|
Home / Internet Marketing
People Getting Rich Online - Finding Your Niche
By:Matt DeAngelis
In honor of the birthday of one of the most famous Internet millionaires, Mook-Jon, I’m going to try to cover something that he says is one of the keys to his success — researching a niche for your website. BTW, Mook-Jon now writes for WebsitePublisher.net. He has written a birthday blog entry ruminating on success, drive and his life. Happy Birthday, Jon.
Meanwhile I’m still out there working hard for you, the reader. I’ve been speaking via email, IM and even phone with people who are making good money online. They are all reluctant to talk, but I’ve managed to coax information out of them. My first observation was the importance of viral marketing to their success, which I’ve covered in other posts.
I’m a fan of the content-rich site. I think providing information to your prospective customers is what will make them customers. Google agrees with me, and is moving its pageranking system to reward so-called authority pages, meaning information rich pages that link to other sites and have other sites linking to them.
Most good websites exploit a niche - that is an area of focus for your content-rich site. Coming up with that niche is probably the most difficult and most important part of your Internet Marketing strategy.
You need two things: A subject and an angle. We’ll work on subject first.
As I have said countless times, most people just need a little push to get started, then everything starts flowing. You should always be in niche-hunting mode. I keep a small, spiral bound notebook next to my laptop and I write down ideas as they come to me. When you are looking for something on the Internet and can’t find it, that something needs to go in the book once it passes this simple test:
Will someone pay a reasonable amount for that product, service, or idea?
If the answer is even probably, it needs to go on the page. I always start with broad, general categories and drill down later.
Why not start with yourself? Take a moment right now and list your interests. What do you search for on the web? Put that on the list. Think about all of the things that fill your day at work or at home. While you are living your life run stuff through the niche filter in your mind — there’s always something that you can add to the list. If you don’t have something to write it down on, call yourself and leave a voice mail. I’ve done it many times. Everyone says I wish there was a [insert something here] on the Internet. Some of us say that a lot. Put it on the list.
Work with someone — I find that my wife is a great person to bounce things off. When we are going somewhere in the car we often brainstorm my latest ideas and she usually has a lot to add. In no time you should have a good-sized list.
Still drawing a blank? Here are some places to pick up some good general categories:
1. Alexa - Look over the Top 100 and the Movers and Shakers. Delve into the categories that appeal to you and see what strikes you. Write it all down, because you’ll end up clicking all over the place and will never re-create the path.
2. Sites that show you what people are searching for. Try Google Zeitgeist or The Lycos Top 50. There’s a fairly long list of such sites over at Search Engine Watch that I’ve bookmarked.
3. Google Answers. I am fascinated by Google Answers, and I sometimes spend a long time looking over what people will pay to find out. There are some great ideas here too.
You could even go to Alexa and look over the top sites trying to come up with an angle that would make them better or easier. Or you might come up with a complementary site (MySpace companion sites come to mind).
Once you get your general category ideas together it’s time to do some supply and demand research, along with what I call sanity checking.
This is the first in a three part series. The other two parts can be found at www.affiliateblog.com.
Digg
del.icio.us
Blink
Stumble
Spurl
Reddit
Netscape
Furl
Article keywords: niche marketing, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, affiliate programs, finding your niche
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com
Matt DeAngelis runs Affiliate Blog. Matt is the former CTO of Modem Media, a pioneer in the Internet ad space. As a foot soldier in the Internet revolution, Matt devised the technology behind many of the most successful ad campaigns of the time.
|
|
| Top Internet Marketing Articles |
- 1). The Fly & The Window Of Opportunity By : Rick Davies
Copyright 2006 1stPromotion.com
One afternoon after going through a small backlog of emails, I was daydreaming about how it shouldn't be tough for absolutely anyone out there to make that first online sale and then to go on and make more and more sales. I feel bad for people that have paid money for some of the programs out there that promise to "stuff their wallets effortlessly" only to find that there is no free lunch.
|
- 2). Sign Our Guestbook – How Signing Guestbook’s Or Creating Your Own Helps Your Website By : Anton Cheranev
Guestbook’s are some of the most popular areas on websites. Before a consumer does business with you, they are likely to check out your guestbook. Guestbook’s are somewhat like testimonials in that they offer real feedback on your site, your business, and your products. They are honest and are created from those that have had some sort of experience with your business or those who simply visit your site.
|
- 3). Where To Find A MySpace Friend Adder By : PaulG
MySpace friend adders have become a great tool in maximizing the MySpace experience. Since MySpace has become popular, so has the importance of having tons of MySpace friends. This can benefit the causal MySpace user, the MySpace Music artist, and even the web publishers and marketers that use MySpace as a stepping stone toward success. Now MySpace friend adders have gone even further by adding other MySpace abilities to their programming.
|
|
|
- 5). 'Social Bookmarking' As An Aggressive and Acceptable Blog Marketing Tactic By : gregw
Social bookmarking websites are becoming more and more popular. They allow you to save bookmarks online and Tag/Categorize them with keywords instead of saving them as bookmarks in the favorite's list of yourbrowser. This is particularly useful when your browser based bookmarks have become unwieldy. It's also help since you can access your bookmarks from any computer where you have an internet connection.
|
- 6). The Four Big Adsense Secrets By : Iszuddin Ismail
Is there a BIG secret to the huge Adsense checks? Yes, you’ve seen those screen shots of 5-figure Adsense earning … so have I. And that made you thinking, why are some people earning those huge income, and you are not.
Whatever people may say, I only see these are the only factors that make the difference between your earning and those ‘big-guns’.
1 - Adsense Placement
Yes, putting your Adsense in a special way can be the difference between 1% click-through rate (CTR) and 10% CTR.
|
- 7). The Downsides Of Reciprocal Linking To Increase Search Engine Rankings By : Brian Gilley
Reciprocal linking is still a highly sought after method for many companies and webmasters hoping to increase their web site’s ranking in the search engines. Back in 2002, when reciprocal linking firmly took its place as a real way to boost your rankings, many webmasters and sites started using it to quickly and frantically get the upper edge on their competition and the search engines.
|
|
|
- 9). Spy on the Competition, Stay on Top By : Jay Chirino
Just when you thought you had this whole online business thing mastered, it turns out that now you must become a secret super spy, break into your competitor’s databases and steal important documented information that you can put to use for your own benefit. So get your rope and mask ready because we’re going in!
Oh, and by the way, I’m just kitting.
|
|
|
| New Internet Marketing Articles |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- 10). Why Everyone Needs a Mentor. By : Gary Muller
Why do you need a mentor and what could they
possibly offer to help you grow your business?
Discover why even successful marketers utilize the skills and expertise of an internet marketing
mentor.
|
|
|
