• 1. Scalability- This depends hugely on the tasks mentioned in the first and the fifth point in the list, i.e. finding the demand and researching article directories. Scalability is a lot about long-term need of the niche. Its also about whether there is a possibility to expand in that niche.  This is a key criterion I persist with. Although it’s not really simple to anticipate scalability of any new niche, finding such a niche can be a difference between huge profits or mediocre results.

• Digital Product- We are living in an age of information. Increasing number of online entrepreneurs are engaged in selling/promoting digital goods. It always pays to investigate whether your chosen niche has a potential to sell digital products. Internet is information-based medium. Most people flock it to access information. So, its really hard to find a niche with no scope for digital selling. Still some are better placed than others. That’s what you have to find out. Check places like, Clickbank and E-junkie for existing digital goods.

• Existing Affiliate Products- Unless you are looking for strictly an advertisement-based business model, you will need affiliate product to sell. Following up from the previous point, you will need products/services to sell. They could be yours, or, someone else. Researching in advance about existing affiliate products is a good indication of niche popularity. If there are a lot of products, you can presume that there is a vibrant existing market. Lack of existing options to sell/promote in a particular niche combined with a low demand normally means you got to ignore it.

• Authority Sites: If you can find a niche, which has huge demand, low competition, which is not too complicated to create content, with good scalability and a thriving affiliate scene than you have hit the jackpot. Only thing remains to be asked from the Genii is a lack of a clear authority site/blog in that niche. Because if you have identified an ideal niche with no clear winner, you have an unparallel opportunity to rule that niche for years.

• Adsense Income- With all things being equal, I will pick a niche with higher paying Adsense keywords. How do you find that? There is no exact way, because Google/Yahoo can never disclose that. A fair indication is again given by Google’s Adwords Keyword tool. Try to find a keyword’s CPC ( cost per click) as if you are an advertiser. Keywords with higher CPC generally earn higher Adsense click commission. There are a thousand metrics involved in assessing a content-click cost to be paid to the publisher, but this CPC formula gives a fairly good idea.

I hope this comprehensive list will give you enough ideas to arrive at that perfect niche. I am always talking to affilate marketers about ways they spot a winner. Trust me, these ten steps form the bulk of research strategy of those who are churning the best moolah.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Please Bookmark This Post If You Liked It

Hide Sites

How To Find a Profitable Niche

If you know how to leverage the power of the internet to generate revenue by selling stuff, you probably already have a site or a group of sites. Whether you are an Ebay seller with your own site, or, a reseller makes no difference at all. If you are in profit, you must have found the formula to do business successfully online. Now the next stage is replicating this success by selling even more stuff. Building your second site. Starting your next ecommerce store.

The big question is what to sell next? You already know the technical side of an ecommerce business. You understand the traffic generation and conversion stuff. To move on to another product you need to make sure there is a market for it. You must take stock of the competition. How is the profit margin? Whether to source it from a manufacturer, if it’s a physical product, or, do affiliate selling? Can you rely completely on a non-selling model and earn from advertising alone ( Adsense etc.) ? Is there a scope for a digital/multimedia product (software, ebook, report, video/audio training) in that niche?

To answer these questions I have developed a process of 10 steps. I use this exact list to determine a niche I am going to dive-in. This is by far the most comprehensive list you could find online to dig a really profitable niche.

1. Demand- This is obvious, without a demand for your product it’s silly to try and sell it. We need to know exactly how many people online are searching for the stuff we can offer. Simplest and best tool to find out search demands online is Google Adwords Tool . The tool will also show you variations of key phrases you type. So you’ll a bigger picture and a lot of ideas. For more keen users Wordtracker is one of the best keyword-research tool out there. This exercise should give you factual number of searched being done for your niche. Write it down.
2. Competition- Demand/Supply rule works for online businesses as well. Now we understand what’s the demand for your niche, lets gauge the existing supply/competition. Search engines are again the best to find this out. I try to use Bing and Google both. Type in the most generic phrase describing your niche. Suppose it’s , ‘ tennis elbow’. In Google, the top right-hand corner shows the number of results returned. This is the amount of competition. Remember this is for the general phrase, ‘tennis elbow’. If you type in ‘tennis elbow treatment’, the number will go down. More specific you get, lesser the competition. These longer and more specific niche phrases are called long-tail keywords. So, choose your keyphrase describing your niche best and note the competition figure.
3. Your Interest- Without your inherent interest in the topic of your next blog/site, it’ll be really cumbersome. We are not looking for a hobby site, of course it’s a business but without some sort of knowledge and interest you won’t be abl eto pull it off. Try building an art history/criticism blog when the only time in your life you heard about The Last Supper was in a tom Hanks film. Point is that you do need some basic knowledge and interest in the niche.
4. Content Generation- Niche sites are built upon the premises of consistent content funnelling. Big question to ask when you are deciding upon the niche is- Can I gather enough content over a period of time? Can I write it myself? Can I arrange it from ghost writers/freelancers? Is it a really complex topic and only people who can write content for me are NASA scientists? You get the point. Clear the content strategy right here at this stage.
5. Popularity on Content Sites- Anik Singhal knows a thing or two about niche-marketing. His report on article-marketing talks at length about using Ezinearticles to research the popularity of that niche. This is important because niche sites are content driven. There can be no better place than article-directories to find out what content is popular. Anik has given an advance system to gauge the long-term and short-term potential of that niche. You can get the report for $5 if you want. Otherwise, doing a basic research on Ezinearticles/Go Articles can teach you a lot about your intended niche. ( For the records I don’t get any credit for praising Anik’s report or his system.)

