by Roy Primm
Question: What's a Niche?
Answer: A niche is an unmet, under-served, ignored, overlooked, or neglected need of a target group.
If your product or service can fill one of the categories listed above it could solve your money problems forever. So, read this article carefully. It will help you recognize niche opportunities others normally walk over. Now you can pick up the niche and money others leave on the "niche opportunity tables!" Sound good so far?
But, before we start our journey on how to find a niche idea, let's find out the kind of niche we need. We don't want just any kind of niche (That's right - all niches are not created equal).
Our goal should always be to do something the competition isn't doing or something the competition isn't doing as well as we are. That's the kind of market niche that attracts money the quickest?
Your job as an entrepreneur is to fill an unmet, overlooked, ignored, or under-served niche - quick and hard.
So, to focus your thinking I've developed a group of questions you should constantly be asking yourself.
These questions will help you recognize niche opportunities you may otherwise overlook, neglect or ignore. You should constantly be asking these questions. They'll help to keep your mind alert to niche opportunities your competition may not see.
The questions will also give you an added benefit of helping you to stay alert, creative and free from rut thinking.
Many businesses trapped by rut thinking, neglect opportunities everyday. You'll soon be like a chiseled, quick jabbing prizefighter - boxing a slow lead footed challenger, when it comes to spotting niche opportunities.
Moneymaking niche opportunities that others can't see will be as obvious as Mt. Everest to you. Do you think that would give you an advantage over your competitors? You bet it would.
Many benefits will come naturally from asking the following self-questions.
Remember, these questions aren't meant to be a one-shot deal. As long as you want to recognize niche opportunities, that's how long and often you should be asking yourself these questions.
As long as you want to stay in business, that's how long you should be asking yourself these questions.
So if you're ready let's go!
A. Research Your Competition
1. How many products and services are they offering?
2. Where are they doing business?
3. How much of the market do they have?
4. What's the size of their customer base?
5. How big is your competition?
6. What are their strengths?
7. What are their weaknesses?
8. What don't they like to do? Or what do they neglect to do ... that you can do better?
9. What market are they not serving that you could serve? Teens, seniors, women, men, etc.
B. Research Your Target Market
1. What are their primary needs?
2. What needs do they have that your competitors aren't filling?
3. What needs do you anticipate they may have in the future that you can fill?
4. Do you have an ongoing program that gauges their needs and problems?
5. What do they want more of?
6. What do they want less of?
7. What can you do now to make it more convenient for them to buy your product or service?
8. What can you do now to create more repeat business?
9. What can you do now to create more referrals from satisfied customers?
By reviewing the previous questions, you'll be doing more to help yourself recognize more niche opportunities than anything else you could do. Use them as a starting point to spark your imagination.
You'll soon discover that as you begin to use and answer the suggested questions they will start to motivate you to ask more questions. Questions that are more specific to your individual business, product, or service.
You're now poised to recognize niche opportunities you've been overlooking. Congratulations! Now get to work!
Saturday, December 2, 2017
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
What's Replacing Get Rich Plans? Get Niche Plans
About the Author:
Roy Primm helps you improve your niche finding and development skills with Free Niche Idea Course. Conquer and dominate your market by finding hidden niches. Don't wait go now to TheNicheMan.com
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Global eCommerce Growth Patterns
by Cadyna M.
Ecommerce has become one of the mainstays for online players and the double digit growth figures tell a good story. Year-on-Year growth in global ecommerce has been growing at more than 40% per annum. Though the data provided above is a bit dated, the growth has slowed down only by a few points and that does not really matter as the absolute figure now runs into '00s of billion dollars. Some of the encouraging signs for this growth stem from the fact that:
1) Many brick and mortar services such as financial services have moved on to the internet in a big way in the last few years. Banking, trading and a whole gamut of online financial services have helped increase the growth of online commerce.
