Want to earn an income online, but aren't sure where to start?
Or are you already running a profitable blog or online business, but just aren't feeling it?
If either of these situations describes you, it may be time to find - or re-evaluate - your niche.
This post will walk you through a 5-step formula for finding a niche that's both lucrative and something you can feel passionate about.
1. Evaluate your passions and skills
This sounds so basic, but it really makes all the difference. Don't just choose a niche because you're "kind of interested" in it; to be sustainable, it should ideally be something you can see yourself being passionate about for at least 5 years*.
Is this something you love to do in your free time, or that you'd do even if you weren't getting paid for it?
This could be a great option for your niche.
It's also important to think about which areas you have special skills or experience in. What do people regularly tell you you're good at? What's your training or education in? What special skills or knowledge have you developed through your work?
Finding an area that you're both knowledgable about and that you love is the sweet spot for identifying your niche. I personally did this with my productivity calendarand it's done very well for me.
*There are exceptions to this rule. For instance, one of my first businesses was selling Christmas tree storage boxes. While I wasn't exactly passionate about the product, I was passionate about running a successful business and helping my audience find the perfect product.
2. Figure out if there's a market for your niche
Having a passion for a particular niche isn't enough (I wish it were!).
You also want to make sure there's a need for it; otherwise your work will stay a hobby, never growing into a lucrative business.
One way to start figuring out the market is with some basic keyword research. The Google Keyword Planner is a great tool for this.
Plug in some keywords related to your niche, and see which words and phrases get suggested.Narrow down the suggestions by monthly search volume, competition level, and suggested bid.
For search volume, stick to 1K-10K per month. Any less than this probably means there's not much of a market for it; any more and it may be too hard to rank for in Search.
For competition, go with low-medium. While this tells you how competitive the word or phrase is in AdWords (not organic search), it can still give you a general idea of organic competition levels.
For suggested bid, higher bids often indicate a high level of commercial intent. So, higher bids often mean people will pay more because they make more when they rank for those keywords.
3. Narrow down your niche
At this point, you may want to narrow your niche down even further.For instance, you may have found that "freelance writing" is a popular niche, but want to see if you can find an even narrower focus for your niche.
One of the best ways to do this is to visit related forums, Facebook groups and subreddits.
Use a tool like Redditlist to see which subtopics or sub-niches you might want to pursue. Simply type in your main keywords and scroll through the most popular subreddits to see if any appeal to you.
Delve even deeper by visiting these subreddits, as well as niche groups and forums, to see which topics or questions come up regularly. This could help you further define your niche (e.g., "freelance science fiction writers"), as well as help you come up with additional sub-niches or blog topic ideas for the future.
4. Check out the competition for yourself
Keyword research is important, but you'll also want to see for yourself what the competition is like for your niche.
Google some of the keywords you've found to see which sites come up on page one. You'll find one of three things:
- There are already tons of well-known sites ranking for those keywords. This niche may be oversaturated and it may be better to find one that isn't quite so popular.
- There are no sites ranking for those keywords. Be careful here - this could indicate that there's lots of opportunity, but more likely it means others have already discovered there's no market for this niche.
- There are some sites ranking for those keywords, but they're generally smaller or low quality.This is generally a good sign that this niche is worth pursuing. There is likely some market for this niche, and the competition won't be too harsh.
Congratulations! At this point you've chosen a niche and scoped out the competition. Now it's time to see see if this niche is really as popular and lucrative as you're hoping.
5. Test your niche
While the market research you've already done is helpful, testing the market in real-time can really show you whether you're on the right track.
One way to test your niche - before you set up an entire website - is to create a landing page that promotes a free infoproduct related to your niche. This is easy using a tool like Leadpages.
Next, drive traffic to that landing page using AdWords. This will allow you to see how much interest there actually is in your niche and/or product - both in terms of traffic and downloads. Keep in mind that if you're getting lots of traffic through AdWords but not many conversions, it's more likely an issue with your landing page copy...not the niche!
Another way to validate your niche is to survey your target market. Promote your survey anywhere you have contact with your target market: in your guest posts, in industry-related groups, on social media, via Google surveys(you can pay Google to promote these for you), etc.
Given what you've learned through your PPC testing and surveys, you should now feel confident (or not!) in setting up your niche website and social media profiles.
Final thoughts
While this 5-step process won't guarantee you'll succeed in your niche, it should spark some ideas and give you a great place to start. It will also help minimize the risk inherent in starting a niche site, saving you time, money and frustration.
Are you currently trying to figure out your niche? Are you going to use the strategies above to narrow down your options? Share below!
