How To Decide On A Niche For Your Website?
Choosing a niche market might be the most important decision of your business. For many people, this can be a daunting task once there are so many options to choose from.
But don’t worry! In this post, I am going to provide essential guidelines on how to decide on a niche market.
Note that most successful internet marketers didn’t hit the nail on the head with their first website. So, it’s important to be open-minded about the possibility of making wrong decisions when you are getting started.
The key is to learn from your mistakes and keep working towards your goals.
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What is a Niche Market?
A niche market is a portion of the market which satisfies the needs of a group of people or an audience. It is simply a small part of the market where people are willing to buy the same kind of products.
There is an immense number of niches because any product that you imagine is part of one specific market. Besides, every niche can be narrowed down to sub-niches. In the end, it is all about specific needs and type of things.
For example, you can choose the niche “toys”, but can you imagine how many types of toys there are? Well, we have toys selected by age and a great number of categories like electronic, educational, building & construction, dolls and the list goes on and on.
You can narrow down even more and pick educational toys that focus on mathematical skills for 3-4-year-old kids. I have found 1,433 products in this category only on Amazon!
This video is part of the free course offered by Wealthy Affiliate, and it gives a good basis for deciding your niche market.
Guidelines For a Good Decision
#1 – Choose a niche you are interested about
When building a website, you are going to dedicate your time researching and writing about a specific subject. So, it is important to select a topic that you feel at least interested about.
When you enjoy what you are doing, you find more motivation to take action, reflecting positively on the quality of your articles and your website. Besides, it is critical not to turn your online business into a boring job.
In fact, it should not feel like a job at all! That is one of the most attractive advantages of internet marketing, so you may want to take advantage of that.
Some people will tell you to choose what you are passionate about. Well, that is absolutely the ideal situation! The more you enjoy a subject, the more your chances of building an amazing website! But you know what, not everyone has a clear picture of what they are really passionate.
So, you don’t need to search the depths of your soul. As long as you care about it, want to help people in that niche and can have some profit, that is perfectly fine!
You can try Dmoz website, which offers a huge database of Web content. There you can find targeted niche ideas for your website.
#2 – Are there many people interested in your niche and looking for products?
It is very important to see if there are a good number of people interested in your niche. An audience needs to be big enough to provide a decent amount of visitors (traffic) and bring more profit to your website.
Now, how big is enough? Well, there is not an exact number, but you can have an idea by doing some research. You can check how popular a topic is by typing general words related to it in a keyword tool like Jaaxy.
When doing keyword research in Jaaxy, look for the AVG number. This is the average number of searches people perform a month in search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.
That can give you a good base for comparison, but you also need an idea of which kind of products you are going to promote. Do you have many options? How often people tend to buy them?
You can visit popular online stores like Amazon and see the number of reviews your niche related products received.
#3 – Try not to be too broad or too narrow
Choosing a niche that is too broad can be very inefficient for your business. A broad niche means that you have chosen a big topic with an overwhelming number of options to talk about.
Using our last example, the toys niche is extremely broad! This can make your website quite generalist unless you have many people working with you to cover all the aspects of the niche. Besides, you will probably have a very large competition.
On the other hand, if you target a smaller sub-niche, you are more likely to become of a specialist and build more trust. Trust reflects in more people following your recommendations, which is good for the business. The competition is much smaller as well.
As I already mentioned, you need a decent amount of traffic to your website. If you narrow too much your niche, you can end up having a very low number of visitors. So, the key here is to find a balance!
#4- How profitable can your niche be?
Is it possible to profit from any niche? Yes, definitely! People buy pretty much anything online (with some exceptions of course) and many look for information before buying. But assuming that you want to build a profitable business and put in significant time and effort, 2 key questions have to be made:
- What are your financial goals?
- What is the profitability of your niche?
Depending on which products you will promote and the average commissions rate, you will have to build a website with a massive amount of traffic.
For example, if you choose a niche where people spend on average $15 per product and considering a commission of 6% (Amazon, for example), you will get $0.90 per sale. How many sales do you need per month to make a living out of that? 2,000 items? That’s not impossible, but VERY challenging!
