Entering into the fascinating and often lucrative world of internet marketing begins by understanding the concept of targeting a niche market. According to the pros, dont waste your time attempting to target anything else! After spending countless hours of learning from some of the best internet marketing mentors, it is clear that they all teach this as the key to your targeting efforts. Dont re-invent this concept when it works so well.So lets take a quick look into this.
First of all, what is a niche
In terms of successful internet marketing, a niche is, in its simplest form, a group of people, typically known as members, with a common interest. For example, a group of people who have an interest in training show dogs.
Second of all, what constitutes a potentially good niche
In order for a niche to be worthy of selecting it must have members with defined needs and wants that can be met by products or services that those members are willing to purchase. Lets take a closer look at what that means relevant to our dog training example used above. Defined needs: they will all likely need to know what the basics of dog show training are and probably all want to know what the best trainers in the world do - what are the secrets to their great training techniques. To meet those needs an example of a great product would be an ebook that explains the basics of dog show training and to satisfy their wants, perhaps a video of an interview with one of the worlds best trainers. Finally, check to see if there is an indication that these members would pay for these products. If this combination of attributes exists, then you can proceed with a plan to target that market.
Next, how do you find such a niche on the internet
There are several ways to find a niche market including studying magazines, general directory of websites, watching infomercials, reading direct mail etc. If you are truly interested in learning the details of each of these methods, I recommend you find a great internet marketing mentor. If you just want to do it on your own for now, use these ways to start your search by trying to see recurring or popular trends. For example, go to training dogs for show websites and see if there are many sites, do these sites sell relevant products and services Are there show dog training magazines Using all of the resources mentioned above you should be able to determine whether your chosen area is a niche you can target market.
Finally, how do you pick a hot niche
You need to learn how to check traffic inventory (how many members go to the show dog training websites, for example), survey what is known as the shotgun splatter effect, analyze the average sales price in that niche, search for competitors, avoid oversaturated markets and then, decide if that niche is likely to have other spin off niches that will be of interest to the niche you are considering.
Once you have made your selection you will be able to market to the members of this niche over and over again. Sound like fun Get yourself a great mentor if you need to learn more. It is my passion and hobby to seek out internet mentors on a variety of topics that interest me, so I know there are great ones out there on this topic.
Good luck with targeting your niche market!
Doug Gray
If you want to learn more about niche target market tactics, you need to know that this is just one of the many powerful concepts taught at: (there is over 12 hours of videos and a free 120 page ebook).
Doug Gray is a school administrator with a passion for learning. He enjoys finding legitimate online mentors in a variety of areas and then learning from them. Along with his son, he is currently establishing a site to link his findings.
One of your most important marketing assets is your Keyword List. But are you giving your Keyword List the attention it deserves Is your Keyword List getting a little shaggy around the edges Are your keywords becoming old and out of date Is your Keyword List not behaving at its best, possibly due to neglect
To properly care for your Keyword List you need to understand its different needs and functions. We can divide the list into several broad categories.
1. Master Keyword List this list has all the keywords that you can come up with for your particular need. All other lists are taken from this Master List.
2. Pay-Per-Click List this is a subset of the Master List and will vary depending on how you are using PPC and which search engines you are buying positions in.
3. Tag List this subset of the Master List helps you fill in those Meta Tag fields. Although many search engines are not currently paying much attention to Meta Tags, that could change at any time and the search engines will not let us know if or when they begin watching Meta Tags again. So the safe bet is to still keep these tags properly populated.
4. Web Site List this is another subset of the Master List and is more targeted than the PPC list. This list also helps you write powerful content on your site. And dont forget to refer to this list when setting up the Alt tags for your images (you are using Alt tags arent you).
5. Email List Are you using keywords in your email You should be. Keywords are not only used to help people find your site in search engines, but they are words people are actively searching for. Your marketing should be addressing their needs, and your keyword list shows you what they are looking for. Just like creating copy on a web page, use the keyword list to target your email campaigns as well.
So how do you go about creating the Master Keyword list You first have to decide what you need from your keywords. Most likely you will have a product or service that will dictate the broad category for the list. As an example I will use Nikon Camera as my starting point. Maybe I have a site that specializes in information about Nikons, or I have a store that sells Nikon Cameras, or maybe I sell software that would complement a Nikon Camera. These questions and more will begin to focus your keyword search.
Start by building a basic list using this approach, you dont need to capitalize, leave everything lowercase.
nikon, nikon camera, nikon information, nikon sales, nikon software
Put down the basic keywords that spring into your head when thinking about your subject. This does not need to be an exhaustive list, just a starting point.
We now need to expand on this list by using tools freely available on the internet. My personal favorite is on Overture.com in their Resource Center. They have a valuable little tool called the Keyword Selector Tool. This tool will give you a list of keyword searches on Overture over a one month period. Simply type in your keyword and hit the button. You will get a list of keywords including the keyword you typed in and the number of searches performed on the keyword.
A search for Nikon came back with 100 keyword possibilities. Depending on your original keyword search you may have to clean this list up a bit before using it. For instance one of the keywords was Nikon rifle scopes, not what I need so I will delete that one. I usually copy the information from this web page and paste it into an Excel spreadsheet where I can manipulate it as I like. Each month you may get a different set of keywords on Overture, so dont just do this one time and forget it. Keep on checking back to add more keywords to your list.
Another valuable tool is over on Google. (https://adwords.google.com/select/maincmd=KeywordSandbox) You can also find this tool in the Tools section of Google Adwords. This is used like the Overture tool, simply type in your keyword and click on Get More Keywords. This search gave me 225 possible keywords, many of which I will clean out. A nice feature of the Adwords tool is that it allows you to download the list as a CSV file for use in Excel or another program.
There are many other sources for keyword lists. A good place to start is on Search Engine Watch at http://searchenginewatch.com/facts/article.php/2156041
Dont forget specialized sites like eBay. They have a banner ad program named eBay Keywords where you can find suggestions for keywords to use with banner ads on eBay. http://ebay.admarketplace.net
And finally pay attention to the log files for your web site. You will have a list of searches people used to find your site. This is a very targeted list of keywords that were actually successful in driving traffic to your site.
Now that you have a huge list of keywords you are ready to create your Master Keyword List. Place all these keywords into a spreadsheet and clean out the inappropriate keywords (like Nikon Binoculars). Then arrange in order from most relevant to least relevant.
You need to weed this Master List down for your PPC campaign. You may find that the keywords near the top of your list are the most expensive and that the ones in the middle may have a better cost to sales ratio. But the more keywords you can use on PPC, the broader your exposure.
The top 25 should work well for your Meta Tag list. Depending on your needs you may need to remove duplicate words. Try to limit any individual word to 5 uses or less (example: dont use nikon more than 5 times).
The top 10 keywords are your sales words for your web site and email campaigns since these are the most tightly focused keywords in the list.
Dont forget that the needs of your list will be changing as the market place shifts. Every month or so do a new search for keywords to keep your keyword list up to date. Trim out the words that are either no longer appropriate or effective. Be sure to keep an eye on your log files. Keep your sub-lists current. And give your Keyword List the care and attention it needs to live a long and active life.
And finally, if only 4 people purchase some training off of my site due to the keywords in this article I can finally get that Nikon Camera that I have been wanting.
George Peirson is President of How To Gurus. He is the author of over 30 multimedia based tutorial training titles. To see training and other articles by George Peirson visit .Article copyright 2006 George Peirson