It’s not uncommon for many new (and even some old) Internet marketers to tend to gravitate towards the “sexy” niches online without doing careful market analysis. Popular niches that might be considered “sexy” include online poker, web hosting, ringtones, acai berry weight loss programs, and well, the list goes on and on.
When choosing a market niche to start your next business or website in have you ever really taken the time to decide what your particular strengths are suited for, calculated the level of competition in a given market, or struck out on a unique path of your own or rather have simply followed lemming like after your favorite Internet marketing “guru” and attempted to compete in one of the niches that they have stated has made them successful?
Often, very profitable markets online may end up being quite the opposite of sexy. In fact, there are many very profitable markets that are just downright boring. Here are some tips to think about when you choose your next market niche to compete in online that will hopefully help you to make the profitable choice and not necessarily the sexy one (although one could say that ultimately owning a very profitable business IS sexy!)
Use Your Specialized Knowledge
I would submit to you that every single person in the world that has access to the Internet and some form of education likely has one specific area of knowledge where they know a great deal more than the average person.
For some this area of specialized knowledge could be something straightforward like cooking delicious recipes with a slow cooker while for others it may be that they know the intricacies of credit default swaps. For example, I am a Certified Financial Planner™ and serial entrepreneur and so I have a great deal of expertise in many different area of financial planning, entrepreneurship, small business planning, etc. This means that when I started a website to compare car insurance I already had a great deal of expertise about insurance that I can use to make my website the best it can possibly be (even though most people will tell you that car insurance is just flat out boring!)
Do you have a particular specialized skill set that you have learned in college or at your job? Do you have a hobby that gives you specialized knowledge? Instead of trying to ride the popular trends and compete in “sexy” markets why not use some of the expertise that you have in a given area to start an online business in that market niche?
Great Information on Almost ANY Subject can be a Money Maker
If you think that your area of expertise is so boring that there might not be strong financial potential in it for you then consider the examples of many types of different very successful websites that are in quite boring and dry niches. Try a test right now. Think of three of the most boring subjects that you could possibly think of (i.e. for me – “plumbing”, “ice skating”, etc.) and then search those keywords in a search engine.
What do you find when you look at the top 10 results for each of those keywords? Chances are that even sites with some very boring and dry subject matter potentially have quite a bit of traffic if the information is high quality and displayed in a professional way. Of course, everyone is different so just because you think a given subject is uninteresting does not mean that there are not people out there that think quite the opposite. There are many do-it-yourself plumbers looking online for great plumbing information. If you have plumbing expertise then why not give it to them?
Your plumbing website will have less competition than many of the hot and ultra competitive niches and your loads of high quality yet boring plumbing information on your website will be a gigantic barrier to entry for any potential competitors not only for the obvious reason that it takes a lot of time and hard work to create great plumbing articles but it also takes a lot of determination to create great articles on a subject that most people would consider to be quite boring.
What do YOU Think?
Can you think of any niches that many people are attracted to simply because they are following the crowd?
What are some good examples of boring but profitable niches?
About joeljonathan
When picking a niche, it makes a lot of sense to target a niche that really interests you. If you aren’t really interested in the niche, it becomes more difficult to stay motivated and work on that niche regularly. Also it helps to have some existing knowledge about the niche.
A lot of people do make the mistake of jumping into niches that they just assume are most profitable. Sure there may be a lot of money involved in that niche, but that usually results in an ultra competitive marketing environment. So it can be quite difficult to really establish your site.
You really should take these kinds of factors into consideration before starting into a new niche.
I’d rather have a sexy profitable business than either of the two. ;-)
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Personally, I think fishing is incredibly boring; however, my brother-in-law just bought a fishing pole/reel for almost $1,000. So, what is boring to some is pretty exciting for others. The secret to success is to have a product that a few people LOVE, not one that a lot of people kind of like.
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