2) Steady investments have gone into making the internet a secure place to transact in. Secured servers, encryption technology have made online transaction safer than they were 5 years ago. Other than that, increase in broadband availability, city-level Wi-Fi networks (specially in the US) have made it possible for users to access the internet very easily.
3) Small businesses are yet to go online and make ecommerce an important aspect of their bottom-line. In September 2007, Small Business Research Board eCommerce Study further confirmed the fact that 30% of small businesses were expecting online sales to increase significantly in the next 12 to 24 months.
America continues to lead in the ecommerce race with more and more Americans booking travel, completing their financial transactions and buying day-to-day needs online. However, Europe and most of Asia are fast catching up to the ecommerce phenomenon and is likely to speed in the next couple of years
Ecommerce has become one of the mainstays for online players and the double digit growth figures tell a good story. Year-on-Year growth in global ecommerce has been growing at more than 40% per annum. Though the data provided above is a bit dated, the growth has slowed down only by a few points and that does not really matter as the absolute figure now runs into '00s of billion dollars. Some of the encouraging signs for this growth stem from the fact that:
1) Many brick and mortar services such as financial services have moved on to the internet in a big way in the last few years. Banking, trading and a whole gamut of online financial services have helped increase the growth of online commerce.
2) Steady investments have gone into making the internet a secure place to transact in. Secured servers, encryption technology have made online transaction safer than they were 5 years ago. Other than that, increase in broadband availability, city-level Wi-Fi networks (specially in the US) have made it possible for users to access the internet very easily.
3) Small businesses are yet to go online and make ecommerce an important aspect of their bottom-line. In September 2007, Small Business Research Board eCommerce Study further confirmed the fact that 30% of small businesses were expecting online sales to increase significantly in the next 12 to 24 months.
America continues to lead in the ecommerce race with more and more Americans booking travel, completing their financial transactions and buying day-to-day needs online. However, Europe and most of Asia are fast catching up to the ecommerce phenomenon and is likely to speed in the next couple of years
Changing trends in eCommerce
by CADYNA M.
Throughout the world, eCommerce spending is increasing at a steady clip and is expected to exceed $7 trillion in 2008. As consumers increasingly opt for virtual stores over traditional brick-and-mortar ones, the manner in which buyers and sellers interact is also undergoing a paradigm shift. James Kuczmarski has an inserting take on this changing phenomenon, which he expressed in the business magazine Fast Company (April 2008). A quick look at his views on the matter:
• A survey was conducted by Pui-lai To (writing in Technovation) with an intention to discover why consumers were increasingly shifting online to address their buying needs. Pui-lai distributed questionnaires relating to shopping incentives to over 200 students and workers from Taiwan. Cost, convenience and the variety of selection were the expected answers; but what was new was the satisfaction of the users while using this new technology and the sense of adventure associated with trying out this new mode of shopping. Pui-lai calls these "hedonistic motivations"; and it was also noticed that consumers prone to these kinds of motivations had an inclination toward impulse buying when online. Knowing this, online sellers are designing their websites in such a manner that appeals to the sense of adventure and technological competence of these buyers.
• Looks matter! While many consumers are still concerned about online security and poor vendor reliability, it has been noticed that these concerns are generally reduced when the customers comes across well-designed websites. They are more comfortable while buying form sites that project an aura of professionalism. Also, trust increases when the website is easy to navigate and is user-friendly in other ways (e.g, uses rich web applications intelligently). Comfort leads to an increase in the trust factor, which ultimately leads to more purchases.
• Negative reviews can easily be overruled by positive experiences. In the online world, perceptions are volatile and prone to change fast. So even if a vendor has got a not-so-good review, the effects can be negated if the Internet shoppers have a positive, personal experience.
eCommerce, in spite of its recent gains, is still in its infancy. As more people come online, the more will the dynamics between the buyer and the seller change. But one thing seems certain – online shopping is growing fast, and there’s no turning back!