The rest of the list continues in next post. Please write back what system do you guys use to find a profitable market to enter. I know there isn’t a definite system. This one nearly covers most ground. What say?

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Please Bookmark This Post If You Liked It

Hide Sites

• Over prepare, then go with the flow

When there is a really nervous event coming ahead and you can do nothing except to sweat and spend sleepless nights. There is one thing you can do- prepare, prepare and over prepare. That’s the only confidence booster in hard times. The Law of Karma/Actions says that we can’t influence results by merely worrying about them. Only way to ascertain a favorable outcome is by making sure the ‘action’ is performed right. Wouldn’t you do your homework well and prepare? Regina says, Over prepare and go with the flow.

• If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back

This is an old one. Humans have a tendency to magnify their own problems and other people’s happiness. Should be the other way round for a happy life, shouldn’t it. We tend to think my probs are the biggest and most complicate. While my friends always seem to do great.  In business situations this hurts even more. This commandment has a lot in common with a previous one- ‘Don’t compare your life with others’. The simple fact is that we just CANNOT know what’s the deal with others, what’s their life like from inside? Using the theory of relativity we can always find someone with more problems than us. Then why we tend to look at those with lesser issues than us. Its de-motivating and induces negativity. I bet you will never trade your business problems with mine. At least you know your problems better.

• No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up

The show must go on. Woody Allen has a great quote about,’ half the success is about showing up’. This also applies to having off-days or bad- days that an entrepreneur can have. Don’t let your feelings and mood dictate your business. The show must go on at all cost.

• Yield

Yield is a beautiful word. It can mean ‘to be productive’ and it can also mean ‘to give way’ or ‘to surrender’. The biggest mantra anyone can give to an entrepreneur is to be productive. To yield is to produce what it is that you are here to create. Is it money and fame for yourself, go do it. Is it a solution of an intricate problem of your clients, go provide it. The ROI of your efforts and must be produced.

The other meaning is also great. It teaches politeness and patience. The age-old dictum of let-go. Its not the rudest trees that withstand the vagaries of nature and hails, but the most polite and flexible. Conceding a small battle can often win you a major war.

• The Best is Yet To Come

Yes, the time can only improve. The ever-growing ever-improving life is the only life worth living. Every morning wake up with hope and ambitions for your business. Each day a bigger ambition and even better plans. Because, the best is yet to come. So prepare to embrace it.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Please Bookmark This Post If You Liked It

Hide Sites

This reminded me of my Chartered Marketing days. And Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model. Although the model is as old as I am, I  understood a part of it in a different light while reading Chris’s email this morning. The importance of ‘barriers to entry’ part dawned upon me.

Its not only the big boys anymore who are always scouting for ways of shutting-off, or, controlling new entrants. Of course, the artificially created ‘barriers’ to stop new entrants from entering an industry, often fall under vigilance, sometimes rightly so. Buy-outs of small start-ups by big players will always continue. That’s not the point here.

The point I am trying to understand is, how can small entrepreneurs raise legit ‘barriers to entry’ within their niche? How can they ensure that the new entrant threat is kept at a constant low? What can they do within their business model to make any head-on new competitor sweat harder?

Answers.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Please Bookmark This Post If You Liked It

Hide Sites

I have been told numerous times that the universal laws of life also apply to business and entrepreneurship. After all it’s a journey as well, they say. An unknown one for most.

When I received this email list with life’s lessons by one Regina Brett, who apparently is 90 years old , I realised how important understanding life could be to understanding your business behaviour.

Lets see if we can find out things to apply to our entrepreneurial mindset.

• When in Doubt Just Take the Next Small Step

How true! You are not sure about that crucial meeting with venture capitalists. You have been asked to pitch the idea informally to the board. Money is on the table. Nervous.

Take the next small step. Sit down and relax. Chalk out an outline. Fill it with words. Throw-in some facts. Expand it. Expand it more. When you think you have everything covered, trim it down to a 10-minute pitch. Find out a one-line statement that’ll aptly describe your idea. Was it hard this way, one tiny step a time?

