Warning Spoiler Alert – Exposing My Best Niche

[Mykl]

I have gone through the Day 1 & 2 material and I am smack in the middle of what, for me, was the hardest part of last years challenge and is turning out likewise this year. In other words, I feel like if I could truly “get” this part of the challenge – I think I could really make a break through and have a go at this Internet marketing thing here... So in an effort to do that, I'm going to lay out what I've done and invite critique and rebuttal from any and all comers. Now I know you are a gentle lot, but I'm asking for the strong medicine so I can improve – so for now... have no mercy!

Let us begin:
I was in the challenge last year, didn't make ANYTHING online. Well that's not exactly true. Thanks to learning about revver.com and using it for all my cheesy family videos on our new family blog (which I wasn't blogging before the 30DC, so credit goes there too...), we have earned $0.62 so far this year. At this rate, by next February I fully expect to have earned my first dollar online

So where did I go so wrong? Let's have a look.
By my best count, last year I had 18 markets I listed... I'm going to expose the best one I had for anyone to steal or use – whatever. Just so I can show you my process and you can tell me what's wrong with it. So here it is.

The Market:
According to gurubob, a market is a group of people with a common problem or desire. So I looked at:

“People wanting to be uplifted or inspired”

And I looked for any number of key words using GTrends (for all you 1st timers, GTrends is the old timey MarketSamurai – just think of it as another way to get those target numbers of > 100 hits per day for a #1 ranking and < 30,000 pages of competition to avoid playing “Major League Baseball”). I thought I had struck a gold mine:

(I have totally failed at trying to present tabular data in this editor, any ideas?)

niche phrase - - - hits/day - - - competing pages
quotes on family - - - 155 - - - 573
quotes on change - - - 210 - - - 846
quotes on success - - - 175 - - - 956
quotes on happiness - - - 115 - - - 723
quotes on friendship - - - 538 - - - 15,100
quotes on death - - - 265 - - - 9,940
quotes on leadership - - - 180 - - - 9,500
quotes on marriage - - - 140 - - - 9,170
quotes on education - - - 235 - - - 19,500


So these all looked good (of course, I just ran through them again and they all stink!! Hmm, maybe GTrends has gotten smarter )

So I had a market and some phrases that met the criteria. I followed along the symphony of 4 parts and moved to traffic. I made a few pages, but I didn't get much traffic. Now I could blame the pages and maybe that is the real problem and I'm looking in the wrong place.

But I suspect that the way I'm thinking about markets and niches and long-tail phrases is where I'm falling off the tracks.

Is that a bad niche? Too broad? Should I be looking in my refrigerator and seeing what products I buy and trying to find markets there? Or should I follow my kids around with a clipboard and note what they are playing with/interested in? (e.g. “Large families who are way to crazy about condiments...”, or “Webkinz tips and tricks”) This seems too commercial and too product driven – getting the symphony backwards.

I'm wanting to play the symphony in the right order, but I fear I have the sheet music upside down.

Along comes Market Samurai
I am getting spotty performance from this creature, but what I did try is my big winner and see if the Samurai can slice it up differently (if you want to be inspired by the concept – Google “Samurai Deli” many of you are probably too young for this reference).

So I started with “quotes”
It came back with 200 results. I painstakingly removed 144 of them, leaving 56 that I thought would be relavant (that took a while, hopefully they won't all be that time consuming... one at a time? A multi-select option would be nice...)

I filtered on > 100 hits and < 30,000 pages and ended up with 7 results:


Phrase - - - Searches - - - SEOT - - - SEOC - - - OCI
relationship quotes - - - 1332 - - - 559 - - - 30000 - - - ?
happy quotes - - - 2975 - - - 1250 - - - 12200 - - - 8%
meaningful quotes - - - 487 - - - 205 - - - 28000 - - - 6%
quotes about death - - - 325 - - - 137 - - - 11000 - - - ?
encouraging quotes - - - 325 - - - 137 - - - 10700 - - - 59%
philosophical quotes - - - 487 - - - 205 - - - 21600 - - - ?
encouragement quotes - - - 325 - - - 137 - - - 24500 - - - ?


So it looks like “encouraging quotes” is a winner? Is it not?

Is it just a matter of taking that on to make my first of millions of dollars? Or am I doing something wrong that I'm just not seeing.

Input appreciated... thanks for your time.

[cmiddlebrook]

I hit very similar problems last year. Now I might be getting ahead slightly here but what I found is that many of the markets / phrases I was looking at simply were not profitable.

Somebody looking for quotes is well, just looking for quotes. The chances are that they will find the quotes online and then they are done, no need to buy anything. I hit that same problem with all my markets last year.

This year I'm removing myself from my research and just trying to think in terms of profitability.

[sreymm]

The numbers of searches are for a month. So your winner only has 12 searches per day. Not enough. The one you have that would work has a low OCI, probably won't buy anything.

What you need is a starving market. Consider a problem people have they want to solve desperately. Look at top sellers in amazon or ebay for ideas.

