Comments on: Step 1: Market Research & Niche Selection (teleseminar)

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:08:39 +0000

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By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:39:09 +0000

Hi Brain, How do we come up with a value for our free article? I have one that I have already done that has some good general info about my niche and things that people can use and action but I have no idea what value to put on it. My niche is health/natural medicine, specifically Crohn's Disease. Thanks Brain Andrew

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:29:24 +0000

Ian, Two really good questions. First, getting a merchant account can be a tough thing; in my opinion it's not worth the hassles until you grow a business large enough to absolutely need one. It's a lot less hassle free to go with a solution like Paypal. We'll cover this more when we get to merchant accounts. Second, you can absolutely market that product online. Everything you're going to learn in IMC can be applied to products online or offline, physical or digital, products or services,etc... Brian

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:56:25 +0000

Hello Brian: I just wantd to get some feedback on 2 questions that I have: 1) Is there a way to open a business merchant account even if your credit is less than stellar? 2) I am in the health insurance industry and sell a separate prescription drug card to my customers with many of their policies. Most of these customers need extra prescription drug coverage since their existing health insurance plans either do not offer coverage or have yearly dollar limits. Some recipients have no health insurance at all but just need help with their monthly prescriptions costs. I charge a recurring monthly fee ranging from $10-$20 for an individual who uses this specific prescription drug card. The card costs me $2/month. In your opinion, even though this is not an info product, would it be a viable niche product to market online, possibly by targeting certain demographic groups by email? We also have access to affiliate programs for diabetics and discount dental plans. Thanks, Ian

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:04:33 +0000

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By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:03:12 +0000

Frank, Great questions. Those are two good niches, one of course hobby based (primarily) and one more business based. Just with fishing, how you narrowed it down to Bass Fishing, you may want to narrow the real estate down to something like subject to type investing, or foreclosures, or no money down; some type of specific type of investing expertise that you specialize in. Without knowing too much about either market, I'd say competing in the fishing market is probably easier / less competitive; but the profit potential from the real estate market may be larger as a whole. Ultimately, I think it should come down to which one you are most passionate about as both markets are good and have great profit potential. Brian

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:57:12 +0000

Mike, Both arguments are valid, but the smart money is on people who go after proven profitable niches where competition exists. If you want to go after an obscure niche that nobody has ever heard of and there is no evidence that anyone else is making any profits; by all means do it... I'm never one to discourage someone from testing out their ideas or following their dreams. But by all means, pick something and get it going; because the truth is you'll never know whether your ideas will work for you or not until you try them. Hope that helps. Brian

By: Mike Andrews

Mike Andrews — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:00:57 +0000

Brian, Just to revisit the topic about entering a competitive niche vs a non-competitive one. You say it's better to enter a market in which people are making money, and that's fair enough. But isn't it more accurate to say that more robust activity in the form of various ads etc only shows that people are TRYING to make money in that area? Maybe some of the better known vendors are, but maybe the small frys are struggling to rise above the noise of a very active marketplace. This latter point seems to me to be a potentially major challenge to deal with. Relating to this issue, there are no shortage of "pundits" out there who claim one can make good money from exploiting and dominating microniches. I don't want to belabor this issue, but if you can weigh in with some comments, that would be much appreciated. Best, Mike

By: Frank Canty

Frank Canty — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:03:10 +0000

Brian,
Hi Brian from cold Orlando. I took your internet coaching and was on the call tonight until about 10:30. I started with internet coaching for about two months and went thru Gator and Weber to get a sqeeze page online about flyfishing but soon realized i was over my head and decided to invest in the money club. I am passionate about fishing and not really flyfishing but more bass fishing. I have been selling real estate for thirty years in Orlando and own investment property. Between Fishing and Real estate which would be easier to drive traffic and if i choose fishing is a domain like TrophyBassFishingFlorida.com if it is available to wide and if it is real estate what might i narrow it down to–Any good suggestions will help as i can get it registered with Gator quickly since i have done this already. Thanks and will look for your response. Frank

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:11:16 +0000

Maria, This is a really good question and something a lot of people struggle with. Trust me when I say you're overthinking it and making it a lot harder than it is. I'll address your question on the call; and you'll be able to access the replay since you can't make the live call (are you sure you're not up for a 2am call your time :-)?) Brian

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:08:36 +0000

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By: Toni Lynn Chinoy

Toni Lynn Chinoy — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:09:54 +0000