• You dn’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Vendors, existing clients, and even your own colleagues/staff- they all will infuriate you from time to time with their view diagonally opposite to yours. What do you do? Annoy, yourself and them with your insistence. Learn to agree to disagree if it doesn’t cost you more than the medallion of an argument-winner. Sometimes keeping your argumentative head aside can help you see views you might have shut-off previously.

• Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

This is a crucial entrepreneurial behavior concept. There are people who’ll be inspired by a Kevin Rose or a Mark Zuckerberg breed of entrepreneurs. And there are those who, ever so cruelly, continuously pit themselves against entrepreneurs who have done better in less time. You simply dn’t know their version of the story. You have your own journey. Peddle yours with smile not envy.

• If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it

I would extend it to say that in business situation any act that needs to be kept secret mustn’t involve you. The eventual danger-to-profit ratio of a secret sneaky act always tilts hugely towards the wrong end of the scale. Your business is not a Victorian romantic saga requiring the heart-stirring secrets to keep the readers amused. Stay away.

• Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful

Dave Allen of Get Things Done fame would be rather pleased with this one. Look around your office right this moment to test this statement. Files, computers,  wall-clock, furniture, empty coffee mugs, etc etc. Is there anything there that’s not beautiful, or, useful, or joyful? Get rid of it. It’s a negative bundle of energy. This applies well to your life. This applies to your business relations. This applies to anything that you have to maintain and manage- stuff, relationships, people, thoughts, and even habits.

Although I planned to serve the whole platter in one go, I soon realised that such great stuff is best served in small doses. So nest five lessons in next post.

Look forward to hear what you guys think of this.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Please Bookmark This Post If You Liked It

Hide Sites

Startus Synergy 1

Yeaps, finally I managed to put together a platform where I can get involved, on a voluntary basis, in web-mentoring. I hope to pass on my skills and insights for the benefit of budding web entrepreneurs. With some willing experts also promising to commit their valuable time, Startus Synergy 1 promises to be an interesting project.

And did I mention that its FREE. No cost to join, except, a sincere will to succeed.

This is what I expect from the program from a participant’s point of view:-

• Fasten the grip on basics. A tall building essentially needs a solid foundation, you must have heard.
• Develop a web business plan. Let you develop your own plan of action with expert inputs.
• Chalk-out a schedule of tasks required for implementing the plan.
• Brainstorm with fellow participants and mentors.
• Give you the momentum that one can lack working alone.

Places are limited, because we do not have infinite resources at our disposal. Its not going to be an ‘elite’ group, or, a ‘first come first serve’ scheme.

All applications will be chosen according to some pre-defined criteria, such as, your actual need for mentoring, present skills, clarity of thought regarding your business-goals, and, your keenness to follow the program and contribute positively.

Go check out  the program here: http://www.startus.org/

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Please Bookmark This Post If You Liked It

Hide Sites

Innovation not Competition

I am thrilled and excited with the idea.On our recent brainstorming regarding our new business portal launch, we found ourselves competing head-on with a HUGE player in the industry. Faces ablazed with disappointment and frustration.

Once we took our time to study their idea and business model, things started to look better. Even though we had exactly the same idea as them (no we didn;t copy theirs), our application of that idea innovated it to higher realms. Eureka!

This makes me declare that online business platform does not work upon competition-based ideology but an innovation-based one. Otherwise, how come we, a garage full of entrepreneurs, challenge a multi-million dollar corporation.Size doesn’t matter anymore. If it does, then how come a gigantic elephant of a firm feel threatened by us tiny dots?

Isn’t it exciting, the power that this idea of innovation-led mentality gives you? Makes one stop worrying about a crowded niche/industry in the first place. If there is a idea that can solve a genuine problem and you know no one else has your innovative edge, then, as Nike says, ‘Just Do It’ man!

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Please Bookmark This Post If You Liked It

Hide Sites

Image courtesy tim Ellis from Flickr

If you have a brand new business sprouting as we speak, you need to pay attention here. Or may be you already own a small business in its nascent nervy stage. In either scenario you require a solid plan to reach your target customer. And you need it fast. Well, this article is not about giving you a marketing plan. This is to tell you what 5 mistakes to avoid that’ll make you look tiny. Not just with your business size but with your output capability.

As a small business you can’t afford to loose a million dollar in market research or focus groups to find out what might work for you. But I can tell you right away what will not work. Let’s find out what to avoid in your initial marketing and advertising.

