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Dominating Your Niche

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

I’ve got some clients who are not really serious about their niche.  They dabble around with a few hundred bucks a month and think that they’re going to get big gigs from it. Month after month they trudge along but never really get anywhere.

Then I’ve got other clients who are afraid to grow.  Their niche in the Saint Louis are is WIDE OPEN, and they see what Internet Marketing can do for their business, and they are afraid.  They aren’t afraid to spend the money, they’re afraid that their business will grow and they’ll have to “do more things” like hire people, etc.

And then I’ve got a few clients who own their niche.  They are excited about where their website is taking them.  They are attending industry conferences and shows, constantly prowling for the next vendor that shows signs of Internet awareness (so they can partner up and dominate even more). These clients are online day and night, learning about their industry, teaching themselves SEO basics (so they can spot opportunity) and they aren’t afraid to email me with questions and bounce ideas off of me.

Those are the clients we all love to have.  They aren’t here to joke around.  They are here to do business, make money, and dominate their niche.  They see the potential in their business online.  They see new niches that branch off and strengthen their core, and they dominate them too.

Check out what Gary Vaynerchuk has to say about using the Internet as your business platform and then let me know how I can help you get there.

Posted in competition, niches, personalities, small business | 2 Responses »
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What You Can Learn from Presidential Tweets

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Today I stumbled across a great article from the NY Times about one of our great past presidents using Twitter.  Go ahead, read it, I’ll wait.

Pretty cool, huh?

Several things are going on here, which I think you can use for your business.

Niche it, Baby

I’ve never heard of the JQA diaries until today, and most likely neither have you.  Thanks to some graduate student for mentioning that it looked like a Twitter feed, another person for acting on that observation, a Historical Society with a look-forward approach  (and a NY Times writer), now you have.  As of today, this account now has over 6000 followers. This little niche of history buffs is just the audience that the Massachesetts Historical Society wants, and they’ve found a way to “promote their wares” via Twitter.

Lesson: Find a topic that interests people.  Provide updates on a consistent basis, and you’ve got an immediate audience.  People will tell others, and in no time you’ll have a nice following of warm leads.

The Old is New

While reading a 200 year old diary isn’t exactly exciting to everyone, it is to some.  And that “some” is very interested in what is said by the account holder.  Old news is in demand, and over 6000 people are eagerly awaiting the next tweet, whether it’s about rough seas or card playing.

Lesson: Take information in your industry that you think everyone knows, and post about it.  Or blog about it.  You’ll increase your followers, RSS subscriptions, and website traffic because no one else is doing it.

Be Afraid Aware, Very Aware

Every day we are exposed to mundane and boring things in our industry.  We see them all the time, and pay no attention or give no second thought to them.  But smart business owners are taking those simple things and writing about them.  They are showing the behind-the-scenes to their business, or posting updates to their ‘boring’ day and people are interested.

For instance, I have a customer that sells memory foam mattresses.  One day I was at Target returning an item.  In front of me was a lady who was returning one of those mattress-topper memory foam things.  You roll them out on your mattress and they supposedly make it more comfortable to sleep on.  Well, I listened to her go on about how lumpy it made her bed, how it didn’t help her sleep, etc. so I mentioned it to my client.  He wrote up a blog post about these toppers (and their problems), and today it is one of his most popular posts ever.

Lesson: Watch what’s going on around you daily.  What things do you take for granted that your audience might find really useful?  Do you do something to each of your products to make it unique? Do you meet interesting people in your industry that others may find interesting as well?

Integration

The JQA diary posts also integrate with maps, making it even more interesting.  Even though the voyage took place  200 years ago, you can follow along today as if it were happening in real time.  You can see where in the ocean JQA is, and experience just what he was.

Lance Armstrong is a great user of integration, often posting his ‘view from the office’ pictures on TwitPic.  Bicyclers, cancer survivors and just fans love these updates.  They are interesting to his readers, and it helps him increase and identify his brand.

Lesson: Use technology to show what you do and who you are.  Become a real face to an otherwise faceless business identity.

