Niche Hunt
Most of you have already faced this problem… some have come out of it with a great list of prospects, others with a headache.
So what’s the best way to approach this unique problem? How do you choose the right niche?
Well a lot of it has to do with you as a person. Is there something in particular that you have a strong (or even moderate) passion for? A hobby? Maybe an ex-job or career you left behind long ago?
Those are all great places to start. More likely than not you will have some useful knowledge on the topic that others will be looking for. By writing about a topic you know something about, you can save time on research and write compelling, unique content. If you have a lot of knowledge on the topic you can quickly elevate your status in the online community to “guru”… this of course depends on the niche and how aggressively you market yourself and your website, but you can do it.
Don’t have any hobbies? Don’t feel like writing about the ones you have? Does the idea of writing about the past make you cringe? Not to worry, there’s still hope.
You can find a million niches to dive into, you just have to open your eyes, ears and nose.
A niche can be literally anything. From dogs to dog food, pillows to scented candles, architecture to harps… anything. But how to choose? That depends on you.
I like to use some of the free tools available to estimate the amount of searches performed on a specific topic and then compare that data to the number of competing websites, affiliate programs, profitability of that niche (in selling items) and PPC info if I can get any. Using this information together will give you a rough idea of how difficult it will be to penetrate into that niche and how much you can expect to make from various sources once you’re in.
This is just a general outline so while you won’t be getting any concrete evidence of traffic/earnings or competition, you will get an idea and that’s better than nothing.
One more point, maybe the most important; Make sure it’s something that’s interesting enough to YOU that keeping your website fresh won’t be too much of a hassle. A stale website isn’t likely to get visited often.