Throughout the world, eCommerce spending is increasing at a steady clip and is expected to exceed $7 trillion in 2008. As consumers increasingly opt for virtual stores over traditional brick-and-mortar ones, the manner in which buyers and sellers interact is also undergoing a paradigm shift. James Kuczmarski has an inserting take on this changing phenomenon, which he expressed in the business magazine Fast Company (April 2008). A quick look at his views on the matter:
• A survey was conducted by Pui-lai To (writing in Technovation) with an intention to discover why consumers were increasingly shifting online to address their buying needs. Pui-lai distributed questionnaires relating to shopping incentives to over 200 students and workers from Taiwan. Cost, convenience and the variety of selection were the expected answers; but what was new was the satisfaction of the users while using this new technology and the sense of adventure associated with trying out this new mode of shopping. Pui-lai calls these "hedonistic motivations"; and it was also noticed that consumers prone to these kinds of motivations had an inclination toward impulse buying when online. Knowing this, online sellers are designing their websites in such a manner that appeals to the sense of adventure and technological competence of these buyers.
• Looks matter! While many consumers are still concerned about online security and poor vendor reliability, it has been noticed that these concerns are generally reduced when the customers comes across well-designed websites. They are more comfortable while buying form sites that project an aura of professionalism. Also, trust increases when the website is easy to navigate and is user-friendly in other ways (e.g, uses rich web applications intelligently). Comfort leads to an increase in the trust factor, which ultimately leads to more purchases.
• Negative reviews can easily be overruled by positive experiences. In the online world, perceptions are volatile and prone to change fast. So even if a vendor has got a not-so-good review, the effects can be negated if the Internet shoppers have a positive, personal experience.
eCommerce, in spite of its recent gains, is still in its infancy. As more people come online, the more will the dynamics between the buyer and the seller change. But one thing seems certain – online shopping is growing fast, and there’s no turning back!
Monday, December 8, 2008
eCommerce Tips
eCommerce Tips
The 5 Habits of Highly Effective eCommerce Stores
by register.com - WEB BUSINESS MONTHLY Newsletter
1. Think like a consumer, and put your products in more than one category. The online businesses that make their goods and services easy to find reap rewards in two ways: People purchase more and they experience greater overall satisfaction with the Web site. Consider up sell and cross sell opportunities by offering products that make logical sense together. If you sell paintings and frames, show the frames that best complement the paintings. If you sell a line of products that have a wide range of prices, show the progression from the least expensive to the most expensive. Customers may choose to purchase the higher priced items if they're presented as options.
2. Keep it simple. Many people cite overly complicated navigation or too many pages in the purchase path as reasons they don't complete their online sale or abandon their shopping cart. Successful eCommerce sites simplify the checkout process and display clear pricing and shipping information. They also post clear return policies and access to customer service. Putting your brick and mortar store's phone number in a visible place on your Web site is a good idea. Studies suggest that consumers feel more confident knowing you're just a phone call away if they have a question or if there's a problem with their order.
3. A picture really is worth a thousand words, so use photos of your products and go easy on the text. Online usability studies suggest that people do not read; they scan. It's 25% harder to read on the Web, so keep these guidelines in mind for optimum readability: Headlines should be 8 words or less, shoot for 9-12 words on a line (people don't want to read across the entire screen), keep sentences short (15-20 words) and try to keep summaries under 30 words and hold paragraphs to 40-70 words. In this way you can maintain compelling product descriptions alongside your product offerings.
4. Market your site once it's live. It's not enough to just build a Web site. You need to make an effort to market and promote your Web site to new and existing customers. Collect email addresses on your site to help you keep in touch with customers and consider creating a newsletter. Seek links from other sites that complement yours. Optimize your site's content for relevance and submit it to the major search engines. With ProStore, you've got an incredible built-in marketing opportunity in that you can promote your products to millions of eBay customers. Take advantage of this capability to reach a whole new set of customers.