1. Acting Small- ‘One Man Band Show’

A cardinal sin that you can commit while promoting your business brand is to act small. You dn’t want to be perceived as a hapless one-man-show business. Trust me. Of course, you really might be a humble start-up but the Internet provides you a level playing field with the big guys. So, why not go out, get a neat website, find some multiple-id corporate email ids, get a toll-free no.(if you really can’t afford an epabx, get an online switchboard service), and open the shutter to public with a bang. Don’t make it blatantly obvious that you are a one-man/woman band. Find ways of being bigger- not small.

2. Underselling- ‘Pay Us Whatever You Want’

Yes, you are just starting out. Every penny matters and you might have rising bills. Granted. Undercutting a competitor by reducing prices can be a smart business strategy, but simply trying to survive by taking whatever you get- is a disaster signal. Remember, price is an important element of your marketing-mix, please do not abuse it. ‘Better-value’ can be a unique proposition, but ‘cheap-product’ is a self-defamation of your brand..

3. Boasting- ‘We are The Best’

Do you have honest references and genuine testimonials to prove your credibility? Do you make it visible straightaway on your home page or company leaflet? If not, then whatever you will say in support of your product and services will sound like an over-hyped sales pitch. So please be careful. Your sales page might be boasting beyond your customer’s logic. Give them a chance to use your services/products and come to their own conclusions. Boldly stating in superlatives about any aspect of your business is a wrong move, unless you can actually prove it with facts.

4. Blabbering Online- ‘Bill Gates Sucks’

If you have a business to run, you have a reputation to guard. Yours as a responsible brand owner, and, that of your business. Blabbering on online forums, passing sleazy chain-emails, or, commenting rudely on blogs will find its way to your Google resume. Sooner or later. Watch what you do online. Big brother is indeed watching you.

5. Freeby-Mania- ‘Free Web Design By’

It’s commonplace for new small business owners to be on the lookout for free stuff. Not bad. As long as, it reduces the costs and provides added productivity. Beware of too many free links in your website, or, email newsletters. Maybe that presentation you prepared with that free software (which left a ’sample’ watermark) can find its way to your clients.

I hope these tips will help you guard against small pitfalls you can make in a bid to quickly promote your business. These are all common-sense issues. Make a habit of avoiding them once will help you throughout your entrepreneurial career.

Please feel free to add to these tips. If you are an entrepreneur, it would be helpful to hear what things you regret having done in the early stages of your business.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Please Bookmark This Post If You Liked It

Hide Sites

A Journey Begins

How the hell, one might say, Zen relates to a business start-up?

To start with, Zen gives a way, which focuses upon direct experience rather than theoretical knowledge. So, out goes the argument that prescribes an MBA to start your business. We have a level playing field- as long as you are willing to learn.

In this article series I would present small practical ‘taken for granted’ ideas to supercharge your business start-up process. Wait till the end to grab the ’sutra’.

I was once given responsibility to water plants in my dad’s garden. It had to be daily, twice a day. Most plants were nearly dead. Two of them caught my attention. One was a three feet stump rooted in dry mud. Another was an empty pot, half-filled with damp soil. I saw no reason to water them. But orders were orders. Every day I indulged in this seemingly pointless exercise. ‘All they need is daily water’, my dad stressed repeatedly.

It’s a pain to do something you believe is useless and yields no obvious results. Somehow I started to think that my dad wanted me to do this just to keep me busy. I carried on, howsoever reluctantly. Every morning as a religion just before my breakfast, and, every night before my dinner I watered the dead plants. A few weeks passed.

Then something amazing happened. I started to enjoy the activity slightly. By now, I had stopped worrying whether watering would actually help the plants. I was just performing something without expectations. Because the task started to become a chore, I somehow had to learn to enjoy it. And lo! It was like meditation. Twice a day I was enjoying something with no worries about results. Think about it, how many such activities we do normally? I thought hard, but found none. Everything we do has an attached expectation.

Brand New Life

Then, one fine morning the empty pot had a sapling. A brand new life was sprouting out of, what I considered to be, a bottomless pit that had been soaking all the water. The dry stump too showed signs of green growth. Suddenly, the whole garden looked alive in that moment of astonishment. Hard work paid off. Did I worry about this all that while?

Your small business also needs constant watering. Every day. Find out what constitutes ‘watering’ for your business. Is it daily networking? Or, honing your core skills? Or, seeking and learning ways of marketing? Although watering is directly related to growth, you would find myriads of activities in your business, which are not directly related to results. For example, learning some html if you have a web-based business. The knowledge of HTML wouldn’t come handy straightaway, or, may be never as you can’t be proficient enough. That doesn’t mean you don’t sharpen this skill. Remember, I had dead plants to water. Find out activities that you believe are essential to your start-up. They might not come into play right now, but remember that you need them in the long run. Do them as a religion. Enjoy them. You would soon find growth popping out of a seemingly dead well.

Best,

Hersh Bhardwaj

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Please Bookmark This Post If You Liked It

Hide Sites