So you are thinking about starting a website and then monetizing it in one way or another. But what should this website be about? You are better off picking a narrow niche. Especially if you are new to Internet marketing.
Lets me just define “niche” for you before we carry on. What is a niche? A lot of beginner webmasters tend to think “niche” is a target market/subject for your website such as cars or shopping. They are almost right, however a major part is left out. “Niche” is a narrow and specialized target market characterized by a particular product, interest or service. For example car spoilers or even Porsche 911 spoilers.
So why niches are so important?
So you are new to the whole “make money online” thing and you decided to start a new website on cars. Its a very large and competitive market. You simply won’t be able to compete. If you go for Porsche 911 spoilers on the other hand, you will have a chance. In fact, with a bit of work you should be able to achieve top SERPs in a few months time.
Fair enough. You will never get millions of visitors a day searching for Porsche 911 spoilers but you will definitely be a leader in your niche and have a stable stream of visitors.
Supply and demand plays a huge role in the amount of money you can expect to make from your website. Take Adsense for example. Advertisers would bid on your advertisement space. Highest bidder would win. When demand on your advertisement space exceeds supply you can expect to make more money. Due to the nature of niche markets the ratio between supply and demand tends to be in your favour compared to wider markets. This applies to other programs. Not just Adsense.
If you have not already picked a niche you know a lot about, you can easily become and expert in that area. You will not need to make as much research to achieve the level of knowledge some larger companies have that target wider markets. Hopefully the niche you are targeting is also something you enjoy doing anyway. Why build an outdoor sports website when you only enjoy fishing?
There is also a few very important factors that you not always think about. 95% of online businesses/websites will never achieve the amount of success they would have wanted to. This is because some webmasters never see the results after trying to conquer a competitive market even after putting a LOT of time and effort in. It is also much easier to give up doing something you don’t actually enjoy doing. If you love motoring then go ahead an target a related niche. You will probably find this much more enjoyable than trying to sell loans.
Targeting a niche does not stop you from diversifying or expanding in the future. In fact it will give you a nice base. When you become a leader at Porsche 911 spoilers go for Porsche 911 sound systems etc.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Thanks for another great post. This is a great explanation and provides a valuable lesson and what a niche really is. As an internet marketer who’s worked in seo for other people’s businesses but a noobie at launching my own money making sites I really appreciate this. I’ve been researching niches lately to find some that I’m interested in and a couple that I strictly hope to make money in so this is helpful.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Also, thanks again for the Ebook on bloglinks. I hope to see some results from that campaign this month.
March 1st, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Good luck with your niche and you are welcome.
Glad you liked the Ebook. Im getting some good results myself.