Now, what if your niche had a good deal of more expensive items that you could target sales of around $200? That would be $12 per sale, meaning that around 160 sales per month would have to be made in order to achieve the same result. A much more realistic figure!
You may also consider higher commissions rates, which you can find by promoting digital products. Here, look for those offering over 40% commissions.
Find out more about recurring commissions to earn based on a monthly subscription. This is my favorite option, by the way. Why? Because once a sale is made and as long as the customer (your referral) keeps paying the monthly or yearly fee, you will earn the commissions.
Final ConsiderationsÂ
When choosing for a niche, especially if this is your first experience, you might feel overwhelmed by so many options. Ideally, we all want the best, the one which will be highly profitable and at the same time very enjoyable.
Don’t be disappointed if you cannot find one that ticks all the boxes because no niche is perfect. All of them have their pros and cons. What you can do is to find a balance!
Even if a balance is getting difficult to find, trust your feeling and give it a go! You can always change later on and learn what works best for you. In internet marketing, as with everything in life, nothing is in vain once you take advantage of your previous experiences.
I highly recommend watching the two videos above because they give a good basis for your decision. They are part of a well-structured course and community of internet marketers.
If you are struggling to decide your niche or have any specific question or comment about the topic, you can always leave me a message below. I would love to help you out!
Want to Get Paid for Playing Games on Your Phone?
I tested and compared the best reward apps and sites, so you don't waste time on the fake ones. See which ones actually pay, how low the cash-out minimums go, and which offers are worth your time.
- ✅ Low cash-outs, some from just $1
- ✅ PayPal, gift cards and more
- ✅ Games, surveys and simple tasks
- ✅ Honest tips to avoid tracking problems
Earnings aren't guaranteed and results vary. Treat it as a bonus for time you already spend on your phone.
Hi Stefan.
Great information on niche selection. I am new to the internet world and everything just seems both overwhelming and intimidating. Your article is like a ray of hope for me. I feel that finally, selecting a niche does not have to be a big deal. I learned that I just got to do a little research on what I want to talk about. I especially loved the fact that you mentioned it must not be job, but rather a passion and looking at it from that light makes it possible to do. I am excited and will explore the rest of your site for other interesting tips. Thank You.
Hi RoopeshThanks. I hope you find other articles relevant. Once you have decided on your niche, I highly recommend you visit my page, where I give you the step-by-step on how to create a website (click here). When I first started, I was feeling just like you. But don’t be intimidated, the more you learn and progress with the lessons, the more the peaces will fit together.
Hello Stefan. Thanks for great article regarding how to choose a niche for website. As you mentioned, beginners can be overwhelmed with information and wish, that everything would perfect, when they start building their business online. They can have high expectations, that if they like their chosen niche, visitors and customer would flood their audience.
Unfortunately, it is not case. You diligently provided all reasons and options how to pick a niche.
Overall if content in website is rich with information and visitors would find what they look for, success will come.
It takes time, patience and perseverance.
I wish that your visitors would find here information how to succeed online and would return back hungry for more new blogs.
All the best, happy writing, Nemira.
Hi NemiraIt is possible to profit from any niche, but I think it is wise to do some market research and try to understand the true potential for your chosen niche. In my opinion, to maximize the chances of success, one must find a good balance between genuine interest in the niche and profitability. Does the niche contains a variety of options to promote? Are there many options of affiliate programs? How much profit am I going to make from one sale? This are all good questions to ask before starting your online business. Thanks for following my blog! All the bestStefan
awesome I’ve learn about new ways to look for niche ideas so I’ve highlight that part here :
for the internet content. targeted niche wow!! ideas for life . and that is great am going to look it up
and the part your room is your office that very cool me is where I am is my office as long I have internet connection .lol
Hi There!I am glad you liked! If you want an idea for a good niche, here you can find a list of 100 niches. It’s worth having a look.Thanks for your comment
I like the way you advise not to be too broad OR too narrow when choosing a niche. Many teach just to narrow down a niche as small as possible but, like you say, you just might be so small that you get very little website traffic, which is counterproductive. If it’s a very popular micro niche, then that can work out fine, but too small usually just means no traffic at all.
