How to Find a Niche to Build a Profitable Online Business

One of the most profitable ways to make money online is to find a niche then build your business around it. It could be service-based (ie website design, music lessons) or product-based ( ie selling information products or hard goods). Instead of pursuing multiple niches at the same time, pick one then build it into a profitable business before moving on to the next niche.

The biggest problem

The biggest problem people make when looking for a niche is to fall in love with your own idea. You may invest large amounts of time and money only to find there is no demand for your product and therefore very difficult to make a profit from it.
The solution
Instead of pursuing what you think may be a good niche ask yourself what are some of the biggest problems you have solved in your life? People are looking for solutions to their problems so if you provide valuable information that answers their problems you will find a niche that is profitable.
Be passionate
If you want to create a long term business you must be passionate about your niche otherwise you’ll soon get tired of it or run out of ideas. You’ll be creating lots of content so make sure you have plenty of topics and sub-topics to write about.
Create a list of multiple niches
When deciding on a niche write down all the niches you can think of based on the problems you’ve solved then choose the one you like the most and go for it. If you find it difficult to find a niche ask a relative or friend what problems you’ve solved in your life. Sometimes they have a more objective view of your life than yourself.
Creating a list of multiple niches enables you to easily duplicate your success after building a profitable business from the first niche you selected.
Do market research
Before you invest time and money into building a business around your niche do some market research. Here are some things to try:

• Use a keyword research tool (ie Wordtracker) to view how many searches your main keywords receive every month.
• Visit blogs, forums, discussion groups to find people interested in your niche and participate in conversations by asking and answering questions.
• Take a poll or survey. Some forums allow you to create a poll. Make sure the forum is a busy one (ie receives many responses every day). Use surveymonkey to create an online survey.
• Use social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to interact with people interested in your topic.
• Create a Google alerts account to receive news alerts in your email box on topics related to your niche.
• Visit the online book store amazon dot com to see how many books have been written on your niche. The books will also give you ideas for great headlines you can use in your content and/or product lines.

Create a schedule to build your online business
Once you know there’s an interest and demand for information in your niche make a schedule to grow your business. For example the first month create a blog, then add an article each day so you’ll have 30 articles by the end of the month. The second month write a short report or ebook and sell it on your blog. The third month start a newsletter to build long term relationships (and a list) with visitors to your blog.
The key to building a successful online business is to promote your website frequently and consistently to increase website traffic.