Deciding on a niche - simple steps

bySmallBiz101

238 followers

Updated 9 years ago

I've noticed that a lot of people have trouble deciding on their niche. It really shouldn't be that hard - this is not a huge thing. I know, starting out you think that making perfect decisions at the very start is crucial, but frankly, it just isn't that important! If you make a choice that's wrong for you, you can change your mind! All that's "wasted" is a bit of time - you'll have gone through the steps to setting up website, learning - it's all valuable and when you set up a new niche you'll find you'll fly through the process much faster.

How much time should you take? Not long - I know that Kyle recommends 10-15 minutes, but I think that's too much pressure for some people - it makes you feel that you have to do everything fast. I would say that if you take more than a day or two (elapsed time) to decide on your niche that you are way overthinking it! A lot of people seem to get lost on the keywording, or choosing the perfect website name, and fall into this spiral of doubt with too many choices. Personally, I decided within a day - but I wasn't sitting in front of the computer doing it. I was walking the dogs, cooking dinner, talking to my husband - my list quickly went from photography, pets, art, website design to ... cooking. Never thought I'd end up there, but I'm really enjoying my niche now!

I'm a project manager when I put one of my other hats on, and it's in my nature to break things down into smaller, simpler tasks. I also love brainstorming (getting ideas with other people), but others are not always available. So, I've developed my own "solo" brainstorming technique, which can be adapted to choosing your niche. I hope this list of tasks will help some of you decide on your niche. And it just happens to fit in nicely with Kyle's 15 minute rule - so it is possible!

1. Get off the computer (yep - OFF)
2. Go to a quiet place with pen and paper - you'll need no more than 6 sheets of paper.
3. On the first sheet, write down 3-5 things that interest you. Do NOT overthink this - just the first few things that pop into your head. This should take only seconds. The first things you think of are the things you are most interested in - that's where your head is at. For example, if I did this exercise, I would be highly unlikely to think of sports - doesn't interest me. Don't approach this from "what would make a good niche" - just list your interests. And don't write more than 5 - there's no need and it will be counterproductive. These are your possible niches.
4. Write each of these interests on a separate sheet of paper - as a header at the top. Keep them separate - blank canvases for your thoughts on each.
5. Take the first piece of paper (with the list of 5), crumple it up and toss it across the room. You've finished that task and you can be done with it. The physical act of crumpling it up should help free your mind for the next step.
6. Now comes the fun part (it's all prep work up til now). Take 1 paper, set the others aside.
7. Set a 2 minute timer.
8. On the 1 piece of paper you've chosen, write down every subtopic you can think of related to that interest. Don't worry about making it look nice, or sentences - just a list jotted down. Spend the full two minutes, but no more, with that task. Don't think about your other interests, devote the time to that one interest.
9. When your 2 minutes is up, put that paper aside, set another timer and move onto the next interest.

Ok, at the end of 10 minutes (max), you should have no more than 5 pieces of paper, each with an main interest and a bunch of related topics. (let's say you've chosen 5 interests for simplicity sake of writing - I'm tired of saying "no more than") What you are looking at is the physical representation of 5 different websites. The main interest is the "niche" and each of the topics you've written down is a page, post or category that you can write about. (I know you can write about these things - they just spilled out of your head and all you have to do is elaborate on each point). Now comes the process of elimination.

Chances are, you've got a couple of pieces of paper that don't have a lot written down. You're going to eliminate these first - if you couldn't think of topics related to that interest in this little exercise, then you're going to struggle to write content for your website. Crumple these sheets of paper out, and throw them away. It's a piece of paper, this is not something you will regret deeply. Let's say you throw 3 out.

Your remaining 2 sheets are your two possible niches. Let's say pets and bicycles - two of your favourite interests. If one does not clearly stand out - lots of varied content, something you feel excited about - walk away. Do something else, forget about it for a little while. You will, during the day, tend to think about 1 of these 2 (and only these 2) things a bit more - the fog should lift. Pick up that one piece of paper and pin it to the wall - that's your niche. Pets it is. If you really can't bear to throw the other piece out, file it away somewhere. Do not pin it to the wall or keep it where you can see it. You'll start a second website sometime in the future. But I guarantee you - that one you've picked - the one pinned to your wall, will keep you busy for some time as you build it.

Once you've chosen your niche, then, and only then, can you think about refining it. You chose pets - how about just dogs? What about clothes for dogs? Nutrition for dogs? Exercise for dogs? A specific breed? This is where you can refine things a bit if you want. Just remember, no bicycles - it's all about pets! You're going to spend days, weeks, months blogging about pets before you run out of material - you're going to be busy!

I hope this helps - it's a long post - but hopefully you'll now be able to settle on a niche very quickly.

Cheers,

Sara