Hello DerrenYes, and sometimes it is hard to come up with the perfect combination. But one shouldn’t worry that much. I always recommend people to give preference for what other really enjoy. You are going to dedicate a long time researching and talking about your niche, so it needs to be an enjoyable process, which also contributes to your productivity. It is easier to write and you will do so in a more natural way. Take care
When I first took up marketing I made the mistake of choosing the most popular niches online. Although they were lucrative they didn’t really interest me – this led to me struggling to write content for my site. After this I firmly belive that the first step is to choose a niche that you have an interest in. What do you think?
Hi Chris. Yes, this can happen and sometimes it is not until we set up a website an start writing content that we realize a particular niche is not enjoyable. If you find a niche you are passionate about, that’s perfect! But there are many people who are not really passionate about one specific topic and that’s when they can get frustrated and have a hard time. Well, there is no need to be so passionate about a subject. The majority of new university students are not completely sure about their chosen field of study until they start working after years of study. They can get that passion in the process and this is very common.. the more you acquire knowledge, the more you tend to be interested about something. The key is to choose one niche that you think you will be comfortable writing about. If you are not expert in this niche, there is no problem at all! You will learn by reading and writing, one content at a time. There will be enough time to become an expect while the process of building a website is taking place.So, my advice to people is: Have some niche ideas, visit established websites and see what they are talking about. If this is something that interests you- that’s great! The next step is to see how profitable this niche can be… look for products and affiliate programs available. How much sales will be needed in order to make a decent profit? I suggest commissions of at least $20 or more per sale. People should not feel scared of making mistakes. There is a good opportunity to learn from them as you did! Thanks for dropping by!
I think when many online newbie business owners first start out, choosing a niche is a difficult challenge. Even I struggled to choose a niche when first starting out.
You have certainly outlined some Awesome niche tips within your article, and I certainly do agree that any niche can be profitable because there is a demand for any product.
I will definitely watch your video on how to pick a successful niche too.
Neil
Hi Neil. There is demand in any niche and that’s good news because it is a good opportunity to talk about something you really enjoy and get paid for that. That’s another great advantage of the being an affiliate marketer.
Some people are afraid of competition when choosing a niche. I think the chance of being successful online is not so much related to how many competitors you have. You will Find harsh competition everywhere you look. I believe the chance is more related to how much interested you are in that niche.
If you are truly interested in that niche and it has a good profit potential (according to the products you can promote and the commission rates), go for it! Work hard and find your place… give your unique contribution and the reward will come in time.
The videos are great! It is inside the free training at wealthy affiliate. It gave me a good base for making my decision.
I think when many online newbie business owners first start out, choosing a niche is a difficult challenge. Even I struggled to choose a niche when first starting out.
You have certainly outlined some Awesome niche tips within your article, and I certainly do agree that any niche can be profitable because there is a demand for any product.
I will definitely watch your video on how to pick a successful niche too.
Neil
Hi Neil. There is demand in any niche and that’s good news because it is a good opportunity to talk about something you really enjoy and get paid for that. That’s another great advantage of the being an affiliate marketer.Some people are afraid of competition when choosing a niche. I think the chance of being successful online is not so much related to how many competitors you have. You will Find harsh competition everywhere you look. I believe the chance is more related to how much interested you are in that niche. If you are truly interested in that niche and it has a good profit potential (according to the products you can promote and the commission rates), go for it! Work hard and find your place… give your unique contribution and the reward will come in time.The video is great! It is inside the free training at wealthy affiliate. It gave a good basis for making such an important decision.
Hi Neil. There is demand in any niche and that’s good news because it is a good opportunity to talk about something you really enjoy and get paid for that. That’s another great advantage of the being an affiliate marketer.Some people are afraid of competition when choosing a niche. I think the chance of being successful online is not so much related to how many competitors you have. You will Find harsh competition everywhere you look. I believe the chance is more related to how much interested you are in that niche. If you are truly interested in that niche and it has a good profit potential (according to the products you can promote and the commission rates), go for it! Work hard and find your place… give your unique contribution and the reward will come in time.The video is great! It is inside the free training at wealthy affiliate. It gave a good basis for making such an important decision. Have a great day
Hello Stefan,Great article and very helpful, you know exactly what you are talking about, before I found it difficult to pick up my niche but after joining wealthy affiliate and going through the lessons I found it very easy to choose a niche and also how to make it profitable niche.
