you and everyone else in that market is you’re there on a mission to make things better.
Specialize and Own
Another issue I come across when I discuss topic selection with people is that they think too big:
“I want to start a site about photography, but it’s way too competitive.” or,
“I want to create a blog about cars, but I don’t think there’s any room for me.” or,
“I want to start a site about pets, but the first page of Google is all PR6 and PR7 sites!”
In general, it’s great to think big and shoot for the stars, but when it comes to niche selection you can get more results, faster, by thinking specialized.
Not small.
Specialized.
Start by picking a market that actually interests you. The competition doesn’t matter at this point – just pick something you like.
Then, you’re going to pick a sub-section within that market, and then keep going deeper and deeper until you can get to a point where there’s a need and you feel like you can create THE GO-TO RESOURCE or become THE GO-TO PERSON for that topic.
Whenever anyone mentions that topic in conversation, your site or your name will surface.
Quick tip: If you’re looking for sub-sections of a particular topic, visit Amazon.com or some of the top websites and blogs that discuss that particular topic. Notice the hierarchy within the categories and menus.
Other people call this “niching down”, and that’s essentially what it is, but when you approach it as a specialization within a larger market, your approach and mindset with your site and the content that you will provide on it becomes much different.
It becomes meaningful. Purposeful.
When you specialize, a few neat things happen:
- YOU become the expert, and as a result, it’s easier to get featured or land a guest post on larger sites with larger audiences.
- It’s easier to get found in Google. The deeper you go, the less competition there is in Google. Plus, think about this: when people search for specific information they don’t search using general terms – they get specific because they want the most direct path to the information they need, which hopefully you can provide.
- It’s much easier to build your tribe. People in your specialized, target audience are more likely to have the same, more specialized interests as you and everyone else in the community. The connections made will be much stronger. The popularity of Mini Car Clubs is a prime example of the strength of community of a niche within a niche within a niche (i.e. car -> brand -> local).
- It’ll be easier to sell something. Since you become THE expert (or your site becomes THE resource), and because you know exactly who your target market is since they are all hanging out on your site, you can more easily (and without force) sell products of your own or products as an affiliate. If the niche enables you to work with clients, then of course people are going to want to work with you.
In photography, dig deeper and specialize in studio lighting for photographers on a budget. Be that person.
In cars, dig deeper and become the person who knows anything and everything there is to know about mini-vans for families with 2 or more children.
In pets, think fish. In fish, think betta fish. In betta fish, think breeding. Breeding betta fish – own that space.
We are at a point now with online business where you can be successful and make a decent living by specializing. You don’t need to own the entire market. You just have to own a specific piece of it, and it doesn’t have to be incredibly big.
Two Things You Must Do
However you choose to select the topic for your new website or blog, there are two important things that you must do:
- Actually select a topic. You can conduct research until your eyes bleed, but the truth is that until you have something up and running online, until you start producing content for something, you’re not going to get anywhere. It’s more beneficial to pick something that you could be slightly unsure of than to never pick a topic at all. You’ll learn more by doing than not.
- BRING IT. It doesn’t matter exactly how you say it: bring it, own it, dominate, blow people’s minds, go all out, crush it, kill it – whatever phrase you like best, it’s the truth. You must make something awesome – none of these little crap sites that don’t provide any value to anybody – those don’t work anymore. Work on impressing the end user, and Google will eventually figure out what deserves to be where in the search engines.
So now, I don't want to hear any more complaints about not being able to find a niche, or the right keywords. They are out there. You just have to search!
Remember. Stay Focused, Stay Determined, and Get the Job Done!
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Recent Comments
17
had just the feeling this morning on lasik eye surgery. im no surgeon or specialist what do I know. winge, winge
Hah, I would stick to something you know or you are good out. Tackling a harder niche isn't fun and for more experienced marketers. Lasik Eye Surgery had a good surge when it first came out but it has dyed down a ton over the eyes. It's like outpatient surgery now.. You're in and out before you know it.
Do you think Lasik is a hard niche then. Why had it died down is ut because it's too common is usa nowadays
Yes, it's very common. It's still profitable. But a hard niche. Do you even know anything about it? You need to go with something you are good at, or have knowledge on. Marketing Lasik wouldn't be too fun. You would have decent things to write about, but you could run out of stuff. And as far as making profit from it. I don't think there are any affiliate programs for it. You would literally have to partner with a company that does it and work something out.
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What is your opinion about checking the SERPS value after deciding upon a specialized niche?
Having low competition volume in your specialized niche doesn't necessarilly mean your competition is weak. Im speaking about their page and domain authority values.
As far as i understood google's rankings are based more or less on these values, meaning if these sites are older than yours and have high DA and PA they are more likely to outrank new sites. Can these be outranked? Obviously yes but what would be your advice for any beginner IM who stumbles upon this problem?
I've just come up on this problem and will be trying to hurdle it by adding a new page, or related blog to rank on closely related keywords. I am hoping this will work.
Sites that have an old domain authority are very hard to outrank, but it can be done. It just isn't easy to do, and you have to know exactly what you're doing. Sometimes, content/keywords isn't enough. You have to do online and offline SEO to take down some of the big dogs. However, in my opinion, it's not worth the time. Your niche shouldn't be so popular that you have to put so much work into getting ranked. Either narrow it down, or pick a different one.