It amazes me that such little hurdles can prevent people from taking the steps necessary to start a campaign.
These little hurdles go all the way back to the beginning of the process – even as far as the first step of choosing a niche.
I can’t count the number of emails that I receive that say, “My biggest problem is that I don’t know what to sell.” What they really mean is, “There’s so much to do, and I don’t know where to start.” And, of course, if you don’t choose what you’re going to sell, then you’re going to have a hard time selling it.
The first step to building a campaign is to get to know a niche. For many people, this step is already taken care of, because I am a big advocate of selling what you love. As Gary Vaynerchuk famously said, “If you love Alf, start an Alf blog! If you love Smerfs, SMERF IT UP!”
Some will disagree with me, but I believe in promotion your passions. It makes your job easier, because you already know the niche, and it allows you to work in something that you love. For example, my passions are business, baseball, healthy living/alternative medicine, and free markets economics. These are all niches that can be monetized.
Here’s a problem you might face: I may know enough about baseball to write about baseball. But I don’t know enough about baseball to be considered and EXPERT in baseball. This can pose a problem. After all, if I start blogging about what’s happening in Major League Baseball, well, I’m probably not going to get very far… I might get somewhere, but I’m outmatched by people who are professional baseball bloggers.
However, I do know a ton about the Cleveland Indians. I know the city, I know the players, I know the management, and I get to about fifteen games a year. I’m an expert on the Cleveland Indians… and now we’re narrowing down the niche. In fact, I would have no problem writing killer content that was relevant to Cleveland Indians fans while also running an e-commerce store that sold only Indians memorabilia.
Of course, this is just a fictitious example to demonstrate that your passions are often your best niches, and if that’s the case, then you already know enough about your niche to get started.
If, on the other hand, you don’t know your niche very well, or you’re diving into a new niche, here’s how you can quickly get to know the people within it and find what they are ready to buy:
The most important thing that you can do is listen. You do not have to enter into a market and ‘wow’ them… you simply need to listen to what they are already discussing and meet the market where it is.
One of the best places to do this is on a forum. If you Google “your niche + forum,” you’ll find plenty of people talking about the niche. If your niche is to improve eyesight, there are forums for that. If your niche is to gain muscle, there are forums for that.
Inside, people talk all day about their fears and frustrations, their desires, their hot points, and their buying triggers. If you listen, you can gain valuable information before you enter into the market.
Furthermore, you will have located a hub of users who are all targeted to your niche. Contribute to the community of the forum and your credibility will begin to stick.
If you’re unable to find relevant forums, then it’s time to reconsider your niche – you may not be targeting a hungry crowd. A sustainable, hungry crowd will have several forums discussing the niche.
There are also blogs, social networks, and news groups within almost every niche, and each is filled with people who are talking about what’s important to them.
If you really want to dive deep, then you can head over to Quantcast and research different websites that are relevant to the people in your niche. That will allow you to analyze the demographics of your niche and find out what types of sites they frequent.
Once you have identified the fears, desires, frustrations, interests, and hot points of your ideal customer, you can begin to put together a campaign that is ready to give the niche what it wants.
Eben Pagan talks about creating a customer avatar or profitle for your ideal customer. Once you understand your niche, create a profile for what your typical customer looks like. Besides your website, what else does he or she read? What are his or her hindrances to buying your product (or affiliate product)? What benefits is he or she looking for?
Once you do this, you can literally tailor all of your marketing efforts to your customer avatar as if you were marketing to one single person.
And if you truly understand your customer, then you can be the world’s worst salesman and still have hungry buyers knocking down your door.
Great topic Ryan,
I think finding the right niche or topic is what gets most people hung up. I know it does for me.
Quantcast is unfamiliar to me. Have you discussed this before?
Working forums is definitely something I need to step up. It gets so time consuming for me. I work a 10hr day now and time online is valuable. But I have committed to follow your steps and see if I can’t ramp up my online income.
Nice post Ryan. I’m not sure there’s much here that I haven’t heard you say before, but it took me till the end of the post to realize that, which means it was well written.
Good post again Ryan. I’d like to add though that while following your passion is a great way to start, some may have friends who are experts in a particular field which they can “borrow” their expertise from and use that resource as content.
@Denise, as for forums, you don’t have to spend hours on a forum, just 15 minutes or less and pick a topic which you’d like to discuss on and expand on it. Then let the discussion flow and keep the conversation going day after day. It’ll build your credibility overtime.
Good insight Ryan. I also believe that if you know your niche it is much easier to get into because you already know it. But you can literally make money in any niche online if you learn the customer-many people starting out simply have a tough time even picking a niche i think because they get so overwhelmed.
Thanks for the reminder about the forums, Ryan. I’d totally forgotten about them. You’re right about ‘what to sell’ being a big hurdle. I’ve been with you for almost a year & have the ‘how to’ down in my head but when it comes to ‘what do I sell?’ I hit the wall. Time to check out some forums!
PS Just joined WA so between you and the folks over there I will get focused on my business.
Great post Ryan and very relevant. Too many people have what I call analysis paralysis and stop before they even start.
Internet marketing, like any other legitimate business opportunity, requires work and commitment.
I can guarantee 100% that you will succeed as long as you never quit.