Thanks for sharing
Hello Ehab!Thanks for your comment! It took me some time to decide as well, but I was confident after Kyle said every niche can be profitable and we should focus on what we are genuinely interested in. The profitability as something that I took into account as well, but it was not a decisive factor. I think what makes a difference is how much you are interested in your niche… and how much you are willing to help people! I wish you success in your business! Best
This is a really interesting article on finding a niche. I have just started with building a website myself and this was the hardest thing to do. I wish I had found your article before hand, it would have helped a lot. Your videos are very useful too, it makes everything clear,
I will bookmark this page and come back to it.
You are welcome. It is quite hard I know. There are many things to consider, but the main one should be how interested you are in the topic. Did you decide only based on profitability? Then it might be difficult because writing content about something you don’t enjoy is not sustainable.
Hi Stefan
Indeed, while many people beginning an online business might tremble at the thought of having to come up with a specific area of specialisation, and thus a niche, it ought not to be too hard. At least not when one goes through the training at wealthy affiliate.
Thanks for the recommendation about websites where one can get helpful resources
Hi Boniface. You are right. It is all part of the learning process and deciding on a first niche should be understood as such. Deciding on a niche can be hard, specially for the undecicise people like myself 🙂 . But we just need to take it easy and trust our senses. After choosing the niche and starting to write content, it is good to reevaluate the decision. You need to ask yourself if you are confortable and enjoying the topics to be presented. If you wish you were doing another thing, don’t be afraid to change it. There is no point in pursuing something that you don’t believe.
Hi, Boniface. You are right. It is all part of the learning process and deciding on a first niche should be understood as such. Deciding on a niche can be hard, especially for the indecisive people like myself :). But we just need to take it easy and trust our senses.
After choosing the niche and starting to write content, it is good to reevaluate the decision. You need to ask yourself if you are comfortable and enjoying the topics to be presented. If you wish you were doing another thing, don’t be afraid to change it. There is no point in pursuing something that you don’t believe.
Great article Stefan. As you said choosing a niche is definitely one of the most important things in the online business. It defines the direction where you are going.
Very good four points. I have been also thinking that the number #4 is important. If someone sells one $1,000 product and gets 10% commission, it makes $100. If someone sells 100 products which cost $10 with 10% commission he gets the same results.
Which one is easier to sell 100 items of $10 product of one $1,000 product. I think that most of the time the latter is easier.
Hi Roope , I am glad you find it useful. It depends on your niche and the kind of product you are promoting to be honest. It is quite difficult without data, but you can guess by having a look at the popularity of the itens on Amazon website, for example. There are also a lot of websites dedicated to those willing to promote specific niches. People buy pretty much anything online. So, I would choose a niche that requires less traffic to make the same profit. However, the profitability would not be my number 1 requirement. If the niche doesn’t interests so much, I would never go for it, even knowing that many people are many lots of money.I hope that helps.
Thank you, Great article, Stefan. As you said choosing a niche is definitely one of the most important things in the online business. Today your thought and thinking are very needed.It defines the direction where you are going.
Very good four points. I have been also thinking that the number #4 is important. If someone sells one $1,000 product and gets 10% commission, it makes $100. If someone sells 100 products which cost $10 with 10% commission he gets the same results.
Which one is easier to sell 100 items of $10 product of one $1,000 product. I think that most of the time the latter is easier.
Hi Prabir,
It depends on what you are promoting, your traffic and your marketing effectiveness. If you sell a very cheap product you may need a huge traffic to make decent money, whereas if you promote a very expensive one, you may get a commission just once in a while. So, you need to achieve a balance here.
Only testing can give you an answer to your business needs. You need to get traffic and place a quality offer in front of your audience. That’s the only way you will know if the product is worth promoting or not. Personally, I give preference for those affiliate programs that earns me over $20/sale.