Whenever you start marketing on the ‘net, you’ll discover that broad, general topics won’t make you the kind of money you were hoping for. In today’s marketplace, it’s all about marketing to a niche audience. That means the more narrow your topic, the higher your conversion rate. Why does it work this way? Think like a consumer. If you had a general medical problem – let’s say you weren’t sleeping well – would you buy an A-Z medical guide or an information product on sleeping better?
While you might find a snippet of information on sleep disorders inside the medical guide, you’ll get much more for your money if you invest in a product that’s dedicated to helping you find a solution for your specific problem.
Internet marketing means competing with hundreds of thousands of other entrepreneurs on a global scale. Your customers will come from the four corners of the world, as will your competition.
You constantly have to stay abreast of what the market wants. You need to provide solutions for their problems, answers to their dreams, and guidance on their goals.
Right now there are ten areas of interest that consumers are buying rapidly and that marketers are seeing success in selling. Let’s look at the ten, in no particular order, and see what makes up each individual niche category.
Relationships
Everyone has relationships with other people, unless they’re isolated in the deep woods and not active in society. Relationships mean any bond you have with another person.
Books on relationships range from Finding the Perfect Partner to Merging Two Families Into One. Divorce, Sex Therapy, and Wedding Planning are other topics that can be listed under relationships.
Even friendships, working relationships, and other non-romantic interaction can fall into the relationship category. You have to find a slant that will sell and capitalize on a common problem in society.
Are men having trouble asking women on dates? Are single women over 30 dying to find Mr. Right? Is a parent panicked because she no longer knows how to talk to her teenager?
These are among the many kinds of relationship issues that can sell. Just remember when creating a product for this niche that you have to supply a solution for their problem – and give them something they can put into action to see results. You’re not just writing an informal advice column – this requires research, reading, and results.
Parenting
Raising Babies, Childhood Trauma, and Schooling are some of the issues affecting parents worldwide. There are so many slants that the possibilities for backend products are endless.
You must always think ahead when it comes to finding a niche. Is it a one-time offer or can your product line grow with your audience? With parenting, you can have a captive audience for 18+ years.
Take your customer through the infant stage and dealing with colic, on to the toddler discipline issues, through to the awkward “tween” stage, and maintaining a relationship with troubled teens. You can even cover the process of applying for and getting financial aid for college!
Internet Marketing
Anyone selling on the ‘net is an Internet marketer – from the housewife who launched her own eBay store to the guru hoping to sell a million dollar’s worth of product in one day.
Topics that fall under Internet Marketing include Search Engine Optimization, Copywriting, Site Design, and Advertising. Take a broad, general topic under this category and zero in on it even more.
For instance, Internet marketers need to have a thorough understanding of copywriting – unless they can hire a professional to do it for them. Even then, you need to know what kind of copy you want.
Instead of creating an eBook on copywriting – a very broad subject matter, you could create one on creating Pay-Per-Click ad campaign copy or writing powerful headlines. You might find success selling an info product based on your research and testing of the importance or impact of bullet points and/or testimonials.
Hobbies/Crafts
Amazingly, hobbies and crafts have become a hot topic on the ‘net. Knitting, using MP3 players, and Video Creation are the types of info products that people are putting out in this arena.
You can easily combine an info product with the sale of your tangible products. For example, if you had an eBay store that sold cell phone accessories, then you might create a viral eBook on cell phone usage that drives customers to your product line. What if people could just read a simple ebook and learn how to use features of their camera phone without having to read the microscopic print of an instruction manual?
Playing an Instrument and Scrapbooking are also popular topics with the niche audiences. Some people even create products on how to make sports equipment like a hackey sack – from scratch!
Health
Health is an evergreen topic – which means it’s in style 100% of the time, year-round and around the world. It will always be a prosperous niche market because most of us either want to achieve good health or avoid bad health.
Fitness, Diet & Nutrition, Women’s Health Issues (such as Menopause), Mental & Spiritual Health, Alternative Medicine (such as Hypnosis, Herbs, or Acupuncture), and Addiction are all topics that can be categorized under health.
The diet industry has grown from $30 to $100 billion a year – so you
want to find your unique niche and grab a piece of the profits, while offering something to the Internet community that is of high value and could really change someone’s life.
Business Success
Regardless of what industry someone is in, if they want to achieve their goals, they need to have Interpersonal Skills, Organization, Time Management, Motivation, Advertising Insight, and/or Financial Management. Business success is also derived from one’s personal life, so you can help your audience find a balance between the two.
When you create a solution for business success, you need to realize that time is the most valuable thing you can give your customer. Whether it’s a software solution to help them manage their affairs or an information product to walk them through the steps of entrepreneurial success, if you can show them how to take shortcuts to achieve their goals, you will create a lifelong customer.
Mastery of Sports
Sports are big business – from the protégés practicing on the field from age two to the amateurs-turningprofessional concerned about negotiating contracts. Golf, Casino Gaming, Training Guides, Turning Pro, and Sports Scholarships can develop into high profits for the right ‘net marketer.
If you have your eye on this niche, then you want to immerse yourself in the game, know how it works, and what issues people need help with. This is a very detailed niche – your customers will want facts, not fluff, and you are expected to deliver.
Real Estate
Real estate consumers are generally interested in wealth-building strategies. They may have little to no knowledge about property investments, so you can create solutions that range from newcomer advice to advanced techniques.
Foreclosures, Rental Properties, and Commercial Real Estate are a few of the real estate solutions you can provide to this niche. Think of it from every angle – and find out what problems haunt real estate investors so that some people succeed while others fail.
A topic that is extremely popular now is flipping properties. The person who puts together a fail-proof information/advice product on even one aspect of that topic will do very well in the profit department.
Investments
Stock Market Trading is a hit these days. Professionals in other industries are trying to pave their way to success and make an enormous amount of cash in a short amount of time by daytrading over the ‘net.
Unfortunately, without the right guidance, many will lose their shirts. Don’t attempt to offer solutions to this market unless you have advanced insight into the industry – but if you do, you can provide consultations, software solutions, and info products to satiate their hunger for knowledge.
This topic has legal restrictions and requirements, so you must be absolutely thorough in your research before publishing.
Travel
Travel topics are becoming more and more popular. No longer do people want to go to the same old places and rely on tourist guides to help them understand the language and the culture.
Today’s travelers are looking for advanced information so that they can feel comfortable navigating a foreign land on their own. For this niche, you might provide Language Mastery, Destination Planning, or Tour Guides.
Don’t just give a broad account of Mexico – go into detail about a certain city, showing the audience exactly what to do – what hard-to-find spots they’ll want to see while they’re there. Most travelers want to steer clear of typical tourist destinations now – they’re looking for the experience and for an escape from the crowds.
Whenever you’re researching your niche, go to ClickBank to see what topics are selling well under certain categories. Hang out in message boards to find out what people are talking about, and more importantly, what they’re asking about. Visit sites with a large number of participants and read the topic headings to see what looks like might be profitable.
Make sure, when you do choose your niche, that you conduct thorough keyword research to see how the words and phrases are performing. You will also want to spy on the competition to see what their products promote – and possibly what they’re missing that you can provide to your customers. You will likely end up buying and reading some of your potential competitors’ products to help you know what direction you should or should not go in.
After this process, you will be ready to figure out what type of solution you want to provide and either develop it yourself or hire someone to do it for you so that you can begin marketing it to your newfound global niche audience.
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