I have an existing consulting business. It is 24 years old on the 1st of February. I have written and self published 10 books, have multiple seminars on leadership, Power Games, Bullies, and others. I work with senior executives in Fortune 100 companies and have wonderful, enduring relationships with my clients. My niche is really in helping people understand and work through crisis. My materials are not only well received, but beloved by those who have been exposed. I get anywhere from $5000 to $15000 per day for my time depending on what I am doing. I have never been able to grow the business past being a relatively lucrative, small, coaching/training business. I would like to shift my income/business to being more related to intellectual properties (books, self administered training, etc), not necessarily to the business or corporate world. I have the content. I have many published articles on multiple topics with both professional international magazines as well as sites like EzineArticles.com. I'm stumped. I have good materials that seem to be exciting and relevant to a large cross section of the population. Finding a leveraged way to get exposure and turn that exposure into sales completely eludes me. My bias is that I need to be looking for the appropriate affiliates. I am not sure how to approach that or them when I find them. Hopefully this will be a part of the program.

By: Maria

Maria — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:32:01 +0000

Hi Brian, Since I unfortunately won't be able to directly participate in tonight's Call (I live in Paris, France and am + 6 hours ahead of your time, which would make it 2 or 3 AM for me), I have a few questions that I would appreciate it if you could answer tonight, or here.... I've read the questions and answers above and they are all great ! Thanks everyone. As some other participants, my BIGGEST problem is choosing a niche. I know that you said to choose an interest and just set something up, but it's very, very hard for me. It's one of my biggest stumbling blocks. How did you select "credit repair" and" muscle building" as your niches, for example ? How much thought did you put into it ? I tell you I've been losing sleep on this - it's driving me nuts ! One niche that I have in my head is something directed towards Latin Americans and success/ wealth, but I'm not sure it will work. I have seen some magazines that exist on the magazine e-zine which you recommended in your last call, so there is some interest in this area, but I don't know if this market spends money or not. Like you said, I wouldn't want to get into a market, do a lot of work and then find out it's not profitable. How can I find out if it's profitable or not ? When I "googled" a few terms (either in Spanish or in English), it was not too clear to me if there were things that existed. Does this mean that the spanish world's internet are less "present" and "developed" on google ? Or does it mean that spanish sites (the spanish population) are not that popular/ profitable in general ? I basically have two options either a site in English or one in Spanish (or both). Another niche is becoming wealthy/ how to be sucessful in real estate in France. Another question is what do you call a "niche" - is it an activity (example in your case, "muscle building") or is it a customer "profile" (like Mary Ellen's "Working Moms Only"), or could it be a "population" (ie. Latin Americans that are looking for how to be succesful, Europeans, etc...). In other words do I have to think of what types of products the customer segment would buy first, before identifying the customer segment, or do we need to focus on just choosing the customer segment first (like "northern italians living in other european countries", or "why are some Latin Americans succesful outside their countries and others not") in other words, how "specific" does one need to be ? Thank you for your help in this matter. I'm really losing sleep over this.

By: Akinniyi Osho

Akinniyi Osho — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:30:18 +0000

Dear Brian, I have already set up my domain and have started to drive traffic to my site and have 3 signups. I am trying to improve the look and feel of my website and blog. My website http://www.makingmoneyontheinternetsecrets.com will concentrate on newbie internet marketers. I hope i am not jumping ahead of myself here .....what kind of ballpark figure should i be paying for outsourcing?....blog graphic design.. or graphics for my website. I will be using the graphics with my xsitepro Thank you

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:37:44 +0000

Andrew, Welcome to the Internet Money Club. That's great that you already have site up and running and are looking to drive traffic to it. We're going to cover a lot about driving traffic; free and paid, and we'll also talk about a lot of things you can do to improve on what you already have. Don't worry about the pace we're going at now; we're getting all of our new members up to speed... then trust me, we're going to kick this thing into Mach 3 :-). - Brian

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:54:48 +0000

I was part of the mentoring program that was with [another company], but was left down halfway through when they went insolvent. I have a live website that is almost finished and I have writen an ebook about my subject, I'm almost ready to drive traffic to my site and see how it goes/start growing my list etc. I need help as to where to go next as I really don't have that much idea of what I should be doing, I could have a go but don't know how well it would go as I need a bit more guidance. I would love your feed back or advice to whether I should just have a go and see what happens or how I should approach it. I know that we will get to these subjects in the IMC but I was hoping to get things under way. I have been following the program as directed so far and I have been learning more great info. My site is www.healcrohnsnow.com and is in the health and fitness niche, my ebook is about healing Crohn's Disease (a digestive disorder) with alternative medicine and diet controlling stress etc. I myself have Crohn's Disease and have done alot of research and spent alot of money on treatments so I have a good knowledge about what can help people with Crohn's Disease. Thanks for your input Andrew

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:20:26 +0000

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By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:17:35 +0000