5. Make payment processing easy. Online shoppers need a way to give you money online. That's easy these days. You can accept credit card payments with either a PayPal account or an online merchant account. PayPal is ideal for anyone trying out the eCommerce waters since there's less of an upfront commitment, but you may end up paying more per transaction. If you know from the beginning you're going to have strong sales and lots of online transactions each month, you may want to consider setting up an online merchant account. The thing to note about PayPal is that both the buyer and the seller need a PayPal account, but that's hardly a barrier to entry. It's so easy to create a PayPal account that more than 96 million consumer accounts have been created at PayPal since it was founded in 1998 and it's estimated that PayPal has a 24% share of all U.S. online payments.
The 5 Habits of Highly Effective eCommerce Stores
by register.com - WEB BUSINESS MONTHLY Newsletter
1. Think like a consumer, and put your products in more than one category. The online businesses that make their goods and services easy to find reap rewards in two ways: People purchase more and they experience greater overall satisfaction with the Web site. Consider up sell and cross sell opportunities by offering products that make logical sense together. If you sell paintings and frames, show the frames that best complement the paintings. If you sell a line of products that have a wide range of prices, show the progression from the least expensive to the most expensive. Customers may choose to purchase the higher priced items if they're presented as options.
2. Keep it simple. Many people cite overly complicated navigation or too many pages in the purchase path as reasons they don't complete their online sale or abandon their shopping cart. Successful eCommerce sites simplify the checkout process and display clear pricing and shipping information. They also post clear return policies and access to customer service. Putting your brick and mortar store's phone number in a visible place on your Web site is a good idea. Studies suggest that consumers feel more confident knowing you're just a phone call away if they have a question or if there's a problem with their order.
3. A picture really is worth a thousand words, so use photos of your products and go easy on the text. Online usability studies suggest that people do not read; they scan. It's 25% harder to read on the Web, so keep these guidelines in mind for optimum readability: Headlines should be 8 words or less, shoot for 9-12 words on a line (people don't want to read across the entire screen), keep sentences short (15-20 words) and try to keep summaries under 30 words and hold paragraphs to 40-70 words. In this way you can maintain compelling product descriptions alongside your product offerings.
4. Market your site once it's live. It's not enough to just build a Web site. You need to make an effort to market and promote your Web site to new and existing customers. Collect email addresses on your site to help you keep in touch with customers and consider creating a newsletter. Seek links from other sites that complement yours. Optimize your site's content for relevance and submit it to the major search engines. With ProStore, you've got an incredible built-in marketing opportunity in that you can promote your products to millions of eBay customers. Take advantage of this capability to reach a whole new set of customers.
5. Make payment processing easy. Online shoppers need a way to give you money online. That's easy these days. You can accept credit card payments with either a PayPal account or an online merchant account. PayPal is ideal for anyone trying out the eCommerce waters since there's less of an upfront commitment, but you may end up paying more per transaction. If you know from the beginning you're going to have strong sales and lots of online transactions each month, you may want to consider setting up an online merchant account. The thing to note about PayPal is that both the buyer and the seller need a PayPal account, but that's hardly a barrier to entry. It's so easy to create a PayPal account that more than 96 million consumer accounts have been created at PayPal since it was founded in 1998 and it's estimated that PayPal has a 24% share of all U.S. online payments.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Best Hosting - IMHO
Media Temple has been wonderful. Most tech issues are answered within a few hours. I am hosting serveral websites and have had zero down time. Impressive!!
15 e-commerce Tips
#1 - Where am I?
Whenever a user is navigating inside a store with more than 1 sub-level of navigation, it's critical to show them where in the site structure they are. This should be accomplished with headlines, sub-headers and breadcrumbs (e.g. Home > Category > Sub-Category > Product).
#2 - Navigation
When a user starts to "narrow" their navigation inside a particular category (in this case by selecting a specific designer), it's only right to allow them to remove those navigation selections rather than forcing the use of repetitive "back button" clicks.
