Niche marketing is not about trying to sell your product or service to the world at large. As a small businessperson, you couldn’t afford that kind of multi-million dollar advertising budget. It isn’t possible. You can, however, with only a computer, an Internet connection and a good idea sell to a smaller audience using niche marketing.

Niche marketing is not about trying to compete. Competition is taken out of the equation when you do niche marketing. You aren’t out there in the world lined up beside or behind a million other people who are selling the same thing you are selling. You are selling to a specific audience that you have created for yourself with your opt-in email list.

Niche marketing is not about selling to different people every day of the week. Once you have your list built, you can sell to the same people time and time again. By taking as much time as you need and putting forth enough effort to get to know the people who make up your list of buyers you can continue to sell to them.

Niche marketing is not about focusing on the big picture. It is about focusing on the small picture and the smaller the better. Narrowing your niche down to a very specific part of a larger market assures you of gaining a fair market share of that small part. The world is a big place and there are billions of people. You only need an infinitesimal portion of the population to have a huge list of potential buyers of your products or services.

Niche marketing is not about seeing only the impossibilities. Niche marketing is only about looking closely at the possibilities. Small possibilities converted to sales can equal big profits.

Today is going to be a bit of a rant for me, so don’t read this if you take offense easily.  I just have to say it!

If you’re new to internet marketing, then the first niche that pops into your head is – guess what – internet marketing to newbies!  It happens over and over.  Now if you’re brand shiny new at IM, why do you think that you’re going to make a lot of money marketing to other newbies?  News flash – you won’t.  The competition is fierce, and it’s very difficult.

So make it easy on yourself – choose a “real” niche.  What do I mean by real?  Anything – what are your hobbies?  Do you like making baskets out of pine needles?  Well, there you go – that’s a niche!  Do you like raising fruit trees so that by summer’s end you can bite into a fresh apple from your backyard?  How about fruit tree propagation – that’s a niche!

And here’s another tip.  If you’re going to sell products on Amazon or eBay from your niche site, do yourself a favor and sell products that are worthwhile.  Don’t build a niche site around $2 items that are readily available at your corner drugstore, no matter where you live.  Are you going to sit down at your computer and look for the absolute best price for nail clippers, then order them online and pay shipping and handling?  I doubt it, and your readers won’t either.  Think about what you really order online, search for trends, think of what you can’t find locally – that’s what you should be building your sites around.

Now I’m not trying to tell you that you’ll never make any money in the “make money online” niche – but if you’re just starting out, it’s not the easiest niche to market yourself in.  I want to encourage you to think outside the box, think real world, and find a good niche!!

Terri