Keep in the back of your mind you will be selling something online. If Wal-Mart sells it, why would they buy it online? Unless they would enjoy the privacy and anonymity of ordering from home.

[Mykl]

Caroline,

I watched your work last year and your ability to analyze what you are doing. I also admire your willingness to lay it all on the line, go for broke, leave the "dreaded J.O.B." and strike out into uncharted lands... I'm a good deal older than you (probably 10+ years) and I'm STILL in IT. I have 5 other mouths to consider, so I haven't been able to take that big of a step, but I'm trying to see some results that I can bring before the family to help them see that it's worth it to pursue. Ok, enough about me, let's talk about my problems instead.

I hear what you're saying about marketability. If you will allow me, may I follow-up with another problem I'm having....

So I look for marketability. It's tough to take myself out of that equation. I know what people need, because I know what I need. This leads me to what I've been calling "black hole" thinking since my experience with the 30DC.

What do I mean? Well it goes a little somethin' like this - see if you can hum a few bars.

"What do people want?"
Maybe that's a different question than "What will people buy?" and that's what you are driving at with the concept of marketability.

But when I head down the marketability road, my thinking gets very much in a rut. I center around "What do people really need?"

And I fall into these ruts (healthy, wealthy, and wise - to rip off Ben Franklin):
People want to live more healthier, long, and vibrant lives. (Falling down the health products black hole).

People want to have lots of money. I have found a program that really works for my family (an info product from somebody else, we didn't cook it up). But people need this info. So I start thinking I'll do a knockoff/spin-off from there. (Falling down the financial help / budgeting black hole).

People want to love and be loved. I am very very close to becoming a Certified Christian Conciliator. I try to help people to resolve interpersonal conflict and reconcile relationships. People need this too, and my thoughts go around how can I help them get what they need in this arena of life. (Falling down the personal improvement / self-help / motivational black hole).

Whenever I try to stay out of these areas and "think outside the box," my ideas become rather silly - like my 9-year-old's suggestion of "wearable yogurt." I know I'm judging, but just trying to share my process for looking for ideas and how it's not working.

Thanks so much for your advice and help.

[Mykl]

sreymm,

Those numbers being monthly are only for the Samurai, not GTrends, correct? I would hate to think I missed that vital information all of last year!!

When I look at my black holes:
Live healthy so they have longer
Handle their money so they have more
Improve relationship skills so they have better

Now maybe these are needs, they aren't wants..?
I 'need' to exercise, but I 'want' some Bryer's all-Natural Vanilla

Is that what you're saying? Forget about helping people get healthy and shovel them some ice cream?

I know I put that crassly, but is that the general idea?

[sreymm]

People will pay far more for what they want than what they need. People need a car. Why do you think a Mercedes costs more than a Chevy? They both are cars.

Here is a secret. Most of what people buy are good feelings. Lets say you buy an exercise bike. You want to exercise. Why? Ultimately, because you want to feel better about yourself. Will you use the bike? Maybe once or twice. But at the time, you were able to feel better about yourself, because you did what you thought was needed. People buy diet books not to lose weight, but by taking action and buying something, whether they use it or not, they allow themselves to feel better about themselves for taking action.

It is far easier to buy a diet a month, than to lose weight. Since they get the same result (feeling better about themselves), it doesn't matter.

Here is my point, you are a relationship counselor. People pay you to feel better about themselves. Think of keywords around relationships that someone would come to see you about. What is their presenting problem?
Run the keyword. This is a huge starving crowd. Just narrow your focus in relationships, and focus on a particular problem you can solve.

When you find a keyword, ask yourself this question. "For what purpose are they searching for this."

[slfuller]

People often don't pay for what they need.

And to make it in internet marketing you have to be looking at profitability.

This has taken me literally years to get (sometimes I'm a very slow learner) ...IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MARKET RESEARCH. If you mess up there you are doomed.

So take as much time as you need to get that piece right including the potential for profitability...the rest will follow.

That said, I'd toss the inspiration and quotes and get down to something more practical that people want and will pay for.

Hope that helps

Susan

[Mykl]

Susan,

Said in a way only a mother could...

"Stop playing around. Finish your homework. Then after that you can go outside and play with the Samurai..."

[junosama]

The thing you should ask yourself right away, before you start looking further into a niche is.

How can I make money off this niche?

Are you goign to use Google Adsense? Maybe write an ebook? Are their affiliate programs for this niche? Are their sponsors who would buy banner advertising on a site related to this topic?

I know the goal is only to make $1, but make sure the site can make more than $1 before you start working on the niche more.

[doublehead]

There's a lot of factors that go into making a niche profitable. Sure, you need to know the competition, the number of searchers, the number of potential buyers. But you also have to understand the market you're in so you can provide what the people want.

In my experience, the field you're looking into is filled with people seeking a) information; and b) someone to lead them to nirvana

Now the big questions is, are the people looking at that niche more likely to gather information on their own, or if available, pay someone to tell them what to do?

I would suspect that if a coaching program was available from an expert (preferably with credentials) that it might draw people in.

So in essence, you create "health food" with your content, but offer "ice cream" (your services as a coach) as a logical next step.