#3 - Allow Sorting
The standards are "Price - low to high," "Price - high to low," "Popularity," aka "Best Selling," "Featured," "User Ratings" and "New" or "Latest."
#4 - Show the Products
Unless you've got more than 200 products total in a sub-category, it's only right to offer the user the option of seeing every product on one page.
#5 - Refining Options
If you can provide the user with a useful refinement option, you've made their experience better. In the instance of sizing, this is particularly important, as users loathe finding that "perfect" piece of apparel, only to discover you don't carry it in their size.
#6 - The More Specifics, the Better
#7 serves to illustrate a difference between refining your browsing in a section vs. navigating to a new sub-category. Offering the latter as an option where relevant and valuable is a wise decision.
#7 - What does it Costs & What I'm Saving?
Some product category pages shows items without the detail users are craving. It's particularly important for discount sites to show pricing, but nearly every website can benefit from providing an extra bit of detail before the click to the product page. Tell them materials, give a tiny description or list the sizes/colors/options you have in stock.
#8 - Search Bar Access
When a search has been performed, don't just show the search and the results, do like the engines and make the search bar front and center, while maintaining the user's query in the box for potential modification.
#9 - Search Refinement Options
If you have an advanced search system, or can allow users to select prices, options, colors, sizes, models, do it. Your bottom line will thank you - users often rate "search" as the most frustrating part of many e-commerce sites.
#10 - Critical Information
Many products are designed to "fit" certain criteria, whether it's a laptop or a body with clothes. In every instance of potential matches, show the critical information in the product details.
#11 - Stock Availability
There are still sites out there that let you click "add to cart" or even "checkout" before discovering the awful truth - not in stock.
#12 - More Photos
Since you don't get to see the item in real life, photos, reviews, videos and even fancy, 3D interfaces are invaluable to helping the user feel like they've "experienced" the product prior to purchase.
#13 - Delivery Options and Return Policies
It's best to make the link obvious in the permanent navigation.
#14 - Email Receipt
Rather than leaving customers in the dark, notify them immediately of the order via email.
#15 - Give All the Order Details ASAP
When you send out order confirmations, make sure to include all of the product details to re-assure the buyer that they've selected properly. If I accidentally ordered the size 9 instead of size 8, I want to be able to fix it before the package arrives.
Whenever a user is navigating inside a store with more than 1 sub-level of navigation, it's critical to show them where in the site structure they are. This should be accomplished with headlines, sub-headers and breadcrumbs (e.g. Home > Category > Sub-Category > Product).
#2 - Navigation
When a user starts to "narrow" their navigation inside a particular category (in this case by selecting a specific designer), it's only right to allow them to remove those navigation selections rather than forcing the use of repetitive "back button" clicks.
#3 - Allow Sorting
The standards are "Price - low to high," "Price - high to low," "Popularity," aka "Best Selling," "Featured," "User Ratings" and "New" or "Latest."
#4 - Show the Products
Unless you've got more than 200 products total in a sub-category, it's only right to offer the user the option of seeing every product on one page.
#5 - Refining Options
If you can provide the user with a useful refinement option, you've made their experience better. In the instance of sizing, this is particularly important, as users loathe finding that "perfect" piece of apparel, only to discover you don't carry it in their size.
#6 - The More Specifics, the Better
#7 serves to illustrate a difference between refining your browsing in a section vs. navigating to a new sub-category. Offering the latter as an option where relevant and valuable is a wise decision.
#7 - What does it Costs & What I'm Saving?
Some product category pages shows items without the detail users are craving. It's particularly important for discount sites to show pricing, but nearly every website can benefit from providing an extra bit of detail before the click to the product page. Tell them materials, give a tiny description or list the sizes/colors/options you have in stock.
#8 - Search Bar Access
When a search has been performed, don't just show the search and the results, do like the engines and make the search bar front and center, while maintaining the user's query in the box for potential modification.
