It’s just one of those hard, cruel facts of life that the big boys have all the money they need to advertise and sell their products and us little guys are on advertising budgets that are so small they probably don’t add up to what the big boys spend on paper clips in a month. Competing with the big boys isn’t feasible… or possible, for that matter. So what are we little guys supposed to do?

Niche marketing is our answer. We can’t advertise our products and services to the world at large but we don’t have to be able to do that to be able to make a pretty decent living… thanks to the Internet.

Niche marketing is selling specific products or services to a limited audience. One person with a computer, an internet connection and a good idea can go into business for himself on the Internet and target the people who would be most interested in what he has to sell and do all of the above on a very limited advertising budget.

Finding the right niche for what you have to sell isn’t really all that difficult. Just think about who the people are who would be most interested in what you have to sell. For example, if you have concocted a shampoo formula that will take chlorine out of a person’s hair, you can’t compete with giant companies that sell shampoo but you can narrow your market down to a niche and target sales to those who have swimming pools. You buy a domain, get some web hosting, and build a website to advertise your product JUST to people who have swimming pools.

In essence, niche marketing is selling a product or service to those who want or need the product the most.

Deciding on what product or service you will promote in a niche market should be based on a simple principle. There should be a demand for your product or service. You want to offer something that people actually need, something that will make their lives better, make them feel better physically, make them look better, or help them solve a problem.

Once you have chosen a product or service to market, researching to find the right niche for your product or service is the next most important part of beginning a niche marketing program. The things that you need to know are where they spend their time online, and what makes them tick from a personal and business point of view. There is niche marketing software out there that can help you learn these things about your potential niche market.

The next thing you need to learn as you research your online niche market is what you can reasonable charge for your product or service. The best and most effective was to do this is to visit sites that advertise products or services similar to what you have chosen to sell. It should be easy to see if they are giving away a service or selling the product at a price far lower than you would have to charge.

If you can determine that there are people out there who are willing to spend money to buy what you are selling and you can identify those people then you have a niche marketing product or service that can make money on the Internet. Sometimes it takes re-framing your product or service to make it more attractive, better or just different than what others are selling it for. Research is the key to successful niche marketing.

With online marketing, you don’t need to study for years until you can reap rewards. There are sound business concepts that have been taught and proven to be true by some of the most highly successful marketers in the world. What is the top sound principle that will ensure your success? It’s choosing the right niche market.

What is a Niche?

A niche is simply a group of people with similar interests and needs. They are very passionate about their topic of interest. Think of a small pond packed with starving fish and you have the exact bait they like the best – This, in essence, is the basis of niche marketing.

Obviously, besides craving your product, the niche members must also have money to spend. If they have empty wallets, they simply won’t be able to buy anything. You’ll want to target people who are willing and able to spend money.

Why bother marketing to a Niche?

Unless you’re a huge corporation with a matching huge budget, niche marketing is the way to go. Most large corporations dismiss niche markets because they’re not trying to make an additional $1000 to $15000 per month like many home-based business entrepreneurs and other small business owners. They’re seeking to make millions per month – and that’s good for you because you don’t have to compete with those companies that have massive marketing budgets.

Researching to Find Niches -

In order to find niches, you can search places online where the ‘niche’ people hang out. Here are some productive places to discover niches:

1) Go to google or your favorite search engine and search for keyword + forum. For example, if you’re interested in helicopters, you’d search for helicopter forum. Look thru the postings, questions, answers and concerns expressed by the forum members. This will give you some good ideas for common problems and how you can address them with a product offering.

2) The online auction site Ebay is another good place to look. Just go to pulse.ebay.com to view the top selling products. This should give you a good idea of what’s hot right now. If you can satisfy one or more of these niche markets, you can do well.

3) Look thru the postings of online groups, such as groups.google.com, groups.yahoo.com and groups.msn.com – as with the forums, look for needs that aren’t being fulfilled.

4) Check the top selling products at amazon.com – see what’s hot right now and if you can offer a similar or complimentary product, you may have found a profitable niche.

5) You can also get a good feeling for the market by going to www.google.com/trends to see what people are currently looking for.

6) Go to 43things.com, a website where people list things they’d really like to accomplish. You can get some great niche ideas here.

What to do after you’ve found a Niche -

Now that you’ve found a potentially profitable niche, it’s time to find a product you can sell to that niche. Good choices are ClickBank, LinkShare, Commision Junction, Amazon, etc. Decide on the product to fill the need of the niche, then use a Pay-Per-Click(PPC) campaign to drive traffic thru your affiliate link.