Nice tutorial for the newbies and amateur marketer.
Please write more tips for the noobs.
Thanks Ryan.
Thanks Ryan!
Another angle on the paralysis for selecting a niche: is there an affiliate product available to sell? Or better yet: is it a good product?
Following an interest is right, but matching that with a product is where many get stuck.
Keep up the good work, man!
Awesome insight Ryan now for the implimentation part, thanks a bunch Warmest Regards Stan Yeryk
Hey Ryan, very nice post !
Forums are without a doubt the best way to get to know your market;
This is where the real people talk about the real ‘stuff’ with people who might have been, at some point or another, into a very similar situation.
You’ll easily be able to understand the state of mind of someone in a particular niche by reading forums..
Looking forward to more
Great post Ryan. I think Travis Sago was the one who proved that it is so important to understand the people in your niche. what they want, what their problems are, what their emotional hot bottons are, etc. etc. then find a product that will solve that problem. While incorporating those emotional hot bottoms into your adcopy. even though I have learned this lesson I have yet to take action on it. Just being honest. I guess I was always looking for the next best product out their and never really applying what I have learned in IM. Plus its summer and I just want to hang out maybe I will be more serious about this IM when fall comes around. But Ryan you Rock dude! I wish you the best, keep the value coming dude!
Thanks Ryan, you always put up great content, thanks again!
I agree about getting to know your niche and finding out what the hot buttons are etc. . . .at the same time i have seen a lot of people ruin their passion or hobby by trying to make money with it.
so i think that part of it depends on the individual whether they should market their passion or not.
for me i stay with products that i am not passionate about on a personal level but that i can see a hungry crowd for . .but that’s just me, internet marketing is a business to me not a hobby
thanks for the post ryan
Hi Ryan, thanks for the good information; it definitely gives us something to think about.
Looking forward to hearing from you again.
Take care and God bless.
Ryan, Great blog post. I agree. I spent hours and days researching nickes, and decided to do what I know best for my first endouver. Special Education is my passion and that is where I am going. Thanks for continuuing to motivate me.
Hey Ryan,
I’ve got this thing against the big names like Eben Pagan that prevents me from improving myself as an Internet Marketer. I just find that they’re not in touch with the little guys like me, trying to break into markets and establish a successful, automated and profitable campaign.
That’s where people like you come in. I guess I can’t help but trust you more since you’re closer to my age and well truth be told, you’re not a big a name as him yet. That’s a compliment by the way. You’re more in touch with us. So thanks for being you. =]
Johnson.
Hi, Ryan!
I read your post but usually don’t comment. However, I thought this was a key point that had been pushed for years but everybody ignores. We should develop what we know first. Later we can learn about other areas and push products there.
Thinking about going up to the Tetons again and look at that mountain not named after your great uncle.
John
John T. Jones, Ph.D.
http://www.squidoo.com/tjbooks
Twitter: tjbooks
Good post. I totally agree with you, that you should go with your passion. It’s going to be difficult writing with enthusiasm about something you don’t care about.
Thanks for sharing.
i am a skilled carpenter i started a small shop and it colepsed due to lack of enough capital and good market for finished furniture.
how can i come up again?
Awesome advice, Ryan. I always say that interest and passion trump expert status ANY day!
As for forums, I’ll add this tip:
Look for the threads that have either a) the most views, or b) the most replies. You can tell this from a quick scan on a forum. Threads with a lot of views obviously have a subject line or topic of great interest. Worth noting. Threads with a lot of replies compelled readers to take action (respond). Also worth noting.
Looking forward to the next post in this series!
Very good post Ryan..You hit dead center on this topic.
Ryan
A really great post. Yes, I agree that it would be productive to market a nitce that you have a passion for and or much knowledge about
I enjoyed your article, but I wonder if anyone else saw what I did?
When you write, you come across in a conversational tone that is easy to understand, and that your readers can easily absorb.
Your passion for the topic comes across as a result, and draws people in further.
This is what a lot of marketers don’t understand. It’s not just the niche that is important, but how you present to your market!
A great well written post, thank you!
Allan (@Ozegold on Twitter)
hi ryan
very informative post. simple but productive
Good information and we all need a reminder at times. Finding your niche works so much better than using a shot gun approach for marketing.
Market Research>>Market Understanding>>Market Leader. I think these are the main 3 steps to succeed in your niche nowadays.
Finding a Niche you are passionate about is very important. Like you said, you want to become an expert in something you know alot about. Keep writing Ryan…good content.
You have a great sense for how to relay information to people. Thanks, as always, for your advice. One correction however … You spelled Smurfs wrong. Sorry man. Had to tell you.
Hi Ryan, Thanks for the great info. Ryan why not have a section for replies and also a section for troubleshooting problems (questions)that we may be experiencing? We need to hear not only from you ,but those who have cleared certain hurdles in the “Business”!
BY THE WAY – I AM POSSIBLY YOUR BIGGEST FAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[...] You Start: Elbow Grease Step One: Get To Know Your Niche Step Two: Finding Affiliate Products Step Three: Build A Basic Website Step Four: Test the Market [...]
Great blog. I have been wearing glasses for most of my life and have just recently discovered the dr. Bates program for eyesight improvement. The results are great!