#9 - Search Refinement Options
If you have an advanced search system, or can allow users to select prices, options, colors, sizes, models, do it. Your bottom line will thank you - users often rate "search" as the most frustrating part of many e-commerce sites.
#10 - Critical Information
Many products are designed to "fit" certain criteria, whether it's a laptop or a body with clothes. In every instance of potential matches, show the critical information in the product details.
#11 - Stock Availability
There are still sites out there that let you click "add to cart" or even "checkout" before discovering the awful truth - not in stock.
#12 - More Photos
Since you don't get to see the item in real life, photos, reviews, videos and even fancy, 3D interfaces are invaluable to helping the user feel like they've "experienced" the product prior to purchase.
#13 - Delivery Options and Return Policies
It's best to make the link obvious in the permanent navigation.
#14 - Email Receipt
Rather than leaving customers in the dark, notify them immediately of the order via email.
#15 - Give All the Order Details ASAP
When you send out order confirmations, make sure to include all of the product details to re-assure the buyer that they've selected properly. If I accidentally ordered the size 9 instead of size 8, I want to be able to fix it before the package arrives.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Great Freelance Tool
Fresh Books is an online time tracking / invoicing program. I wrote a case study years ago on it:
If you are freelance, you really need to check this out!
eCommerce Checklist
ECOMMERCE CHECKLIST
Step 1 Products
- Product Keywords, Title and Descriptions – good product descriptions and titles are vital to be successful.
- Size and Variations - for example, “small, medium and large” or “red, blue and green”.
- Product Images - A thumbnail and a large version of each product are required. The sizes are unimportant as long as you remain consistent on the thumbnails, for example, 100x100 or 150x200. Catalogs look better when the thumbnails are consistent in size. The larger image can be any size you desire as long as the resolution is 72 dpi. Some shopping carts allow up to four images per product for the larger, detailed pages.
- Pricing Information – base price, B2B price, volume pricing, static pricing, prices of various options, etc.
Step 2 Payment Methods
- Merchant Account - Necessary for any credit card authorizations online or Brick and Mortar. Required for any credit and ATM/debit card processing, check guarantee services, purchasing card programs and electronic commerce.
- Payment Gateway Provider - Necessary for real-time online authorizations. Internet Protocol (IP) payment gateway services that enable merchants to authorize, settle and manage credit card or electronic check transactions anytime, anywhere.
- Business Bank Account - necessary for any business.
Step 3 Currency
- What currencies do you need to support?
- Does your merchant account / payment gateway provide support your required currencies?
Step 4 Taxes
- What state / country will operations be based out of? Does the company have more than 1 “node” (an office, warehouse, or distribution center)? if yes, where?
- What is the sales tax rate (or VAT if you are in Europe) in your state or country?
Step 5 Shipping
- Package tracking via UPS, Fedex or USPS.
- What carriers will you use? USPS, Fedex, UPS, DHL, etc.
- How will you charge for shipping? By value, by weight, a fixed rate based or a formula?
- Will you allow international shipment? If so, how much will you charge?
- Will the customer be responsible for paying customs charges?
Step 6 Technology Requirements
- Do you have any technology requirements as far as a programming languages (ColdFusion, PHP, ASP), operating platforms (Unix vs. Windows), or database platform (MS Access vs. MySQL vs. MS SQL)?
- Do you have/need your own dedicated server, or do you need a hosting provider?
- Do you have adequate space for your product catalog images?
Step 7 User Experience
- Will you want your customers to have the ability to register with a username and password so that customers can view previous order history and track orders?
- Will your site require a search engine for finding products, articles, etc?
- Will you have a newsletter for users to subscribe to? Will they be able to manage their own subscriptions? Will it be HTML formatted?
- Will you have sales and specials?
- Will you offer discounts or promotions?
- Will you have affiliates?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
