I've heard many people talk about the importance of finding
a niche & sticking to it. Well that sounds great, but
I guarantee that if it starts making any money, other internet
marketers will take notice and within just a year or two
you might find that 100's or even 1000's have duplicated
the concept and maybe a few capitalizing on it better than
you. This will put a huge squeeze on your visibility and
profits.
It can become extremely difficult to dominate a market when
competition gets that out of control. I should know because
it happened to me twice with some key niches that didn't
even exist until I put them on the map, and even long before
the popularity of the word! Hey, I'm not tooting my own horn
here. This is about helping you see the big picture. Yes,
those niches are profitable, but it is a mistake to focus
on just one and hope that 5 years from now you'll still be
king of the mountain.
If you do manage to dominate the market, then great, but
you need to constantly evaluate the status of the market
and know when and if it's time to go in another direction.
For example, if you start to see 50 other websites popping
up that you know you can't compete with (lack of resources,
employees, programming skills, etc.) then that is your first
indication that you need to work on a backup plan if you
don't already have one. This is not to say you should give
up completely. It's simply a red flag letting you know that
very soon you will have more competition than you ever imagined
or can handle.
Ideally, you will invest time into developing a number of
unique niches over time so that if one does flop, you have
the others to carry the burden. I actually have come to believe
that internet marketing is all about building one empire
after another. It's the same theory as managing a stock portfolio.
A diversified portfolio will have both winners and losers
- that's life. The trick is to make sure that you have more
gains than losses, so that if one stock fails, the profits
from other ones make up for it.
Another thing you will want to do is not advertise what
you're doing with other internet marketers. If they are not
your target audience, then why would you? One of the biggest
mistakes I see being made is groups of people who are all
in the same niche, comparing new product ideas with each
other and sharing tips. Huh? Help the competition? I, for
one have certainly done enough "sharing" in the past and
regretted it. People who I thought were friends turned out
to be vultures. If you happen to have a lot of really good
ideas and a natural edge in internet marketing, I guarantee
that people will line up for a piece of it, and claim it
as their own.
Niche building does have it's rewards, both in profits and
establishing your expertise on a topic. But it also comes
with it's own set of problems which really need to be considered
if you want to maintain your level of success online.
Carole Nickerson has been a successful internet marketer
since 1998. To learn more about internet marketing, affiliate
programs and making money online, visit:
http://www.wealthaddict.com or
post a message at the Virtual Moolah Blog at:
http://making-money-online.blogspot.com