Deborah, If you already have an existing site and it is directly related to this new venture then by all means keep it, and use all of the information you learn about direct marketing and online marketing and apply it to that. If you want, you could build a second site solely for this new venture / purpose and follow along with what I'm doing in IMC step-by-step. Does that make sense? Brian

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:11:34 +0000

Stewart, These are all good topics. You bring up a good point, a common concern I hear is, "but I'm not an expert"... The good news is that you don't have to have a degree, be an accomplished author, or anything else to go into a niche. It does help if you have some of your own knowledge and experience, but it's not a requirement as long as you are passionate about the subject and willing to learn more about it. You mention, "My qualifications that make me confident in commenting on these subjects include years of reading, studying, life experience and trial and error in each of subjects." That's a lot more than what most people bring to the table... go for it! Finally, I'd recommend starting with one idea, and going through the entire IMC process if this is your first time learning and online marketing is new to you. Once you have those skills developed, you can always go back into new / additional markets. - Brian

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:07:24 +0000

Teri, Public speaking is a big market, and there are lots of people who want to learn how to do it or improve upon it. There are several sub-markets in this niche as well... on one end of the spectrum you have people who have to give small talks at meetings and small conferences and just want to know how to put together a basic talk / presentation; really basic stuff. On the other end of the spectrum you have people who speak professionally for a living, and are always looking for a way to improve their presentations, sales, etc... Absolutely great topic! -Brian

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:05:03 +0000

Tim, This is a great question. It is absolutely viable to make a full time income online with just affiliate marketing. Here is something you may find interesting; even though I sell my own products, run coaching programs, speak at live events, and basically have a full blow information marketing business... almost half my income still comes from affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is one of the fastest and easiest ways to get started with earning an income online, which is why we'll focus on that first. Of course; there is a lot to be said for creating and selling your own products as well, and we'll also be covering that as we go through the course. The best is to have multiple streams of income from affiliate marketing, your own products, and other sources as well. Hope that helps. -Brian

By: TFW

TFW — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:35:19 +0000

Hi Brian, I must say all these questions are good ones. -Especially Bob's,which pretty much outlines my questions and thoughts. However,I do have an additional question relating to the affiliate aspect. How reasonable and feasible is it for the "average joe"/newbie to really make (profit)solid money(say $2,000-3,000 and more per month)with affiliate marketing?? Considering the cost analysis involved of operating an affiliate business -price and expense- is this really a reliable and viable way to go in internet marketing! Thanks, Tim

By: Teri

Teri — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:57:40 +0000

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By: Stewart Padilla

Stewart Padilla — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:35:22 +0000

Hi, Like Bob and Susan, I am new to online marketing. First, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to participate in the 2010 IMC class. I have a couple questions about niche selection. I'm having trouble selecting a niche. I've narrowed my selections down to 3 possibilities, but I'm unsure about the criteria I should use to further narrow/choose my niche. My 3 possibilities are: 1) psychology of success/self-improvement 2) secrets of a successful marriage (w/step-kids) 3) MLM/network marketing My dilemma is that, although I'm passionate about each of these niches, (i.e. I can't constrain myself from commenting on these subjects if brought up in conversation) I'm not sure I have marketable qualifications on these subjects. I'm not a psychologist,not YET extremely successful as compared to others in this field, not a marriage counselor or therapist, and I'm not currently running a thriving MLM/network marketing business. My qualifications that make me confident in commenting on these subjects include years of reading, studying, life experience and trial and error in each of subjects. So, in light of these facts, could you provide some direction as to how I should proceed? Should I attempt all 3 markets/niches? Thanks again for the opportunity, I'm looking forward to hearing your reply and moving forward with my new online business. --Stewart

By: Deborah Vogel

Deborah Vogel — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:53:24 +0000

Hi! I'm organizing a summer conference on the Science of Dance Training and already have a website. Do you think it smarter to create it's own website that I market specifically or keep it on the current website as a page. (which is what I have now) I'm not looking for a super large amount of dance teachers (only 52, in fact) and I know I need to start aggressively getting the information out because it's happening just 6 months away! So my first question is do you think the conference should have it's own website where I begin to build teasers or information that will tell them to take action and sign up - or - keep everything on current website and mainly market in a smarter way than what I am now? I'm so looking forward to learning as much as I can. Thank you! Deborah

By: Jose

Jose — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:55:02 +0000

Hi, my name is Jose Demapan and I am also new to internet marketing. My interests are building construction, golfing made simple, house rentals, cash flow, mortgage investor,capital specialist, natural health, weight loss,and automobile headlamp restorer to name a few. I hope to see some of the above turned to an online business and I look forward for this program to guide me through successfully.