You can learn a lot from a president that sailed the seas 200 years ago.  And you can take those things, along with the actions of some smart people, and apply them to your business.  How are you using similar tactics and posts to increase your business?

Posted in Marketing, blogging, niches, social media, traffic | No Responses »
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Finding Cheap Article Writers for Your Niche

Friday, March 9th, 2007

Everyone knows that getting and publishing articles on your niche is a great way to:

  1. Provide unique content
  2. Get backlinks
  3. Increase the number of pages of your site

Finding decent (and cheap) writers can be a lot easier than you think. Here’s a few ideas:

Click to continue »

Posted in Marketing, content, niches | 2 Responses »

Niche? Notch? What?

Wednesday, February 14th, 2007

One of the things that you’ll hear over and over (and over) again when you’re first starting out in SEM/affiliate marketing is that you need to find a niche. Problem is, not many people even know what the f#@% that is. Dictionary.com defines niche as

a place or position suitable or appropriate for a person or thing: to find one’s niche in the business world.

Thats a great definition, but what does it mean for you? You keep hearing over and over that you need to find a niche, but how?

Well, you’ve probably also read that you need to focus on something you like. Trust me, this is true. When I first started doing SEM, I jumped in head first and started buying domains on high paying keywords, thinking I’d start making money quickly. But there are several problems with this approach:

  • Everyone else is doing the same thing, so competition is beyond what a n00b can ever handle.
  • It will take forever to rank for one of these terms, and chances are you never will.
  • Your site won’t have any content. And if you get content from free article sites, you’ve already penalized yourself by offering duplicate content. Building a quality site with original content takes forever.

Most likely, on top of that, you’re probably not interested in Lemon Laws in Alaska anyway. So the chances of you keeping interest in a topic like that are probably slim.

So where do you find a niche that you can make decent money at, and that you are interested in?

Start by making a list. Get out a piece of paper and a pencil (remember those?). Write down things you’re interested in.

  • Hobbies.
  • Games you like to play.
  • Careers that you’d like to have or did have.
  • Things you find interesting.

Now lets do one more thing. Take a look at your “Favorites” in your Internet browser. What types of sites does it show that you visit often? Entertainment news? Clothing/Fashion? Camping in the mountains? Whatever it is, add that to the list. Obviously you’re interested in that or you wouldn’t have it there.

Last, if you visit the library and check out real books, what genres do you normally get? Vampire novels? Western non-fiction? Cookbooks? Write those down.

Now take that list and narrow it down to one field that you’re really interested in. Make sure its something that you won’t lose interest in a month from now.

Also, while we’re at this decision-making stage, don’t make the decision based on the amount of money it might make you. Doing that could possibly sway your decision towards something that you’re kinda interested in but it probably isn’t your best choice.

Alright, so now you’ve got a niche. Well, maybe. We need to look at how specific or non-specific it is. If it’s obviously generic, you’re gonna have to focus it in.

Examples of generic niches would be (but not limited to):

  • Finance
  • Medical
  • Automotive
  • Computing
  • Entertainment
  • You get the idea (I hope)

If you fall into one of these generics, look back at your list. Perhaps you can combine two of your favorites.

  • Interested in Entertainment and camping? How about a site on Celebrities who “rough it”? How do celebrities go camping as compared to “the rest of us”?
  • Interested in the medical field and love coffee? How about a site on caffeine, or a site on the effects of sugar vs. aspartame vs. NutraSweet?
  • Interested in finance and spend some time as a dirt track race car driver? Perhaps a website that hooks up fledgeling race car drivers with sponsors.

The amount of niches are endless. And nearly all of them are profitable in some way. Find one that you like and start there. You’ll be glad you did. Start building content and writing original articles about your passion. Find a forum or two that is related to your niche and post some helpful information in them. Be part of the community, and provide a link back to your site.

Lastly, make sure you sign up for a few affiliate accounts around the web. My favorites are:

These affiliates (and many others) have endless campaigns. Certainly one will fit in with your site and help you start generating some income. Don’t expect it to come quick, but patience and persistence will reward you in the future.

Posted in beginner sem, niches | No Responses »