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Coming up with a new idea for an online business may seem daunting at first because all the good ideas seem to be taken. Don’t fret though; there’s a lot of niches out there that you can cater to and put your personal touch on, you just have to find one that is viable and works for you. Why a niche? Even if you’ve got big business dreams, it’s prudent to start small first and leave room for scaling so you aren’t competing with the big dogs too soon. Here are a few ways to find your niche and grow a small and loyal base of customers you can expand.
In This Post:
Decide Which Business Ideas You are Passionate About
Everyone wants to do something they are passionate about, but what about money? Luckily, passion is a major factor in how successful niche businesses are. Being passionate about a business will give you insight that someone doing it just for money might not have. Customers also will be able to feel your enthusiasm and relate to it, making for the loyal base you need. Make a list of things you feel strongly about and ideas to monetize them.
Find Problems to Solve
How do you monetize your passion? Find problems to solve. Customers pay for a product or service that addresses a problem they have, and as a person involved in your product, you know what problems need solving. Surveys can be used as a marketing technique to find out more about your target market and the typical issues that they need help with. More ways to research problems potential customers include:
- Reading through forums, blogs or message boards
- Interview potential clients and hold idea extraction sessions with target markets
- If applicable, review related product reviews to find shortcomings or customer pain points
Research, research, research!
Find Your Keywords
Once you know the general area you want to get into and have a problem to solve, it’s time to find the keywords that customers will use to search for you. The Keywords Planner from Google Adwords will help you see how and where certain keywords will perform by search volume. You can even access historical statistics to see how trends have changed over time. Best of all, it’s free. After finding some keywords you think will work for you, you can research the competition and advertising volume. Too much competition is, of course, bad, but zero competition might belie a lack of demand.
Learn by Doing
Unlike opening a physical store, starting an online niche business is not overly expensive or risky. Crystallize your passion, find the niche that craves your product, get out there, make mistakes if you have to and learn from them.