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:41:34 +0000

Norella, Have you done competitive research to answer this question? I did a quick search on Amazon.com and Google and found several books and sites that were selling information related to prenatal parenting and saw dozens of ads on Google selling related products and services related to this market. It's a huge market, go for it! For anyone else who is struggling with their market research and niche selection; this is how easy it is: 1. come up with an idea 2. look around to see if others are selling products and services in the market 3. if yes, then great... give it a shot; if not; then maybe you want to try another idea Hope that helps, now go ahead and come up with a domain name (following the guidelines in the video I made on picking and purchasing a domain name); I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. - Brian

By: Norella

Norella — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 09:05:41 +0000

I know you said that it wasn't always a good idea to follow your passion--but how does one know when you can make money following your passion--especially if you want to provide information and make money doing so? My interest is (1)prenatal parenting and (2)parenting of infants and young childen. I would like to tie parenting in with other disciplines, though, so the end result as I see it at this time, is an eclectic website that would cater to different interests, but all would directly relate to and/or expand on, my main interest of prenatal parenting. As I listened to your broadcast, I had my doubts whether this could be profitable. But my gut tells me it can...so I am wondering where to go from here... I would appreciate your thoughts.

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:55:57 +0000

Susan, That's a great market you are going after; and very noble as well! If you are talking about having different language versions of your site (ie. English and Spanish), then yes, I would advise using a separate site for each language. We'll talk about affiliate marketing, Google Adsense, and other ways to monetize your site once we get them up and running (next week!). For now I would suggest you pick just one market / idea to get started with and get a relevant domain name and we'll build from there. - Brian

By: susan coursey

susan coursey — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:08:18 +0000

Hi, I am also new to Internet Marketing. My primary interests are travel and early childhood education (Birth to 5 years) There is a current and growing demand for products and advice for English and Spanish-speaking parents. Would I be better off building a separate domain-name-based website for Hispanic visitors? The second website would contain a subset of the pages of the first with some new content only of interest to them. Would it be a good idea to link to a Spanish Version from the Home Page of the primary website? I am interested in beginning with Affiliate Marketing and perhaps with Google Adsense. There is a demand for downloadable Ebooks for young children. I would like to try writing mini and preschool Ebooks for very young children but am not sure I have any talent. According to Bob Bly there is a lack of ebook biographies for children a little older. When I have confidence I will write the biography of Roberto Clemente in Spanish and English. Thanks for any help you can give. Susan Coursey

By: Brian T. Edmondson

Brian T. Edmondson — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:06:03 +0000

Bob,

These are really good questions.

First, I would recommend having a seperate webiste for each niche you go into, just like we do at Early to Rise… we have a seperate site for our investing niche and health niche (Investor’s Daily Edge and Total Health Breakthrough’s).

Affiliate marketing is a great way to get started and we’ll be focusing on that first in IMC; then we’ll tackle product creation. Even though I talk a lot about “competitive research”, don’t think of that in terms of other affiliates; rather think of that in terms of who the players are. So in your case, as an affiliate, you want to find out who the product creators / owners are; so you can promote them as an affiliate… does that make sense? We’ll get more into affiliate marketing shortly.

It’s easy to find other affiliates; just plug in the product names or the guru names etc. of the things you are promoting into Google, and you’ll find several other sites that have articles, reviews, etc. of those products. Those are the people who are probably also selling those products as an affiliate.

Finally, as far as finding new launches; you can’t really predict which ones will be profitable (if we could predict the future; we’d all be richer ). With that in mind you may want to stick with proven products that you know are good and convert well, and test out new launches you think may do well.

With all that said, all those markets you picked above are vialble markets; I’d just pick one to start with and build out from there.

Hope that helps!

Brian

By: Bob Porter

Bob Porter — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:20:01 +0000

Hi, I am new to this so I would like to ask a few questions. I have a number of niche interests: Personal development; Wealth Building through Internet Marketing, Stock Market Trading and Investing, and Other Business Opportunities; and Health and Wellness (or Holistic Health). Would I be better off building a separate domain-named web site for each niche or build one website composed of many niches or micro-niches? Could I combine or blend one or more of the above? Also, I am going to start as an affiliate marketer within each niche rather than develop products from the get-go, so my question is: As an affiliate, who are my competitors? Are they other affiliates selling for the same merchant(s) as I will, or are they affiliates selling for other merchants that are competitors of the merchants I will be promoting, or are my competitors the merchants' competitors? Also, how do I find the websites of other affiliates who are or will be promoting products the same or similar to the ones I will be selling? And if I go to a web site like www.associateprograms.com and I find merchants in the launch phase or near launch phase how do I tell which one(s) are going to be profitable? Also, how can I tell how much business existing merchants are doing so I can promote the ones with the most or best businesses? Thanks for the input.