Watching Closely for Niche Product Ideas

Watching Closely for Niche Product Ideas

The first step to finding a niche market idea is to learn to be observant.

• Consider yourself.
• Then consider your family and immediate friends.

What hobbies or interests do they have? What special talents do they nurture or are constantly developing?

I'll give you some idea examples from my own life:

Example 1: I'm a great cook. My friends love my homemade bread and cookies best. They are always asking me to show them how to bake bread and share my cookie recipes. Now if my friends want this information, wouldn't it stand to reason that a few thousand other people might want that information as well?

Idea:	Create a book on how to bake bread and provide all my best recipes in that product.
Evaluation:	It turns out that approximately 90,000 searches are performed each month on the search engines for baking bread, bread recipes, how to bake bread, etc.
Next Step:	Create the product, set up a website, etc., etc. (I already did, it's here.)

Example 2: My kid sister works on a cruise ship. She loves this life (she started working in the Caribbean and currently she's in Southern Europe). She makes fantastic money, always has a tan, eats the most delicious foods and gets to see the world for free. Everyone I know is envious of this and asks "How can I do what you're doing?"

Idea:	Create a book on what people need to know to get hired as cruise ship staff. Provide successful sample resumes and cover letters, a list of available jobs on a cruise ship, addresses to the recruiting companies, and special tactics to dealing with life on a cruise ship. A real insider's look at getting hired and working the cruise lines.
Evaluation:	Over 50,000 searches are performed each month on the search engines for cruise ship jobs, work on cruise ship, cruise ship hire, etc.
Next Step:	Create the product, set up a website, etc., etc. (My sister is currently compiling the information that will go into the report.)

I can see that you're already starting to think about yourself, friends and family - searching for a product idea. It takes about a week to really get your head rolling in this direction. Just be observant.

Getting Niche Market Ideas from Magazines

Another good source of ideas is the magazine section of your local bookstore. Here is a valuable source of Niche Market ideas. Why? Because publishers don't publish magazines that don't earn a profit. To earn a profit magazines must have subscribers and advertisers. Make sure the niche magazine you choose has been around for at least a year - that way you know there is an existing base to a profitable niche market - and has a subscriber base of at least 25,000 monthly.

Look for something that makes you say "They have a magazine for that?" Here's some that struck me as odd markets.

	NailPro - circulation of 65,000 monthly, written for salon based manicurists.
	St. Maarten Nights - circulation of 225,000 yearly, covering vacation activities in St. Martin
	Opera News - circulation 105,000

Now that you've defined the niche market, what product could you sell them?

Buy the magazines, take them home, study them, observe the ads - what is being sold within? For instance there may be an article in NailPro about contagious skin conditions. Perhaps there's a market for that information online, bundled with prevention ideas for the salon professional, home remedies in the event of an infection, etc. Or in Opera News there may be an ad in the back that reads "You too can be an Opera Star! Train your voice with our methods and learn the insider's secrets to getting an audition."

 If people are successfully selling items in magazine advertisements wouldn't it stand to reason that the same product could reach a much larger audience online?

Now On to Evaluating Your Niche Market Product Idea

In the course I mentioned that evaluating an idea has a cost of $0. I have tried many methods of evaluating product ideas (some of them free, but generally labor intensive), but the hands-down best way to evaluate a product idea is through a software program that launched recently.

Another great tool for evaluating ideas is a keyword analyzer. You can get a free demo (you'll be so impressed you'll buy it later if you're really that excited about Niche Marketing) of Niche Keyword Analyzer here.

I use these programs for every idea I have. It takes about 5 minutes to plug an idea in and in return you'll get a profitability score, # of related searches per month, related keywords to advertise with, and your estimated pay per click advertising cost.

Truly there is no shorter or quicker method to evaluate your ideas. You can download a trial version of either tools to see if it is something you will use often.

An online version of the niche market software is now available. You can pay monthly to research any new ideas you have. A tutorial on using the software is available, but it isn't hard to figure out. Check it out for yourself here.